The Bold N the Beautiful –Chicken Schnitzel

The Charm of a Crispy Chicken Schnitzel with lime zest, Cardamom, Cinnamon with Sweet Chili Garlic Sauce and Wasabi Yogurt Raita 

Let’s utter the truth in the first sentence- a chicken schnitzel is intoxicating, exciting, amazing. If you have never tried this before, it can change the way you eat chicken after you eat this, let me assure you that. It will make you fall in love with it from the first bite, it will take control of your mind and make you cook this again n again- well fair enough-especially when it tastes this good n rather easy to cook, just remember the magic sequence- flour-egg-breadcrumbs.

The chicken schnitzel is a chicken cutlet, schnitzel is the German word for cutlet, the term is applied to chicken or meat that is coated in bread n fried until crispy and there lies the magic apart from the flavor- it is the crispy texture of the food that is so appealing to us, the bread coating with the egg beneath it- gets crispy n flavorsome in the process of frying and the chicken inside stays soft n juicy- this is the kind of food which makes my eyes closed when I’m eating them- you know what I mean…bliss.

Now you know me, I love to incorporate flavor in my food n I have not got very straight hands even when cooking a traditional recipe, I will eventually modify it. Thankfully there is no set recipe for chicken schnitzel, I mean there is but it’s flexible and almost in every country we will find food in this structure. Here in this part of India I grew up eating chicken culet n chicken Kobiraji cutlet all the time, so it is kinda in my genes. By the way let me tell you that chicken Kobiraji cutlet is a cutlet covered with crispy egg all around it n it is total fried heaven.

So talking about flavor, I begin by marinating the chicken breast overnight with lime juice, minced ginger n garlic, dry rosemary, sliced red chili, a touch of salt n sugar, if you have skipped overnight marination, give it 2-3 hours. Marination does help in two ways, first it incorporates flavor into the flesh, second it makes the chicken soft because the lime juice is an acid so it starts breaking down the protein molecules slowly, and as the result of marination the chicken breast stays soft n juicy n flavorful when being fried. So I would normally never skip marination but if you have got no time at all… you can skip it.

The second stage of flavors come after I make the chicken breast go thin with a meat hammer, you need a meat hammer to beat the chicken breast until it goes quite thin like 1/2 cm in thickness or a little more, you can also do this with a heavy rolling pin, you have to place the chicken breast inside a zip lock bag or between two plastic sheets or like I do it-directly over my chopping board.

Once the breast have been flattened to uniform thickness I sprinkle the roasted black pepper, green cardamom, cinnamon powder over it and it is ready for getting coated in breadcrumbs.

It is a very good idea to make your own breadcrumbs; the flavors are far more better than if you use store-bought breadcrumbs. I take a day or two old white bread, on a flat thick pan I toast the bread over medium low heat until it gets light brown, then take them off the heat n then blend them in a blender or food processor until it is crumbly n I don’t make it go smooth, neither will you.

I love raita, the tang of the yogurt goes well with the crispy rich schnitzel, in my raita I have introduced the sweet pungency of Japanese Wasabi- it gives raita a new flavor dimension, in the raita you can also add chopped cucumber along with red onion n tomatoes.

Another sauce that is just so good to eat with the schnitzel is the sweet chili garlic sauce, the heat from the red chili, the sweetness, the touch of vinegar- I tell you it’s mouth-watering with the schnitzel n it takes just 7 minutes to make it, that’s all.

But let’s just say you don’t wanna make any sauce, you know what! Tomato ketchup…oh yes, break apart your schnitzel n dip them in the thick tomato sauce n I don’t know what to say again. The schnitzel is just very good on its own, I love it hot n cold equally, and so will you, I love to carry these kinda food to your workplace or on a journey, so now I will take you to the recipe.

For The Recipe: You will need

For the Schnitzel:

Chicken Breast- 1 about 250 gm, made boneless

Egg-1 big

Breadcrumb- made from 2 big slices of white bread which is about 1 cup

Flour- 3-5 tbsp

Garlic-1 small clove

Ginger- ½ inch

Lime juice-juice from ½ a lime

Lime zest- from 1 lime

Rosemary- A pinch

Green cardamom-1, slightly roasted n powdered

Cinnamon-1 inch piece, slightly roasted n powdered

Black pepper- ½ tbsp, slightly roasted n powdered

Red chili powder- a pinch

Salt –to taste

Sugar- a pinch

Vegetable oil- soybean/sunflower oil to shallow fry, about 1 ½ cup

For the Sweet Chili Garlic Sauce:

Red chili fresh-1

Red chili dry-1

Garlic clove- 2, finely chopped

Rice Vinegar- 4 tbsp

Sugar- 1 tbsp

Water- 4 tbsp

Salt- a pinch

For the Wasabi Raita :

Yogurt- 5 tbsp

Red onion- ½ medium, chopped

Tomato- ½, chopped

Green chili-1 sliced

Curry leaves- leaves from 1 stalk

Mustard seeds- ½ tsp

Wasabi paste- ½ tbsp

Sugar- ¼ tsp

Salt –to taste

Pink rock salt- a pinch

1. First of all take a boneless chicken breast and marinate it with lime juice, lime zest, minced garlic n ginger, dry rosemary, a pinch of salt n a pinch of sugar, keep it overnight, covered in a plastic container preferably n not in a metal container, if you have forgotten to do it before give it 3 hours to marinate.

2. For making the breadcrumbs, place the bread on a flat tawa/pan on medium low heat, and  make them go light brown in color which will take about 6/8 minutes on medium low flame, then put them off the pan, after they cool down a bit, tear them n place them in a blender n blend them until they get uniformly crumbled n small in size, we don’t want a smooth powder, so work carefully, we still want small size granules of bread in the final texture.

3. To make the sweet chili garlic sauce, place all the ingredients in a pan over medium low heat n simmer for about 8-10 minutes until it thickens a bit, that’s all.

4. To make the wasabi raita, whisk the yogurt until it is smooth, season with salt, sugar, pink rock salt, then add onion, tomato n green chili n wasabi paste, mix well. In a frying pan take 1 tsp of oil n when the oil is hot add the mustard seeds, as they pop add the curry leaves and remove from fire, add this whole thing into the yogurt n mix well, set aside.

5. After marinating place the breast on a chopping board or between two plastic sheets and with a meat hammer or heavy rolling pin beat the breast to flatten n thin it uniformly, so start beating first in the middle portion where the breast is thick and work outwards. Don’t beat it fiercely though but firmly, have a look while you are beating at which parts are getting thinner quickly, so you need to avoid those places so that it stays uniformly thick, finally the breast will tenderize n expand in size, you want a thickness of ½ cm all across.

6. Season the flat breast with salt n the powdered cardamom, cinnamon, black pepper, pinch of red chili on both sides. Tale 3 flat plates, in one sprinkle the flour uniformly over the plate, in the 2^nd beat the egg uniformly, in the 3^rd spread the breadcrumbs uniformly.

7. Place the flat breast first on flour, press n flip for the other side to coat, now see the areas which are still not coated, coat both the sides carefully until it is coated all over, then shake off excess flour. Then place the breast in egg mixture n coat uniformly on both sides, drip off excess egg then place it on top of the breadcrumbs, press lightly, then flip n coat it on this side, Keep it on a dry place for a minute, then pick it n coat it in egg again, then place it in the breadcrumbs again n press well, flip n do the same, press lightly so the breadcrumbs stick to the breast uniformly, finally place it on the dry plate.

8. In a shallow flat frying pan heat the vegetable oil on medium heat, the oil should be moderately hot, to test drop a piece of bread in the oil n it should begin to sizzle with bubbles n in about 15 sec it will go brown, if the oil is too hot the outside layer of bread will go brown while the chicken won’t be cooked inside, so when the oil is medium hot place the chicken cutlet carefully in the oil, it should begin to sizzle, increase the flame to high for 7 seconds then turn the flame to minimum, check with a fork after 2 minutes lifting up the cutlet how much browning has happened, it should be light brown, give it another 2-3 minutes, we don’t want the cutlet to be very dark brown, so when the lower side is well browned, flip it carefully n give it another 4-6 minutes, until that side also gets well browned. When you achieve this take it out on a plate on paper napkins to soak the extra oil, don’t cover the schnitzel.

Wow and its ready! Time to taste, first look at the crispy schnitzel and touch it to feel the texture, smell it n then take your first bite without any sauce, I can hear the sound of crunch as you munch on, crunchy heaven….so  good isn’t it? Go on munching…Bon Appétit.

The Last Bite

A Black forest German Gateau Cake ‘Schwarzwälder Kirsch torte’with Cherries from Kashmir, Baked in Bengal

This was his last bite. My Father, he tasted the little portion of the black forest cake that I cut for him n served him on a tea saucer. Back at that moment I had no idea that this was going to be the last thing he will eat, made by me. So for me this is his last bite of any food cooked by me and it is special in that way but it will always have sadness n gloom attached with this memory. Now that my Father has left his body, I run the pictures in my mind of the moment when he looked at the piece of cake in the little saucer, cut into it n very carefully, with a little shaky hand he transferred into his mouth, so that it doesn't fall off the spoon. I was looking for any signs of expression on his face and I find a little sign of satisfaction as he went through the cake. I am just re-running that subtle expression of Dad in my mind.

                            I wanted to do this black forest gateau cake for a long time, sometimes the doubt of eating so much whipped cream halted me, sometimes the doubt of whipping up huge volume of cream by hand made me pause, and sometimes I didn't get the cherries. But then with love that stayed on n upon consistent demand from my cute nephew, I did whip up large volume of cream by hand, whip up eggs with sugar till I reached the ribbon stage, pitted the cherries all by hand n I bake the cake!

                                                     The black forest cake or gateau has its origin in Germany, though the name doesn't come from the Black Forest mountain range in south-western Germany, rather it comes from a special liquor of that region called ‘Schwarzwälder Kirsch(wasser)’ n it is distilled from tart cherries. The liquor has a distinctive cherry pit flavor and alcoholic in nature that gives the cake its distinctive smell n flavor. So ‘Kirsch’ is what makes it special although other liquors are also used such as rum, which is used in Austria and co-incidentally which I also used, red rum.

                                                                                             Making the chocolate sponge for this cake requires a bit of whipping, first eggs n sugar r heated in a water bath until warm while constantly whisking, when the temperature is achieved the mixture is removed from heat and then further whisked until the mixture fluffs up and becomes almost triple in volume. When the whisk is lifted we can see ribbons falling off from the whisk and a figure of 8 made the ribbon stays for a second to be visible. No baking powder is used for this cake and the light volume is achieved by incorporating air in the egg n sugar mixture.

                                                                                                                The touch of Kirsch or rum gives the cake it’s special touch, but then you can always skip it if you want to, in my case my nephew kept away all the cherries from his piece! He likes the black forest cake without the cherries!

I have to tell you this, if you want to eat this cake tomorrow you have to begin today, the cake needs rest for several hours after baking, preferably overnight, also the cherries in soup which is treated with cornflour, need overnight time in the freeze to set, so keep that in mind.

                     So I guess it is now time to tell you about the recipe, here we go to have a walk in the Black forest cake.

For The Recipe: You will need

For the Chocolate Sponge:

Eggs-6

Powdered Sugar- 200gm (I used 180gm)

Coco powdered- 45gm

Plain Flour- 90gm

Butter, melted n kept warm-60gm

Salt-1/4 tsp, skip if butter is salted

For the Cherry layer:

Cherries-350gm, pitted and separated from the syrup

Syrup in which the cherries were preserved-1 cup

Lime Zest-1/2 tsp, roasted, dried out then whizzed with sugar

Cinnamon- ½-1/4 tsp, roasted slightly n powdered

Cornflour-1-1 ½ tbsp

Sugar-1 tbsp+1 tbsp (optional)

For the Whipping Cream:

Whipping cream/double cream-500ml

Fine powdered sugar-4 tbsp

Vanilla essence- 1 tbsp

For the Rum syrup:

Red rum- 3 tbsp

Suagr-2 tbsp

Syrup from the cherries-4 tbsp

For the Chocolate Layer n Chocolate shavings:

Dark chocolate-50-80 gm

Save a few whole cherries for decorating the cake.

1. We will begin by making the cake which will need to rest overnight. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius n butter one 8 inch cake tin. So begin by cracking the eggs in a big airy bowl n add the powdered sugar on them. Prepare a water bath or bain-marie, as the water comes to simmer, place the bowl with egg n sugar on top of it making sure that the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water. Whisk continuously as the mixture warms up, test it by placing a little of the mixture with your finger on your inner wrist, it will take 3-5 minutes to get warm, on your wrist it should feel comfortably warm, not something that is beginning to get intolerable for skin. So when the mixture feels warm enough remove it from the water bath and now either with hand whisk or electric whisk or stand whisk, whisk it until the mixture fluffs up becoming almost triple in volume. If you are whisking by hand it will take about 20 minutes, otherwise it will take about 5-8 minutes, when you will lift the whisk it will fall off smoothly making ribbons on the surface, if you try to do a figure of 8 you will be able to see the figure 8 for a moment before it vanishes, when you can do that you are at the right consistency.

2. Now sift the coco powder n flour alternatively in 3 stages and gently fold in with a spatula, first sift one-third coco powder, then one-third plain flour in 3 stages, until the flour n coco powder has been incorporated. For folding rotate the bowl while you lift up the mixture gently with the spatula and fold in slowly, keep rotating the bowl as you do so. After that add the warm melted butter and gently fold in again. Then carefully place the batter gently into the buttered cake tin which is layered at the bottom with perchment paper, then smooth the surface with a spoon or scraper. Then give one tap on the table before you place the cake tin in the oven, bake for about 20 -25 minutes, when a toothpick inserted comes out clean and you will see the cake will start to shrink from the sides. Then take the cake out of the oven, rest 10 minutes, take it out of the cake tin and place on a wired rack to cool overnight.

3. Now well prepare for the cherry syrup. Take a lime, with a sharp knife cut the peel lightly so that you don’t get the white part under the peel, when you have taken off the zest of the whole lime like that, put them in a baking tray and in a very low oven of around 100 degrees Celsius roast them but keep the oven door slightly open, give them about 5-10 minutes, shake the tray in between until they get brown but not burnt. When this is achieved take them out and cool them and they will crisp up, after that in a mortar n pestle powder them with 1 tbsp of sugar, keep aside.

4. Take 1 inch cinnamon stick and roast it slightly in a frying pan, tossing the pan often for about 1 minute, then crush it to a powder in a mortar n pestle, keep aside.

5. Take 4 tbsp of the cherry syrup and mix the corn flour, lime zest powder, cinnamon powder, 1 tsp of sugar until it is smooth. Then put the cherries with 1 cup of syrup in a pan and let it come to a boil, then add this mixture stirring constantly, very soon the cherry syrup will begin to thicken, taste it, add a little sugar if you think it needs a bit, then take it off the heat, pour it in a bowl, let it come to room temperature, when it is there, cover it with plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator overnight and it will settle and almost become like cherry jam.

6. So next day we are ready to put it all together. Mount the cake on a high platform, make it by placing a plate on a deep high bowl, you can rotate it also, now with a serrated long knife cut around the edges of the cake to get 3 layers of the cake. Turn the cake slowly as you cut through the cake. Obtain 3 layers.

7. Melt 40 gm of dark chocolate in a water bath and pour that chocolate over the 1^st layer of the cake, make that surface almost coated with the liquid chocolate, after that place that cake layer in freeze until the chocolate solidifies.

8. Now we will whip the cream, freeze the whisk, the bowl for whipping for around 30 minutes. The cream should be very cold, around 0 degrees Celsius, then with an electric beater whisk it, when the cream starts to thicken add the vanilla essence, powdered sugar bit by bit and beat it until it just begins to hold the peak when tested with the whisk. Don’t over beat or your cream will be grainy and if using dairy cream it will turn into butter. Just when the cream begins to hold the peak, stop right there.

9. Dissolve the sugar in the water n red rum mixture. Get the cake layer with chocolate and the cherry mixture out of the freeze, with a spoon spread the cherry mixture on top of the chocolate layer which is now solid, cover that surface completely with the cherries. Now take whipped cream and spread it over the cherries until you cover them completely with cream. Place this layer on a round piece of cardboard so the cake will have a solid base and it will easy to move the cake further.

10. Now take 2nd layer of cake and sprinkle the rum syrup with a spoon or brush over both the sides of the layer. Then carefully place that layer on top of the cherry layer, then on top of this layer spread a layer of whipped cream. Then you place the 3^rd layer on top of this cream and again brush the rest of the rum syrup all over the surface. Then cover this surface with whipped cream. Now we have to cover the whole cake with cream, so cover the sides carefully with cream. When it is done, put the rest of the whipped cream in a piping bag and pipe on top of the cake the way you like it, I made small spiral rounds around the edges.

11. Now we will make chocolate shavings, get a bar of chocolate, take sharp knife, hold the blade of the knife between you two hands so it is parallel to your body, then resting your hands on the chocolate bar, putting some weight on the bar so it doesn't slip, drag the knife towards you and the chocolate shavings will appear. Be careful when you do this, do it slowly, get around 1 cup of shavings.

12. Take a handful of chocolate shavings and press it lightly around the base of the cake. Go around the cake until the cake is covered with the shavings around the base. Now place whole cherries on top of each cream round you have made on the top, then fill the middle portion of the top of the cake with a handful of shavings. Now see how beautiful it looks! Isn’t it just so amazing? You just did that!

And now we are ready to cut into the black forest gateau cake! Look at the cake for some time and absorb the beauty; let the cake settle a bit also, and then approach with love and with a knife. Bon appétit.