Recipe: Chicken Curry with Coconut Milk

I have been so utterly busy the last few days but the good news is that packing is almost done. Just a few bits here and there which can be dumped into a bin bag the day we leave…which is this friday 😀 I am not so much sad as excited about the move. New place, new people and making a home out of a house sounds very exciting. All this meant, I could only turn a few pages of my book 😦

Last sunday, we not only did most of our packing but also managed to prepare Chicken Biriyani and Chicken Curry with Coconut Milk 😀

S is a ‘pro’ when it comes to cooking Chicken Curry with Coconut Milk. It is one of our favourtie dishes. Goes very well with Plain Rice, Biriyani, Pulao Rice or even Chapathis or Parathas.

Ingredients:

1. Oil – 6-7 Tbsp
2. Onions (finely chopped) – 3
3. Tomatoes (finely chopped) – 2
4. Chicken – 1/2 Kg (Clean thoroughly with turmeric powder and water)
5. Canned Coconut Milk – 1
6. Ginger+Garlic Paste – 1 Tbsp
7. Cloves – 3
8. Cinnamon Stick – 3 half a inch pieces
9. Cardamom (Elaichi) – 3 (split open)
10. Green Chillies – 5 (Split longitudinally)
11. Curry Leaves – 6
12. Cumin Seeds – 1 Tsp
13. Mustard Seeds – 1 Tsp
14. Turmeric Powder – A pinch
15. Salt – According to taste
16. Coriander – To Garnish

Method

Add oil to a pan or a wok and let it heat.

Later add mustard seeds and let them splutter. Now add cumin seeds and fry. Add curry leaves and green chillies and fry.

Now add onions and mix them on medium flame until they turn golden brown in colour. Then add chopped tomatoes and mix well.

Once tomatoes turn soft, add a pinch of turmeric powder and ginger+garlic paste and mix well. Leave on simmer for atleast 5 minutes mixing it in between

Now add chicken pieces and mix well. Leave it on medium flame for atleast 10 mins mixing frequently in between.

Then add coconut milk and mix thoroughly. Close with a lid and leave for 10 mins mixing inbetween.

By now, you will see alot of water retention. Remove lid and let the curry cook on medium flame. (Do not add any water to the dish).

Approx after 20-30 minutes, water oozed out of the meat should have reduced leaving the curry nice and creamy. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with rice or chapathis

This time, I took some pictures 😀

Njoy!!

Tomato Pilau

Recipe for Tomato Pilau

Preparation Time – 30 mins

Cuisine – Indian 

Ingridients & Quantity:

1. Rice – 2 Cups
2. Water – 4 cups
3. Onions – 1 large sized (Chopped length-wise into thin slices)
4. Tomatoes – 1 1/2 (Finely Chopped)
5. Green Chillies – 3 (Slit lenth-wise)
6. Oil – 4 tbsp
7. Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp
8. Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
9. Cloves – 4
10. Cinnamon Stick – 4 small pieces
11. Cardamom – 2
12. Bay Leaves – 3
13. Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp
14. Salt – To taste
15. Coriander for garnishing

Preparation:

To a pot, add 4 tbsp of oil and let it heat. Then add mustard seeds and let them splutter. Later add cumin seeds, cinnamon sticks, cloves, cardamom, bay leaves and fry for 5 minutes on medium flame.

Then add green chillies and fry. Follow it up by adding chopped onion and fry till they turn golden brown in colour. Later add tomatoes and mix well.

Once the onions and tomatoes have mixed well to form a paste, add ginger garlic paste and mix well and leave for a couple of minutes.

Now add 2 cups of rice and 4 cups of water. Add salt and mix well and let the rice cook on medium flame for about 15 mins. Keep checking in between.

Garnish with coriander leaves once rice has cooked. You can also garnish it with mint leaves instead.

Tomato Pilau is ready to be served! 😀

NjoY!

Drumstick Tomato Curry (Munagakaya Tomato)

Recipe for Drumstick Tomato Curry

This is one of my favourite dishes. I love anything cooked with tomatoes and a little bit of masala. This dish is particularly easy to make once you’ve passed the step of chopping onions 😦

Preparation Time: 25-30 mins

Cuisine: Andhra

Ingridients:

1. Drumsticks – 2 (cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces)
2. Onions – 2 (Finely Chopped)
3. Tomatoes – 3 (Finely Chopped)
4. Water
5. Green Chillies – 3 (Slit Length-wise)
6. Ginger Garlic Paste – 1 tsp (optional)
7. Gram Flour (Besan/Senaga Pindi) – 1 tsp
8. Milk – 60 ml
9. Turmeric Powder/Haldi/Pasupu – A Pinch
10. Salt – To Taste
11. Coriander for Garnishing

For Talimpu/Tadka/Seasoning:

1. Oil – 3 tbsp 
2. Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
3. Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp
4. Curry Leaves – 6
5. Dry Red Chillies – 3
6. Garlic pods – 2 (Peeled & Smashed)

Preparation:

Add 3 tbsp of oil to a pan and let it heat.

Then add mustard seeds and let them splutter. Later add cumin seeds, dry red chillies, curry leaves and green chillies and fry.

Then add the finely chopped onions and fry on medium flame. Once they’ve reached golden brown in colour, add the smashed garlic pods and mix. Leave it for a couple of minutes.

Now add the chopped tomatoes and mix well. Cover the pan with a lid and let them cook with mixing in between. You can add 1 tsp of ginger garlic paste if you like a li’l kick in your curry.

Once the onions and tomatoes have blended well to form a gravy, mix gram flour in milk add it to the mixture. This will make the gravy even more viscous and the curry tastier.

Now add the chopped pieces of Drumsticks and let them cook in medium flame by adding required amount of water.

Once the drunsticks have become soft in texture, switch off and garnish with coriander.

Serve curry with Rice or Chapathis 😀

Tomato Rasam

Recipe for Tomato Rasam

Quite a few number of cooks prepare tomato rasam with toor dal….but I don’t. This recipe for tomato rasam has been passed onto me by my mom. It’s easy to prepare and very yummy…also a very good remedy if you have flu or throat infection. 

Preparation Time: 30 mins

Cuisine – South Indian 

Ingridients:

1. Water – 6 cups
2. Tamarind – Lemon sized ball
3. Rasam Powder – 1  1/2 tsp
4. Tomatoes – 3
5. Turmeric Powder – A pinch
6. Salt to taste
7. Coriander for garnishing

Ingridients for Seasoning/talimpu/popu/tadka/thiragamatha:

1. Oil – 1 tbsp 
2. Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
3. Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp
4. Curry Leaves – 6
5. Dry Red Chillies – 3
6. Garlic pod – 1 (Peeled & Smashed)
7. Asefotida – A Pinch

Preparation:

Chop tomatoes into small pieces (but not really small) and them to 6 cups of water. Also add tamarind and a pinch of turmeric and bring the mixture to boil

Once the tomatoes become soft and the upper layer starts to peel, add rasam powder and let it boil

In the mean time, prepare the tadka. Add mustard seeds to 1 tbsp of oil and let them splutter. Later add mustard seeds, dry red chillies and curry leave and let them fry on medium flame.

Later add garlic which has been peeled and smashed. 

Finish off by adding a pinch of asefotida.

Add this tadka to the boiling tomato and tamarind solutiong and let it boil.

Add salt according to your taste and switch off.

Tomato Rasam is ready to be served either with rice or can also be taken by itself.

Potlakaya Talimpu (Snakegourd Tadka)

I have a severe headache but I also want to finish the second half of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The wierd part is that I haven’t actually read the books published before the final one. I have only watched the movies so I don’t know what happens in the Half Blood Prince. Well anyways, I could never quite understand the wizady, withcy and the magical stuff…They seemed to be so confusing..but the Deathly Hallows is very interesting…and it’s just getting better with every page.

Well anywayz, I quickly logged in to post my first recipe to see if I am any good at it..So here goes.

The recipe for Snakegourd Fry was given to me by my friend Prasuna who is a wonderful cook. I have been bugging her to start her own Food Blog but she is just too lazy 😉 (Sorry Pras).

Potlakaya Talimpu (Boiled Snakegourd Fry)

Preparation Time – 25 Mins

Cuisine – Andhra

Ingridients:

1. A fully grown Snakegourd
2. Water
3. 2 Tbsp Oil
4. Mustard Seeds
5. Cumin Seeds
6. Urad Dal
7. Chana Dal
8. Dried Red Chillies
9. Garlic Flakes
10. Salt to taste

To Grind into a Mixture-

1. Urad Dal
2. Chana Dal
3. Grated Coconut
4. Red Chillies
5. 2 Garlic Flakes

Method –

Peel the Snakegourd and cut it vertically into two halves and then horizontally, cutting it into four pieces. Make sure that you remove the seed before cutting the vegetable. Once the seed has been removed, chop the 4 pieces of Snakegourd into small pieces, approximately the size of a garlic.

Place the chopped Snakegourd in a pressure cooker with water and boil it for approximately 10 mins (2 whistles from the PC).

Swtich off the hob and filter out the water using a vegetable sieve.

In the meantime, add 3 tbsps of oil into a frying pan and add mustard seeds, cumins seeds, urad dal, chana dal and a single garlic flake. Fry in medium flame till they reach golden brown in colour.

Then add the chopped Snakegourd pieces into the frying pan and mix. Make sure that the pan is not covered with a lid. Otherwise, there is chance for the already boiled Snakegourd to become into ‘Mashed Snakegourd’. Keep stirring in between and let it fry on a low flame for atleast 10 mins.

While it fries, you can prepare the powder that needs to be added to the Snakegourd.

For the Powder –

Fry Urad Dal, Chana Dla, dry grated Coconut powder and dried red chillied in 1 tsp oil and transfer them into a Food Processor and grind. Make sure that you add only a teaspoon of oil to fry these ingredients.

After a fine powder has been formed, add a single garlic flake to the powder and grind again.

Let the powder cool for a while and then add salt according to your taste and mix.

Finally, add the powder to the Snakegourd fry that has been put aside and mix.

Leave it on low flame for about 5 mins and switch off.

Potlakaya Talimpu is ready to be served, either with Chapathis or Rice

PS: I am still novice when it comes to food photography…but I am learning and hope to improve very soon… 🙂