Butter chicken Masala

 

Yesterday I was feeling so lazy that I dint feel like posting any recipes or being active on my blog. I was also feeling lazy to dress up & go out shopping. So I decided to watch some movie which is very unlikely of me. I love to watch horror movies but at the same time I am very scared to watch alone sometimes. I found this movie "Naina" on you tube so thought will watch it. The movie is very slow & a OK movie for time pass. Not a very scary movie but can watch once types.

coming back to today's post "Butter chicken" This is one preparation I make more often but always at night for dinner. Since i make it at night, I never was able to take a decent click of this dish. Although this one also was made for dinner but I prepared it in the evening so I got some evening light to click some ok ok shots. I somehow find it very difficult to take curry shots. I always try to give a very close up shot for my food coz I really want people to see the real texture & colour of food. I don't spend much time in plating it but concentrate more on getting the right texture of food. BTW food photography is not my cup of tea but since i love cooking, I am slowing learning to take better pictures. I feel very good when someone complements my food pictures & blush:) This is the best Butter chicken, very creamy tasty & yummy.

Cooking time: 30 minutes
servings: 4 people

Ingredients:

• 1 large onions chopped
• 2 large tomatoes chopped
• 1 Tbspn ginger garlic paste
• 500 gms boneless chicken cubes
• 1/4 cup cashew nuts
• 1/2 Tbspn coriander powder
• 1/2 tbspn cumin powder
• 1/2 tbspn chili powder
• 1/2 Tspn garam masala powder
• 1/2 Tbspn kasoori methi
• 1 Tspn cumin seeds
• 2 Tbspn thick curd
• 1/4 tspn chili powder
• 1 Tspn lemon juice
• 1 cup hot water or more if required
• salt as per taste
• 1 tspn sugar
• coriander leaves & green chili's to garnish
• 1/4 cup cream or milk
• 2 Tbsp oil
• 1 Tbsp butter

Directions:

1. Marinate the chicken in curd. salt & 1/4 tspn of chili powder for at least 2 hours.
2. In a pan add a tbspn of oil & fry the chicken cubes until all water is drained off or 80 % cooked. Once cooked set the chicken aside.
3. Soak cashew nuts in hot water for at least 20 mins & then make a paste of it.
4. Boil chopped onions in 1 cup of water until they are translucent & make a paste of this.
5. Soak the tomatoes in the hot water, peel the skin & puree the tomatoes in the blender or mixer.
6. In a heavy bottom pan, add oil fry cumin seeds for few seconds. Now add in ginger garlic paste, onion paste & tomato puree.
7. Cover the lid of the pan & cook this on low flame for about 5 to 6 minutes. Add a little water if required.
8. Now add in all the masala's except kasoori methi & saute well. Throw in 1 tbspn of butter & sugar now in to the pan. Mix this well & keep sauteing for around 3 to 6 mins
9. When the raw smell goes off & when you see fat separation, you can add in cashew paste & 1/2 cup of hot water. Saute this for a minute until its well combined.
10. Finally add in the cream, chicken, Kasoori methi, lemon juice & mix well. Cook on low flame for about 5 mins.
11. Close lid & allow it to rest for at least 10 minutes before you dig in:) Add more water if you want.
12. Garnish the dish with coriander leaves, chopped green chili's & some fresh cream.

Note:

• Make sure you keep the pan closed or else you will have a messy kitchen.
• You can add in some red colour if you want. This will make the chicken look like the restaurant style.
• Always cook the chicken seperately in a pan or you can even bake them at 250 degree for 20 mins

Pepper Chicken Masala

 

Tomorrow a friend of mine is visiting Singapore for a Dental Conference. Its gonna be fun because she is going to stay with us for a week. Now that she is around, I will also get introduced to a good Dental surgeon who can do my wisdom tooth surgery. Well Dental stuff is very very expensive here. I have enquired in couple of good places & they are charges are not less than $2000:(.  Hoping she will get me some discount too:) Well although our family is filled with Dentists, I never get the time back in India to get this done. Th last 2 visits Zion was little & I really dint have the time for this. Coz once the surgery is done I will be on bed for a week. So finally I am left with one option to do here in Singapore, as my Maid can take care of Zion while I rest.

So coming back to today's post, This is a Coorgi way of making Pepper chicken. This is my mother's recipe & I love this pepper fry. My mom would mostly pair this up with Akki Rotti & Kadambittu. I can still remember eating it almost every weekend while its raining outside. I made it Yesterday for dinner & my hubby couldn't stop eating:) Curry, spices, masala is all that he needs for food. He is game for any tasty Indian food. I kind of get bored with too much Indian. So, I am planning for Prawn Burgers for dinner tonight:) Well I have also taken a video recipe for this one. I will be publishing it as soon as I do the editing. This is how I made the Chicken Pepper Masala.

Ingredients:

• 1 kG Chicken cleaned & medium cut
• 2 Onions sliced thinly
• 2 Medium Tomatoes chopped small
• 1 Tbsp Minced Garlic
• 2 Tbsp Minced Ginger
• 2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
• 1 Tspn Chili powder
• 1/4 Tspn Turmeric powder
• 1 Inch Cinnamon Stick
• 4 Cloves
• 4 Cardamom pods
• 2 Bay leaves
• 1/2 Tspn Grated Nutmeg
• Garam Masala (Recipe below)
• 2 Tbsp Oil
• Salt as per taste
• Coriander leaves to garnish
• 1/4 tspn Sugar

Garm Masala

• 2 Tbsp Black pepper corns
• 1 inch Cinnamon
• 4 Cloves
• 5 Cardamom pods
• 1 Petal Star Aniz
• 2 Tbsp Coriander seeds
• 1 Tbsp Poppy seeds

Direction:

1. Wash the chicken well, drain water & set aside
2. Dry roast all the ingredients mentioned in the Garam masala & make a fine powder by grinding it in mixer.
3. In a heavy bottom Pan add oil, tip in minced ginger, garlic, cinnamon sticks, cardamom, cloves, bay leaves, grated nutmeg, Fry this for a minute. Now add in the onions & let it fry until pink.
4. Combine the tomatoes, Garam masala, turmeric powder, Chili powder & give it a good mix. Add 4 Tbsp of water so that the spices gets well combined. Fry this for 2 minutes.
5. Add in the chicken to this & give it a good mix. Season it with salt & lemon juice. Close lid & cook this on low flame for 15 to 20 minutes. In between saute once or twice. You needn't add water as the chicken will leave a lot of water while cooking. In case you want more gravy then add 1/4 cup of hot water. We never add water as its tasty this way.
6. After 20 mins of cooking check if the chicken is done. If done garnish it with sugar, coriander leaves & its ready to serve.

I could some how manage to take some pics of the making of Chicken pepper.

 

Chicken Kosha

The Singapore Haze has become bad to worse now. Its been 4 days now & my poor little fella is in house arrest. My cutie pie is very understanding & is self entertaining himself with all the toys around. In spite of keeping all the doors & windows closed our home has a burnt smell. The air is totally contaminated & we just hope that it reduces soon. Our only worry is our child's health. Hubby says lets go back to India for a week & come. We are still deciding on that & hope things get better here soon.

Yesterday Hubby was working from home. Since he was home, I thought of making some curry as he LOVES curry. I have been thinking of making this famous Bengali Kosha from a long time. Finally that day was yesterday:) I made it & it was finger licking good. Kosha means slow cooked in Bengali. Traditional no liquid is added in this recipe & also no tomatoes. While doing some research on the net, I saw a lot of people have different version of Kosha. I finally went a ahead with making one that I liked on You tube by Kalyan in India food Network. His was made with Mutton & I altered my recipe according to chicken. I have not used any water other than some yogurt. The flavours in it was amazing & it definitely tasted yumm. This is a must try for all curry lovers. Since I have a very demanding taste bud, I try & venture out on making different curries. This is how I made it

Ingredients:

• 1 Kg Chicken cleanes & cut into medium pieces
• 3 Onions chopped & pureed (Paste)
• 3 Tbsp thick yogurt
• 1 Inch cinnamon stick
• 4 cardamoms
• 4 cloves
• 2 Bay leaves
• 1 Tbsp Minced Garlic paste
• 2 Tbsp Minced Ginger paste
• 1.5 Tbsp chili powder
• 1 Tbspn coriander powder
• 1 Tbspn Cumin powder
• 1/4 Tspn turmeric powder
• Salt as per taste
• 3 Tbsp Oil
• 2 large Potatoes sliced &  Pan fried
• 1 tspn Sugar
• Coriander leaves to garnish

Directions:

1. Make a paste of yogurt, Chili powder, turmeric powder, cumin powder & marinate the chicken with this paste. Let it sit in the fridge for at least 2 to 4 hours. The longer the better.
2. In a Pan add 3 Tbsp of oil, 1 tspn sugar & keep sitting it until the sugar has browned (caramelised)
3. Add in the Cinnamon stick, bay leaves, cloves, cardamom, Onion paste to this & keep sauteing for about 3 to 5 mins.
4. When the Onions turns pink, add the marinated chicken, salt & give it a good mix.
5. Now cook this on low flame for about 20- 25 mins. Keep sauteing in between & do not add any water.
6. When the chicken is almost done, combine the Pan fried Potatoes & give it a good mix. Close lid & cook for another 2 mins. Turn off the flame & garnish the dish with coriander leaves. The dish is ready.

Note:

• The sugar is caramelised to give a nice golden colour to the curry.
• If you want more gravy then you can add tomatoes.
• Traditionally mustard oil is used. Since we don't consume Mustard oil, I used the regular sunflower oil.

  
 

Chicken Indad

 
 
This is my 4th post for BM#27. Chicken indad is a traditional Mangalorean Christain recipe. This is a thick gravy recipe & we add potatoes, Dates in this dish. This dish is mainly made for weddings & during festival celebration. Although there is dates in this recipe, this is not very sweet. There is a very good balance of flavours. This recipe goes well with Rice, Neer Dosa, Sannas & Akki Rotti. This is how I made this...
 
 
Ingredients:

• 1 kg chicken (Medium pieces)
• 2 medium onions roughly chopped (for grinding)
• 1 small onion finely sliced (for seasoning)
• 1/4 tsp tamarind paste
• 4 dates 
• 2 Tbsp Bafat powder (1 tspn Chili powder+1 tspn cumin powder+2 tspn Corinder powder+1/4 tspn Turmeric powder+1/4 tspn black pepper powder)
• 1 Tbsp ginger & garlic mince
• 2 tbsp coriander leaves
• salt to taste
• 2 tbsp oil
• 2 medium size potatoes
• Coriander leaves to garnish

Method:

1. Cut the chicken into medium size pieces, wash & allow to drain.
2. Peel the potatoes and cut them into round shape 2 inch thickness.
3. Grind the 2 onions, tamarind paste, dates, bafat powder, ginger & garlic to a fine paste.
4. In a large wok heat some Coconut oil and fry the finely sliced onion till it turns translucent
5. Add the ground masala and fry on low flame till the raw onion smell disappears (this can take about 4-5 minutes)
6. Add in the potatoes and salt to taste and allow to cook for about 3-4 minutes
7. Now add the chiken pieces into this close lid & cook for about 8 to 10 mins. Add more water if required
8. Garnish with Coriander leaves.
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Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#27

Chicken Pakodi

One of our good friends & neighbours have decided to go back to India for good. We had invited them over to our place for dinner last night. Although they are vegetarians the hubby eats Chicken & he loves it. I decided to make some chicken dish & also some vegetarian stuff in the menu. I made Veg Spring rolls & Chicken Pakodi for starters. Roti, Chenna Veg Kurma, Chicken Biriyani & Raitha for Main course. Well how can i forget to mention the main limelight! The dessert was "No Bake Blueberry cheesecake". They really enjoyed the dinner at my place.

Well I named the this dish Tempered Chicken Pakodi coz I deep fried the chicken like pakodis & than used some spices to temper it. Its a new experiment & it turned out so good. Its a very easy recipe & finger licking good. This is how I made it.

Making time: 40 mins
cooking time: 30 mins
serves: 4

Ingredients:

• Boneless Chicken (400gms) Cut into think strips
• 3 Tbsp Plain Flour
• 2 Tbsp Corn Flour
• 1 Tspn course pepper powder
• 1/2 Tspn Coriander powder
• 1/4 Tspn Turmeric powder
• 1 Tspn Souf (Bada Jeera)
• 1 Tbso Garlic pieces (small)
• 1 Tbsp Ginger Pieces (small)
• Handful of curry leaves
• 4 Green Chili's
• 1 Tspn Lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp light soya sauce
• 2 Tbsp Oil for tempering
• Oil for deep frying
• Salt as per taste

Method:

Make a batter out of plain flour, corn flour, salt & pepper. Dip the chicken pieces in the batter & deep fry for 2 to 3 mins in the hot oil. Once fried remove & set aside. In a Wok/ Pan add in 2 tbsp of oil fry ginger garlic, sauf , Green chili's on low flame. Now add in all the masalas mentioned above, curry leaves, soya sauce & than add in the fried chicken into this. Give it a good mix & add in salt if required. That all & the chicken is ready. Isn't that so simple??