Pepper Chicken Masala

Had a super hectic week so far. Husband was gone to a week's seminar. Imagine my plight with the three boys. Some how survived the week and want to publish this post before the week is gone.

In the few years lived in Chennai, I tasted this preparation of curry masala originally with mutton and then quickly enqiured the main ingredients that go into making of this dish and adopted the same with chicken which I preferred.

Chicken is simmered in exotic spice blend gravy of black peppers, green chillies ginger-garlic, cumin and finished with cream or yogurt.

Not to mention good effect of this masala when we are suffering with cold.

Ingredients :
2 lb - Chicken Skinless
1 Tbsp - Oil
4 Cinnamon Sticks broken
5 Cardamom
6 Cloves
2 Big Size Onions, sliced
1/2 cup half and half or smoothened sour cream or yogurt
Salt to taste
Coriander to garnish

For the pepper masala grind :
5 Green chillies
2 inch Ginger piece
5 Garlic pods
2 Tsp black whole pepper.
2 Tbsp cumin seeds
Enough water to make a paste

Method :
In a wide pot/pan heat oil.
Add the whole spices and allow them to brown a little
Now add onion, cook till onions are translucent.
When the onions are frying, make the pepper masala paste and keep aside
Once the onions are cooked add pepper masala paste and keep mixing so that it doesn't stick to edges.
Now add the cleaned, cut chicken pieces and salt.
Mix well to coat the chicken pieces with all the masala
Cover and simmer for 5 - 8 minutes or till all the juices from the chicken are secreted, stirring occasionally.
Once the chicken is almost done for a creamy texture, add cream or yogurt and mix.
At the end add coriander and remove from heat.
Serve with plain rice and Rasam.
This masala also serves as a good side dish for fish or lamb biriyani or pulav or coconut rice.

Mutton Curry with Coconut Gravy

Christmas is here and it brings all the memories of childhood, where we enjoyed carols, home decorations, Christmas tree, greeting cards, new clothes, Church worship, family reunions, friends visiting, baking cakes, or making pastries, sweets and savories, purchasing cartons of fruits, distributing goodies to neighbours, friend, relations, etc.. and not to mention the scrumptious feast on the big day..The usual menu in our joint family was Pilaf or biriyani, variety of chicken curries and variety of veggie curries. In my Aunt's place it was always Pilaf/Biriyani with Spicy Mutton gravy and brinjal chutney. No doubt Mutton is the most favourite meat for most Non-Vegetarians back home.

Here is one version of the most loved mutton curry.

Ingredients :
2 lb Mutton cut into bite size
2 Tbsp Oil
3 - 4 Onions over medium size)
4 -5 Green chillies slit
2 Tbsp - Ginger garlic paste
2 Tomatoes (large) or 1 cup Tomato puree
2 tsp Red chilly powder - 2 ½ tsp.
1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
1 Tbsp five spice garam masala power
2 Tbsp poppy seeds (soaked in enough water and ground into a smooth paste)
1/2 cup Coconut paste/puree (add little water to the grated coconut and make a puree)
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves (finely chopped)

For the Five Spice powder :
Put together a handful (around 50 gms)of the following spices and grind into a coarse powder and store in a air tight container.
Fennel seeds
Cardamon
Cinnamon
Cloves
Star Anise
Method:
In a pressure cooker, allow oil to become hot and add onions, green chillies and saute' till onions are fully cooked and mushy.
Add ginger garlic paste and saute till the raw smell is gone.
Add the mutton pieces along with turmeric, chilly powder, and salt and mix thoroughly till all the mutton pieces are well coated.
Add half of the garam masala powder and mix again.
Add cut tomatoes or puree and close the cooker lid for 2 mints without the whistle inserted.
This will create pressure inside to inject the mutton pieces with masala and also in the process the water from the mutton gets released.
Remove lid and add cup of water or a little more, mix and again close the lid, this time with the whistle and cook for 25 -30 minutes on a medium low heat.
After the time is done, release pressure, remove lid and check to see if mutton is almost done.
Now add the poppy seed paste, coconut paste and remaining garam masala and cook for 5 to 10 minutes or until the mutton is soft.
Add coriander leaves and remove form heat.
Serve hot with any seasoned rice, or roti.

Sending this Mutton curry dish to EFM-Mutton Seriesevent hosted by Srilekha of Srishkitchen.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my viewers, readers, friends and family!!!!!

Chicken with Chettinad Fusion

Its Thanks giving weekend in Canada. So if not the big bird "Turkey" definetly this recipe for the small bird should work out.
Think about red chillies, pepper corns, cumin/coriander seeds, fennel seeds, curry leaves the first thing that comes in mind is Chettinad cuisine. Though I didn't use all those ingredients here in this recipe..which is why I only call this dish a chettinad fusion..I'm happy to come out with a different chicken preparation which is easy to make and tasty to cherish.
This recipe is inspired by Sig's Chettinad Chicken curry, with my addins and modifications.
Having the basic ingredients of Chettinad cooking like Red chillies, Fennel seeds(saunf), Black pepper, Curry leaves..etc, this turned out to be one different and satisfying chicken recipe that didn't dissappointment me and also got laurels from my partner.

Whats needed:
1-1/2 lb of Chicken, bone in, Skinless, cut into regular chicken curry size peices
1 Tbsp Oil
1 big medium size Onion, cut length wise
5 - 6 Red Chillies stems removed
1 tsp Fennel Seeds
8 - 10 Curry leaves
1 Tbsp Ginger Garlic paste
1/2 cup Crushed Tomato puree
1 tsp Red Chilly Powder
1/2 tsp Tumeric Powder
1/2 tsp Black Pepper Powder
Salt to Taste
Finely chopped coriander leaves to garnish.

Directions:
Wash and clean chicken of any fat.
Add turmeric, and red chilly powder along with enough salt to the clean chicken, mix and keep aside
In a wok or kadai, pour oil when hot and add the fennel seeds and fry.
Now add red chillies, curry leaves and fry taking care not to burn.
Add Onions and fry till translucent
Add ginger garlic paste and paste fry till rawness is gone.
Add Tomato puree and keep stirring till it leaves oil.
Now add the marinated chicken peices and mix well to coat the chicken peices with the masala.
Allow the chicken peices to roast along with the masala for about 15 - 20 minutes till the chicken masala mixture leaves oil.
Add the black pepper powder mix well.
Garnish with coriander leaves and remove from heat.
Serve hot with plain with rasam or tempered rice.


And a Happy Thanks giving to my Canadian friends.

Nihari curry

For those of you who have been sending emails about this post, here is the much awaited "Nihari curry". Sorry for the delay girls, this was due from long time. Any way better late than never. So instead of writing a story...lets go straight into the making of it.

Ingredients:
Meat:
Beef/Lamb- 2 lb

Whole Spices
a few of each Cinnamon, Cardamom, Cloves, Fennel seeds, Bay leaf, Star Anise etc...

Spice powders:
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Chilly powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Nihari Curry Powder - 2 - 3 tbsp (depending on mild or hot)

Others:
oil - 1 tbsp
Onions - 2 Big
Green chillies - 4 slit
Ginger garlic paste( or Chopped finely) - 1 tbsp
Tomato Paste - 1/4 cup or 2 large Tomatoes finely chopped
All purpose or rice flour - 2 tsp.
Water - 3 cups
Salt -to taste

Garnish:
Fresh Coriander leaves - a few finely chopped
Fresh Ginger cut into thin strips - 10
Fresh Lime wedges



Procedure:
Heat oil in a pot, fry the whole spices till color changes.
Add onions, green chillies and fry till onions are translucent.
Add the ginger garlic paste and saute for a minute
Add the tomato paste and keep mixing for a minute.
Add all the spice powders and fry for a minute
Add the meat pieces and salt and mix well to give a nice coat of the masala for each piece.
Cover and cook for 3-5 min, to allow the spices to be absorbed by the meat.
Add 2 cups of water depending upon the amount of gravy desired.
Cover and cook on very slow heat for 3 - 4 hours till the meat is fully cooked and completely soft. (The traditional Nihari curry requires 6- 7 hours of slow cooking)
Keep mixing regularly and add more water if required so that the curry doesn't stick the edges of the pot.
When almost cooked add a few the coriander leaves.
After 3 hours check to see whether the meat is soft and check for taste too.
Add more Nihari curry powder if you think the curry is bland.
Now add flour to the enough water to make a smooth watery batter and add it to the cooked curry.
Mix well.
Allow it to cook for 5 -7 min till the raw flour smell goes away and the aroma of the curry sustains.
Remove from heat and garnish with remaining coriander leaves, ginger strips and lemon wedges.
Serve hot with Plain or Flavoured Rice, Roti, Paratha or Naan.

Paneer Butter Masala

The aroma of this dish is so soothing to my soul that even the best of any NV dishes can wait when this dish is on the menu.

This is yet another popular desi dish...mostly in North India. But for sure people in south cherish it as much too.

Back home I never even attempted to make this at home...cause you get the best of best at our North Indian restaurants. But here the longing for this dish made me to venture cooking it at home.

At times due to time scarcity I use the ready made President Choice Butter chicken sauce after i season cut onions with with some whole spices and ginger garlic paste. But the traditional way is made from scratch.



Ingredients:
Paneer - 500gms
Tomatoe puree - 1/2 - 3/4 tin, (400gms)
Onions - 2 large ground into a smooth paste
Cashew - 10 soaked in enough water and ground into paste
Ginger-Garlic paste - 3 to 4 tsp
Garam Masala - 1 tsp
Chilli powder - 2 tsp
Dhaniya Powder - 2 tsp
Red Colour -1 tsp(optional)
Butter - 50gms + 50 gms + 50gms
Whole Spices - 1/2 tsp (optional)
Salt to taste
Cream - 1/2 cup
Coriander Leaves to garnish

Method:
Saute paneer in 50gms of butter until it becomes golden brown and keep aside.
In a kadai melt another 50gms of butter, add whole spices if using and saute onion paste till cooked.
Now add the ginger garlic paste and fry a little.
Add the tomato puree and cook till the raw smell is gone.
Add the chilli powder,dhaniya and powder garam masala powder.
Add 1/2 cup water.
Allow the gravy to boil.
Add the cashew paste and stir well.
Now add the paneer cubes to the gravy masala,
Mix the food colour in 1/4 cup of water and add it to this gravy.
Allow it to boil for 3-5 mins
Add a few coriander leaves and remove from heat.
Garnish with fresh cream and remaining coriander leaves.

Serve hot with flavoured rice or Roti/Paratha.

This is my entry for the event "Paneer - a delicacy" hosted by Vandana Rajesh of Cooking up something nice

Also since paneer is rich in protein I'm sending this to the event "Eat heathly - Protein Rich" hosted by Sangeeth of Lets all Cook

"E" for Eggplant - Vow Brinjal

Sending this Brinjal Masala to Pooja of My Creative Ideas who is hosting the Vegetable of the week

Read Recipe here

Shrimp Tamatar Curry

This is my first NV dish after I started regular blogging. Though I posted some before this, I feel awkward to publish non-veg food posts that they may embrass my vegie foodies. But then I can't leave out my NV foodies too, right. Moreover these days most of the NV blogs have blogged about shrimp or prawns and its my turn now.

So here you go all my seafood lovers, especially who just drool for Shrimp, here is my version of Tamatar Shrimp Curry.
I really miss those fresh small prawns back home. Their flavour, taste absolutely adorable. Enough if I manage to buy fresh ones here they can't come upto that taste.

Its so amazing with shrimp/prawn or as a matter of fact any seafood, how the raw shrimpy/fishy smell turns into mind blowing oroma when they are cooked the right way.

Back home we pay these vendors to clean the shrimps. But here if we are not buying the cleaned frozen ones( they don't have the right texture for the curry recipe) we have to do it oursevles. Never in my life would I have dreamt of cleaning prawns. The look of them use to scare me before they are de-shelled. And here I'm all diligently cleaning them if I want to have a shrimp treat. Cause it takes patience to de-shell and more if we want to de-vein them. Although most of the time it is my D.Hubby filling this post for me. Cause he loves seafood, and not to mention "shrimp". So if he wants a treat this is part it.

Well this is what life is... we have to do things sometimes even though we don't like to do. And we eventually learn the lesson that is was not so difficult than we thought and also to receive we have to give.

Now coming to recipe, Shrimp can taste good even with the fewest spices added to them and just sauted. But this is one of the methods I use to make the taste excellent.
Ingredients:

1 lb deshelled shrimp/prawns (de-vein them if desired)
3 big - Tomatoes cut into small cubes
2 big - Onions finely cut
3 pods - Garlic finely chooped
4 medium - Green chilies Slit
1 reem - Curry leaves
1 tsp - Red chilly powder (increase if you want it spicy)
2 Tbp - Oil
Salt - to taste
Finely chopped - coriander leaves( keep the stem part seperate)

Procedure:
Heat up a kadai(pot) add oil, when oil is heated add garlic, saute and then add green chillies, saute and add the onions & curry leaves.
Fry the onions till translucent. Throw in the stems(cut into small) of the corainder leaves at this time.
This is my personal observation...Usually we put the Coriander leaves at the end, but in this recipe, if we add the stem part while frying the onions, it gives a very exotic oroma which is carried thru the finish of the dish. So this Shrimp carry is almost coriander flavoured along with tomatoes,
Now add the tomatoes and cook them well till they loose their shape and the mixture in the kadai almost looks like a paste.
Add in the red chilly powder and salt, mix well till all the masala goes into the mixture and the raw smell goes away.
Now add the cleaned shrimp and mix well to coat them evenly with the masala.
Add a bit of water if you want this dish to be on a gravy side.
Cover and cook for 7 - 10 minutes.
Once the shrimp is cooked and the gravy starts sticking to them, garnish with the coriander leaves and remove from heat.

Though this is a simple preparation, the taste is extremely commendable.

This goes good just with plain rice, or rice wiht rasam or sambar. The gravy is good to eat with Idilies, dosa or chapati, roti.

So this being such a versatile side dish, should be cherished for sure.

Mutton Varuval (Lamb Curry Dry)

This preparation reqiures any type of pre cooked mutton gravy.(I shall post the mutton gravy recipe the next time I cook it.) Say you can make this dish with the saved curry gravy from the the prevoius meal.

Ingredients:
1. Mutton gravy - 1 cup
2. Onions - 1 Medium size
3. Green Chillies - 2
4. Curry Leaves - 8-10
5. Black pepper powder - 1/4 tsp
6. Coriander leaves - to garnish
7. Oil - 1 tsp

Procedure:1. In an non-stick tawa/pan pour oil after heating and add green chilies(Slit into half and cut into two thin peices) , onoins, 3/4 of curry leaves, and saute till onoins are almost cooked.

2. Add the Mutton/Lamb gravy into this seasoning, mix well and keep sauting till all the gravy is vanished and sticks thick to the lamb peices.

3. Add the Black Pepper powder, left over curry leaves and coriander leaves.

4. Saute a minute and remove from heat.

Serve with Hot Flavoired rice( my next post) or Plain rice with sambar.