Chicken curry

When you have kids of a dog, you really don't have much choice but to get things sorted really fact. One of the first things I did here was to find a chicken shop, and this simple chicken curry made itself.

1 kg curry cut chicken

For marination:
3 tbsp curds

1 tbdp ginger garlic paste

1/2 tsp haldi powder

1 tsp chilli powder
Salt to taste

3 medium onions chopped fine
1 green chilli
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tsp dhania powder
1 tsp haldi powder
3 tsp chicken masala powder
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
2 tbsp cooking oil

Method:
Marinate the chicken pieces, and keep for an hour.
Heat the oil. Saute the onions till well browned.
Add green chillis, ginger garlic paste, and spices, saute for 1 minute
Add the chicken pieces, and the tomatoes, cover and cook for 10-15 minutes
Serve hot with roti or rice.

Rajma-chawal - a quick version

After maintaining an uneasy truce with it for several years, my relationship with rajma chawal has finally started thawing. Though I still don't make it very often, I do end up making it once in two or three months, which is much better than the way it was earlier. Today, I tried out an easier version, which tasted as good as the original. Will that make me cook it more often- only time will tell.

250 gms rajma, soaked for 6 hours
2 bay leaves
1 stick cinnamon
1 star annise
1 badi elaichi

3 tomatoes, chopped
2 large onions, chopped
1 green chilli
Cooking oil
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tsp dhania powder
1 tbsp kasoori methi
1 tsp garam masala powder
salt to taste
A pinch of nutmeg powder
2 tbsp cream (or milk)


Method:
Pressure cook the rajma with the whole spices and sufficient water (it takes me 20 minutes).
Meanwhile, saute the chopped onions till it starts to turn transparent. Add tomato and green chilli  and when the tomatoes turn mushy, add the ginger garlic paste, dhania powder, kasoori methi and garam masala powder, and saute for an additional 2 minutes.
Let it cool, then grind it in a mixer till you get a smooth paste. Return the paste to the kadhai on which you fried it.
Remove the whole spices, and add the cooked rajma and water to the ground masala. Mix well, and cook in a low flame for about 10 minutes.
Add nutmeg powder, salt and cream/ milk. Bring to a boil, turn off the flame, cover and let it cook in its own steam for 5 minutes.
Serve with steamed rice.

Rajma

My mother's Rajma is reputed to be the best. I wouldn't really know, because I never had rajma made by anyone else till I went to hostel. And there, we had rajma twice a week. Not any old rajma- a fusion rajma made by Malayali cooks to cater to North and South Indian taste-buds. Add to the fact that the sambar powder didn't really go with the rest of the gravy was the fact that the beans would invariably be insufficiently soaked, and therefore quite bitter. By the time I graduated two years later, I couldn't even think of rajma without wanting to throw up.
All those years as a new bride, the only request I would make to anyone calling me home for dinner was "no rajma PLEASE". And so my mother's rajma remained the only edible rajma I ever tasted.
Gradually, the phobia left me, and I started having rajma again. Not too often, and not too cheerfully, but I could have it without wanting to throw up. And now, I do make it once in awhile.
This version is my own, and I make it often.

250 gms rajma soaked overnight

1 badi elaichi

1 piece cinammon

2 bay leaves

 

3 small onions, chopped

3-6 pods garlic

1 inch piece ginger

2 tomatoes

4 tsp dhania powder

2 tsp jeera powder

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp garam masala powder

1 tsp kasoori methi

salt to taste

2-3 tbsp cooking oil 

2 tbsp cream

Method:

Cook the soaked rajma with the three whole spices in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes (lower after the first whistle and let it simmer for 20 minutes). Discard the whole spices and keep aside.

Take onions, ginger, garlic and tomatoes in a blender, and grind to a fine paste.

Heat the oil, lower the flame, add the paste and the ground spices, and cook on a low flame till the raw smell goes, and the masala starts leaving the sides of the kadhai.

Add the cooked rajma and kasoori methi to the paste. Add about 1 1/2 cups water, and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the cream, cook for a minute, and take off the fire.

Serve hot with rice or rotis.