Curry Leaf Chicken for T & T

My blog is looking more like a blog that only participates in events. :). But the thing is, I am finding so many new recipes online (thanks to the events) that I feel I should blog and participate in the events.

This month's T & T is hosted by Denny of Oh Taste n See. T & T was orignally started by Zlamushka. This is now carried on by Lakshmi of Kitchen Chronicles. Denny chose Umm Mymoonah's Taste of Pearl City as this month's blog.

After scanning her blog, I settled for the Curry Leaf Chicken. When I started making it, I thought it was too simple. But the end product was mind-blowing (I am not exagerating). It was very fragrant and flavourful.

I tweaked it a little (a little extra spice), so I am re-writing the recipe for my reference.

Ingredients:
2 Chicken Breasts - cut into bite size pieces
2 tbsp Grated Coconut - I used frozen that I defrosted
20 big Curry Leaves (I used 30 to 35 small ones)
1 tbsp Curd
1 tsp Fennel seeds
1 tsp Ginger Paste
1 tsp Garlic Paste
5 Green Chillies
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1/2 inch Cinnamon Stick
3 Cloves
2 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste

Method

1. Marinate the chicken in Curd, Fennel Seeds, Ginger Paste, Garlic Paste, Turmeric Powder and Chilli Powder.
2. Make a coarse paste of Coconut, Curry Leaves and Chillies.
3. Heat oil in a pan. When the oil is hot, add the Cloves and Cinnamon Stick and fry for a minute.
4. Now add the ground paste and fry for a min
5. Add the chicken and cook till the chicken is done and oil separates.
6. Serve hot with rice.

Carrot Coriander Soup

My son loves soups. I don't mind it as it is the best way to give him his vegetables. He has a lot of non-veg at his day care. So I try to give him vegetarian food at home. That way, he has a balanced diet.

With the winter here, all of us are relishing the warm soups. Here's one that's a classic, absolutely delicious and healthy at the same time. This soup proves that healthy can be tasty.

One interesting tip here. When I get fresh coriander from the shop, I pluck the leaves and discard the stems. Especially the hard ones. When my cousin was here in December, he saw what I did and told me that its the stems, especially the hard ones that are full of flavour. I thought he's just making a fool out of me. But I realised he was right.

From then, I am saving the stalks. I still pluck the leaves out but I wash the stems well, chop them (approx 1 cm pieces) and freeze them in ice cube trays. I use them for garnish, making a paste for Coriander Prawns and I used them for making this soup.

With the tip, I continue to my recipe...

Ingredients:
500 gms Carrots - Peeled and chopped to equal size pieces
1/2 Onion - finely chopped
1/2 cup Coriander Stems
1 tsp Coriander Powder
1 cube Veg / Chicken Stock
2 cups Water
1 cup Milk (Optional - but healthy)
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Chopped Coriander Leaves or Coriander Powder for garnish
2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Method

1. In a Pressure Cooker / Sauce pan, heat the Oil.
2. Once the oil is hot, add the Onion and Coriander Stems and saute till the Onion is soft.
3. Add the Coriander Powder and saute for a minute.
4. Add the carrots and saute them for 2 to 3 minutes.
5. Now crumble the stock cube, add 2 cups of water and cook till the carrots are soft (approx 3 whistles if using pressure cooker).
6. When the pressure goes down, remove lid and blend using a hand blender to the desired consistency. If you don't have a hand blender, cool the carrots and blend it in a regular blender.
7. Garnish with Chopped Coriander Leaves or Coriander Powder and serve with bread roll.

This goes to Soup Recipes hosted by My Culinary Creations.

This also goes to Winter Warmers started and hosted by The Veggie Hut

Egg Puff

I am not sure who doesn’t like Egg Puff (I am only talking about those who eat eggs). Atleast everyone I know love it. I really missed it after coming to UK. Then I read somewhere that you can make it quiet easily with the puff pastry – that is readily available in all the grocery stores. I tried this recipe a few years ago and kept making it every now and then.

Whenever I go to India, I still get it from my favourite bakery and eat it. Whatever I tried, I never got the same taste. But I still make my version as that is the only way I can enjoy this snack. I usually have it with tea or soup for dinner. With the cold weather, I made Carrot Coriander Soup and this for dinner.

I like to buy the puff pastry sheets. They are a bit more expensive than the puff pastry block. But they are rolled out and ready to use.

There is no definite recipe for this. But for complete newbies, this is just a rough guide. You can add more spices if you like.

I covered the top of the egg also with puff pastry – which is not how its usually done in India (atleast in Hyderabad). If you want the top of the egg to be overlapped by the corners, then 1 puff pastry sheet might give you 8 puffs. Again, the puff pastry sheet might vary.

Its mainly a matter of trial and error for this recipe.

Ingredients For 4 egg puffs
1 puff pastry sheet, thawed according to the instructions and cut into desired size
2 hard boiled eggs – halved.
1 pinch of Coriander Powder per puff
1 pinch of Jeera Powder per puff
1 pinch of Chat Masala per puff
Salt to taste.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degree C.
2. On the cut part of the egg, sprinkle all the powders and salt.
3. Place the cut part of the egg on one puff pastry "slice" and either overlap the edges or cover it with another slice.
4. To seal the puff pastry, use water. If you are overlapping the edges, place one edge over egg, brush a little bit of water on the edge where the other edge will overlap, overlap the other edge and press gently. If you are placing one slice on top of the other, brush the edges with water, place the second slice on top and press gently.
5. Place on a baking tray and bake for 15 to 20 mins. The puff is ready when the puff pastry rises fully.
6. Serve with hot tea for a snack or soup for dinner.

This goes to Dish name starts with E started and hosted by Akila's Kitchen

Chicken Vindaloo

Vindaloo – the fiery dish from Goa. I first heard of this about 4 years back when my colleague asked me if I knew how to make it. I was like "What???" He said that its very famous in UK but its like eating chilli powder. So he wanted to know how to make it. I told him I never heard of it.

Traditionally, this is made with pork. But since I don't eat pork or lamb or beef, the only choice I had was chicken. After googling a lot, I found a lot recipes. I followed this one. It wasn't as fiery as its perceived in the UK (or may be its just my taste palettes), but it had a lot of flavour and needless to say, it was very tasty.

Giving due credit to Clyde, here's my tweaked recipe:

Ingredients:
1 KG chicken
2 Onions – roughly chopped
15 Dry Red Chillies
2 tsp Jeera
3/4th tsp Turmeric Powder
5 to 6 tbsp White Vinegar (Distilled Vinegar)
1 tsp Ginger Paste
1 tsp Garlic Paste
10 Peppers
10 cloves
1 inch piece Cinnamon
Salt to Taste
2 tbsp Oil

Method

1. Grind all the ingredients except Chicken and Oil to a smooth paste.
2. Marinate the Chicken in the paste. The recipe called for a 24 hour marination. I marinated only for 4 hours.
3. Heat Oil in a pan. Once the oil is hot, add the chicken and cook till done.
4. Serve with rice or roti.

We had some left over jeera rice that we had it with. But it was much tastier with plain rice (second helping).

This goes to Flavours of Goa hosted by Oh Taste and See which was started by Simply Sensational Food.

Goan Prawn Masala for T & T

As I had mentioned in one of my previous posts, Sunday is the day when we have to have a non-vegetarian dish in our house. And non-vegetarian dish generally means a spicy dish.

When Sudeshna of Cook like a Bong announced this month's Tried and Tested that was started by Zlamuska and is continued by Lakshmi of Kitchen Chronicles, I went through Mallika's blog for a "good" (read spicy) non-vegetarian dish. Since we hadn't eaten prawns in a while, I settled for the Goan Prawn Masala.

As the post mentions, it was quiet spicy. But it had a lot of flavour and it was extremely tasty. I followed the recipe ingredient-to-ingredient, so I am not re-writing the recipe.

We had it with rice and enjoyed it immensely. I now have another blog to try out more recipes from. I wonder how I missed her blog for so long. I have already bookmarked a few recipes to try out from her blog. I'll let you guys know when I do try them out. Thanks Sudeshna - for introducing me to Quick Indian Cooking.

Alu Fry / Potato Fry

One of my favourite all time item. I can eat it day in and day out. I've always liked it (even when I was in India). So the other day, when I decided to make Methi Dal, the only sabji that came to my mind was this.

This is one of those simple recipes that you can never get bored of. This recipe is from my mom (not her sister - who is my usual source of recipes). Here goes...

Ingredients:
1/2 Kg Potatoes - cooked and cubed in desire size (I cut into 1 inch cubes)
2 tsp Split Urad Dal
2 tsp Cumin Seeds
15 to 20 Curry Leaves
3 tbsp Garlic Paste
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
3 to 4 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste

Method

1. Heat Oil in a pan. Once its hot, add the Urad Dal.
2. Once the Urad Dal starts to change colour, add the Cumin Seeds and let them splutter.
3. Now add the Curry Leaves, fry for 30 seconds and add the Garlic Paste.
4. Keep stirring fast as the paste might burn and you definitely don't want that.
5. Now add the potatoes. Mix well.
6. Now add the Red Chilli Powder, Turmeric and Salt. Mix well and keep tossing till the potatoes look really dry.
7. Serve hot as a side dish. This tastes excellent with any Dal, Curd or just on its own with rice / roti.

This is going to Veggie / Fruit a month hosted by Divya of Dil Se. The theme this month is Potato. This event was started by Priya of Mharo Rajasthan's Recipes.

This is also going to Complete my Thali – Subjis hosted by Padmaja of Seduce Your Tastebuds and started by Jagruti of Joy of Cooking.

Kothimir Pachadi / Coriander Chutney

Our Asian store gets the fresh produce on Saturdays. Saturday morning is the best time to get the best of fresh vegetables. I would love to go first thing on Saturday morning, but P hates getting up in the mornings. So I always end up going from afternoon. The selection by then is not so bad. But the best stuff would’ve gone away.

Last week, during my "almost weekly" trips to the store, I found very good Coriander / Cilantro. It was fresh, green and telling me to take it home. Normally, I would have bought 1 bunch and gone. But this time, I took home 3 bunches.

When I got home, I washed, chopped and froze 1 bunch in ice cube trays. Another bunch, I washed, chopped, wrapped in a tea towel, put it in an air tight container and put it in the fridge.

Then I called up my pinni (mom's sister) and asked her how to make Kothimir pachadi and made it. It was then that I realised that its not so difficult to make pachadis / chutneys. I have never tried making and it wasn’t that difficult.

It is a little time consuming. Otherwise, its quiet easy.

Ingredients:
1 big bunch of Coriander – washed and chopped (I used leaves and stems)
2 tsp Coriander Seeds
2 tsp Cumin Seeds
10 Red Chillies
1 tsp Tamarind Concentrate
2 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste

For tempering:
2 tsp Chana Dal
1 tsp Split Urad Dal
10 - 15 Curry Leaves
2 Dry Red Chillies split in half
1 tbsp Garlic Paste / 3 Nos Garlic crushed
2 tbsp Oil

Method

1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan.
2. Once the oil is hot, add the Coriander Seeds, Cumin Seeds and Dry Red Chillies (10) and fry till they are golden brown.
3. Take it off heat and cool and grind it to a powder in a mixie.
4. In the same pan, add the other tbsp oil and add the Coriander leaves and fry till they wilt. If the stems are a little thick, add the stems and fry for some time before adding the leaves.
5. Once the coriander leaves wilt, remove from heat, cool and grind it along with the above powder to a paste. I did not make it a smooth paste. The texture depends
6. In a separate pan, add to tbsp oil and do the tempering in the order given under "For tempering"
7. Now add the tempering to the paste and mix it well.
8. Store in an air tight glass jar.
9. Serve hot with rice and ghee.

Note: Make sure you always use a clean, dry spoon when scooping out the chutney.

Alu Methi / Potato with Fenugreek Leaves

Simple foods are the best. You can never get enough of them. You can never say they are boring. Today’s dish fits into that category perfectly.

It just has the basic ingredients which can be found in any Indian Kitchen. The only thing that you might need to get is Methi (Fenugreek Leaves). I am sure every one has potatoes at home all the time.

I used frozen Methi which is readily available for me in the Indian Stores. You can use fresh as well. Make sure you wash it well.

Ingredients:

2 big Potatoes – chopped into 1 inch cubes (boil if you are using fresh methi)
100 gm Frozen Methi
1 Onion – finely chopped
2 dry red chillies – tear in the middle
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
2 tbsp Oil

Method

1. Heat oil in a pan. Once its hot, add the red chillies and fry for 30 seconds.
2. Then add the Mustard Seeds and let them pop.
3. Now add the Cumin seeds and let them crackle.
4. Add the onions and fry till they turn brown.
5. Add the potatoes and fry for a min.
6. Now add the methi, half a cup of water, red chilli powder and salt. Mix well.
7. Cover and cook till the potatoes are cooked. Add more water if necessary.
8. Serve with rice / roti.

This is going to Veggie / Fruit a month hosted by Divya of Dil Se. The theme this month is Potato. This event was started by Priya of Mharo Rajasthan's Recipes.

Another interesting photo I have to add is the below one. I found this potato yesterday when I was making Upma. This is the first time I am coming across a different shaped potato. So I thought it might be interesting to post it.

This is also going to Complete my Thali – Subjis hosted by Padmaja of Seduce Your Tastebuds and started by Jagruti of Joy of Cooking.

Dondakaya (Tindora) Fry

I was a very fussy eater when I was in India. I never liked most of the dishes. So it was a task for my mother to prepare what I liked. I never liked Tindora.

But coming to UK and having to cook made me look at vegetables in a different way. I like most of the vegetables now. I wasn't sure if I should try making Tindora. But P likes it a lot so I thought I'd try it. Once I started eating it, I liked it. I experimented a lot before I stuck to this recipe.

This has become one of our favourites. And as usual, I use frozen, cut tindora to save time. I use Sambhar Powder. Sambar Powder gives it a distinct flavour. You can substitute it with red chilli powder.

Ingredients:
1 packet (400 gm) Frozen Cut Tindora
1 small Onion - finely sliced
3 Dry Red Chillies - Broken / Torn into 3 to 4 pcs each
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
2 tsp Cumin Seeds
10 - 15 Curry Leaves
1 tbsp Garlic Paste (I don’t like the bite of Garlic. You can replace this with 2 cloves of garlic chopped or crushed)
1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Sambar Powder (you can substitute it with chilli powder)
Salt to Taste
2 to 3 tbsp oil
Salt to taste (I used 1 tsp)

Method

1. Heat Oil in a Pan. When hot, add the Red Chillies and fry for a minute.
2. Now add the Mustard Seeds and let them splutter. Then add the Cumin Seeds and let them crackle.
3. Now add the Curry Leaves and fry for another minute.
4. Add the Onion and fry till brown.
5. Now add Garlic and fry for a minute.
6. Add the Turmeric Powder and Salt. Mix well.
7. Add the Tindora and fry till done.
8. Once done, add the chilli powder, mix well and fry for 2 mins

This is one of the simplest Subzi for a Thali. So this goes to the Complete my Thali - Subji hosted by Padmaja of Seduce Your Tastebuds. Complete my Thali was started by Jagruti of Joy Of Cooking

Happy New Year and Shan Chicken Curry Mix

Happy New Year every one... Hope you've had a wonderful 2010 and here's wishing every one an even better 2011.

My cousin had come from Australia a few days back and he wanted to make Biryani for us. As usual, I was happy to get away from the kitchen. He said he wanted Shan Masala. So we had gone to the Indian store. They were running an offer. Each Masala packet was 69p or 2 for 1 Pound. After dilly dallying, I got Shan Chicken Curry Mix.

We made it today and it was really spicy and strong. We didn't follow their instructions though. Here's how we made it.

Ingredients:
1.5 kg chicken on the bone
1 Onion sliced
2 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
1 pack Shan Chicken Curry Mix
1/2 tsp Turmeric
2 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste
Chopped Coriander leaves for garnish

Method

1. Wash the chicken and marinate it with the Turmeric, Shan Chicken Curry Mix and Salt for atleast 30 mins.
2. Heat oil in a pan and when the oil is hot, fry Onions till brown.
3. Then add the Ginger Garlic Paste and fry till the raw smell goes.
4. Now add the marinated chicken, combine well and let it cook. If you want a thin gravy, add in water. Do remember that the chicken will leave water.
5. When the chicken is done, remove and garnish with coriander leaves.
6. Serve with Roti / Rice.

Do take care that the chicken mix is extremely spicy. If you do not want it spicy, you might be better off marinating the chicken with half a packet (which I might try next time).

Also, I am changing my copyright for the photos. Will update the old photos soon.