Grilled Chicken & Hummus Wraps

Hello, boys and girls!

Welcome to cooking with Varun! New year's eve is arguably the most hyped night of the year. Apart from being hyped, it is also arguably the most disappointing night of the year. You make big plans with your friends on a Saturday night in a pub after you've had a few drinks in November, to go to places and do things to ring in the new year together, and as the day draws closer, people start to drop off with excuses of other plans. Worse, are people who say, 'I'm not sure if I can make it, but I will definitely let you know next week', because it's never next week, and on the off chance that they do give a positive confirmation, it's too late to make bookings, and you have to switch to plan B, which is almost always just another party in the city. It's the same as most Saturday nights but it costs 4 times as much, there are twice as many people, and they play 'The Final Countdown' at 23:59 for 2 minutes instead of whatever else they would usually be playing at the time, and as the clock hits midnight, couples around you start to snog, as you wait awkwardly for them to stop so you can get around to wishing each other.

Not to be too much of a downer though, I've had my fair share of disappointing new year's eves, and I've had a few good ones too. I've been to parties with my best friends and danced the night away, I've been to ones where we were buzzing at 22:00, passed out at 01:00, and up at 05:00 to go white water rafting, I've traipsed across Switzerland, I've even been home alone eating steak and potatoes while watching House of Cards. The more memorable ones however, (predictably) involve girls. These girls generally fall in the following categories: 'Girls I'll never get', 'Girls I'll never ever get', and 'Don't even think about it'. 2011-12 was the year of 'Girls I'll never get'; I spent most of the night talking to a pretty blonde at the party only to have her disappear at 23:55, then 5 minutes later, the ball dropped, and presto, snogging couples. 2014-15 was the year of 'Girls I'll never ever get'; I was at a house party and there was this gorgeous girl in yoga pants, really pretty, easy to talk to, and quite fun. We talked for a long time and seemed to be getting on great but every time we had a moment, we'd get interrupted by her best friend's boyfriend. This went on until the whisky finally caught up with her and she passed out leaving me looking around at, yes, snogging couples. I found out later (to my appalling luck) that she had instructed Interrupting Boy to make sure she didn't get too close to anyone. 2012-13 was the year of 'Don't even think about it'. I was at a party with my friends in a club in Sheffield, UK, when I saw quite easily the prettiest girl in Sheffield at the bar. She was wearing a dark green dress and the light bounced off her hair as she tried to get the bartender's attention to order a drink. Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was just new year's, but for the first time, I was compelled to make a move. Any move. But my mouth had forgotten how to speak and there's only so long a brown bloke can stare at a white girl in a bar without it getting creepy so I just pointed at her, and gave a  thumbs-up, smiled and hurried away. Incidentally, it turned out that she was sitting right where we were and a few exchanged glances and smiles later, we struck up a conversation. Conversation led to dance (poorly on my part), and dance led to shots. About then, the DJ started counting down, she went back to her friends, I looked around, the ball dropped, and once again I was trapped in a sea of snogging couples. The night wasn't a total loss though, I did see her as the party was ending, and we exchanged digits. I haven't met her since, but we began talking and became pretty good friends (and still are). She reads my recipes and since she is partial to chicken, has promised to try out my recipe for butter chicken. (You should too, it's fantastic!)

Today's recipe is another chicken recipe that is really yum, and super healthy.

For my Grilled Chicken And Hummus Wraps, you will need the following:

Chicken breasts	4
Hummus	generous amount
Tomatoes	2
Cucumber	1
Lettuce	1
Whole wheat tortillas	4
Salt	to taste
Pepper	to taste
Oil

Prep:

1. Make little cuts on the meat.
2. Sprinkle on the salt and pepper.
3. Rub the seasoning on both sides.
4. Cut up the tomatoes.
5. Cut up the cucumber.
6. Tear the lettuce. 

Method:

1. Turn on the gas.
2. Bung a griddle pan on.
3. Splash in some oil and spread it evenly.
4. Wait until the oil heats up.
5. Slap on the chicken. 
6. Step back from the sputtering oil.
7. Cook for 5-6 minutes and flip the chicken over.
8. Cook for another 4 minutes or so until the chicken is cooked all the way through.
9. Crank the heat up, and flip the chicken a couple of times for a few seconds each to get the grill marks.
10. Turn the gas off.
11. Take the chicken off the pan and let it rest for a few minutes.
12. Cut the chicken into biggish cubes.
13. Grab a tortilla.
14. Slather on the hummus.
15. Plop on the chicken.
16. Throw on the lettuce.
17. Toss on the tomatoes. 
18. Pop on some cucumber.
19. Roll it into a wrap. (Or wrap it into a roll.)
20. Wipe the griddle pan clean and bung it on the burner again. (Medium-high heat.)
21. Put the wrap on for a few seconds on each side to get the griddle marks on.
22. Serve.
23. Stuff face.
24. Bask in the glory of your successfully executed dish.

Tip: You can use more (or different) veggies if you want. Grill them in olive oil and a little salt and pepper, or just add them fresh.

And remember, overeating is a myth. A full tummy is a happy tummy!

Kaale Chane

Hello, boys and girls!

Welcome to cooking with Varun. I'm quite big on fitness and how my body looks. Okay, fine, you got me. I'm obsessed with it. For years, I've been hitting the gym nearly every single day, with the sole purpose of pushing myself until I find my breaking point. And not just the gym, I played football twice a week, went swimming, I even did the Insanity workout! Twice! Fortunately for me though, my body has a tendency not to put on weight, so it's been easier for me to sculpt my body the way I like, without me having to give up on eating certain foods, or drinking certain beverages. I do however, try to avoid things that I know are bad for the body and that I can do without. For instance, I avoid fizzy drinks, or anything with too much sugar; I've swapped sugar for honey in my milkshakes, and I've cut back on processed foods. I'm not a fanatic by any means, I still eat and drink this stuff, but a lot less than I used to, simply because it's easy to.

I've worked out with a lot of partners, and taken advice from a lot of trainers, and despite their different approaches to training and nutrition, they are all united in their advice on protein intake. Simply put, your body needs it. You can get protein from a variety of sources like meat, poultry, eggs, seafood, beans, legumes, nuts, seeds, and even supplements like whey. Whey is pretty good and I've used it intermittently after workouts where I've really pushed myself, but I'm not big on supplements so I tend to stick more to the natural things. Also, a steak dinner is heaven after a long, hard workout! But if you're vegetarian, or not keen on eating chicken and eggs all the time, it helps to have alternatives that taste good. (I mean peanuts taste good, but how many can you eat?) A lot of my recipes, are protein rich (if you hold back on the fat), and are most excellent to eat after a weekend morning workout. Rajma, dal, chicken, the works. 

Today's recipe is an addition to the long list of things that are rich in protein that you can eat that taste pretty darn good if you ask me!

For my Kaale Chane, you will need the following:

Kaale chane (black chickpeas)	250 gms
Onion	1 large
Tomatoes	2 large
Ginger garlic paste	2 tsp
Dhaniya (coriander) powder	2 tsp
Jeera (cumin) powder	1 tsp
Red chilli powder	2 tsp
Garam masala	1 tsp
Salt	to taste
Oil

Prep:

1. Soak the kaale chane in water overnight.
2. Grate the onion.
3. Pureé the tomatoes. (Or just use tomato pureé.)

Method:

1. Toss the floating chane.
2. Drain the water from the chane.
3. Grab a pressure cooker.
4. Bounce the chane in.
5. Add water until the chane are submerged 3 fingers deep.
6. Pinch in some salt.
7. Lock the pressure cooker.
8. Turn the gas on. 
9. Crank it up to high.
10. Bung the cooker on.
11. Wait impatiently for the first whistle.
12. Drop the heat on the cooker burner to low and leave it for 30-35 minutes. (Ignore all the sounds your cooker makes in this time.)
13. Turn the burner off.
14. Wait for the steam to escape the cooker. (Don't open it!)
15. Put on another burner.
16. Bung a saucepan/kadhai on.
17. Splash in some oil.
18. Count to 20.
19. Slap in the onions.
20. Cook the onions until brown. (The onions, not you. Otherwise I would end up cooking the onions for 0 seconds.)
21. Pop in the ginger garlic paste.
22. Cook until the onions get dark brown.
23. Sprinkle in the coriander powder, cumin powder, red chilli powder, and garam masala.
24. Mix.
25. Add in a dash of water.
26. Mix until the powders blend in with the onion.
27. Pour in the pureed tomatoes.
28. Cook until the oil separates from the tomatoes.
29. Drop the heat to low.
30. Shift your attention to the pressure cooker.
31. Lift the weight to let out any lingering steam
32. Open the cooker. (The chane should be soft; not quite like white chickpeas or rajma, but soft nonetheless.)
33. Fish out the chane and add them into the tomato-onion base. (Don't pour the water away. That is liquid gold!)
34. Add salt to taste.
35. Cook for a minute or two.
36. Pour in the chane-water from the cooker into the kadhai.
37. Mix well.
38. Crank the heat up to bring the contents to a boil, then drop to low and let it simmer.
39. Turn gas off.
40. Sprinkle on some garam masala.
41. Let it rest (lid on) for a few minutes.
42. Serve with (jeera) rice.
43. Stuff face.
44. Bask in the glory of your successfully executed dish.

Tip: If you have any left over, you can dry the liquid out (I just pour it into a bowl and chug it), throw in some chopped onions, tomatoes, cucumber, green chillies, coriander, squeeze on some lemon juice, and sprinkle on some chaat masala to make a most excellent salad.

And remember, overeating is a myth. A full tummy is a happy tummy!