Kacchi Haldi Chicken Malvani Style

 

1 kg Chicken 

2 Bayleaf 

2 Cardamom 

1 inch stick Cinnamon

4 Cloves 

1 tsp Cumin seeds 

2 medium onions finely chopped 

3 tbsp Ginger garlic green chill paste 

1 tbsp Raw turmeric grated or finely chopped 

2 tbsp Malvani masala 

1 tsp Red chilli powder 

 1/2 cup Coriander chopped

Onion coconut paste 

2 medium onions

2 tbsp dessicated coconut

Brown the onions and coconut and grind to fine paste with some water

Marinade

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

1 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp turmeric

2 tbsp Curds

2 tbsp Chopped coriander

1 tsp lemon juice

Salt to taste

Marinate chicken with above marinade for at least half an hour.

Heat oil in a pan. Add the whole spices and stir till fragrant. Add in the chopped onion. When onion turns translucent, add ginger garlic and green chilli paste. Cook till the raw smell goes away. Add the raw turmeric and cook for 8 to 10 mins. Add malvani masala and red chilli powder. Add the marinated chicken and a little water. Cover and cook till chicken is tender. Adjust the salt and garnish with coriander. Serve with vada or bhakri or chapati and enjoy.

Fish ghasshi Aamchi style

 Ingredients 

Fish 3/4 kg

Turmeric 1 tsp

Salt 2 tsp

Grated coconut 1 cup

Red chillies byadgi 6

Tamarind soaked 2 inch

Coriander seeds 1.5 tbsp

Garlic 4 cloves

Onion 1 small 

Green chillies 1

Ginger 1/2 inch

Method

Marinate fish  with salt and turmeric and keep aside for at least half an hour. Roast red chillies and coriander seeds separately. Grind together coconut, red chillies and tamarind. When blended, add coriander seeds and chopped garlic and blend to a smooth paste. Transfer the paste to a pan and add a little water. Add the marinated fish and bring to a boil. Adjust the salt to taste. When fish is almost cooked, add finely chopped onions, green chilli and ginger. Boil for 1 minute and garnish with 1 tsp coconut oil. Serve with steamed rice and enjoy.

Kerala fish curry

Ingredients 

Fish 250 gm.                                Onion sliced 1 medium

Ginger finely diced 1 tbsp.         Garlic finely diced 1 tbsp

Methi seeds 1/2 tsp.                   Curry leaves a few

Coconut milk 400 ml.                  Kokum or lime juice 1 tsp

Salt to taste.                                 Turmeric powder 1tsp

Chilli powder 1 tsp.                      Coriander powder 1 tsp

Oil 1 tbsp.                                      Green chillies slit 2 small

 preferably coconut oil

Method

Wash and marinate fish with a little turmeric and salt for 15 to 30.mins. 

Heat Oil in a pan and add methi (fenugreek) seeds. 

Add onion, ginger, garlic, green chillies and curry leaves. Add a little salt and cook till onions are soft. Add the turmeric, chilli and coriander powders and saute for 2 mins.

Add a little water and bring to boil. Add the fish and kokum or lemon juice.

 When the fish is cooked, add cooconut milk and bring to a boil. Turn off immediately and serve with rice or dosa.

Pot rice using hot sauce

An easy one pot dish that I made with a hot sauce picked up from my recent trip to Chicago. You can make this with mushrooms, tofu, chicken or any other meat or vegetable of your choice. 

Ingredients:

1 cup rice soaked for 1 hour

1 big onion sliced - about 1 cup

5 to 6 garlic cloves finely chopped

Hot sauce 2 tbsp

Roasted bell peppers finely chopped

1 tomato finely chopped

1 cup sprouts - I used moong or green gram

2 tbsp cream

Coriander 2 tbsp finely chopped (you could use a herb of your choice)

Method:

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and add the onions and garlic. Fry till the onions are browned. 

Add tomatoes and cook till soft.

Add the hot sauce, Stir in and then add peppers and any other vegetables/meat you like.

Cook for a minute and add the sprouts and rice and stir well.

Stir in the cream and cook for a minute.

Add 2 1/2 cups of hot water and cover and cook for 10 -12 mins. This can be also done in the Instapot if you have one.

Serve with a crisp salad or chips.

Fruit Cake

This recipe is from my brother-in-law Anirudh and is made with bread instead of flour. What a wonderful way to use up old bread. He baked it for my birthday, and it goes best with coffee on the side. 

Ingredients:

2 cups of dried fruit - mixture of very sweet fruits like raisins and less sweet ones like currants

Enough alcohol (dark rum/whiskey) to submerge the fruits fully. I add Angostura and orange bitters for extra taste. Adding something like Grand Marnier also does wonders.

1 cup of brown sugar

1 cup of almonds powdered

1 cup of white bread crumbs (have a little more ready if the cake mixture gets too runny)

0.5 cups of cashews broken (or walnuts depending on taste)

0.5 cups of slivered (thin sliced) almonds

Zest from 1 navel orange

Juice from that orange

0.5 cups of butter, room temperature 

2 eggs

1 teaspoon of shahjeera, slightly crushed.

3-4 cloves, powdered 

0.5 piece of star anise, powdered

0.5 teaspoon of cinnamon

0.25 teaspoon of dry ginger powder 

0.25 teaspoon of coriander powder

0.25 teaspoon of nutmeg 

Method:

Preheat oven at 180C/350F

In a dry bottle, add fruits and sugar and soak them with the alcohol for at least 24 hours. Don't soak the nuts.

Mix the dry ingredients including spices

Beat the butter and eggs for a couple of minutes. Pour into the dry mixture 

Add zest and orange juice 

Add the dry fruit mixture to the mix.

Fold/mix everything. The mixture should be between chapati dough and idly batter. Add more bread crumbs if too runny, add orange juice if too dry. At the end, this consistency is what matters. You can increase or decrease ingredients you like but work to get the final consistency right.

Bake it in a buttered, deep dish for 45 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. Reduce the heat if the oven is small. Reduce the heat and bake for longer if the top is baked but the inside isn't.

Drizzle some whiskey or rum over the hot cake (optional and definitely avoid if children will eat). Note that not all the alcohol evaporates even without this.

Best eaten the next day.

Punjabi chole

 

Chole Bhature is a family favourite. But the chole have to be made in the authentic Punjabi style. After multiple tries, have come up with this recipe which we all love. Taken a shortcut on the ingredients here - the ones that need to be used while cooking the chickpeas are mentioned in the method.

Ingredients

Chickpeas soaked and boiled 1 1/2 cup

Onions 2 chopped finely 

Tomatoes 2 puree

Turmeric 1 tsp

Chilli powder 1 tsp

Cumin powder 1 tsp

Coriander powder 2 tsp

Chole masala 1 tsp

Carom seeds 1/2 tsp

Ginger 1 tbsp chopped finely 

Garlic 1 tbsp chopped finely

Tamarind 1 inch soaked

Dry mango powder 1 tsp

Kasuri methi 1 tbsp

Bay leaf 1

Method

Soak chickpeas overnight. Add baking soda 1/2 tsp, 2 black cardamom, 1 tea bag, 1 inch stick cinnamon, 1 tsp salt, double the quantity of water and 4 cloves and pressure cook for 3 whistles.  Throw away the whole spices and tea bag. 

In a kadhai or deep pan, heat 2 tbsp oil. Add carom seeds and  bay leaf. Add ginger and garlic. Add chopped onions and fry till brown. Add pureed tomatoes and cook well till oil separates. Add all the masala powders and tamarind and kasuri methi. Drain the chickpeas - retain the water. Add drained chickpeas to the fried paste and mash a little. Add the water based on required consistency. Add salt to taste. Cook the chole for 10 mins on low flame. Garnish with fried chillies and chopped coriander. Serve with bhature, puris or rotis.

3 bean salad

 The family has decided to have salads for dinner. So every day we try a new one.  Among all the ones made so far this has been a great hit.

 Ingredients

• Kidney beans         1/4 cup soaked overnight
• Black eyed beans  1/4 cup soaked for an hour
  
• French beans         250 gm washed and cut into 2" pieces
  
• Garlic                     10 - 12 cloves finely chopped
• Almonds                 8-10 roasted and slivered
• Sesame seeds       1 tbsp toasted
• Oil                         1 tbsp
  

For the dressing

• Olive oil                   2 tbsp
• Chilli flakes              1 tbsp
• Mustard paste         1 tbsp 
• Apple cider vinegar   1 tbsp
• Brown sugar            1 tbsp
• Salt to taste

Method

1.   Pressure cook the dry beans for 2 whistles
2.  In a pan, take some oil and fry the chopped garlic till dark brown. Keep aside
3.  Add the cleaned and cut French beans to the same pan and cook till just done
4.  Mix the ingredients for the dressing in a bowl.
5.  Add all the other salad ingredients. Mix well and enjoy
   

 

Khatta Meat - A speciality of Jammu

A slightly tangy mutton curry that the family loved. Base recipe is from Recipes from Mum but made a few changes in the original.

Ingredients:

1 Kg mutton

4 to 5 Onions, finely chopped
3 tbsp Garlic, finely chopped
4 tbsp Ginger, finely chopped
1/3 cup Mustard oil
1 tbsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
2 -3 bay leaves

1 to 2 tbsp Kashmiri chilly powder
4-6 tbsp Amchur (dry mango powder)

2 big cardamom

3 to 4 cloves

1" stick cinnamon

3 green chillies

 

Roast and powder

1 tbsp cummin seeds

2 tbsp Dhania seeds 

2 tbsp Saunf 

1 tbsp Methi seeds

Method:

• Wash the mutton pieces well. Apply half the salt and turmeric and cover and keep aside.

• Peel and chop the onion, garlic and ginger.  

• Use a thick-bottom pan for cooking (a 5 litre pressure cooker can do). The meat needs to be turned often, and cooked for at least an hour on a slow flame. 

• Heat your pan and pour in the mustard oil and heat till it smokes. 

• Add the cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and onions and sauté for about two minutes till they turn transparent.

• Now add the mutton, remaining salt and turmeric, and the bay leaves. 

• The meat now needs to be cooked for one hour. Make sure the flame is at its lowest setting, and give it a stir gently every five minutes or so to make sure it does not start burning from the sides.

• About half an hour into the cooking, the oil will start separating from the sides. At this point, add the garlic and ginger and continue to cook. Keep a closer watch, and turn the pieces more frequently so that they are braised evenly.

• Once it is well cooked, and almost dry (takes 45 to 50 minutes) add the dry powdered spices, red chilly powder and amchur. Stir constantly to coat the pieces well with the spices.

• Cook for at least 5-7 minutes after the amchur has been added.

• After an hour, check to see if the mutton is cooked through. Add about two cups of hot water (depending on the thickness of the curry you like), stir well and bring to a gentle simmer. Add green chillies and kasuri methi. Cover and allow the curry to cook for another five minutes or so.

• If the mutton is still rare, pressure cook it after adding the water for one or two whistles.

• After cooking with the water, check for spices and add more salt/ red chilli/ amchur powder, if needed.

 Serve with rotis or rice

Tomato pickle

This is my mother's famous tomato pickle or chutney as some people call it. It's a favorite of many in the family and extended family. Have this on the table, and you can get away with an unpopular vegetable.

Ingredients 

1/2 kg tomatoes
4 tsp chilli powder
2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 " ginger
8 to 10 cloves of garlic
2 tsp mustard
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
2 tsp salt
1/2 cup oil

Method

Wash and chop tomatoes finely. Put 2 tbsp of oil in a pan. Add tomatoes, turmeric powder, salt and chilli powder and keep stirring. Add crushed ginger and garlic after 3 mins.  Keep stirring and cooking till oil separates. Dry roast mustard and fenugreek seed. Make into a powder and add to the tomato mixture. Add remaining oil and cook for 10 to 15 mins. 

Store in the refrigerator. 

Baked mackerel or Bangde Hugge

 

Mackerel 500 gm                              

Turmeric 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Turmeric leaves 3 to 4

For the paste

Sliced Onions 2 

Garlic cloves 7to 8                              

Ginger 1/2 inch

Coriander seeds 1 tbsp                       

Cumin seeds 1 tsp

Whole Red chillies    2                        

Green chillies 1

Schechuan pepper 3 to 4

For the tempering

Coconut oil 2 tbsp

Peppercorns 8 to 10

Cinnamon 2 inch cut to smaller pieces

Cloves 8 to 10

Clean the mackerel and marinate with salt and turmeric powder. Grind all the ingredients for the paste. Make sure to add the schechuan peppers at the end while making the paste. If they are finely ground they can add a bitter taste. Coat the mackerel with the ground paste.

In a well greased baking dish, place a few turmeric leaves. Place the coated mackerels and a few more torn up leaves on top. Heat the coconut oil and add the pepper corns, cinnamon and cloves. Fry till aromatic and pour over the fish.

Preheat the oven to 180 degC and bake the fish for 20 to 30 minutes till the divine aroma of fish and turmeric leaves fills the kitchen.

Mushroom sweet potato patties

 

Half the family has decided to turn vegetarian for a few days and since I don't plan on cooking multiple dishes, the whole family is forced to turn vegetarian.

But then vegetarian doesn't necessarily mean boring. We decided to have mushroom burgers. The patties were made based on what was available. 

Makes 6 big patties

Button mushrooms 6        Crumbled paneer 3 tbsp

Boiled sweet potato 1       Red onion 1

Pepper   1 tsp                   Mixed herbs 1 tsp

Soya sauce 1 tsp              salt to taste

Oil  3 tbsp                        Bread crumbs to coat

Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan. Add finely chopped onions and brown. Add soya sauce and finely chopped mushrooms and cook till done. There should be no water in the pan. Add mixed herbs. Mash the sweet potato and mix in the mushrooms and paneer. Add salt to taste. Shape into patties. Refrigerate for half an hour.

Coat the patties with bread crumbs or semolina(sooji rava) and shallow fry on a pan. Slide into a burger bun with sauce of your choice and enjoy. 

Scones

Scones bring back memories of all the Enid Blyton books that I used to read. This is a recipe that I used after reading a few of them online.

225 gm flour               4 tbsp cold butter
1/2 tsp salt                  2 tbsp sugar
1 egg                          1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup buttermilk       1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda     a few drops of vanilla

Mix all the dry items together. You can add more sugar if you want it sweeter. Since we were to have it with jam, I just added 2 tbsp. Cut in the butter into the flour mix till you get a crumbly texture. Mix the egg and milk and add to the flour mix. Add the buttermilk and bring everything together. The dough is a soft, sticky dough. You can add a little flour to bring it all together. Roll out the dough into a rectangle and cut into pieces. Place them on a well greased baking tray. Brush the top with buttermilk. Bake at 180 deg C for about 15 to 20 mins till they turn golden brown.

Enjoy them warm with a jam of your choice or a savoury dip. 

Chicken cafreal

Chicken 500gms          Ginger 1 inch
Coriander 1 cup           Garlic 7 to 8 cloves
Cinnamon 1 inch          Peppercorns 12
Cloves 6 to 7                Green chillies 5
Poppy seeds 1 tsp        Tamarind soaked 1 tsp
Onions 1 large sliced    Vinegar 2 tsp

Grind together all the items except chicken to a fine paste. Marinate the chicken with the paste and salt for at least 6 hours. Heat 4 tbsp oil in a pan and cook the chicken till done. This goes really well with pav.

Eggless chocolate cake

Cocoa 1/2 cup                   Milk 1 cup
Maida 2 1/4 cup                 Butter or oil  3/4 cup
Soda 1 1/2tsp                    Buttermilk 1/2 cup
Salt a pinch                        Sugar 1 cup  
Cashewnut or walnut (optional) 1/2 cup

Sieve maida, cocoa and baking soda together. Mix oil and sugar. Mix in the milk and buttermilk. Add the sieved ingredients, salt and mix well. Add the nuts. Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Add the cake batter to a well greased baking pan and bake for 20 to 30 mins. As baking times vary, check with a toothpick after 20 mins.

Paneer kali mirch

Picture to be posted later. Didn't want to lose the recipe as it is different from the usual paneer dishes and goes well with Indian breads like roti and Kulcha.

Paneer 250 gm cut into cubes
Onion 1 peeled and separated like in Chinese cooking
Capsicum 1 small cut in cubes
Onion 1 large chopped
Ginger 1 inch
Garlic 7 to 8 cloves
Cashewnut 7 to 8
Green cardamom 2
Peppercorns 15 to 20 roughly crushed
Garam masala 1/2 tsp
Green chillies 2 slit
Salt to taste
Kasuri methi 1 tbsp
Oil 2 tbsp

Grind onions, ginger, garlic and cashews to a fine paste. In a pan take 1 tbsp oil and saute cubed onions till translucent. Add capsicum and saute till partly cooked. Add paneer cubes and saute for 1 minute. Keep aside.
Add 1 tbsp oil to the same pan. Add cardamom and slit green chillies. Then add the ground onion cashew paste and saute well for 2 mins. Keep stirring. Add 1/2 cup of water, salt to taste, garam masala and crushed pepper. When it comes to a boil, add sauted paneer, capsicum, onion. Mix well and then sprinkle kasuri methi on top. Rub the kasuri methi in your hand to powder before adding. Serve with roti and enjoy.

Orange marmalade

I am not very fond of jams though I do like marmalades. My mother-in-law made this when she was here in December and oranges were in season. We all loved it so much that we made it another 3 times in 2 months. After eating the home-made marmalade, I don't like the store bought one anymore. Hardly surprising.

Ingredients

Oranges 6 - 8
Sugar 2 cups approx. (this needs to be measured after cooking the pulp)

Method

1. Peel the oranges and separate the pulp from the seeds
2. Scrape the rind and chop finely. You can add rind of only half the oranges
3. Add the pulp and rind to the pressure cooker and add water till level.
4. Cook for 2 whistles.
5. After the pressure drops, measure the quantity of pulp and add equal quantity of sugar and cook till it thickens. It's done when you pour a drop on a plate, and it holds shape.
6. Bottle and store. Tastes great with crackers or bread.

Daliya Appe - Appe made with broken wheat - healthy and nutrtious

Again a recipe from my mother in law. A great hit in the family. I used corn but that can be substituted with grated carrots, methi leaves, shredded cabbage - anything that takes your fancy

Ingredients

Daliya (broken wheat)  1 cup
Grated coconut 1 tablespoon
Boiled corn kernels  1/2 cup
Green chilly 1 ( As per taste)
Coriander chopped 1 tablespoon
Ginger 1/2"
Baking soda 1/2 teaspoon
Salt to taste

Method

1. Wash and soak the daliya for 2 hours
2. Grind all the ingredients in a processor (except the soda) to a paste. This can be refrigerated and used the following day.
3. Add the baking soda 10 mins before cooking.
4. Heat the appe pan and grease with oil.
5. Fill each of the holes of the pan with the batter and cover and cook for 8 to 10 mins on a slow flame.
6. Turn the appe over with a spoon and cook for another 5 to 7 mins till golden brown. Serve hot with coconut chutney or pitti chutney and oil.

Carom leaves chutney

Had this carom leaves pot for the longest time - the first plant in my house. My mother had given it to me for its medicinal value. We used to give the juice from the leaf to my son whenever he had chest congestion as a toddler. Besides this, it was used to make pakodas - the carom leaf pakoda is very yummy. But given the fact that we are all very health conscious now, the pakodas were rarely made and whenever I pruned the plant, I would throw away the leaves. Yesterday I decided to check out if there were any other recipes and found tambli (coconut based curry) and  chutney. After looking up quite a few of these, decided to make a chutney with some variations of my own. By the way this plant is a very hardy plant and very easy to grow - using stem propagation.

Ingredients

Carom leaves 15 to 20
Grated coconut 1 tablespoon
Urad dal 2 teaspoons
Red chillies 2
( I used bedgi which is not very spicy, this can be varied based on type of chilly and taste)
Tamarind paste 2 teaspoons
Garlic cloves 4 to 5
Salt to taste

Method

1. Dry roast the urad dal and red chillies and keep aside.
2. Wash and roast the leaves till they change colour. Turn off the heat and put the garlic cloves in. The residual heat should lightly roast the garlic.
3. Grind all the ingredients together in a processor to get the chutney. Can be eaten with roti, rice, idlis, dosa, your choice.

Saag and makai ki roti

Sarson ka saag as the name suggests is made with mustard leaves. I tried the same recipe but with safflower leaves (kardai as it known in Maharashtra) It tastes just as amazing - even my fussy teen loves this dish.

Ingredients

Serves 3 - 4

For the saag

Spinach leaves 1 bunch
Safflower leaves 1 bunch
Fenugreek (methi) leaves  a handful (optional)
Radish 1/2
Garlic  10 cloves
Green chillies 2
Ginger grated 2 tsp
Chana dal 1/2 cup
Onion (finely chopped) 1
Ghee 1 tbsp
Mustard oil  1 tbsp.
Salt to taste
Butter 1 tsp

For the Makai ki roti

Corn flour (called makke ka atta)  2 cups
Salt to taste
Water to knead into dough

Method

1. Clean the greens thoroughly and roughly chop them. 
2. Add the leaves, chopped radish, chana dal, 1 diced green chilly, 1 tsp ginger, 5 cloves garlic and 1/2 cup of water, in a vessel and pressure cook for 2 whistles. 
3. Once the pressure drops, grind the cooked mixture to a fine paste. 

4. In a pan, heat ghee and mustard oil. I add the mustard oil to give it the mustard flavor - it's completely optional
5. Add 1 chopped green chilly, remaining garlic finely chopped and the ginger.
6. Fry for a minute and add the onions.
7. Fry till they soften and add the green paste. Cook till almost dry. 

8. Serve with a dollop of butter and the Makai ki roti.

For the Makai ki roti, make rotis like you would make chapatis. These will be a little rough around the edges but that's ok. Roast them on a flat griddle or tava. You can add some butter while roasting or apply a little when they're done and still warm.

Shukto - Bengali vegetable medley

This recipe tastes absolutely wonderful even with vegetables like bitter gourd and pumpkin. Of course I added only the vegetables that I like. You can add pumpkin, brinjal and radish too.

Ingredients

Potato 1
Drumstick 1
Bitter gourd 1
Raw plantain 1
Parwal (pointed gourd) 4
Green chillies 2
Ginger grated 1 tsp
Milk 1 cup
Oil 2 tbsp


Panch phoron

Mustard seeds 1/2 tsp.
Methi (Fenugreek) seeds 1/2 tsp.
Cumin seeds  1/2 tsp
Fennel seeds 1/2 tsp
Kalonji (onion seeds) 1/2 tsp


To be ground into paste

Mustard seeds 1 tbsp.
Poppy seeds 1 tbsp.
Fenugreek seeds 1/2 tbsp.

Soak the above for 15-20 mins and grind to paste. I added half a slice of bread to make the paste finer and easier to grind.

Method

Cut all the vegetables into equal sized pieces. Add salt to the bitter gourd and keep aside. After 15-20 mins, squeeze out the pieces and fry in oil till browned - this reduces the bitterness. Remove the fried gourd and to the same pan, add the panch phoron. Add the rest of the vegetables and saute. Add the ginger and saute for another minute. Add 1/2 cup of water and cook covered for 5-6 mins. Then add the paste and a little more water and cook till the vegetables are done. Add salt to taste and 1 cup of milk. Cook for another 5 mins and serve hot with rice or rotis.