Chicken with black bean wrapped with bacon in a creamy blue cheese and chive sauce

Ques: I have Danish blue cheese in my fridge lying around which I want to cook with, but I have no recipe for the same. I remember an article you published on wine and some preparation using blue cheese. Can you please let me know which issue that was in? Or give me a recipe you consider the best for blue cheese.

Limesh Misal, by email.

Ans: Here is one we have picked for you from our archives. Go for it!

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts, de-boned; 1 packet bacon
2 tbsps black bean sauce; 1 tbsp honey
1 tsp garlic; 1 tbsp oil
Blue Cheese Sauce; 50 gm of blue cheese
1 packet of cream; ½ glass white wine
juice of one lemon; 1 tbsp honey
chopped chives; Blend all ingredients.

Method:
Marinate chicken with black bean garlic oil and honey for at least one hour. Wrap bacon around chicken and grill or sauté tiff done.
Remove chicken and add blended ingredients for the sauce to pan for a few minutes. Season with salt. Add pepper.
Add chicken to sauce and serve.

Undhiyu

Ques: Where in Surat will I be able to get the Undhiyu prepared in the authentic traditional style?

Ashok Mehta, Mumbai

Ans: Quite honestly you will get it only in home kitchens of Surat. So all we can offer you is a good recipe...

Ingredients:
1 kg surti papdi; 400 gm papdi dana small
300 gm brinjal; 500 gm shakariya
500 gm potato, medium size
1 kg sweet potato; 6 raw banana
Stuffing for sambhar:
400 gm coconut; 400 gm coriander
300 gm tur dana; dhania jeera
turmeric and salt to taste

Method :
Peel all the vegetables and cut them into pieces. Peel and clean papdi Mix all sambhar masala for stuffing and keep it aside. Cut banana, potato and brinjal from between half and stuff the sambhar masala in it. Now mix other vegetables with it and apply sufficient sambhar in it.
In a big vessel take oil, hing and add papdi plus papdi dana in it. Stir it little and add all other veggies except banana then stir it and sprinkle some water with eating soda on it. Stir it again lightly and at last add the banana and allow it to cook for 10 minutes.
Before serving, garnish with coconut and coriander.
All the vegetables should remain whole. And their colour should be green, so take care of it.

Chilli Mountain Chicken

Ques: I love Chinese food and I think Ming Yang at Taj Lands End is the best in Mumbai. I recently ate some fantastic chicken there. It was dry and fried in lots of tiny, red chillis. You think I can get the recipe?

Shahina Khan, Daman

Ans: It´s called Chilli Mountain Chicken and Chef David is indeed a very good chef. It is quite simple to prepare this dish but only if you are adept at cooking. So go ahead, do it with a flourish!

Ingredients:
500 gm chicken cubed
2 eggs
50 gm bor chillies
salt, ajinomoto, chilli oil, sesame seeds
rice wine, pepper according to personal taste

Method:
Chicken cubes, marinated with salt, egg, ajinomoto and dusted with cornflour to be crispy fried. Sautéed in chilli oil with Szechwan pepper and bor chillies. Add sesame seeds and rice wine.
The finished dish is completely dry resembling small mountains placed together.

Accompaniments:
Hot garlic sauce and sweet and sour sauce.

Method for Sweet and Sour Sauce
Add oil, tomato sauce, sugar, salt, vinegar (black).
Add corn flour to make it thick.

Method for Hot Garlic Sauce
Chop garlic and ginger. Add it to chilli paste, tomato sauce, soy sauce, salt, MSG and sugar. Add chopped spring onions.
Add corn flour to make it thick.

Pasta with Green Vegetables and Saffron Cream

Ques: I am an absolute saffron freak. I collect unusual recipes which have this ingredient in it. Can you help me with one? Vegetarian, please.

Renuka Singh, Chandigarh

Ans: Your request did not specify the cuisine, but here is an Italian one. Unusual, for sure.

Ingredients:
450gm fresh tagliarini or tagliatelle, salt, 25gm butter
freshly ground pepper, crushed dried chillies, freshly grated Parmesan cheese
For the vegetable garnish: 1 bunch fresh asparagus, tough stems removed, cut into segments and blanched, 16 sugarsnap peas, blanched
16 mangetouts, blanched; 16 broccoli florets, steamed; 100gm fresh peas
2-4 small courgettes, cut into thin rounds; 50gm butter
1 thin slice cooked ham; ½ vegetable stock cube; 150ml cold water
For the Saffron Cream
1 x 400ml tub crème fraîche; ½ - 1 packet saffron threads
½ vegetable stock cube, crumbled; 4-6 tbsp cooking water from pasta
Freshly ground pepper; crushed dried chillies

Method:
To prepare the Vegetable Garnish: In a large frying pan, combine the blanched asparagus segments, sugarsnap peas, mangetouts, steamed broccoli florets, fresh peas and thin courgette rounds. Add the butter, cooked ham (for flavour), crumbled vegetable stock cube and cold water and bring rapidly to the boil. Then turn down the heat and simmer for a few more minutes until the vegetables are crisp-tender. Remove the slice of ham and discard; it has served its purpose. Turn off the heat, drain the vegetables and keep them warm in the pan.

To cook the Pasta: Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil, add the tagliarini or tagliatelle (or pasta ribbons of your choice) and cook for 3 to 5 minutes (for fresh pasta), 7 to 11 minutes (for dry pasta) until al dente: just tender, but not overcooked. While the pasta is cooking, prepare the saffron cream. When the pasta is ready, drain and reserve, keeping a little of the pasta water to soften the saffron cream.

To prepare the Saffron Cream: In a small saucepan, combine the crème fraîche, saffron threads, crumbled vegetable stock cube and 4 to 6 tablespoons of the cooking water from the pasta. Cook over a medium heat, stirring until the sauce is heated through. Season to taste with freshly ground pepper and crushed dried chillies, and continue to simmer the sauce over a very low heat until the sauce is thick and creamy.

To Assemble the Dish and Serve: In a large clean saucepan, melt the butter. Add the drained pasta, season to taste with salt, freshly ground pepper and crushed dried chillies and cook over a high heat, stirring constantly, until the pasta is heated through. Transfer the pasta to a heated serving bowl. Strain the saffron cream sauce over the pasta and garnish with the colourful, buttery vegetables. Serve immediately with an accompanying bowl of freshly grated Parmesan.