Quinoa with mixed vegetables,squash ribbons & spicy baked chicken drumsticks Roast

 Well,after aVege and an eggy rendition,now it's time for something spicy,bakey and chicken-y. It's time for a masaaledaar/spiceful Quinoa makeover.King P is soo happy-whistle whistle wink wink ;p.So is this humble daasi/his maid . That means the menu and the Queen-dom is not bland anymore. Thank you my dear spices ,you make my food and life tad more interesting.

Hail King P,Queen Q & Indian Spies-ces (spices) !

Quinoa with mixed vegetables,squash ribbons & spicy baked chicken drumsticks Roast

Ingredients

 Quinoa - 1 cup

Water - 2 cups

Onion(medium size),sliced - 1 no.

Green Chillies,slit - 3-4 nos.

Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 teaspoon

Tomato(medium),chopped - 1 no.

Mixed vegetable (I used frozen peas,corn,beans,carrots),boiled-1 cup

Yellow long sqush (medium size),ribbons- 5-6 nos

Cloves- 2 no.(optional)

Cardamom - 2 nos.(optional)

Cinnamon-2 nos.(optional)

Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon

Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon

Shan Biryani Masala- 1 tablespoon

 Salt to taste

Oil/Ghee - 1-2 tablespoons
              
Baked spicy Chicken Drumsticks Roast
Ingredients
 Chicken Drumsticks -6 nos
Onion,sliced-1/2 cup
Green chillies - 2-3 nos.

Any spice mix (I used Eastern's Chicken fry) - 1-2 teaspoons
Ginger-garlic paste-1 teaspoon
Pepper powder - 1 teaspoon
Chilly powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Lime juice - 1 teaspoon
Yogurt-1 tablespoon
Tomato,sliced - 4-5nos
Salt to taste
Oil-2 tablespoons
Oil spray

Method:

• Rinse quinoa under the tap water and put it in a saucepan with water and little salt.
• Place that saucepan on the stove and allow it to boil on high heat.
• Once it reaches the boiling point,reduce the fame to medium-low,cover it and let it cook for about 15-20 minutes until all the water is absorbed and most importantly,grains become translucent with a spiral tail.or watch this ...
• Put off the stove.Let it stand covered for another 5 minutes to make sure it absorbs any moisture left.If there is any water left,do drain it completely.
• Fluff it with a fork and keep it aside.
• Cut the squash into long,thin strips using a vegetable peeler that should look like ribbons .
• Heat a pan with little oil ,add the squash ribbons,sprinkle little turmeric powder,chilli powder and saute for a minute,then cover it and on low flame allow it to get tender.
• Heat another pan/kadai with oil ,add the cloves,cardamom & cinnamon to it .Saute for a minute.
• Add the onion slices and green chillies to it and saute them until onions become translucent.
• Add the ginger-garlic to it and stir until its raw flavor is gone.
• Add the chopped tomatoes ,turmeric powder,chilli powder and biryani masala to it.Mix well.Stir well.Low the flame.Cover it to make the tomatoes soft and mixed well with all the powders.
• Once tomatoes are soft & mushy,remove the cover,add the boiled mixed vegetables, followed by cooked Quinoa to it and mix well.
• Finally add the tender fried squash ribbons to it and mix everything well.
• Add the salt as needed.
• Quinoa s ready.

To bake the spicy chicken drumsticks :-

• Pierce the drumsticks with a sharp knife all over (here & there) so that flavor gets infused in and out.Now,combine all the ingredients with 1 tablespoon oil in a big bowl and allow it to marinate for 30-1 hr approx in the refrigerator.
• Preheat oven to 350 degree F.
• Take a 9*13 baking pan and put the remaining oil and swirl to make sure the entire pan gets well coated.
• Now place the marinated chicken drumsticks with space in between.(Not crowded)
• Bake them at 375 degree F for about 35 minutes approx and then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degree F and turn the chicken drumsticks,onions,chillies and tomatoes,spray them with cooking oil lightly (don't do it directly in oven,it will be dangerous ,raher take out the pan carefully & spray outside the owen) .
• Bake them again for another 30 minutes or until the chicken is well cooked,juices run clear and is not pink anymore or use a cooking temperature which should show 165 degree F meaning cooked and ready to eat.

Note:

• Adjust the spices as per your spicy level.
• Use any spice mix . 
• How to make perfect Quinoa in 15 minutes 

That's it Quinoa filled with the goodness of mixed vegetable and squash with a spicy chicken-y kick is ready for my highness,King P.

Well, this humble daasi would like to take a leave now and let King P and Queen Q enjoy to the fullest.I don't want to be "Swaragthil katturrumbu (Malayalam)/Kabaab mein haddi (Hindi)/to play gooseberry".What say ??

All I say now ,Hail King P and Queen Q !!

 

P.S.Incase you mixed , Quinoa with raw papaya & red potato ,Quinoa with mixed vegetables,broccoli ,red bell pepper & scrambled egg , Quinoa Pilaf with baked spicy chicken ,

Almond Linzer thumbprint Oats cookies

 

 Life is too short to be sad,mad or bad but then it's life,it is like seawaves going up and down,sometimes we smile,sometimes we can't help but frown.However,when I see myself going to the bitter end,I come out with something that can recover,replenish and re-enforce sweetness back to my life .What I do ?Well,nothing hi-fi ..I always take the simpler yet effective route..(to my wonder kitchen),I make something sweet and when I bake something sweet,that is more fun ! and when it is cookies..it is like small pieces of heavens in every bite that sure has the magic to spin the mood for good(atleast for me) !!

With the extreme kindness of the king of my life(my better 1/2) & queen of all grains (Quinoa), as they are ruling the kingdom of health and well-being at my humble-royale abode these days,I, the CEO of this royale kitchen ,got the permission to bake something sweet but healthy... you see,there is always a catch ..every best-est things in this world comes with a price ...but then everything becomes more interesting, when it becomes more challenging and we are ready to take the plunge..Right ?

So,I baked these sweet edible healthy goodies ,Linzer cookies with thumbprints which has in fact ,got an Austrian influence .The name Linzer is derived from the word,Linz,the third largest city in Austria and recipe from one of their very popular tarty cake called Linzer torte . The dough used for the tarty cake,Linzer torte is a rich buttery dough with the crunchiness of dry nuts like Hazelnuts/almonds/pecans/walnuts etc and with the light jelly-ness of any Jams or preserves and Linzer cookies use the same dough which are cut into different shapes of cookies usually sandwiched with jams or simply with thumbprints of jams and covered with any nutty ingredient.

 Though this cookie may sound little hi-fi,the ingredients are surprisingly,easily available at most of the homes.Like any other cookies, within 30 minutes or so,we can whip up a batch of tasty homemade healthy cookies  to munch yummily and happily for days or weeks .

So,here is a Linzer cookie I made with Almonds and sugarfree blueberry jams with my challenge-the  healthy ingredients ,Oats .

Here is how I made this cookie with a healthy touch,

Almond Linzer Thumbprints Oats Cookies

Ingredients

Oats,ground - 1 cup

All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cups

Baking powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Cinnamon,ground- 1/2 teaspoon

Salt-1/4 teaspoon

Butter,unsalted (room temperature) - 1 cup/2 sticks

Oil-2 tablespoons

Yogurt - 1/2 cup

Brown sugar powdered- 3/4 cup

Egg,room temperature - 1 large

Almonds,chopped - 2 cups

Sugarfree blueberry jam - 1/2 cup

Method:

 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F.Line the bakiing sheets with parchment paper and keep it ready.
2. In a medium size bowl mix well the dry ingredients - oats,A.P.flour,baking powder,cinnamon and salt.Keep it aside.
3. Cream the butter,brown sugar in a large bowl by using a hand mixer/stand mixer -until light and fluffy,3 minutes approx (on medium-high speed).Beat in the egg.
4.  Lower  the speed of the mixer and gradually,add the above dry flour mixtures little by little into it,mixing until all just incorporated.
5. Keep the dough to rest for about 5- 10 minutes.
6. Roll the dough into 3/4 inch balls and cover each balls with chopped nuts.
7. Place the balls on to the baking sheet,about 2 inch apart.
8. With a floured finger,make indentations just in the center of each balls.
9. Fill each indentations of cookies with 1/2 teaspoon jam.
10. Bake them until the cookies are golden brown around the edges,12-15 minutes approx.
11. Allow them to cool on the sheet for 5 minutes,then transfer hem to a wire rack to cool off completely.

Note:

• You can replace oats to all purpose flour for the real taste of this linzer thumbprint cookies but with oats addition it still is quite tasty on another level.
• Oil and yogurt helps to make the dough with oats to come out more softer . 
• The best way to chop the nuts at home are using a large knife and chopping them carefully or by using a food processor,in which case add a tablespoon of flour or sugar to it so that it doesn't turn out to be a paste instead.
• You can use any sugar not necessarily brown sugar.
• Choice of nuts and jam/preserve are as per your wish.
• I got approx 60 cookies.

 

I love cookies and when it is infused with healthy ingredients,I love them the most.

We are one healthy and Sweet kingdom now !!

Hail King P and Queen Q !!

Eat,love,live Deliciously,

P.S.:Did you check my other more or less similar cookies like Spitzbuben Cookies  and Cookies with a red mole ?

WOW-Write a Letter to someone you miss the most this Diwali

[This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.]

This Diwali I miss my big bro the most ..as always........nowadays,it's all about whatsapp & other similar apps /instant messaging and I am glad Blogadda gave this topic ,I miss writing long letters and when I do it's like this............ A letter to my bhaijaan/big bro ...
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Dearest bhaiya,

Hope my letter finds you ,bhabhi and our cutie baby,paimol hale and hearty.Here we are also by God's grace doing well.

Bhaiya,today I am missing you a lot as Diwali is going on and today is bhai-dooj.It's been years we celebrated this festival together.I am wondering when we'll be able to celebrate it once again with loads of masti in person.I hope someday soon.Till then I'll as usual reminisce and rekindle the fun filled memories we had in the past.Hai na?

Bhaiya,remember ,when we were small,how our sweet neighbor,Bengali aunty used to arrange the puja thali filled with sweets,chandan,fruits etc as amma didn't have any clue how exactly to celebrate this festival .I and our Jhilli rani would force you to the puja room and instead of worshiping God we would directly do aarthi of you and aunty would be lol-ing and would say out loud,"arrey pehle bhagwaan ko khush karlo phir bhaiya ko karna."We would do it in a hurry,you would have two tilaks on your head and we both lil sisters would be giggling and then you would put those big ladoos in our mouth and again we'll be fighting and teasing each other.And when you think you are done and before you plan to run,we would demand "Chalo chalo paisa nikalo/Cash time bhaiya" and as kanjoos makhichoos you were and are hehee,you would give us both Rs.5 each and say,"Jaa aish kar !!" .

However,you never learned how stubborn and goal-oriented we both were.Jhilli was laid back and so I had to work extra hard to compel you to pay us an hefty amount with a warning ,"Do or die".Eventually,amma ,aunty and papa would sniff the chaos in disguise and dad would jump to light up the situation and hand over Rs.100 to you and aunty would give you Rs.200 .But before you would even touch it and change your mind,we would snatch and run for our life chanting,"Happy Bhaidooj" la la laaaaaa....How we loved this festival ?

As we grew up you changed for good,you used to save your pocket money especially for gifting us on such occasions, without any hesitation.I remember every Diwali,even though I would only use sparklers ,I would order you to buy all kinds of crackers and you happily obliged .Even when you were busy lighting up those big crackers ,you would keep your eye on me, if I am safe.I miss you every Diwali,every festival we celebrated together with maa and paa.

I just want to say that even if I don't say this often,even though we are miles apart,you'll always remain in my heart not only as a big bro but also as my best friend/next to paa & maa --through thick and thin.Thanks a lot for all your support,love,understanding and you mean a lot to me.I am proud of you in every way always no matter what.I'll always be there for you as you are.

Like everyday,I am praying to almighty to bestow all his blessings to you and your family.May you get peace,prosperity,good health ,wealth and loads of happiness wherever you are,whatever you do.God bless you .Amen! .

Since I am such a good sister and for all those good words above,you can definitely send me a hefty commission later ;D.Like a good bro,hope you will be not be kanjoos and do the needful ;)...heheh..just kidding bhaiya...I pray to almighty ,may the sacred bond we share always get stronger and stronger by each day and may I always get your precious blessings ,love & guidance.

You are such a wonderful brother and moreover,a very good human being at heart.I love you.I miss you.Happy Diwali wishes and happy bhaidooj !!

Convey my sweet wishes to chechi and paimol.Hope Paikutty is enjoying her new school.You all take care and enjoy.

Rest in next.

Yours loving sis,
Manju mol