Gastronomic tours with Swiss Cheese

I've tried this recipe a few times now, and I think I'm getting better at it. I've also made some of my own tweaks to suit my taste. It's probably not Chicken Marsala any more, so purists might not like me using the name, but hey, they don't have to eat it if they don't like.

Here's what I did:

Ingredients (serves 1):

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  
• 1 chicken breast - skinless and boneless
• 1 cup of sliced mushrooms
• 1 clove of garlic finely chopped
  
• ¼ cup sweet Marsala wine
  
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ cup chicken stock
• 1 tbsp all purpose flour
• ¼ cup pitted prunes (just for effect)
• 1 sprig of parseley

You can also add one small onion chopped up, which can be mixed with the garlic and mushrooms. Depends on your taste. I didn't use one because my onion sprouted.

I also made some couscous to have the chicken with, but you can use rice or mashed potatoes as well. Follow the instructions on the packet to make enough for one person.

Method:

1. Start by heating the oil in a slightly deep non-stick pan on medium high.
2. Fry the chicken breast for about 2 minutes on each side until it's lightly brown on both sides. While this is happening, heat up the chicken stock and wine to slightly above room temperature. 20 seconds in the microwave is generally enough.
   
3. Move the chicken to one side of the pan, and add the mushrooms and garlic (and onion if you have one) to the other side.
4. Fry the mushrooms until tender, but not too long that it turns brown. Stir often.
5. Add the wine, and bring to a boil. While this is happening, mix the salt and all purpose flour into the chicken stock. Mix it well into a paste.
6. Add the chicken stock mixture and bring to a boil again.
7. Add prunes, and reduce heat to low.
8. Cover and cook for 12-15 minutes until chicken is fully cooked (see that there are no pink portions inside)

Also cook your rice or couscous alongside the chicken so that it's ready at around the same time.

Serve chicken on top of couscous, add sauce, mushrooms and prunes over it allowing it to drip off to the side. Garnish with parsley.

Enjoy.

Let me know how it works out for you.

This was probably my first attempt at cooking. As a child, I loved eating fried eggs for breakfast, and sometimes for dinner too. I also loved pizza, and wondered if I could make a pizza on a fried egg rather than a bread base. Thus was born, the Pizza Egg.

Ingredients:

• 1 or 2 eggs
• 1 or 2 tomatoes diced
• Cocktail sausages, chopped into thin slices
• Salami, cut into strips
• Sliced cheese, cut into strips
• Salt
• Tomato Ketchup
• 1 tbsp cooking oil (your choice of oil)

Some people may want to skip the oil and use a non-stick pan, but I don't really reccommend that. It just doesn't taste the same, and you won't get an egg spitting without oil.

Keep all your ingredients ready before you start cooking. Things move really fast once you start. You may want to pre-fry the salami and sausages if you prefer.

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a frying pan, then turn the flame to low
2. Break the eggs and slide them onto the pan in quick succession
3. Add the diced tomatoes, sliced salami and sausages onto the surface of the eggs while they're still liquid.
4. Allow to fry for a till the egg sets and holds onto the meat and tomatoes.
5. Add ketchup.
6. Add cheese strips over the top, and allow to melt.
7. Turn off the flame, add salt to taste and serve.

Variations:

If you'd rather not have the yolk in a liquid state, you can do one of two things. Either flip the egg for a bit after everything has set. This can be tough since the tomatoes will start to leak. Alternately, break the yolk while adding ingredients.

If you have kids at home, try this variation on eggs. They might just love it.

One of my favourite dishes as a child was Junglee Pulao. My uncle used to make it for us every now and then. The way he made it, the rice would be slightly overcooked and soggy, and I liked it that way. I wouldn't tolerate soggy rice in any other dish, but for junglee pulao, it couldn't have been any other way.

Today, waking up all groggy and hungry at lunch time, I started thinking about what to make. First thought about biryani. Then realised that I was way too hungry to wait till it was done. Decided to go the shortcut and try the famous junglee pulao. I used mushrooms and potatoes, but you can also use mutton and other vegetables. Stay away from sweet vegetables though, because they add weirdness to the taste.

Ingredients (serves one):

• 2 tsp jeera powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp haldi powder
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 2 tsp salt
• pepper optional, to taste (I didn't include any)
• 250gm curd
• 1 cup rice, washed
• 2 cups water
• 2 cloves
• 2 cardamoms
• 1 packet button mushrooms chopped up
• 2 large potatoes cut into 6 pieces each
• 1.5 tbsp sunflower oil

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a pressure cooker
2. Add the chilli powder, jeera powder, haldi powder and coriander powder
3. At the same time, boil the water in a saucepan and add the salt to it
4. Once the masalas have fried and you can really smell it, add the mushrooms and potatoes
5. Mix it around a bit until the water from the mushrooms comes out and they start cooking in it
6. Add the rice
7. Add boiling water
8. Mix and allow to boil for a bit
9. Add curd and garam masala
10. Close the pressure cooker and leave it on high flame for one whistle and then 2-3 minutes on medium flame.

Once all steam has escaped (you may need to let some of it out if you're ready to eat), open the cooker and serve.

Other variations include using mutton instead of mushrooms. In that case, you need to fry the mutton for a little longer before you add the potatoes, and leave the pressure on for 2 whistles, You may also want to fry onions and tomatoes and ginger-garlic paste with the meat/mushrooms. Experiment with different combinations for different flavours.

You can get interesting flavours by adding various kinds of nuts. My favourite would be pine seed, slightly roasted.

If you want it more spicy, add pepper.

Try it and let me know how you like it.