Tandoori Chicken Fried Rice

Often times after I bake tandoori chicken I feel bad to put away so much cooked masala marinade which fell from the chicken pieces onto the foil.

There was this one day when I baked some tandoori chicken and had lots of this cooked masala marinade left on my foil tray. So quickly I remember the left over biriyani rice in the fridge, and put on my cooking hat to come up with something differetn and tasty. Not leaving our nutritious veggies,a new dish called Tandoori Chicken Fried rice was born.

This is a typical Indian spicy fried rice which can be made from the fresh or left over cooked tandoori masala marinade and tandoori chicken and either we can use the plain rice or if you have krushka or pulav, or left over biriyani. You can used frozen or fresh veggies. I always prefer cutting fresh veggies. So there you got a complete meal in one dish - Proteins, Carbs, Vitamins and fibre.....and .....not to mention the good taste.

Ingredients:
2 Thigh pieces of Tandoori chicken(Baked or Barbecued)
3-4 Tbsp of Cooked Tandoori Chicken masala Marinade
4 - 6 Cups Cooked Rice/Fresh or Left over biriyani
1 Egg
2 tsp cooking oil
1 rem of fresh Curry leaves
2-3 Thai Green Chillies slit into halves
1 big Onion cut length wise
2 - 3 Cups choice of chopped veggies (Carrots, Cabbage, Beans, Peas, Broccoli, Cauliflower)
1/2 tsp each of Chilly, Coriander, Cumin powders( if desired)
Salt to taste
Finely chopped fresh Coriander to garnish.

Procedure:
In a wide pan, heat oil, sizzle curry leaves, green chillies.
Add Onions and cook till Onions are little cooked and crispy
Now add the Chopped veggies, some salt and stir the veggies till crispy and cooked, for 5 -7 mins or so,
Now make space in the pan to beat an and make it into scramble, adding enough salt for the egg.
Once the scramble egg is fried mix it with the rest of veggies.
Now add the cooked Tandoori masala marinade, chicken pieces and the plain or biryani rice along with the CCC powders if using.
Add enough salt again and mix well.
Garnish with Coriander leaves and remove from heat.

This is also sent to Srivalli from Cooking for All Seasons for the food blog event Rice Mela

Sweet & Sour Chicken

Its been more than a month since I published a post or done a photo session after cooking some special dish. Life has been hectic to the core. Dealing with upgrades in every sphere of life, my kindergartner stared school this year, and the list goes on. If I don't force myself to blog on a recipe now, very soon food blogging can become history for me.

For now let me post a recipe with the pictures that are saved in my drafts.

The main ingredient in this recipe is Maggi sweet & sour sauce. In those days when this sauce was newly introduced, I learned this recipe from a friend and tried it a few times only, coz hubby is not a huge fan of any deviations with the basic chicken curry.

It has a simple recipe, you don't need grind any sought of paste like the traditional ginger garlic or the garam masala paste.

We can substitute the Maggi brand with Knorr or even the regular Heinz tomato ketchup would do too.
Served with any seasoned rice this would go well.

Ingredients:
2 lb Chicken (Skinned, fat removed, cut into medium size pieces)
2 Tbsp oil
3 inch Fresh Ginger (cut into 1 inch height thick strips)
4 each of Cinnamon, Cloves, and Cardamom spices
1 Big Onion (cut length wise)
2 Tbsp Tomato Paste
1 tsp Chilly powder
1 cup Sweet & Sour ketchup (Maggi, Knorr or Heinz)
2 Tbsp Oyster Sauce (optional)
Salt to taste
1 tbsp sugar
A few coriander leaves to garnish

Method:
Heat a kadai/pot, add oil. After the oil is hot add the whole spices.

Fry till the spices turn their color.

Add the fresh ginger pieces and fry till the aroma comes

Add the onions and fry till the slightly brown and soft.

Now add the Chicken pieces, salt, and fry for a minute

Add the tomato paste and fry for 2 mins till the raw smell leaves.

Add chilly powder and mix well.

Now add the ketchup and mix well and allow the contents to cook till the chicken is tender on a medium heat.

Now increase the heat and keep stirring the chicken till all the sauce sticks to the chicken pieces.

Add some oyster sauce and sugar if you desire more flavour and sweetish taste.

Add some more ketchup and give it a nice stir just before removing from heat.

Garnish with coriander leaves