Re: Cooking - The beginners guide ..
Wow! CB.. I needed a thread like this 
Yes reeba … when you are using mixed paste , use two teaspoons of it … though in my personal experience I have always felt that khana tastes better with separate ginger and garlic paste …
you might wanna buy them separately next time ..
Rainy, aajo medaan mein… lets start cooking ..
time-consuming, I know. But always try to use freshly roasted and ground spices instead of store-bought ones. WORLD of a difference.
I feel that if I marinate the meat/chicken with ginger/garlic paste and leave it overnight and make the 'salan' the next day.. the 'salan' turns out better.
That's what I/we do in our house too.
Re: Cooking - The beginners guide ..
For all the beginner chefs out there (such as myself): Please go and make Mama’s Tandoori Chicken (it is a recipe that can be found on the portal here). It is sooooo easy to make and comes out extremely delicious. 
I was actually shocked by how easy the recipe was!
The only thing I did different was that I also made some “Tandoori Vegetables” to go along with my chicken 
I used green, red, and yellow bell peppers and onions. I marinated these in the same Tandoori mixture that I made for the chicken. Marination was for 24 hours.
You are supposed to broil the chicken for 15 mins and then flip it and broil for 15 more minutes. After the first 15 minutes, I removed the vegetables … that is all they needed to cook. Some of the onions had already started to burn a tad tad bit.
Another thing I did different was along with making slits in the chicken, I also used a fork to pierce holes in the chicken all over. This is a trick I always use that I got from my mamma. The flavor of the inside of the chicken is really enhanced by this.
Here are pics of the tandoori chicken I made today! Being a beginner I am quite proud of it. LOL
*A golden tip once again : *
When yoghurt is added directly into the salan , it can leave some tiny white bits in the salan .. therefore to get it properly mixed in the salan, pour it in a bowl, then add about one tablespoon oil , blend it really really well and then add it to the salan ....
Thank you sooo much for this tip.. I needed it :-)
Re: Cooking - The beginners guide ..
I always wanted to know...does it really make a difference to the taste of the salan how you chop your onions? all the aunties I know cut them in really long shapes which grr i cant do ...
Re: Cooking - The beginners guide ..
OK, someone post a basic salan recipe...like let's say you want to make basic mutton salan..like curry. Say you have 1 lb mutton. Now tell the number of onions, etc... and the cooking method.
....
also to make cooking more easy you get ready made lassan and garlic paste and fried onions - although i have never used them they might help you. ( so next time your watching starplus and zee pay attention to all those song like adverts on spices , onions , chawal , atta and besan hahahahaha )
good luck .
Thanks for the tips. :)
haha and yea i will try and pay more attention to the commercials LOL
Sara, yes , its shocking ,how huge the difference in taste occurs with the way you cut your onions …
sliced ones , which ultimately get mashed into the salan are the best ones …
Second best are the coarsely chopped ones ..
Third choice will be machine blended onion paste
And when you blend onion paste along with ginger and garlic , a totally different taste comes out …
I used to do machine blend and would use a fine paste , but then stopped coz that killed the salan taste .. so now i use coarsly chopped onion ( I just give the machine a single run and thats enough ) …
CB u r just like me...but i give 2-3 runs in chopper for the onions and they make a perfect masala for me...not onions but tomatoes as well sometimes together and sometimes separately and yeah i have made a paste of ginger and garlic in blender ...dat was ok as well but when it finished i used the chopper to finelyyyyyyyyy chop both ginger and garlic and really chopper is a blessing...blender makes and is perfect for only smoothies but chopper is really gr8 for proper handi masala from onions and tomatoes!!!
Re: Cooking - The beginners guide ..
uetian i do that too … I mean i do them individually … Like onions one run , mine is a very sharp blade and two runs totally turns everything into paste 
.. so i have to be extra careful.
and the tomatoes too .. I feel the salan comes out better when the tomatoes have already been blended in the machine …I have never liked putting chunks of tomatoes in the salan ..dont know why …
and i put ginger and garlic in the chopper too for a quick run …
and perfect masala is ready … 
chalo CB muje achi c mutton karahi ki recipe btao i have to make this on friday lunch..so come onnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!! luv xxx
Re: Cooking - The beginners guide ..
mutton I am not a big fan of it .. we mostly get lamb here … and its been ages since i made it … khair give me sometime i will come back and write my ages old recipe , but cant promise that its the best one … abi bi chaiye? 
Re: Cooking - The beginners guide ..
CB thanks soooo much for this thread although im not a new cook
their is a few good tips that we could pick up here!!
PUNJABIROSE >> Your tandoori chicken take with the veggies luks gawjus 
will defo try it !!!
Re: Cooking - The beginners guide ..
wow CB..thanks,this is an awesome thread...good going guys!
i am literally a beginner,i think iv only cooked once or twice and that too some 8 years ago,with friends..im gettn married in july IA,n my fiance is soo fond of food,n i know nothing!!and my mother is ready to tech me but she gets so impatient,n starts telling me that all the girls in the world know how to cook,n i have been spoilt by my dad etc etc..so bottom-line,i dnt know anything,and need all the help.
iv read the thread,but im just scared to try esp coz my brothers have so many nakhray!
just wanted to know the tandoori chicken dish u mentiones first,do we make the masala as u have written and then add the chicken n cook it,or do we amke the masala,add the chicken n add all the spices etc again n cook it??its a stupid question but i have no clue..
and is the basic masala the base for anything i make?like chicken,veg,daal etc
GOD!!y do girls have to cook!help!!
Re: Cooking - The beginners guide ..
Princess 
… the first rule of cooking : practice makes you perfect .. so if they are making faces , let them …
The basic masala recipe that i mentioned at the start of the thread is basic for most salans … with some changes … dont confuse the tandoori one with it …
Lets do this , tell me what you want to cook , and I will take you through the minute details of that dish … theek hai ?
Re: Cooking - The beginners guide ..
aww thanks CB..ur a star :)
well,i dnt know where to start from myself..i just want to know the basics first,like simple chicken,daal,n veg(i luv vegetables)..i have made mince once,so can remember bit of it..
emm..my fiance likes everything made of chicken,n grilled chicken (y do guys have to be so fond of food!!i can survive on almost anything!)
shall we start with some chicken thing?thats the only thing we actually eat at home..
n about practice..well iv got 4 months till i get married,but i work full time,n only have the weekend off or a random off day at times..so will i be able to learn everything in such short time??
guess wat,i tried to make roti today(after listeninf that every girl knows everything!)it was round,but it was kind of hard..wat did i do wrong with it?my mums going away for 2 weeks,n i want to know everything before she is back,it'll be kind of a surprise :)
thanks again dear :)
Ok Malika here you go :
Its called *BBQ chicken ... *
Just take about 500g chicken ... ( it can be more than that no issues at all )
now in a blender add all of the following: 2 chopped onions one teaspoon garlic paste or four cloves of garlic One teaspoon ginger paste or an inch of fresh ginger One and a half teaspoon salt One teaspoon red chilli powder one teaspoon garam masala 4-5 green chillies and half cup water .
Now blend this into a very fine mixture ... and pour it on the chicken .... Leave it to marinate in the fridge for an hour or two.
Then add half cup of fresh single cream ( you can easily get that from the market , usually they are in the same aisle as cheese and milk ) into the chicken ....
Now heat a pan .. put in about half cup oil .. and let it become heated ... it will take about a minute .. then add the chicken mixture into the oil ... let it be on high heat for five minutes ... stand next to it and keep stirring.
After five minutes reduce the fire to the minimum, cover the pot and let it be .. stir it only after every 15 minutes ... it needs to cook for 40 minutes ....
After 40 minutes you will notice , oil coming on top and the chicken cooked ( just check with a fork. the chicken should be really soft ) .... now start heating a piece of coal on a separate hob..
Just use a tong to hold the piece of coal and hold it over your hob fire for a good 15 minutes ... then carefully place a cup in the center of the chicken salan ... put this coal in the cup and quickly pour two tablespoons oil on the coal. then cover the pot asap . now put off the flame ... and let it remain for a good half hour .. dont uncover the pot during this time. The coal steam will get mixed in the salan ....
Finally remove the cup and serve the chicken BBQ with rice /naan ..
Now incase there is an emergency , like the salan sticks ( which it wont ) then add no more then quarter of a cup of water .... but usually no water is used in this dish ...
Princess , try this recipe , its really really easy and very tasty .... once you have made this one , then we will make chicken the karahi way ... but for now try this recipe .. if you dont have a certain ingredient please tell me before hand ...
Re: Cooking - The beginners guide ..
hey thanks..ill try this one over the weekend..emm,do i have to add cream?i dnt like the cream,it makes me sick.