Kaala Masala Chicken/Egg Curry

I don't know if i have mentioned this earlier, but since me a vegetarian( Egg-etarian and Dessert-arian actually ), and hubby being a non-vegetarian, we always have to cook two dishes when making Chicken/Meat. So i found an easier way out of separating the gravy before adding chicken and then adding either eggs or paneer to it. Sometimes even adding boiled aloo ( potatoes) tastes great! 

So this way hubby gets to eat his favourite chicken, and i don't have to stress on making two curries :)
I have already posted the Kaala Masala Recipe earlier. ( http://cookininpajamas.blogspot.in/2014/03/khandeshi-masala-kaala-masala.html )

While making the curry with the masala, what's important is to cook the masala and let it blend very well with the onions/tomatoes paste to form a nice brown gravy. It would take a while, but guess the real taste comes from slow-cooking! 
One of the main ingredients i learnt from my mother-in-law while making this curry is Garlic. My MIL loves garlic... she would add it in raw form, or in a paste form or just crush and add to any and every thing from daal to dry sabzis to curries. Another important thing to keep in mind is the law of minimalism. Since the Kaala Masala itself has a strong and intense flavour, adding a lot of other masalas would dominate the taste. So, just a spoonful of corriander powder and little red chilli powder is enough.

Make this one, and you will end up licking your fingers and craving for more...:)

Ingredients :

( The gravy proportion is for 250 gm chicken and 2 eggs for the egg gravy as mentioned above, so you adjust accordingly )

Onions - 3

Chicken - 250 gms (The best part about making this one is you don't have to marinate the chicken for long. Just clean the cut chicken pieces and add a pinch of salt and keep aside while your masala is cooking )

Tomatoes - 2

Garlic - 12-15
Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
Khas khas ( optional ) - 1/2 tsp

Ginger - 1 inch piece

Oil - 3 tbsp
Dry coconut ( roasted till brown ) - 2 tbsp ( I had mentioned about this one in one of my earlier posts... I normally grate dry coconut and roast it and keep in air tight container and then add to different curries/ sabzis as required, gives a very different taste and colour to any dish ) Looks somewhat like this :

Kaala Masala - 2 tbsp

Corriander powder - 2 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 3/4 tsp

Hing ( Asafoetida) - a pinch

Salt - to taste

Corriander leaves - to garnish

Recipe :

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan. (This pan should be the one you are going to cook the chicken in ). Add roughly chopped onions and fry well till they are golden brown. Let them cool down.

Make a paste of the fried onions in a grinder along with roasted coconut, khas khas, ginger and garlic.

Now Heat 2 tbsp oil in the same pan. Add the fennel seeds and then add the paste and fry for around 2-3 minutes.

Meanwhile chop tomatoes roughly and make a paste in the grinder.

Add the tomato paste to the pan and let it cook for 2-3 minutes. 

Now add the turmeric powder, red chilli powder, corriander powder and the kaala masala. Add salt and mix it all well. Keep frying the masala stirring occasionally, as once the water evaporates, it might stick to the pan. Keep adding water ( maybe a spoon or two) in between , so the masala blends well and doesn't burn out. Fry till the masala starts leaving oil.

Now separate the gravy, if you want to make a paneer or egg curry along with, else add the chicken pieces to this.

Let the pieces get coated with the masala and fry it for 5 minutes or so.

Now add about 2 cups of water, depending on the gravy consistency that you desire.
Remember, the chicken will also leave it's juices.

Cover and cook for about 10 minutes.

Now add half of the chopped corriander leaves to this and let it cook in open till the chicken is done.

Once done, keep it covered on the gas stove and let it rest for about 5 minutes.

Garnish with corriander leaves and serve with roti, paratha or rice :)

Isn't it mouth-watering?? 

Happy Cooking :)

 

Bengali cuisine : Dinner at Joey's :)

Ghar ka khana : Foodies, as we are, we love to gorge on different cuisines. Being Maharashtrians, all that we have eaten of Bengali food is at specialty restaurants. So, when our Bengali friends in Delhi invited us for dinner, we jumped at the idea!!! Bengali food, cooked at home, that too with a touch of "Maa ke haath" ( Mom's food )... it all sounded a perfect Sunday evening.

Woofs from Joey : I had mentioned about "Aloo Poshto" to my friend just last month, and she had promised me then, that she will make it and invite me for dinner. So this was definately on the menu :) After a warm welcome from all of them ( we were meeting their parents for the first time, who are basically Bengalis from Bihar), and lots of licks and jumps from our sweetheart Joey-Poey ( My client from pet sitting ), we had some dhoklas as a starter.

Minimalism is not lack of something, Its simply the perfect amount of something : As the saying goes, we loved that the dishes were minimalistic...That way you get to taste it wholeheartedly and it lingers on your tongue for quite a while ! The main dishes.... Chicken ( for hubby dearest, who loves it to the core ), aloo poshto ( specially for me ), Chane ki daal, salad and Jeera Rice followed by the desert of the evening - Gur ki Kheer .

The Nolen Gur( new jaggery) or Gud, as it is called is Jaggery made from Khajoor (Dates ). It is known as Bengali's jaggery, as it is made from the sap of date palm trees found in Bengal. It tastes different than the normal jaggery, the aroma is heavenly and is slightly costlier than the original jaggery. Though a winter speciality, is found these days all year round with a special technique of preserving the jaggery in solidified form for months. 

There is also a different type of rice that is used for making the kheer. It's tiny and aromatic. Looks like this :

So, the basic way to make the kheer would be :( As told to me by aunty )

Ingredients :

Milk - 1 litre
Rice - 3/4 cup ( 2 handfull)
Nolen Gur (Jaggery) - Add according to taste
Cardamon powder - 1 tsp
Cashews/ raisins - chopped  to garnish

Recipe :

Boil Milk and rice together. Cook till the rice becomes soft and keep stirring in between.

Then add the jaggery and mix it all well and cook for another 5 minutes.

Lastly add the cardamon powder and cashewnuts.

If you find it too thick, add a little milk, or else it can be eaten thick as a pudding too.

Refrigerate if you like to have it cold. 

With our tummies full, we came home and went off to bed to have some "Mishti " ( sweet ) dreams !!! :))

The Chefs of the evening : 

Thank you for such a wonderful meal !!

 

Chilli Chicken : Pan fried fritters

Chicken, hmmmmppphhhhh ??!!!! : Honestly, that is always my reaction when my husband ( who is a die-hard lover of meat) says he wants to eat chicken!!! I have made Palak Chicken( Recipe uploaded earlier ) and 1-2 gravies with chicken before, but i always get nervous when cooking meat... One, as i can never taste it( Being a vegetarian ) and two, as i don't know the recipes well.
I have learnt the marinating part well now... But i always end up thinking, what different should i make now??

So one such weekday, i decided to surprise my hubby by cooking chicken, as there were already some chicken pieces in the freezer. I was browsing through some food channels earlier , to see if they are showing any easy-to-cook chicken recipe... Didn't find any... Then i searched on the internet and found a terrific recipe by my favourite MasterChef Sanjeev Kapoor. This one is dedicated to him. 

I didn't have all the ingredients he mentioned there, so i did a few modifications and it turned out great ( according to hubby dearest )...:)


So, i really love this Mantra " Try and you will always succeed " :).... The fear of not cooking it right gets you nowhere, unless you try, make mistakes, improve on them and try again... And well, it's all worth it to get that contempt look on hubby's face:)))

Ingredients :

( Adjust the quantities according to the chicken pieces you have )

Chicken pieces - 6 small ( Preferred boneless, but i took what i had, so these are with bones )

Lemon juice - 2 tbsp

Ginger - 1 inch piece

Garlic - 3-4 cloves

Salt - to taste

Rice - 1 tbsp

Whole dry red chillies - 6 ( or according to taste )

Curry leaves - 5-6

Oil - 2 tbsp

Yogurt - 3 tbsp

Maida or cornflour - to roll the pieces

Corriander leaves - a few chopped finely and pepper ( to garnish)

Recipe :

Wash the Chicken pieces thoroughly and make slits all over in the pieces ( not too deep ).

Apply salt and 1 tbsp of lemon to the pieces and set aside.

Make a smooth paste of ginger, garlic, curry leaves, red chillies, rice and remaining lemon juice in a grinder.

Add this paste to the yogurt and mix very well.

Apply this yogurt mixture to all the chicken pieces , so it's coated properly.

Now, leave this for marination as long as you can in the fridge. I kept it for 3 hours, but you can even keep it for 4-5 hours.

Remove from the fridge 15 minutes before you are about to cook them.

Heat oil in a pan. Take the maida or cornflour in a plate.

Roll the chicken pieces in maida or cornflour ( so it's coated properly on all sides ) and put them in the pan.

Shallow fry for a minute, roll the pieces over and fry for 7-8 minutes, turning them frequently, so they are browned ( cooked ) on both sides.

Now add a tbsp of water ( or just sprinkle a few drops on top), cover with a tight lid, and cook on low flame till chicken is cooked completely ,(Takes about 4-5 minutes, keep sprinkling water if needed )

Garnish with corriander leaves and don't forget to sprinkle some pepper on top!!! Serve with tomato ketchup or green chutney :) Or they taste great just plain too :)

Happy Cooking :)

Palak Chicken : Coming from a true vegetarian

One of the very few things where me and my husband have different interests is he loves non vegetarian food and i am a vegetarian ( rather egg-etarian). Having grown up in a Brahmin family, we never cooked non-veg at our home. Eggs were allowed because we all ( including my Dad) loved to exercise and gym and we used to have our share of natural proteins through eggs. I also remember those special Sunday breakfasts of omlette and toast made by mom :) But having a whole bunch of friends from different cultures and communities and countries, i have never really been a " Non veg? Don't even eat on the same table!!! Or Don't even come near my plate" sort of girl. I was also okay touching it as i used to cook rice and boiled chicken for the dogs i used to pet sit.

The only issue was i had never cooked it in my life!!! As much as hubby dearest loved eating it, he never forced me to make some. But one day, i decided to make it !!! And its not that difficult !!! I had seen a few recipes online, also some on the food channels but i decided to play safe and try to make the chicken in Spinach ( coz i knew how to make the palak gravy when i make palak paneer, though i dont add yogurt to palak paneer ). Just a few additions here and there, it turned out great or as hubby says so !!! Now i regularly cook non veg for him.... ( Must Mention : Without tasting or without eating )

Ingredients :

Chicken - 5 pieces

Lemon juice - 1 tsp ( to marinate )

Ginger garlic paste ( 1 tsp to marinate)

Pepper powder - sprinkle according to taste

Corriander leaves - 1/2 a handful to marinate.

Spinach - a medium bunch

Green chillies - 3 or (according to taste or spiciness of chillies, plus i dont add red chilli powder to this recipe. so u can adjust spice accordingly )

Corriander leaves - 1/2 a handful

Oil - 1 tbsp

Garlic - 3-4 chopped finely

Corriander powder - 1 tsp

Garam masala - 1/2 tsp

Amchur powder - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Curd/ yogurt - 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Recipe :

Marinate the chicken pieces with lemon juice, ginger garlic paste, pepper powder and corriander leaves. Generally 1-2 hours of marination is good. But what i do is if i have to make the recipe in evening for dinner, i marinate and keep the chicken covered in fridge for 5-6 hours. Ad i remove it from the fridge an hour before i start making it. This way the spices really get mixed well with the chicken.

Cut the stems of the Palak and wash it well. Boil water with little salt and add the palak leaves to it. Boil for 3-4 minutes. Drain and immerse the leaves in cold water or keep under running cold water for a while. This is known as Blanching of Palak.

Once cool, make a paste of these leaves ( remove water from the leaves completely ) with green chillies and remaining corriander in mixer.

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan, add garlic and fry for a minute. Then add the palak paste to it and fry for couple of minutes. Add all the dry spice powders and mix well with the paste. Add about 1/2 cup water. Keep stirring in between. Add 1 tbsp curd. After about 3-4 mins, add the chicken and salt. Cover and let it cook for 8-10 mins. Add more water if required and adjust the gravy consistency according to personal choice.

Happy Cooking :)