In praise of grill pans !

Summer is not playing hide and seek with us here anymore, we are up in the eighties and hopefully will be staying around there for some more time. Sunshine magically lifts everything out of the ordinary, a work day evening feels like a new beginning, happy sounds floating in the air, and if a friend drops in, a party!

Talking of parties! I will never stop loving my grill pan for helping me with it, this cast iron “contraption” has, over the past couple of years helped us grill practically anything regardless of the season, achieve incredible grill marks on whatever we put on it and then without us even knowing it, might have helped to save a couple of bucks in liquid propane!!!!

Making these mini kebabs is a breeze if you have a stove top grill pan, you will need a grill top vegetable basket if you are firing up your outdoor barbecue grill. I used this recipe for spicing these kebabs, loved it for the prefect blend of subtle yet contrasting flavors. Feel free to use your favorite spices in the marinade, but do try out this mess free way of serving these appetizers, very easy to pass around, in its own cup and loaded with a day’s servings of vegetables ( Oh, not really !!)

Method

I use frozen chicken breasts for making these mini kebabs to make the prep work easier. A single breast piece will give you 10-14 strips. Thaw the piece on kitchen counter for 20 minutes or so, and then cut breadth wise into 5 to 7 strips. Cut each strip lengthwise in to two. This whole process will only take 5 minutes if the meat it still partially frozen. Marinate the pieces with flavors of your choice and thread on to pre-soaked bamboo skewers. Prepare vegetables, cut into 1/2 inch thick rounds (if using zucchini, carrots etc) or small bite size pieces, marinate.

Oil the grill pan very well and wipe it off with paper towels. Heat the pan, oil it once more, and wipe the excess off with paper towel. Grill the chicken pieces by arranging many together in the pan at a time. Grill 1 minute each side (ie by the time you are done arranging the last piece on the pan, it is time to turn the first one and so on). Clean up the pan with a moist paper towel, spread the vegetables in the pan and grill for a minute.

Serve 3-4 kebabs over a bed of grilled vegetables in a transparent cup. You can set this up in advance and then serve with a fresh dollop of dip/dressing on top.

6 comments Grilling

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An award and a tip on growing Zucchini

My mother is thrilled reading your comments about her cross stitch work. She is poised enough to calmly handle a couple of compliments thrown in her way. But I turn into a walloping mass of soft butter when a dear friend like Rushina hands over an award. Thank you, this is my first of its kind, and I shall be proudly wearing it.






Did I tell you about the Zucchini bumper crop that we once had? After taking a break for one year we came back to growing it once again, taking into account of the fact that we use Zucchini a lot in cooking. Just to site few examples, we know from our experience that this vegetable can skillfully disappear in to a sambar, blend very well in a dal, or act as substitute snake gourd in an avial. This year we are careful about harvesting it in the right time though. What we lacked as fresh owners of a cultivable strip of land two years ago, was the simple wisdom to harvest this vegetable at the right time, that is when they are about 6-8 inches long. So if you are not acting judiciously you can bake a bread with, fry some, make one or two curries, and then trash the rest of the single ginormous Zucchini we are talking about. We have learned the lesson and are now wiser!

And here is the award, read how it is passed around in blogosphere.




“Of course, as with every Bloggy Award, there are A Few Rules. They are, forthwith:

1) Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to 5 most-deserving Bloggy Friends.
2) Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award.
3) Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to This Post, which explains The Award.
4) Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, we'll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives This Prestigious Honor!
5) Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog “


I am honored to bestow this award upon the following ladies whose blogs are genuinely inspiring and exceptional.

1) Indian Food Rocks – She knows how, when and what to write in a blog. Her posts are peppered with subtle good humor and I love it.

2) Cooks Cottage - Simply delicious style of writing, I am a huge fan.

3) A mad tea party - A story is always hers to tell, and I am all ears

4) Mahanandi – The first Indian blog I came across, has been a favorite ever since. Love the grounded air of the blog.

5) എന്റെ നാലുകെട്ടും തോണിയും – Ingipennu from the food blog Ginger and mango writes this blog in Malayalam. When you step into her blog, you will know instantly that there is more to Ingi than what you know.

Recipe for grilled Zucchini

* This recipe works best with a cast iron grill pan

Zucchini - 3 nos
Coconut milk - 2 tbsp
Ginger paste - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - crushed - 1 tsp
Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp or more
Turmeric- optional
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Coconut oil - to brush on the grill


Cut Zucchinis length wise into strips of about 5 cm thickness. Mix, coconut milk, ginger paste, crushed curry leaves, Kashmiri chilly powder (more if you so desire), turmeric and salt. Arrange the pieces on a flat surface and gently brush on the marinade, turn sides and brush again. Keep for 20-30 minutes. Heat a grill pan, when it is very hot brush with coconut oil. Grill the marinated pieces for about 3-4 minutes each side

7 comments Grilling, Indian

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Pan Grilled Naan

Naan with Haryalli chicken


There are certain advantages for preparing naan at home, the main one being the fact that you will never feel over optimistic about it, as a result of which you are never too disappointed about the outcome. The following is a chronicle of a series of “naan making” related events took place in my kitchen over a period of approximately 3 years. I started off by baking naans on a cookie sheet (yes, inside an oven), and though it tasted all right, the texture was not entirely fascinating. Use of a pizza stone instead of the sheet, resulted in an almost Pita bread like situation (I liked it though!!!). Throwing a couple of ice cubes into the oven floor before keeping the naans in, and keeping the flattened dough over an ovenproof wire rack instead of a baking sheet, both substantially improved the texture of the naan. Inspired by a recipe for making this bread on an outdoor grill I decided to give it a try on my very indoor, stovetop, grill pan and this post is all about that experiment. You do get some grill marks on one side of the naan, but the other side unevenly puffs up, and you can add and control the brown spots on the top by selectively dabbing with some ghee, and turning it over for a short while. Nowadays I am making naan this way and I am eagerly looking around for other well working non-tandoor protocols. There are some known and proven methods which I have not tried so far. You can use this pan grilling method for your preferred recipe or follow the one posted here. Ease, convenience and a near naan like texture and taste for the end product are the advantages.

Tanuja's award winning, harialli chicken is a fabulous combination for this naan, we all just loved it , thank you Tanuja.

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon yeast (Dry)

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons ghee or melted butter

2 tablespoons yoghurt

2/3 cup water

1 tbsp Sesame seeds

Mix water with the yeast and sugar until the yeast is dissolves. Sift flour and salt together into a bowl and add the yeast mixture, half of the ghee and the yogurt. Mix to forma soft dough, then knead on a floured surface for about 5 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a large greased bowl, cover and let stand in a warm place for 1 hour or until the dough doubles in size. Punch down the dough and knead for 5 minutes. Divide dough into lemon sized balls

Flatten the dough using a rolling pin, or by hand (I prefer the second method, for the very rustic look it provides). Top with sesame seeds or any other topping of your choice. Brush grill pan with oil, wipe it with a piece of clothe. Bring it to medium heat, and keep the flattened dough over it, wait till it unevenly puffs up (3-4 min).Brush some melted butter or ghee on 5 or 6 random spots. . Turn it over, cook for 2-3 more minutes, or till the spots are browned enough. Quickly transfer it to a clean kitchen towel and keep it wrapped. Serve hot brushed with ghee or melted butter.
Naan recipes from fellow bloggers- here, here and here
Tags bread grill naan curry homemade

43 comments Breads and Rotis, Grilling, Indian

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