Chicken n Veg Tikka- Tortilla Wraps

I love to cook and guess that’s why am a food blogger. But more than cooking I love chatting and guess that’s pretty much evident in my blog posts too. Whenever I invite friends over meal I prefer to cook and arrange everything beforehand. Be it the food, the decoration, the utensils, the starter…I prefer to plan and arrange everything before my guest’s arrival. That way I get plenty of time to talk and catch up with and also I don’t have make several trips to the kitchen to pull a spoon from here or a plate from there. But the whole scheduling goes haywire if guests come without or with a very short notice. That way Hubby loves to taste me. For instance once just after our marriage he invited two of his friends with family for dinner. Then on another occasion when entire cooking for the day was done, he remembered to update that he had invited two of his childhood friends for lunch. The problem with such occasions is not ingredients as I always have a well-stacked pantry but it’s the time crunch that puzzled me.  Initially it freaked me out but with time and experience I have learnt to keep cool. These days I don’t go overboard and slave over in the kitchen chopping, grinding and cooking three-course meal with an eye fixed on the clock, rather settle for some elegant one-dish meal with an easy dessert to finish off the dinner. It provides me ample amount of time to spend quality time with friends.

A couple of weeks back at about 12 in the noon I got a call from Hubby informing that a very dear friend of ours was coming over to spend the night with us. They were going somewhere else and due to sudden cancellation had to stay with us as a stopover.  I was delighted, as they are the people whose company we enjoy and can relate to them in different levels. But then again a small gathering like this needed some food too and with Hubby in the office I had to make do on whatever I had in hand. Luckily for me previous night I freezed my first Ice Cream (recipe coming next) so dessert was done, the only worry was the meal. I decided to make my never failing chicken and veg tikkas with some whole-wheat tortillas for main meal and some Root vegetable soup as starter. Which are easy and needs minimum supervision. Thus gave Hubby a call to bring some fresh salad leaves, mushrooms and curd, and when the baby took his afternoon nap I ground the spice, marinated the chicken, chopped the veggies for soup, pressure-cooked and pureed them and made the green chutney with home grown mint and coriander. Everything was done under a little more than ½ an hour. Then I tidied up the guest room and was all set to have a gala evening. Just before dinnertime grilled the chicken for 30-45 minutes under the timer, without any supervision. In the meantime kneaded the dough and while cooking the tortillas on one burner, quickly heated the soup with onion, garlic and seasoning on another. Hubby washed and made the salad. The friends were glad to have such a lavish yet light spread. With a lively conversation and good company I was happy to spend a pleasant evening with them. La vie est belle! Life is Beautiful!

Chicken and Veg Tikka

Ingredients:

Boneless Chicken pieces: 500 gms; cut into bite size pieces

Capsicum: 1 large

Firm ripe tomato: 2 medium

Onion: 1 big

Mushroom: ½ cup
Lemon juice: 1/2 tbsp
salt

For the marinade:

Hung curd: ¾ cup

Onion: 1 big

Garlic: 8 fat cloves

Ginger: 2” piece

Black pepper: 1 tsp

Sattu/ Chatu: 11/2 tbsp (or substitute with dry roasted besan/chickpea flour)

Red Chili powder: 11/2 tsp

Ajwain: ½ tsp

Oil/ghee: 1 tbsp (I use either mustard oil or pure ghee)

Red food colour (optional): a pinch
a pinch of mustard (optional) but I like the little heat
salt; as per taste

Method: 

Wash the chicken pieces and then put them on kitchen paper to soak the excess water. Once they are dry mix in the lemon juice and a pinch of salt. keep aside for 10-15 minutes.

Grind everything under the marinade and make a coarse paste. Pour ½ of the marinade over the  chicken pieces and mix well to coat everything well. Cover and freeze for minimum 2 hours.

The vegetables don’t need much marination time. Just before mealtime soak them in the spice mix for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven at 225C.

Take a wooden skewer and arrange the vegetables and chicken pieces according to your preference. Baste with melted butter or ghee.

Line an oven safe tray with aluminum foil. Place the skewers over it and with another piece of foil wrap them to make a packet. This helps to cook the chicken pieces without drying them too much.  .

Grill for 15 minutes and then remove the upper layer of foil to expose the skewers. Baste with ghee/butter and remaining marinade and grill for another 10 minutes.

Flip the skewers, baste and again grill them for 10 minutes or till they are cooked and a little charred.

Serve with salad, sauce and tortillas or in itself with sauce for a pleasant snack.

For the veggies especially mushroom. Don’t cover them with foil. Just grill for 5 minutes, baste, flip and grill for another 5 minutes. Enjoy with a final sprinkling of lemon juice.

Tortillas

(Makes 6 pieces)

Ingredients:

Wholewheat flour (atta): 11/2 cups

Refined oil: 11/2 tsp

Baking powder: 1 tsp

Salt

Warm milk: ½ cup

Water: as required

Method:

Sieve the baking powder and flour and mix in the salt.

Pour in the shortening and rub to have coarse sand like texture. Mix in the warm milk and water. Knead on a floured surface to have soft and firm dough.

Cover with cling film and keep aside until used. If you intend to use it hours later, keep it in the freeze.

10 minutes before making the tortillas make small balls, smoothen them by rolling in your palms and again cover and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Roll out in uniform thickness to a circle.

Cook on tawa or pan for a minute on each side. Keep covered.

Serve hot with spicy Tikka, salad and sauce.

Salad

Fresh Lettuce

Cucumber

Onion

Was and cut the lettuce in big chinks.

Peel and cut cucumber and onion in half moon shape.

Serve with the tortilla and tikka.

Final Assembly

Serve the Tikka pieces with Tortilla, green chutney, tomato sauce, fresh salad, lemon wedges, salt and pepper powder. you could also include some finely chopped green chilies.

Take a tortilla place some salad, chicken tikka pieces, green chutney and sauce. Sprinkle some salt and pepper powder. squeeze some lemon juice.

Roll and enjoy your wraps.

Heaven!!!

Sending this to Umm Mymoonah's Iftar Moments; Hijri 1431 at Taste of Pearl City.

Global Kadai this month hosted at Sandhya's kitchen and the theme she chose is Indian flavored flat bread.A monthly event started by Cilantro.

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