Chicken Masala

A very simple and common chicken dish made in the south. Pleasing to the palate and a great combination to rasam and rice.

Ingredients :

Chicken – 2 lbs (cut into small pieces)
Onions – 2
Tomatoes – 2
Ginger Garlic paste – 2 Tbsp
Garam Masala – 2 Tsp
Coriander Powder – 2 Tbsp
Chilli Powder – 2 tsp
Turmeric Powder – ½ Tsp
Curry Leaves – 10-12
Coriander – handful (chopped)
Salt


In a tava, add oil and add the curry leaves. Add chopped onions and sauté until the onions turn glassy and transparent. Add the ginger garlic paste and sauté for about 5 minutes until the raw smell disappears. Add the chopped tomatoes and the powders and sauté until you see the oil coming out of the mixture. Add the chicken and the salt .
Close the tava until the chicken is cooked. Open and sauté for about 5 minutes until water evaporates. Garnish with a handful of chopped coriander.

Spicy Shrimp Varuval

This is a very simple stir fry dish. It uses very few ingredients so the flavor of the shrimp is not over-powered.

Ingredients:
Shallots – 10-15
Tomato Paste - 2 tsp

Garlic – 4-5
Chili Powder – 2 tsp
Pepper Powder – 2 tsp
Garam Masala – ½ tsp
Turmeric Powder – ½ tsp
Shrimp (Cleaned and De-veined) – 1 lb
Curry Leaves – 10
Coriander – a handful
Salt as required

Marinate the shrimp with the chili powder, pepper powder, garam masala, Turmeric and salt for about 10 minutes. Finely slice the shallots and garlic. Add oil in a tava, add curry leaves, onions and garlic. Saute until the onions turns brown. Now add the tomato paste and Saute well until it blends with the onions. Add the marinated shrimp and cook covered for about 15 minutes until the shrimp gets cooked. Uncover and fry for a few minutes until it becomes nice and dry. Garnish with chopped coriander.

Kothu Parotta

Whenever I have some mutton curry leftover from the previous day and of course have some frozen parottas in my freezer, what better dish to make than kothu parotta…its fast, easy and tasty. Makes a good snack or a light supper.




Ingredients

Cooked Parotta- 3
Onion- 1
Garlic – 1 tsp
Green chillies-3
Turmeric- 1/4 tsp
Pepper – 2 tsp
Curry leaves
Eggs-2
Chalna / Mutton curry - 1 cup
Coriander leaves - Handful

Heat oil in kadai and add the curry leaves, chopped onion, garlic , coriander and green chilies. When the onions are cooked and become slightly brown add the parotta and fry for a minute. I would generally shred the parotta before adding it to the kadai. This makes it easier to break them into smaller pieces and blend well with the rest of the ingredients. Now add eggs, salt and pepper. Mix everything together. When the egg is almost done add chalna / mutton gravy and break everything into small pieces using two spatulas. Check for seasonings. Garnish with a little bit of coriander leaves. Serve with raita

Chicken Noodles

Eating veggies is always a challenge in my house since we are such staunch non-vegetarians. With this dish, atleast three servings of vegetable enters into our system and plus lets not forget the chicken. You can avoid the chicken if you want , it tastes just as good with out it or you can add chicken and shrimp and take it to the next level :-) Its quick , easy and very simple to make.

Ingredients:

Chicken (Cooked and Shredded) – 1 Cup
Carrots – 3 Cups
Beans – 3 Cups
Cabbage – 3 Cups
Onion – 1
Eggs – 4
Soya Sauce – 1 tbsp
Noodles – 8 Ounces

Cook noodles according to the instruction on the package. Strain the noodles and rinse in cold water. Keep aside. Thinly slice length-wise the carrots, beans, cabbage and onions. In a large skillet, add oil and sauté the carrots and beans. Add a pinch of salt. Sauté for about 10 minutes until the veggies are cooked and crisp but not overcooked. Keep aside.
In the same skillet, add onions and cabbage, add another pinch of salt and sauté for 5 minutes. When done, remove and keep aside. The reason I sauté the veggies in this manner is because all these vegetables have different cooking time and when you add all of them together, some get cooked a little more than the others.
In the same skillet, add oil and scramble four eggs. Add chicken, sauté for about 2-3 minutes and add all the vegetables. Add noodles, soy sauce and check for salt. Mix the noodles well and serve hot. You can garnish it with sliced green onions.

Beet Salad

This is a very refreshing salad. I make this everytime I make Mutton curry. The two blend so well, it almost becomes a sort of like a comfort food.

Ingredients:

Beetroot – 1
Onion – 1
Green Chilies – 3-4
Tomato – 1
Vinegar – 2 tsp
Salt as required

Cook the beet with a little water in a pressure cooker. Slice up the onions, green chilies and tomato lengthwise.Once the beets are cooked slice them up lengthwise. In a bowl, add the sliced beets, onions, green chilies and tomato and crush them a little bit with your hands. This is done to let the juices out of the beets. Add the required amount of salt and add vinegar. The salad is generally a little sour, so if you want to add more vinegar you can do so. Serve with rice and mutton curry.

Minced Meat with Snow Peas and Green Peas

I love minced meat..Kheema mattar..its quick and easy to make and goes well with rice or roti's. I make this so many times that sometimes they get boring, so this time when i found some snow peas sitting in my fridge i jazzed it up a notch :=) I threw it in along with the kheema matar and voila....it tasted so good.


Ingredients:

Minced Meat (Lamb or beef) – 1 lb
Shallots (Sliced finely) – 10 – 12
Garlic (Sliced thin) – 5
Tomato Paste – 3 tbsp
Garam Masala – 2 tsp
Pepper Powder – 2 tsp
Turmeric Pwd – 1 tsp
Chili Pwd – 2 tsp
Salt as required
Coriander (chopped) – 2 tsp

In a pan, add oil and fry the shallots and sliced garlic until brown. Add the tomato paste and let it mix well into the onion mixture. Add all the powders and once mixed well add the minced meat. Close the pan until the meat is cooked. Once cooked, open it and add the snow peas and green peas. Let the vegetables cook for about a good 5-10 minutes and then fry well until all the water (if ever there is) evaporates.
Garnish with Coriander and serve hot with roti’s.

For the love of street food - Bangkok

There is something about Thai food that is so pleasing to the palate, especially for us Indians. Its probably the type of cooking that is so reminiscent of ours. Their curries, spices and tastes is so seemingly similar...but yet so very different. Its what makes Thai food so popular everywhere. In a recent visit to Bangkok, we got a chance to taste the street food that is so popular there.


Different type of Noodles displayed


As soon as the sun sets,the food vendors bring out their carts and set them up on the streets and pretty soon it gets crowded. All the locals eat here, and we as tourists will eat where the locals eat..that's the key to grabbing some good food. You see Thai people in a Thai restaurant,you know the food is good.In Bangkok, there is no need to shell out big bucks or go to some fancy shmancy restaurant to eat a three course meal.It is all here on the street.From starters like chicken satay on a stick, steamed pork balls to entrees like noodles and pad thai to desserts like jellies, custards and fruits ...they had it all.



So we gorged on the staggering array of eatables we found at each and every stall and topped it off with some fresh fruits.Lychees, rambutans, mangoosteens are in abundance here and sold at every nook and corner by the street vendors.




The most appealing part of Bangkok to me was not the high scale restaurants or the palaces or the age old relics and temples - it was the street food.I have always loved street food and its authenticity.In all its simplicity,it defines the culture of the people and the country . I would definitely visit Bangkok again just to savor the delicious street food ...cause there's nothing more satisfying than food so simple and authentic...and of course cheap !!!

Black Glutinous Rice Pudding

My first recipe post begins with something sweet, yup and it's healthy too.Black glutinous rice, also known as black sticky rice, has long dark grains and a nutty taste reminiscent of wild rice.This rice is mostly in thai, chinese and philippino desserts. You can get this rice at any asian stores in the US. The basic recipe calls for coconut milk, but here I have used grated coconut.It can be baked or cooked like rice. It has numberous health benefits like helping lower cholestrol levels and improving blood circulation...so I guess we can consider this a healthy dessert - right ?

Ingredients

Red Rice – 1 Cup
Water – 2 ½ Cups
Salt – a pinch
Sugar -2 ½ tbsp
Grated Coconut – 1/3 Cup

Soak the red rice with some water for about 15 minutes. Pressure cook the rice with 2 ½ cups of water for about 2 whistles or 10 minutes. Add a pinch of salt to the rice. Once the rice is cooked, add the sugar and the grated coconut.

Garnish with a little grated coconut of top while serving.

An Ode to the Oldies...

This blog is not a display of my culinary skills, it is rather a huble collection of recipes collected over the years from my mother, grandmother , mother-in-law, kith and kin et al. Some of these recipes are plain old - probably made in everyone's home , some are defined and manipulated by the maker, some borrowed from friends and cookbooks , some just played around by me. Like the saying goes "No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers." Laurie Colwin