April 2016 - Page 2 of 4 - Gunter Wilhelm-

Chilli chicken dry & gravy

Ingredients

Oil for deep frying

marination

250 grams boneless chicken

1 ½ tsp. chilli sauce

1 ½ tsp. soya sauce

¼ tsp pepper powder

2 to 3 tbsp. corn flour (1 tbsp. more optional)

2 to 3 tbsp. plain flour / Maida (optional use to get a restaurant style chicken)

¼ tsp. red chili powder

Salt little

Seasoning

1 ½ tsp. soya sauce

1 tsp. chili sauce (you can substitute with ketchup)

½ tsp. red chilli powder

¾ to 1 tsp. vinegar

½ tsp. sugar

Veggies

1 medium onion thinly sliced or cubed

2 tsps garlic chopped

¼ to ½ cup cubed bell pepper / capsicum

1 to 2 green chilies slit and seeded

1 sprig of spring onion chopped (optional)

4 to 5 leaves of celery chopped finely (optional)

Spring onions for garnish

Instructions

Marinate chicken with chili sauce, soya sauce & pepper powder. Set aside until you prepare the rest. At least for 45 minutes. 2 hours is best. Meanwhile you could chop your onions, bell pepper and make the sauce ready for seasoning.

Sprinkle corn flour, plain flour (optional) on the chicken along with salt and mix well. If you like to have your chicken coated with crunchy flour like we get in restaurants, then use 1 more tbsp. corn flour and 2 tbsp. plain flour. Add chili powder. If you wish to use egg, you can add it now. Mix well.

Add chill powder or paprika and mix again.

Heat oil in a pan and deep or shallow fry till the chicken is done. Keep stirring to fry evenly. Do not over fry, it tends to turn hard. It can also be grilled at 240 C for 20 to 25 minutes in a preheated oven.

Prepare the sauce . Add soy sauce, chili sauce, red chili powder, vinegar and ½ tsp sugar to a bowl and mix well.

Remove off excess oil from the pan, just keep 2 spoons oil in the pan. Add garlic fry for about a min, add onions, capsicum, spring onions, and celery and green chilies and fry till they turn slightly soft for about a minute or so.

Add chill powder or paprika and mix again.

Add the fried chicken, Mix well. If the chicken looks dry, sprinkle little water. Saute on high flame for 2 to 3 minutes

Gunter Wilhelm

April 20, 2016

General Knife Sharpening Instructions

Sharpening a knife is sometimes perceived as the most difficult knife care task; and it probably is. Modern stainless steel is very hard and, when sharpened properly, will hold a good edge for a very long time. When sharpening a knife you must have a high quality sharpener that features a rough stock removal surface (preferably diamond abrasive) and a finishing surface of hard stone or ceramic abrasive. The diamond and ceramic materials will cut away the steel on the blade’s cutting surface easily as these materials are harder than steel. A hard stone will also perform this task, but the stone is only slightly harder than the steel and so this requires more effort on your part.

Most times, simply using kitchen steel on your cutlery will be sufficient. See instructions below.

Remember, Keep your knife sharpened — a dull blade can be more dangerous than a properly maintained one.

Sharpening with a Steel

When a knife is used, the edge eventually becomes dull. The edge will turn either to the left or right side depending on how you hold your knife when cutting. Quality knives with high carbon/molybdenum/vanadium alloy have elasticity and can easily be re-aligned by a sharpening steel. Do not use a diamond-coated steel or a pull-through manual or electric sharpening device for maintaining the edge. These devices will destroy your turned edge. They can be used to sharpen, but not for maintenance.

Place the knife blade against the tip of the sharpening steel at an angle of approximately 20 degrees. Pull the knife down and across the steel, describing a slight arc. Repeat this action on the back of the steel to sharpen the other side of the blade. Repeat steps 2 and 3 five to ten times, alternating the left and right side of the blade. It is very important to maintain the angle of 20 degrees and to run the full length of the cutting edge along the steel from the hilt to the tip of the knife. Speed of movement plays no part in this process.

Gunter Wilhelm

April 18, 2016

Dry Manchurian

INGREDIENTS

To Make Manchurian Balls

Cabbage 3 cup
All purpose flour 1 cup
Corn flour 1/2 cup
Soya sauce 1 1/2 tbsp
Rice 1/2 cup, boiled
Oil 4 cups for deep frying
Salt 1 1/2 tsp or to taste

To Make Manchurian Gravy

Capsicum 1/2 cup
Green chilies 1 tsp
Ginger 1 tbsp
Garlic 2 tbsp
Onion 1/2 cup
Spring Onion 2 tbsp
Tomato Ketchup 2 tbsp
Oil 1 tbsp
Salt 1/2 tsp or to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Making Dry Manchurian Balls

Let the rice gets boiled. You can also use Microwave to boil the rice.

Wash and grate the cabbage as shown here. Instead of chopping if we grate the cabbage it tends to be cut uniformly there by making it easy to roll manchurian balls.

In the grated cabbage add boiled rice. Here for 3 cups of grated cabbage I have used just 1/2 cups of boiled rice. So adjust the serving accordingly.

Now add all purpose flour (aka Maida) and corn flour in cabbage mixture. Add salt to taste. Go little easy on salt as we are going to add soya sauce which is a bit salty. We can always adjust the salt once we prepare the mixture.

Pour some Soya sauce now on top of corn flour and maida. This should give nice flavor to Manchurian and also act as binding agent.

I have not added any water in this mixture as once we start needing, the cabbage should ooze out moisture that will bind the mixture. Mix it well using hand or with the help of spoon.

Now take small portion of cabbage mixture in hand and gently press and make Manchurian balls as shown below. Do the same for remaining mixture and make small balls.

Now heat oil in a deep frying pan / kadhai. Once the oil is hot enough one by one drop all the Manchurian balls in hot oil and deep fry them.

Using a deep fry strainer mesh / zara spoon keep on stirring the Manchurian balls till they are fried all sides. Fry the Manchurian balls until they get light brown in color.

Once Manchurian balls are fried remove them from oil and place them in a dish. You can use kitchen towel / paper napkin to soak extra oil from the balls.

Manchurian balls are ready. Let us now make the dry Manchurian semi gravy.

Making Dry Manchurian Sauce / Gravy

Now to make dry Manchurian gravy / sauce (semi gravy) we will need following ingredients. Slice off the green capsicum as shown here and also slice some onions. Also use some spring onion and chop the green part as shown here. For dry Manchurian we will use lots of garlic and ginger. Peel off the garlic and chop into pieces. Similarly grate the ginger. You can also use ginger & green chili paste.

In a non-stick pan heat oil and add garlic and ginger. Saute for a minute till garlic starts releasing aroma.

Now throw in the sliced onion and greens of spring onion. Mix well using spatula.

Let onions get cooked for just half a minute or so. We need that raw bite to it. Now throw in the sliced green capsicum.

Mix well and cook for half a minute. Add soya sauce in Manchurian gravy mixture now.

Now prepare corn flour mixture by mixing corn flour in 2 tbsp of water. Add this corn flour mixture in dry Manchurian sauce.

Mix well and let the gravy gets cooked not more then a minute. Season the gravy with some salt to taste.

Add some tomato ketchup in the gravy.

The sauce is ready. Throw in the Manchurian balls that we made earlier in the sauce.

Give a quick stir and the dry Manchurian is ready.

Mouth watering dry Manchurian is ready to serve.

Serve Dry Manchurian as starter / snack / appetizer dish in birthday parties, get together, kitty parties etc 🙂 Also you can serve fried rice with Manchurian for dinner.

Gunter Wilhelm

April 15, 2016

Three Steps to Choosing the Best Color for your Kitchen

Choosing the right kitchen colors isn’t just about finding the colors you’re going to like for the next few weeks; it’s about finding the perfect colors that you’re going to love for years to come. After all, you can’t change colors on your kitchen countertops, flooring or appliances without costing yourself big bucks in the process. Be sure to get the best colors for your soon to be built, remodeled or renovated kitchen space by using employing the following three tips to your kitchen design.

Get a Color Wheel
A color wheel is a small colored circle with pie-like wedges carved out evenly around the circle in twelve individual multi-colored pieces. Each pie slice represents a particular color in the natural color spectrum. Print one out online or pick one up for pennies at your local paint store.
Primary colors (red, yellow and blue), secondary colors (a combination of primary colors) and the tertiary colors (a combination of secondary and primary colors) are represented on the color wheel, and the way they are placed can allow you to instantly choose a matching or contrasting color for any other color on the color disc.

First created by Isaac Newton in 1672, the color wheel is the definitive chart for color theory—in essence, as light gets broken into a spectrum, it becomes a rainbow and that’s exactly the colors the color chart represents. By using it as described below, you can easily find the perfect matching color—or contrasting colors—for your kitchen.

Pick Three Colors
Choosing three colors is an important way to design any space—not just the kitchen. It’s easy if you start by choosing your favorite kitchen color. The favorite color you first chose will be the main color in the kitchen. Researching colored countertops from Caesar stone can really help to make a big difference when choosing a main color theme.

Next, choose a color next to your favorite color. The color next to the favorite color on the color chart will be the trim color in your kitchen.
Finally, choose a color directly across from your favorite color on the color chart. This color directly across from your favorite color on your color chart will be the accent color. It’s a small part of the bigger picture called color theory and once you have this basic part of it down pat, you’ll be a master at choosing colors for your kitchen.

Test Samples
You’re going to want to go down to the paint store and pick through the thousands of paint swatches until you find the perfect shade of the three colors you picked off of the color chart—and get a small sample of each. Don’t be afraid to pick out as many as you need. The more paint swatches you choose, the more choices you’ll be eliminating.

While you’re at the store, pick up a few poster boards or cardboard boxes and paint these with the paint samples. This way, you’ll be able to move around the test colors in your kitchen and see just how you like the look. Once you’re satisfied with the test results, you can move on to the final step—picking out the colors for your kitchen countertops, cabinets, flooring, walls and appliances.

Gunter Wilhelm

April 14, 2016

Hot Ham & Cheese Party Rolls

Ingredients

1 can Pillsbury™ refrigerated Classic Pizza Crust
¾ lb deli ham (thinly sliced, but not shaved)
12 slices Swiss cheese (thinly sliced)

Glaze

½ cup (8 tablespoons) butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon poppy seeds

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9×13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
Unroll the pizza dough onto a cutting board and press into approximately a 13×18-inch rectangle.

Top with ham and cheese slices. Starting on the longer side of the rectangle, roll up the edge tightly.

When you reach the end, pinch the seam together and flip the roll so that the seam is face down.

Cut into 12 slices, approximately 1-inch wide. Arrange in prepared baking dish.

Next combine the butter, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and poppy seeds in a sauce pan over medium heat. Whisk until the butter is melted and the glaze is smooth and combined.