Chettinad Chicken roast

Spicy and finger licking good chicken roast that leaves you craving for more. The aroma of freshly ground masalas is the speciality of this dish.

Ingredients:

Chicken - 1 kg, cut to medium pieces

For marination
Chilly powder - 1.5 tablespoon
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 2 tbsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Lemon juice - 2 tbsp
Salt as needed

For masala
Oil - 2 tbsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Fennel seeds - 2 tsp
Onion - 1 large, chopped
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Tomatoes - 2, chopped

For tempering/seasoning
Oil - 1 tbsp
Dry red chillies - 2 or 3
Curry leaves - a sprig
Onion - 1 small, sliced very thin
Coarsely crushed pepper - 1 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp (Use freshly made garam masala. Check here for the recipe)

Preparation:

1. Wash and drain the chicken. Combine all the marination ingredients in a bowl and add the chicken pieces and marinate for a minimum of 30 minutes.
2. In a pan, heat oil and add fennel and cumin seeds. Add onions and saute till soft. Add ginger garlic paste and saute for a few minutes. Add tomatoes and saute till oil starts oozing. Add the marinated chicken and cover and cook till chicken is done. As this is a dry preparation, no need to add water as chicken gets cooked in its own juice.
3. In  another pan, heat oil and add red chillies, followed by curry leaves and onion. Fry till onion turns brown. Add crushed pepper and garam masala and saute till you get a nice aroma. Add this mix to the cooked chicken and combine well.

Serve hot with rice, appam, parotta, roti etc...

Sending this over to Hot & Spicy treats

Puli Kuzhambu

The second Blog Hop Wednesday is here and this time my partner is Sangeetha of Sangeetha's Kitchen. It was my first visit to her blog and I directly went to the Recipe Index and got lost in the long list of yummy recipes. It was very difficult to choose a single dish to try, because there were many I liked. I was more attracted to the tamilnadu style recipes and finally decided to try Puli Kuzhambu. I have tasted this at 'Annachi' restaurant in Bangalore a few years ago and I still remember my taste buds relishing its tangy and spicy taste. In this recipe, Sangeetha has not added any vegetables, but she mentioned that Okra,Brinjal,Drumstick etc can be added. I decided to go with Okra. Me and my husband loved this kuzhambu and it was a treat to our taste buds...

Ingredients:

Sambar onions/shallots - 8 to 10, peeled and sliced

Garlic - 6 to 8 cloves, peeled and chopped

Okra/Ladies Finger - 8 to 10 (optional). 

Tamarind - a lemon sized ball

Tomato - 1 small, finely chopped

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Chilly powder - 1.5 tsp

Coriander powder - 2 tsp

Oil - 1 tbsp + 1 tsp for frying okra

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Fenugreek/Methi seeds - 1/2 tsp

Jeera/Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Hing/Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp

Pepper corns - 3 nos

Sesame oil - 1 to 2 tsp (I didn't have it, so I used sunflower oil itself)

Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Salt to taste

Getting ready

1. Soak tamarind in warm water for 10-15 mins and extract the juice.

2. Trim the ends of okra and cut to 1 inch pieces. In a non stick pan, add 1tsp of oil and fry the okra peices for few mins till they are coated well with oil. Keep aside.

Preparation:

1. Heat 1 tbsp  oil in a pan and splutter mustard and fenugreek seeds. Add jeera,hing and pepper corns and saute till you get  the aroma.

2. Add onions,garlic and curry leaves and saute till onion becomes transparent. Add tomatoes and saute till they are soft.

3. Add turmeric,chilly and coriander powders and saute on low flame taking care not to burn it.

4. Add the tamarind juice, and 1 to 1.5 cups of warm water and bring to boil. Add salt to taste.

5. Cook on medium flame for about 10 minutes and the gravy thickens.

6. Now add the okra pieces and drizzle sesame oil and cook for few minutes. The oil starts appearing. As Okra takes very less time to cook, do not overcook as it turns mushy. Kuzhambu is ready, you may garnish with chopped coriander leaves

Serve with hot rice and pappad.

So, here it goes to Blog Hop Wednesday - Week 2. Meet the other blog hoppers here...

Also Sending to Herbs and Flowers - Garlic event hosted by Vardhini this month. Herbs and Flowers is a monthly event initiated by PJ of Seduce Your Tastebuds

Sambar Saadam

If you are looking for a healthy and easy lunchbox recipe, this is the one...I found this simple and easy recipe at Nags Edible Garden and bookmarked it to try on a lazy morning where I wake up late and have to pack lunch. In this recipe, rice is cooked along with dal, veggies and sambar powder in a pressure cooker. 

Ingredients:

Rice (Sona masoori/Basmati/Ponni) - 1 cup

Toor dal - 1/2 cup

Tamarind - a small piece

Chopped vegetables - I took 5-6 green beans, 1 carrot, 1 potato and 1 tomato which was about 1.5 cups. You may add veggies of your choice.

Onion - 1 small, chopped ( you may use a few shallots instead)

Green chillies - 2, slit

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Sambar powder - 1 tbsp or more (adjust to suit your taste)

Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp (no need to add if your sambar powder is spicy enough)

Asafoetida/Hing - 1/4 tsp

Salt

Water 

For Seasoning

Oil - 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves - a few

Preparation:

1. Soak the tamarind in 1 cup warm water for 10 mins. Extract the juice and keep aside.

2. Heat oil in a pressure cooker and splutter mustard seeds. Add onions, green chillies, hing, turmeric, chilly and sambar powders and combine well. 

3. Now add all the veggies and mix well. Add toor dal and rice and 1 cup tamarind juice. To cook 1 cup of rice, we need 2 cups of water. As  1 cup tamarind juice is added already, add just one more cup of water. I wanted rice to be a little overcooked and mushy like bisibele bath. So I added 1+1/4 cups of water. 

4. Add salt and pressure cook for 3-4 whistles. The number of whistles may vary with the size of your cooker and the quantity you are cooking.

5. When the pressure gets released, open the lid and mix well. Sambar Saadam is now ready.

Sending this to Bookmarked Recipes - Every Tuesday Vol 53 and Anyone Can Cook:Series 29

Also linking to Rice Recipes

Chettinad chicken

Chettinad cuisine is the cuisine of the Chettinad region of Tamil Nadu state. Chettinad cuisine is one of the spiciest and the most aromatic in India.

and is famous for its use of a variety of spices used in preparing mainly non-vegetarian food.

Ingredients:

Chicken pieces - 1 kg

For the masala

Shredded coconut - 1 cup

Whole Dry red chilies - 6-8

Poppy seeds / Khus Khus - 2 tsp

Coriander seeds - 1 tsp

Cumin seeds/Jeera - 1/2 tsp

Fennel seeds – 1-2 tsp

Cinnamon stick – 1 medium size piece

Cardamom – 4

Clove – 4

Star anise – 1/2

Whole pepper corns - 1/2 tsp

Ginger & garlic- 1/2 tbsp each

Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp

Chili powder – 1 tsp

Onion- 2

Tomato – 3 medium

Lemon – 1

Curry leaves

Salt

Oil

Preparation:

1. Fry the ingredients listed under 'For the masala' in oil, till it turn golden brown. Let it cool.

2. Grind this with ginger and garlic. Do not add water while grinding. Add 1/2 – 3/4 cup of water to the ground coconut mix and make it a thick paste.

3. Heat oil in a bottom heavy pan and add sliced onions and fry it till it becomes golden brown.

4. Add coconut mixture and curry leaves and stir it continuously for a few minutes.

5. Add tomato and turmeric and chili powder and mix well. Once the powders are fried well add chicken pieces & salt, combine well and cook for 5 minutes.

6. Add lemon juice and 2 cups water and cover and cook till the chicken is done. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Recipe source: Maria's Menu