Chicken curry with a hint of coriander

It is only recently that I found that where the traditional Punjabi/ North Indian gravy uses ginger-garlic paste, the Maharastrian version uses ginger-garlic-green chilli- coriander paste. Almost everything else is the same, but this takes the flavour to a different dimension. With the hubby home for the weekend, I had to make chicken curry rice at least once, but this time I made it the Maharashtrian way, and it was a huge hit. Most of it got consumed before I could click a picture, so the picture will have to wait for another day.

1 kg curry cut chicken

For marinade:

3 tbsp curds

1 tbsp ginger-garlic-green chilli- coriander paste*

1 tsp haldi powder

1 tsp red chilli powder

Salt to taste

For gravy:

3 small onions, chopped

1 tbsp ginger-garlic-green chilli- coriander paste

2 tomatoes, chopped fine
4 tsp dhania powder
2 tsp jeera powder
1 tsp garam masala powder
salt to taste
2-3 tbsp cooking oil

Method:
Wash and clean the chicken. Marinate for at least 1 hour.

Take onion and tomatoes in a blender and grind to a fine paste
Heat the oil, lower the flame, add the onion-tomato paste and the g-g-gc-c paste, and cook on a low flame till the raw smell goes, and the masala starts leaving the sides of the kadhai.
Add the marinated chicken, mix well, cover and cook. The chicken will release water, so keep stirring occasionally so it doesn't stick to the vessels- add water, if required. The chicken will be nice and tender in about 20 minutes.
Serve hot with rice or rotis.

* Grind equal quantities of ginger and garlic, with green chillis to taste and double the quantity of coriander leaves and stalks. It can be stored for 2 weeks, and makes a great addition to any gravy. 

Cauliflower Chilli Fry

When there are only so many vegetables your family eats, you try to find new ways of cooking it, so they don't get tired of those few veggies also. This cauliflower was super yummilicious. But I am not sure if I will make it again, because it was far too messy. But again, given the fact that even the Younger One lapped it up, maybe I should make it again though not too soon.

1 cup diced cauliflower3 tsp curd
2 green chillies
4-5 curry leaves


For the Batter to coat the Cauliflower:
2 tbsp rice flour
Red chilli powder, to season
Salt to taste
Water
Oil to deep fry

 

 

Method

Mix all ingredients to make a thick batter or paste.

To this add the cauliflower and deep fry. Keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan and lightly saute the curry leaves.

Add green chillies and curd.

Finally add the cauliflower. Mix well.

Serve pipping hot, either as a starter or with rice and dal.

Khatta Meetha Karela

I am not particularly fond of karela, but I keep trying out recipes in the hope I will find something I will like. This khatta meetha karela sounded interesting, and for the most part, it lived upto expectations. I am definitely making it again before deciding if I'm making it a keeper or not.

2 cups of diced bitter gourd, steamed

¼ teaspoon mustard seeds
¼ teaspoon cumin seeds
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
¼ teaspoon asafoetida powder
½ teaspoon red chilli powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
¼ teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon dry mango powder
4-5 curry leaves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon of jaggery, or more to suit your taste
¼ cup of roasted crushed peanuts
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons of freshly chopped coriander leaves
salt to taste


MethodHeat oil in a heavy bottomed pan on medium high; add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves and allow them to crackle.
To this add the asafoetida, turmeric powder and stir in the steamed bitter gourd and simmer for a few minutes.
Stir in the red chilli powder, dry mango powder, coriander powder and cumin powder and jaggery.
Continue to stir until the jaggery melts and gets well combined into the vegetable.
Turn the heat to low and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Turn off the heat when the mixture starts looking shiny. Stir in the crushed peanuts and coriander leaves
Serve hot.

Posto and lal saag

This dish, like many others, has a story. When we were in Calcutta, we would often find this (very imaginatively named) "laal saag" in the market. My mother's Tam Bram sensibilities couldn't make head or tail of it, but since greens (even if they were red in colour) were hard to come by in Calcutta, she was reluctant to let these leaves pass. So she asked around, and got this recipe from one of her colleagues, and started making it.
At that time, I didn't even know something called khas khas/ posto existed, much less know what it tasted like, but many years later, that thing called Nostalgia crawled out of the recesses of my mind, and made me pick up some khus khus during a trip to Delhi. I then asked my mother for recipes other than that of aloo-posto, and got this one.
Love it, because it combines two of my favourites- khus khus and peanuts!

1 bunch lal saag, destemmed and chopped fine

2 green chillis

2-3 pods garlic

2 tbsp roasted peanuts

2 tbsp khus khus

1/2 tsp kala jeera

1/2 tsp haldi powder

salt and sugar to taste

cooking oil

Method

Season the oil with kala jeera, green chilli, garlic and haldi powder. 

Once the jeera starts spluttering, add finely chopped lal saag, salt and sugar (be careful with the salt).

Cover and cook, without adding additional water.

When it is nearly done, sprinkle the khus khus, mix well, and cook till nearly dry.

Garnish with roasted peanuts (optional)

Arbi Lajawab, with curds

I am not particularly fond of arbi, but the hubby claims to like it a lot, so I am constantly looking for ways to make it more palatable. This recipe looked interesting, and though the arbi was as slimy as it always is, I'll probably make it again, because I did like it.

500 gms boiled and choped arbi

1/2 cup curds
1 1/2 tbsp besan
1 tbsp ghee

2 finely chopped onions

2 tsp ginger-garlicpaste
1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/4 tsp haldi powder
a few curry leaves
chilli powder to taste
salt to taste

MethodCombine the curds and besan and mix well to make a smooth paste.
Add 2 cups of water, salt, chilli powder and turmeric powder and mix well. Keep aside.
Heat ghee in a kadai, add curry leaves and mustard seeds.
When the seeds crackle, add the onions and ginger-garlic paste and saute till the onions turn translucent.
Add the arbi pieces and saute for five minutes, till they turn golden brown in colour.
Add the curd-gram flour mixture, mix well and simmer till the ghee floats on top and the gravy is thick.
Remove from flame and garnish with coriander leaves.
Serve hot with chapatis, or rice.

Bengali aloo bhajans

I love Bengali food, and when I saw this aloo bhaja, my mouth started salivating. Will my family eat something that doesn't have jeera, I wondered, but unless you try, how will you know. Went down so well, I had to make it again after two days!

3 potatoes

2 red chilli

1 tbsp mustard oil

salt and haldi to taste

Wash the potatoes well, and dice them (do not peel)

Heat the mustard oil, and when it starts giving off a smoky smell, add the potatoes, haldi and salt. Stir well, then let it fry (stirring constantly) till done.

Rich kofta curry

When I was young, my mother used to regularly make kofta curry using the papayas from our garden. I'll always retain a fondness for that, and somehow koftas made with lauki never seemed good enough.
But then I saw a raw papaya at my vegetable vendor, and decided to make koftas with it. Wanted to try out something new, and this is the result.

For koftas
half raw papaya grated

besan- I went by estimation- enough to bind, but not too much as to overpower the taste
1 tsp amchur

1/2 tsp haldi

1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp punjabi garam masala
oil for deep-frying
salt to taste

for The Gravy
2 medium onions, chopped

2 tbsp cashewnuts

1/2 tsp jeera
4-5 cloves garlic

1 inch piece ginger

2 green chillis

1/2 tsp dhania powder

1/2 tsp chilli powder

1/2 tsp haldi powder

4 medium tomatoes- chopped

1/2 tsp garam masala

3 tbsp fresh cream

oil

salt to taste

 

Method
For the koftas
Squeeze the grated papaya till all the water drains out.
Add the remaining ingredients, mix well and divide into 16 equal sized koftas.
Heat the oil in a pan and deep-fry the koftas 4 to 5 at a time till they are golden brown in colour.
Drain on absorbent paper and keep aside.
 

For the gravyHeat 1 tablespoon of the oil in pan, add the cashewnuts and sauté till they turn golden brown.
Heat the remaining oil in the same pan and add the jeera. When they crackle, add the onions and sauté till they turn translucent.
Add the garlic, ginger and green chillies ad sauté for another minute.
Add the coriander powder, chilli powder, turmeric powder, tomatoes and cashewnuts.
Cook till the oil separates from the gravy.

Allow it to cool down, then puree till smooth.
Add punjabi garam masala, 3/4 cup of water, cream and salt and bring to a boil.
Add the koftas to the gravy and simmer for a few minutes.
Serve hot garnished with coriander.

Hing wala aloo

We had this at a friend's place, and everyone loved it so much, I took the recipe and tried it out at home. Never thought of making aloo without haldi, but this is lovely.

3 potatoes
1 tsp jeera
1/4 tsp hing
salt to taste
cooking oil
coriander leaves for garnish

Boil the potatoes for 5 minutes, let it cool, peel and cube.
Heat about 1 tbsp cooking oil, splutter jeera, add potatoes, hing and salt, and stir.
Fry on a low flame for about 10 minutes.
Serve garnished with coriander leaves.

Aloo Palya

Aloo palya is what the Udupi restaurants call the aloo subji that they serve with pooris. Have always loved it, and no trip to the South is complete without at least one plate of poori- aloo. Got this recipe from a friend, and despite using a few baby potatoes instead of all real ones, it tasted almost authentic.

3 large potatoes boiled
1 medium onion chopped fine
8-10 pieces of cashewnuts
1 tbsp besan
1 green chillie
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp channa dal
1 sprig curry leaves
1 tsp haldi powder
salt to taste
1 tbsp oil

Heat the oil, and temper mustard seeds, channa dal, green chillies and curry leaves.
Add chopped onions and fry on low heat till onions turn transparent. Add cashew nuts, salt and haldi and stir for about a minute.
In the meantime, cut half the potatoes into eighth's and mash the rest of the potatoes.
Add the potatoes, and about 1/2 cup water. Once the water boils, lower the heat, cover and let it cook for about 5 minutes.
Make a paste with the besan, add to the curry, and let it cook for a minute.

Serve with piping hot pooris (or with dosas, as I did).

Dahi kofta

This recipe was adapted from one by Namita. Though the entire process was quite mess to say the least, the dish tasted really good, which is why I am putting it here.

Coarsely fry 1/2 cup of peas with 1 green chilli. Fry the peas with ginger garlic paste and salt for a few minutes till the rawness goes, and keep aside.
Mash 2 boiled sweet potatoes, and mix it with 2 tbsp cornflour, 2 tbsp crumbled paneer, and salt to taste. Knead well to make a dough.
Apply a little oil on your palms and take a small dough ball, flatten it and then shape it like a cup. Put 1 tsp of the stuffing inside the covering and close it slowly to make an even ball. Put the balls in the oil for deep frying. The oil should not be too hot or the balls will stick to the bottom of the kadhai. Slowly fry in a batch of 3-4 on a medium flame to make golden brown from all sides. [This is the theory, reality was quite different.] Drain the oil, and keep aside.

Beat curds (as much as you need) with a fork till smooth. Add salt, dhania pwd, red chilli pwd to taste and mix well.
Put the koftas in the dahi gravy and serve.

Pepper aloo

Didn't have pudina, so no minty/ herby stuff. Didn't want to make a traditional gravy. Which left not too many options. Adapted m-i-l's chicken recipe for this.

Boil baby potatos till almost done (I left it partially done thinking it would cook a bit more in the steam, but it didn't).
In a kadhai take 1 tbsp oil, 4 tbsp vinegar, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 1/2 tbsp pepper coarsely ground (leave a few unground), salt to taste. Mix well
Peel potatoes, prick with a fork and let it marinate in the kadhai for 15 minutes, turning over once 8-10 minutes (I did not do this, and the taste did not permeate the potatoes).
Cook on low heat, stirring occasionally, till the gravy thickens.
Serve without onions, coriander or green chillies.

Without the marination, this works really well with mushrooms. Made it once at my father-in-law's place, and the Aunties polished it off faster than the Uncles took for the shammi kababs.

[I normally make this with chicken, which releases a lot of water, so the cooking time is about 45 minutes (instead of 5 minutes for this). Hence, the need to marinate, so the taste doesn't just stick to the outside.
It has a tart taste, and you might want to add a bit of sugar to kill it- I don't. Changing the ratio of vinegar and soy sauce (2:1) kills the recipe- that is the only thing that is sacrosanct.]

Doi-begun

When Pritha Sen first gave me this recipe, I made something fit for the disaster album. But though it looked horrible, it tasted good, and I had to make it again. Learnt my lessons, and the second time, it came out really well, and I have made it several times since.

Cut about 250 gms small brinjals into halves, fry and keep aside (you can use larger brinjals too, and cut it accordingly)
Fry 2 to 3 tbsp onion paste and whole garam masals (if you don't have onion paste, you can use onion sli
ces, but this is better).
Mix together 1/2 cup curds, ginger paste, chilli powder, salt and sugar to taste (I used the paste of an inch long piece of ginger).
Add to the onion paste, and cook on low heat till oil rises (this is the trickiest part, because if you don't do it right, the curd could curdle).
Add water and fried brinjal, cook. Add garam masala and green chillies and take off the heat.