Spicy Roasted Chicken Legs

Ingredients 

Chicken Legs, ( I used 6 but you can use 12 or 24 and double recipe :D)
Butter ( I used liberally and used 1/2 of a 100 gm stick)
 Lemon Juice (about 1-2 lemons or more depend on how citrus you want)( 1/2 cup for 24 legs) 
 Seasonings. (I use ginger garlic paste+ Oregano+pasta seasoning+ black pepper+ Salt+ red chilly powder for the wet seasoning)-1 tbsp
 ( I used ginger powder (saute) and rest recipe to make dry seasoning) -1 tsp
Some coriander if you like ( optional) 


Recipe

1. Melt butter in a kadai/pan
2. And  dump lemon juice it right into it.
3. Next add wet seasoning. Now stir it together well…
 4. And be sure to stick your finger in and give it a taste. Add more spiciness if you’ve got the guts.
5. Thoroughly rinse your chicken legs.
6. And with tongs, transfer chicken legs to the butter mixture one by one.
7. Tilt the pan if you need to, and slosh the chicken around until thoroughly coated.
8. Remove each chicken leg to a baking rack.( cover it with foil) What I do is to put rack on baking sheet as the chicken drains liquid)
9. And before you pop them in the oven, give ‘em another coat of the butter mixture. Put in all of the mixture
10. Now, give them another sprinkle of dry seasoning.
11.  Pop ‘em in a 400-degree ( 200 degree C)  oven for exactly thirty minutes. 
12. After thirty minutes, they should be nice and golden brown. But if they could use just a little more color, turn the broiler on high and let ‘em sit under it for a minute or two. 
13. Sprinkle some pasta seasoning if you like or leave it.

I like to heap the chicken legs on a platter. I don’t know, it just says “abundance” to me.



Healthy variation

1. I used 2 tbsp of olive oil and rest process was same. Alternatively you can marinate chicken legs with wet seasoning and then add in oil. As oil is less in quantity compared to butter. Use coriander too. It tastes equally awesome.

Shahi Tukda

Ingredients:

• 1 whole uncut -bakery bread
• 1 cooking spoon-Ghee
• 2 litre - Full cream milk or if health conscious can use toned milk too
• 2 Tbsp - Pista, blanched and chopped
• 1 bowl - Sugar
• 1 - Cardamom, powdered
• 4-5 Nos- Almonds, toasted and sliced
• Few strands of saffron and zarda color mixed in milk.
• Some ghee for frying bread

Method:

• Cut the whole bread into thick same size pieces and then cut off the edges of the bread and cut it four squares from one piece. Keep aside for minimum 2 hours to make it a little hard. I prefer let it dry for a day or so that it soaks less ghee. Alternatively, one can dry it in oven too. I have kept it there for some time when short of time

• Take some ghee in a kadai and fry the bread pieces and then keep it aside.

• Take milk in a big utencil and let it cook and thicken for some time. Then add sugar to it and let it cook till the sugar dissolves. Let it boil and then simmer for 10 minutes. Add the powdered elachi into it and strants of saffron and zarda color during this time.

• When the milk is done, add the fried bread in it and it soaks all milk and immediately take off fame and close the lid. Add dry fruits when done. Pista tastes best in it.

• One can decorate with some khoya too (optional)- I skip this step as I thicken milk a lot.

• Cover it and refrigerate.

P.S. If bakery bread not available I have used usual sliced bread too...Tastes different...But still the dessert is awesome as this is my favorite Indian dessert :D

Chocolate Yogurt Cake

*Adapted from Fauzia's Kitchen 

Pre-heat your oven at 175 C and grease/line an 8" round pan.

TIPS:
• Make sure everything is at room temperature when you start.
• Sift the flour with the self raising flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda two or three times just to aerate it, makes the cake very light and fluffy.
• If the yoghurt you are using is too watery, you can thicken it by pouring it into a cheesecloth/muslin cloth, and tie it in such a way that it can hang for a while, all the excess water will drain out and you will be left with a lovely thick yoghurt.

Ingredients

1 cup sugar, grinded to a powder (200gm)
½ cup butter or margarine (112gm)
1 cup all-purpose/plain flour (120gm)
½ cup self-rising flour (60gm) ( or 1/2 cup flour+3/4 spoon baking powder and a pinch salt)
½ cup cocoa powder (60gm)
1 cup heavy thick yoghurt (200ml)
½ cup milk (100ml)
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla essence
1 ½  tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt ( if using salted butter skip it, I skipped)

Instructions

1. Add the grinded sugar to the butter/margarine, and cream together until light and fluffy. Don't rush past this stage, it is the one that will determine the texture of your final results, so do it for at least 7-10 minutes. I use grinder for it mostly

2. Now add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, then add the vanilla essence. Add the yoghurt and milk and beat well, then remove the mixer/machine and take a wooden spoon to do rest of steps.

3.  Add in the flour ingredients in two or three additions, folding it in after each addition. Do not over mix, just fold until everything is well incorporated. Pour into your pan and bake for about 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Leave the cake in the pan for about 5 minutes, then turn it over on a wire rack to cool completely.

For the ganache, I didn't want it too thick because I wanted some of it to be absorbed into the cake.

Ingredients

½ cup whipping cream (100ml)
150 gm. dark cooking chocolate, chopped and at room temperature ( I used normal dark chocolate+ milk chocolate in market)

Instructions

Heat the cream until it almost starts to boil around the edges. Remove from the heat and add in the chopped chocolate. Stir until smooth.

Slice the cake in half, add half of the ganache to the center place the second half of the cake and pour the rest over the top, letting it drip down the sides. Garnish if you want with nuts or chocolate flakes. I used some strawberry and almond flakes on top.