Is it so that when you are stuck at home, having bouts of fever, your creativity is at its best ? That intermittent time when the fever comes in and one gets lost in sleep, slowly, is perhaps the best time when all craziest thoughts come in . I have been through this for the last couple of days . The first day Madhushree left for office and although I got ready, I thought I would give it a pass. Long lonely afternoon was horrible and neither could I read nor do any work for my blog .

On that afternoon while going off to sleep with fever, I remembered having a strange feeling like Gupi gayen in Goopi Gayen Bagha Bayen ( Cult childrens novel in Bengali by Upendra kishore Roy Chowdhury later turned into a cult successful film by Satyajit Ray) at the Shoondi Kings court where there is a blogging competition and the best blogger becomes resident blogger of the king. Well if this has already made you smile then I needn’t go any further ….

After I woke up, I asked my seniors whom I take the liberty of calling friends, how do they feel when they release a blogpost . The responses were as below –

Ishita B Saha of Ishita Unblogged  says “I am very excited and happy to press publish button “

Kalyan Karmakar of Finelychopped says  “usually I feel happy at the thought of posting”

and finally respected Kavi Sir of Infoolbloom  says “am always happy that I have been able to write & publish! :) .”

Well, perhaps these are veterans speaking but I feel, every time I am placing a part of my life, a slice of me for evaluation in front of the world .

Nothing lifts up your mood better than good food. And this is what Madhushree offered me in the evening when she came back from office ..

15 days later –

It was a narrow save from Swine Flu . In the mean time, completed my Poila Boishakh assignments and posts , took Tugga to science city and have recovered safely .

Pin it for future preparation ?

chicken nuggets

Ingredients for chicken nuggets in sweet and sour sauce by pikturenama

Ingredients

 

 

Chicken Nuggets in Sweet and Sour Sauce

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 20- 25 minutes

Yield: Makes about 15 -16 nuggets

Ingredients:

Chicken Mince 500 gms Corn  flour 4 heaped tsp
Egg 1 Flour 2 tsp
Chopped garlic 4 tsp Red bell pepper 1
Onion 1 large Coriander leaves A small bunch
Tomato Ketchup 4 tbsp Honey 2 -3 tbsp
Rice Wine Vinegar 1 tsp Lemon 1
Maggi Chicken cube(or any other seasoning) 1 Salt As required
Oil (any white oil) As required Pepper As required

 

chicken nuggets in sweet and sour sauce as starter by pikturenama

Chicken nuggets in sweet and sour sauce as starter

Method:

The Chicken Nuggets:

  • In a bowl take the mince chicken, 2 tsp of chopped garlic, 2 ½ tsp of corn flour, chicken cube, salt and pepper, chopped coriander leaves and flour and mix it. Make a well and add little bit of the beaten egg. Depending on the consistency, you may require half or less than half the egg.
  • Take a frying pan and heat some oil. With wet hands, make small nuggets with the mince mixture and shallow fry the nuggets. It takes 5- 7 minutes for the nuggets to cook golden brown. Make sure the heat is not too high or else, it will turn brown on the outside without cooking from the inside.
  • Take the nuggets out on a paper towel and prepare the sauce.

 

chicken nuggets in sweet and sour sauce by pikturenama ready to serve

Chicken Nuggets in sweet and sour sauce served on a table

The Sweet and Sour Sauce:

  • Finely slice the bell pepper and the onion. Its better to use only the red bell pepper. However, I had some half a yellow bell pepper with me, which I have used.
  • In the frying pan, heat some oil
  • Add the rest of the chopped garlic, the bell pepper and the onion and sauté.
  • When the onion has turned golden, add the vinegar, tomato ketchup and juice of half a lemon.
  • Add some pepper and finally the honey.
  • You don’t need to add salt since the ketchup has the necessary salt.
  • The important part is constantly tasting and balancing the sauce. You may require adding more lemon or more honey or more ketchup as per your preferred sweet and sour taste.
  • Then go on to add the chicken nuggets and coat them in the sauce.
  • In a small bowl, take 4 tbsp of water and dissolve the balance corn flour.
  • Add this to the sauce.
  • If you want to have this as a starter, then do not add any further water. Just give it a good boil and turn off the heat.
  • In case you want to have it as a main, then add a little bit more of water and bring it to a boil.
  • Serve hot with steamed rice.

 

chicken nuggets in sweet and sour sauce by pikturenama ready to serve

Chicken Nuggets in sweet and sour sauce ready to serve