Chicken fry with kerala porotta

Our dinner for our wedding anniversary... Chicken fry kerala style with porottas... yumm..yummm....

Easy Chicken Curry/Fry

This is a very easy chicken curry/Fry. You can decide the amount of gravy you like or whether you want it fried. I usually end up making this when i've  very little time to cook the chicken as this dish rarely needs anything more than the occasional stirring. By very little time, what i mean is that you dont have to stand next to the dish stirring all the time and checking whether onions and tomatos are cooked  or whether the spices are burning... Just mix it all together and add to the pan..

 

                                               

 

Here's how..
(*Note: Adjust spice levels according to your taste...We like it very hot !)

Ingredients:

1 big onion thinly sliced
1 tomato sliced
*2 cloves of chopped garlic
*a small piece of ginger - cut into thin long strips
(*You can substitute this with store bought ginger/garlic paste to save you some more time - 2 tsp)
2 green chillies - slit
2 tbsp thick yoghurt
2 tbsp veg oil
1 tbsp lime juice
2 tsp chilli powder
2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
3 sprigs of curry leaves
salt to taste
1 kg chicken - skinned and cut into medium sized pieces (on the bone preferably)

Method:
Marinate the chicken with all the above mentioned ingredients and rub the marinade into the pieces. You could also make some incisions on the pieces to ensure that the marinade penetrates. Set aside for 15 minutes or as long as you have time.. Now pour some oil into a pan and once its hot, add the chicken along with all the marinade to it. Stir on high heat for 5-7 minutes or till the juices start flowing from the chicken. Now lower the heat to medium and cover and cook for another 10 minutes. Take the lid off and let the chicken cook uncovered. At this stage you can decide how much gravy you prefer. I usually let it cook till there's very little gravy in the chicken. Serve hot garnished with some lime wedges.

This is best served with naan or tandoori roti.

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Tandoori Roti

What to cook on a weeknight is usually a big dilemma for me.. I would normally consider cooking 10 different things and waste over an hour wondering which one to cook. Then usually end up asking hubby dear to make that decision(Wish i would just do that in the first place !!)..One such night was last night.. He took out one of my many cook books and flipped through them, found something he liked and insisted that i cook it. Now that i had asked him to do so, i had to cook whatever he asked for . "Vadi koduthu adi vangikya..." (loosely translates to - Give the stick and get the beatings) . Anyways he had chosen "Tandoori Roti" for dinner. Now i cannot for the life of me, cook decent chappati's so Tandoori Roti was an even scary option. But i had some leftover rice in the fridge as a fall back plan if everything else failed...so thought of giving it a try. But they turned out really good...and it was so easy to make, infact i prefer making them to chappati's... I made a spicy chicken curry to go with it and the combination was real good...

The recipe for Tandoori Roti was taken from "Mridula Baljekar's book - Great Indian Feasts". Here's my version of the original recipe.

Ingredients :
2 cups self-raising flour(Maida) plus extra for dusting
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp yeast
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsps plain yoghurt
1 tbsp baking soda mixed with water.

Method:
Put the flour, sugar, salt and yeast into a large mixing bowl and mix well. Beat the oil & yoghurt together and add it to the flour. Gradually add the soda water and mix until a sticky dough is formed. .Transfer the dough to your work surface and knead it till its soft and springy and does not stick to the worksurface  any more. Place the dough in a bowl and cover it with a damp cloth. Leave the dough to rise for 1 - 1/2 hrs.

Preheat the oven to 220 C. Line a baking sheet with greased baking paper.

Divide the dough into 8 equal sized portions. Make small balls from each of them then flatten it to form a round cake. Dust each cake in a little flour and then roll it out to a 10cm/4 in circle. Place on the prepared baking sheet and bake on the top shelf of the oven for 5-17 minutes or until puffed and browned in patches.

Serve with some fried chicken or spicy chicken curry

 

Rava Onion Uthappam

When i used to work in SEEPZ in mumbai we used to go out to this place called Kay dees for our lunch. They used to serve the loveliest Rava onion uthappam's ive ever tasted. I tried to recreate the same taste the other day. Well cant say it was a complete succes...
The first few uthappams just stuck to the pan(i did use a nonstick pan) and wouldnt come out. The rest didnt cook properly and i had to dump those too. Now the batter was sufficient for just two uthappam's. Its then that i got the hang of it. Oil !!! and lots of it.... that makes the uthappam nice, soft n lacy without sticking to the pan. Also, you need to pour out the batter real quickly in small sections around the pan and then give it a swirl to join them. This needs to be done super quick so that the uthhapam are nice and thin...


Here's the recipe..give it a try




Mix 1 cup of rice flour with 1 cup of rava(semolina).Add some chopped onions, green chillies, curry leaves, salt and 1 teaspoon of curd. Mix all this together. Now add around 2-3 cups of water. the batter should be slightly runnier than your dosa batter. Set aside for 5-10 minutes. Now heat a non stick pan and pour the batter in it. Pour it across the pan in small portions and then swirl the pan around so that the portions join. The uthappa doesnt have to be nice n round.. Now pour some oil around it. Let it cook till you see the sides leaving the pan and crisping up. Now flip it over and let the other side cook. Remove and serve hot with green coconut chutney or like i did with my mother in law's chammandi podi (chutney powder).



I had to make some more batter after i finally got the last two right :)..

Prawns Biryani

I keep telling people that one of the biggest tragedies of my life is that my husband is allergic to prawns !! Seriously, i lovvee prawns and he cant even stand the smell of it..!!so the only time i cook it is when i have guests over otherwise i feel guilty about eating it all by myself. The other day i had few prawns leftover from an earlier dinner party and i had no idea what to cook out of it. If i made some curry, that would mean making another curry for my husband. Not a good idea. So i thought of making biryani..made the masala and divided the same masala adding prawns to one pot and chicken to another.. Two biryani, two very happy people :)

Anyways here's the recipe.

Ingredients
2 big onions - finely chopped
ginger - 1 inch piece
garlic - 4 cloves
1 big tomato - finely chopped
Bay leaf - 1
Cloves -4 to 5
coriander leaves - 1 tsp
mint leaves - 4 to 5
chilli powder - 2 tsp
coriander powder - 1 tsp
turmeric powder -1/4 tsp
Garam Masala - 1 tsp
salt to taste
Prawns : 250 gms - shelled and deveined.
Rice : 3 cups
Water : 4 cups


Method:

Wash and soak the rice for about 10-15 minutes.
Blend together the ginger,garlic, coriander, mint leaves and marinate the prawns in this mixture and set aside. Meanwhile in a heavy bottom vessel, add some oil. Add bay leaf, cloves and fry for a minute. Now add the chopped onions till its soft and golden brown. Add the tomatoes and cook till it starts leaving the oil. Add all the spice powders , garam masala and fry till the raw smell goes away.
Add the prawns and stir fry till the prawns start changing color. Now drain the soaked rice and add it to the pot. Add the water,salt and stir gently to mix everything. Cover the pot with a lid and let it steam on low heat for half an hour.

Serve garnished with fried onions, cashew nuts and chopped coriander

Prawns Fried rice

Having lotsof leftover rice in the refrigerator...sick and tired of wanting to eat them with the same combi of curry n veggies, well this is the best alternate option you can come up with.

I had some frozen tiger prawns too, which i used in here. You can omit this or substitute it with chicken or either use just plain veggies.

Ingredients :-
Prawns - 250 gms
Red chilli paste - 2 tsps
Soya sauce - as per taste
Sesame oil - 2 tbsps
Veggies - 1 cup of diced veggies (red n green peppers, carrots etc)
eggs - 2
salt to taste
cooked n cooled rice - 2 cups
onions finely chopped - 1 (use spring onions 3-4 for a better flavour, i didnt have any)
ginger, garlic and red chillies finely chopped - 1 tbsp each

Method:
Marinate the prawns with 1 tsp of red chilli paste, sesame oil 1 tbsp and soya sauce 1 tbsp. Keep aside while you finish chopping the vegetables approx 10-15 minutes.

Heat a wok and add some oil to it. Beat together 2 eggs, add salt and pepper and pour it into the wok. Fry the omlette on both the sides, remove from wok and keep aside. Cut it into thin long slices.

Clean the wok and keep it on high heat. Add some oil. Once the oil is close to smoking point, add the chopped ginger garlic and red chillies. once these soften add the onions and fry till soft. Throw in the prawns and stir them around till they start to become pink.
As soon as the prawns start to change color, add the veggies and stir around.
Note: Do not wait for a long time to cook the prawns as they will continue cooking while you add the vegetables. Else they might become too rubbery.
Add rest of the soya sauce, sesame oil and red chilli paste (optional if you dont like it too hot) and salt. Once the veggies have softened, add the rice and stir till everything is mixed. Finally add the slices of omlette and garnish with coriander.

Find other yummylicious fried recipes here, here and here.

Varutharacha meen curry - fried and ground fish curry

I was hunting for the perfect accompaniment to go with kerala appams(rice pancakes that look like mini UFO's turned upside down :D). I called up mom immediately and this is the recipe she gave me. My mom is even worse than me when it comes to giving the measurements n also the ingredients :( but thankfully this time i did remember exactly how much i added

In a frying pan, heat 1-2 tsp of oil (coconut oil), fry around 1/2 cup of dessicated or freshly grated coconut. When the coconut starts changing color, add 3-4 peeled pearl onions or shallots. Fry for a minute taking care that the coconut is not burning and stirring continuously. Reduce the heat to low and add 3 tbsps of coriander, 2 tbsp of chilli powder. stir in and take off the heat immediately. Grind this into a smooth paste once its cooled.

In a saucepan or meen chatti(if ur the lucky people who have one), add the ground spicepaste, 2-3 cups of water and some kudampuli(fish tamarind) soaked in water. I normally use just one piece of kudampuli as it can be very overpowering. You can substitute this with tamarind paste or pulp soaked in water. Once the mixture comes to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and add the cleaned and washed fish pieces (250-300 gms cut into small pieces). I used a firm fish called KingKlip, you may use small fishes like mackerel, sardines etc or even pomfret king fish etc.. Let the mixture simmer for atleast 15-20 minutes till the gravy thickens. Add salt to taste.

Separately fry some finely sliced pearl onions/shallots preferably in 2-3 tbsp of coconut oil for the authentic taste, add fenugreek powder and curry leaves. Add this to the fish curry and let the curry rest for atleast 15-20 minutes before serving. The longer the curry rests, the better it taste. Enjoy with hot steaming appams or plain rice.