The Resident Cook - Dahi Murg (Chicken with a curd marinade)

Ingredients:-
1 Kilo Chicken
2 table spoons of ground pepper (pepper powder)
100 grams of curd
2 tea spoons of ginger garlic paste
2 tea spoons of salt
1 diced onion
2 cardamom pods
2 cinnamon sticks
5 cloves
2 table spoons of refined oil

Method
For the Marinade
1) Mix the chicken with the curd,pepper and salt in a bowl
2) Keep the marinade in the refrigerator for 2 hours

3) Now heat oil in a vessel
4) Add the ginger garlic paste and wait till it turns slightly brown
5) To this add cardamom,the cinnamon sticks and cloves.
6) Add the diced onions and wait for them to turn brown
7) To this add the chicken marinade.
8) Cook on a slow flame for 1 hour (cover the vessel with its lid) and your dahi murg is ready to serve
9) The gravy in the chicken would turn thick.
10) Serve with basmati rice or roti's

The Resident Cook-Mango short cake

Mango Short cake (Very simple)

Ingredients
2 Alphonso Mangoes. In fact any mangoes would do:)
Half a glass of milk
Whipped cream.Normal cream would do wonders as well,but make sure it is thick.
Half a kilo of white sponge cake (preferably round shaped)
2 table spoons full of sugar

Method

1) Add to the milk three table spoons of sugar and mix well
2) Cut the mangoes into small cubes
3) Slice the cake lengthwise ,since you will be putting cream and mangoes in the middle and on top of the cake
4) Place first the bottom layer of the cake in a glass bowl.5) Moist the cake with the mixture of milk and sugar.Do this so that the cake is not dry when you eat it.People generally use sugar syrup.I prefer milk with sugar:)
6) Then cover the cake with the cut mangoes.
7) Pour cream on top of the cake and the mangoes
8) Place then the other layer of the cake on the bottom layer and repeat the same steps .i.e moist the cake,cover with mangoes and then cream
9) Garnish the upper layer of the cake with sliced mangoes pieces.
10) Chill in the refrigerator for 45 minutes.
11) Your mango short cake is then ready to eat

The Resident Cook-Jeera Pulav

JEERA PULAV (Serves two)
 Ingredients
 1 table spoon of ginger garlic paste
 2 cinnamon sticks
 2 tea spoons of jeera (cumin seeds)
 1 bay leaf
 5 cloves 1 diced onion
 3 table spoons of refined oil
 2 cups of rice
 2 tea spoons of salt
 4 cups of water ( always double the amount of rice you take)  

 Method
 Soak the rice in water before you start. Soak for 30 minutes
1) Heat the oil in a vessel
2) Add the ginger garlic paste and wait till it turns slightly brown
3) To this add the jeera and the bay leaf and wait till the jeera begins to pop
4) Add the diced onions and wait for them to turn brown
5) Add 4 cups of water & two spoons of salt and wait till the water begins to boil
6) Drain the water,the rice is soaked in and add 2 cups of rice to the boiling water
7) Cook for 25 minutes Your jeera pulav is ready when holes begin to appear at the surface of the rice and the water is completely absorbed

 Veg pulav can be made by the similar method.instead of using jeera you can use diced carrots,beans and peas.Make sure you boil the vegetables first:)