Hyderabadi Chicken Kuruma

This is another recipe I flicked from my Mom in law's collection. :) And I have to say, this is really truly delicious and tastes even better the next day!!!

Chicken: 1 kg

To roast and grind:

Onion:  1sliced

Kus Kus: 1 tsp

Grated Coconut: 3/4 cup

Saunf/Perinjeerakam/Fennel: 2 tsp

Tomatoes: 2

Fry the tomatoes separately and keep aside.

Fry the onion, kus kus, grated coconut and saunf to very light brown and grind it along with the fried tomatoes and keep aside.

For the Curry:
Oil: 2 tbsp
Cinnamon: 1
Cardamom: 1
Cloves: 6
Onion: 2 sliced
Ginger garlic Paste; 1 tbsp
Green Chillies: 4
Chilly Powder: 1 tbsp
Coriander Powder: 1 tbsp
Coriander leaves.

Heat oil and throw in the cinnamon, cardamom and cloves.
After a few seconds add the onion and when it is light brown, add the ginger garlic paste and saute till the raw smell is gone.
Add the chicken pieces, green chillies, chilly powder and coriander powder and saute for a few minutes.
Now add the ground masala and mix well.
Add salt and cook till chicken is tender.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with Naan or Chapati.

Karimeen/Pearl Spot Mappas

Karimeen/Pearl Spot: 4
Kashmiri Chilly Powder: 1 tbsp
Pepper Powder: 1 tsp
Turmeric powder: a pinch
Salt; as needed
Lime juice: of a small lime

Make a paste of the masala, apply on the fish and shallow fry it. Keep aside.
This is an optional step, you can make it without frying as well, but its easier for my kids to take off the flesh from the karimeen bone when it is fried first. if you are not frying, increase the number of green chillies in the curry step.

Oil: 2 tbsp
Mustard: 1 tsp
Dry red chilies: 2
Curry leaves: 2 sprigs
Onion: 2 small sliced
Ginger: 1 tsp chopped
Garlic: 1 tsp chopped
Green Chillies: 2 sliced round (increase it to 5-6 if u r not frying the fish)
Tomato: 1 sliced round
Cconut milk: 1 cup thick
Coriander powder: 2 tbsp
Chilly Powder: 1 tsp
Pepper Powder: 1 tsp
Turmeric powder; 1/4 tsp
Salt: as needed.


Heat oil and splutter mustard, curry leaves and dried red chillies.
Throw in the onions, ginger, garlic and green chillies.
when the onions brown along the edges, add the masala powders.
sprinkle water so that the masalas dont burn.
when the raw smell is gone, add a cup of water, 1/4 cup of thick coconut milk and let it boil.
now layer the fish and the sliced tomatoes and let it get cooked.
Now add the remaining thick coconut milk, adjust the salt and when it boils along the edges, take off fire.
Serve with chapati.

Mango Avakaya (Andhra Pickle)

This is another recipe from my Mom in Law's collection. Really really tasty, well, which pickle isnt? and that too when it is with mango...oolala...

Mango: 6 big cut in to pieces(8-10 pieces per mango)
Salt: 200 gms
Mustard Powder: 200 gms (dry roast and grind the mustard)
Turmeric Powder: 2 tbsp
Red chilly Powder: 200 gms
Gingelly Oil: 1/2 litre
Garlic cloves: 100 gms
Fenugreek Powder: 2 tbsp
Fenugreek Seed; 1 tbsp

Keep the peeled garlic and 1/4 litre oil aside.
 Mix the rest of the ingredients together.
Put the mango mixture in a glass jar and add the 1/4 litre oil on top.
Close the jar tightly and keep it aside for 3 days.
After 3 days, add the peeled garlic cloves, mix well and again close the jar.
Serve with rice or rotis.

Shepherd's Pie/ Cottage Pie

Shepherd's pie is a casserole made with lamb, vegetables and potatoes. Americans make it with beef and the pie made with beef is usually called Cottage Pie. You can add your own ingredients to suit to your taste. (like carrot, celery, mutton, your choice of spices etc)

Here, Iam going to key in my mom-in law's way of making the classic Shepherd's Pie.

Beef: 1 kg

Onion: 2 medium diced

Ginger: 1 inch minced

Green Chillies: 6-7 chopped

Butter or Oil: 2 tbsp

Salt and Pepper: as needed

Grated Cheese: half to 1 cup

Tomatoes; 2 sliced round

Potato: 1 kg

Butter: 2 tbsp

Milk: 2 tbsp

Salt and Pepper: as needed.

 Pressure cook the potatoes and mash it properly and add butter and milk to it to make a smooth paste

Add salt and pepper to this mix and keep aside.

Heat Oil/butter in a pan and saute the onions, ginger and green chilies till they are wilted.

Add the cooked and minced beef to it, add required salt and pepper ( half tbsp each) and combine everything together.

Preheat oven 200 C

Grease an oven proof dish with butter and first layer the beef mix.

On top of it, layer the sliced tomatoes.

Top it with the mashed potato mix. You can again brush the top with butter.

Sprinkle grated cheese on top.

Bake for 30 minutes or till the potatoes turn golden brown.

Serve warm.

Mango Thokku Pickle

This is my hubby's favourite pickle and which I "had" never bothered to like before marriage. I always have this soft corner for kadumanga and kanni manga pickle. Well, Mom (Mil) makes thokku pickle often so I didnt have to bother much about learning how to make this. But in 2006, there was an over abundance of mangoes in Moms garden that we had a store room full of mangoes (raw, ripe, overripe).So that was the year I learnt to make jams, juice, preserves and also all kinds of mango pickle. I got a big sack for myself to take home. So after eating ripe ones and making mango shakes and making mango icecreams and making mango yoghurts and making jams, halwas, juice with the ripe ones and Kadumanga with some of the raw ones, I still had 20 big mangoes left!!! So what did I do, I called my 1st sis in law and 3rd sis in law home and we 3 made it together(well, they made it while I religiously jotted down the recipe step by step). So this recipe is from then - how we made with 20 mangoes. (O by the way it lasted me 2 years even after distributing to many friends)

Mango: 20 medium
Kashmiri Chilly Powder 200 gm
Mustard; 100 gm
Ginger Garlic: 300 gm
Fenu greek powder" 100 gm
Asafoetida: 1/2 tin
Salt; 1/4 kg
Gingelly Oil: 600 ml
Curry Leaves: a handful

Slice the mango very very thin. You can use your food processor
Heat Oil. Splutter Mustard and throw in the curry leaves.
Add ginger garlic paste and when the raw smell is gone, turn off the stove.
Allow it to cool.
Add chilly powder, fenugreek powder, salt and the thinly sliced mango
Mix everything properly and keep aside for two days.
Now its ready to be consumed. Store it in airtight containers.

Sev Poori

This is again my friend Sari's recipe and pics. She called me to her place to teach me how to make this from scratch. We had a wunnerful time together and that evening my whole family was at her place enjoying a buffet- we had sev poori, bhel poori, aloo tikki chaat, papdi chaat, chole bhature.. phew...that was one helluva wonderful party.... and each and every dish served was just outta the world...

For the Papdis:

Rawa/Semolina: 1 cup

Maida:  1 tbsp 

Soda Bicarbonate: a pinch

Oil: 1 tbsp

Oil: for deep frying

Make a smooth dough with the above adding just enough warm water.
Keep this covered( preferably with wet cloth) for about 20 to 30 minutes.
Take small balls out of it and roll it thin.
Using a cutter or a lid of a tin, cut into smaller circles

Now prick with a fork on all the rolled out discs so that it wont puff up in oil.

Fry these in batches.

Drain on an absorbant paper and once cool, store in airtight containers till ready to be used.

For Sev Poori:

Sev; 1 cup

Onion: 1 cup diced

Tomato; 1 chopped fine

Potato: 1 boiled and mashed

Chaat Masala: to sprinkle

Jal jeera: to sprinkle

Black Salt: to sprinkle

Chopped Coriander: 2 tbsp

Green Chutney; as needed

Sweet chutney: as needed

Assembling:

Place 7 to 8 papdi's on a plate
Place potatoes on top followed by onion, tomatoes and then sprinkle with chaat masala, jaljeera and black salt on top
Now top with the green chutney and sweet chutney on top.
After this, top each poori with sev and coriander leaves.
Serve immediately.

Pani Poori

Is there anyone who can say NO to chaats.. well, I cannot!!!. I never knew how to make em' till I met Sarita. She is one of my dearest friends in Cairo. A very bubbly friendly gal who lives life to the fullest. So this is her recipes, her cooking and her pictures. Iam just keying in the recipe for anyone who will need it and most importantly for myself, so that I wont forget later... :)

Rawa/Semolina: 1 cup

Maida:  1 tbsp 

Urad Dal Flour: 1 tbsp

Soda Bicarbonate: a pinch

Oil: 1 tbsp

Make a smooth dough with the above adding just enough warm water. 

Keep this covered( preferably with wet cloth) for about 20 to 30 minutes.

Take small balls out of it and roll it thin.

Using a cutter or a lid of a tin, cut into smaller circles

 Now deep fry the pooris in medium heat to make it crispy.
Press the puris whoile frying so that it will puff up.

Drain them on an absorbant paper

Once cooled, store in airtight containers till ready to be used

Green Chutney

Coriander Leaves: 1 cup

Mint leaves: 2 cups

Ginger: a small piece

Salt: as needed

Green Chillies: 2

Lemon juice; 1 tbsp

Water: 1-2 tbsp

Sugar: a pinch

 Wash the leaves properly and drain to remove excess water.,

Make a paste of this in your mixie.

Keep it in the refrigerator until ready to be used.

Sweet Chutney

Dates:  1 cup

Tamarind water: 1/4 cup

Salt: a pinch

Sugar or Jaggerry: 1/2 tbsp

Chilly powder: a pinch

Jeera Powder; 1/2 tsp

Make a paste of all this in your mixie and keep aside till ready to be used.

For the pani, Take a cup of cold water and mix the green chutney to it. Add chaat masala and black salt, boondi to it and your pani is ready for the poori.

The Filling

Boiled Chickpeas: 1/4 cup

Boiled Potatoes: 1/2 cup

Coriander leaves; a tbsp

Salt; as needed

Onion: 3 tbsp diced

Mix everything together and keep aside.

Assembling:

Take the pooris in a plate.

Make a small hole on top of each poori.

Keep a tsp of the filling 

 Now pour a tsp each of the mint chutney and the sweet chutney and enjoy each and every bite.

Vellarika Kachiya Moru Curry

There are two versions of Moru curry (with coconut and without coconut). Here is a recipe of Moru curry with vellarika and no coconut. Most of the people Ive come across like it with coconut but well, not me!! Though I love coconut in any form in any curry, thoran, chocolate, rice etc, I prefer moru curry without that..Go figure!!!

So here is how it is made:

Vellarikka/ Cucumber:  1 cup cubed

Green Chilly: 3

Turmeric Powder: 1/4 tsp

Curd: 1 cup

Water: 1/2 cup

Garlic; 2 pods

Fenugreek Powder: 1/4 tsp

Mustard: 1/2 tsp

Dried red chilly: 2

Curry Leaves: 2 sprigs

Pearl Onion: 4 sliced round

Oil: 1 tbsp

Beat the curd with half cup water (you can use more water depending on the consistency you like) and keep aside.

Cook the cubed cucumber in a little water. Add green chillies, turmeric powder and required salt while you cook this.

In a kadai, heat oil and splutter mustard, dried red chillies and curry leaves.

Add the pearl onions and garlic and when it is brown, add the beaten curd and on low flame, keep stirring.

Add the fenugreek powder to this and keep stirring till the curry is slightly warm.

Take off fire.

Once it is cool, add salt and mix everything properly.

Sambar

Have you noticed that Sambar can taste a 1000 different ways? Ofcourse, the ingredients might be the same, but I guess it all depends on the quantity of masalas different people use. So here is the recipe how my mom makes it. She adds green chillies instead of chilly powder and no garlic while my mom in law adds chilly powder and garlic but no green chillies. I love both the versions but, I use ready made sambar 98 percent of the time... ;) 

Toor Dal: 3/4 cup

Pearl Onion: a handful

Green Chillies: 3-4

Tomatoes: 2

Asafoetida: 1 tsp

Turmeric Powder: 1/2 tsp

Fenugreek Powder: 1/4 tsp

Vegetables of your choice: 1 cup chopped

(Here, you can see potatoes, cucumber, snake gourd)

To temper:

Mustard: 1 tsp

Pearl Onion: 2

Curry Leaves; a sprig

Coriander Powder: 2 heaped tbsp

Coriander Leaves: a handful

Wash the toor dal and dump it in a pressure cooker.

Chop all the vegetables and wash everything properly.

Now, chop the tomatoes add all the vegetables, green chilly, asafoetida, turmeric powder and fenu greek powder and required salt to the toor dal.
Add 3 cups of water and pressure cook for 4-5 whistles.

In a kadai, heat oil and splutter mustard, curry leaves.
Add the pearl onions and when it is brown, saute the coriander powder till raw smell is gone.

Now open the lid of the pressure cooker and add the coriander powder mix and again boil it.
If it is too thick, you can add little more water and let it boil
Add the coriander leaves and take off fire.
Serve with rice or Dosa/Idly.

Paneer Cutlet

Paneer: 400 gms

Potato: 1 large boiled and mashed

Green Peas: 1/4 cup

Oil: 2 tbsp

Onion: 1 medium chopped

Ginger: 1 tsp minced

Garlic: 1 tsp minced

Green Chillies; 3 chopped

Pepper: 1 tsp

Garam Masala: 3/4 tsp

Salt: as needed

Bread crumbs: 1 cup

Oil: for deep frying

Optional:

Egg:1 beaten or Maida paste to coat the cutlets before rolling it in bread crumbs,

 But I didnt have to use either of the two coz the cutlet was sticky enough coz of the paneer.

Also, I used Frozen green peas. If you are using the fresh ones, cook it before you add it to the mix.

Heat oil in a kadai and throw in the chopped onions, ginger, garlic and green chillies.
Saute till they are wilted.
Add the green peas and let it get cooked.
Add the garam masala, pepper and saute for a few seconds.
Add the grated paneer, mashed potatoes, required salt and let everything get mixed properly.
Take off fire.
When cooled, form it int desired shaped and roll over bread crumbs.
Deep fry till golden brown and serve warm with tomato sauce.

My Indian Calzone (with chicken masala filling)

You hear Calzones and Pizza Hut comes to mind, right? Calzones are actually folded over pizzas and any pizza crust recipe can be used to make the calzone. Filling can be anything of your choice as long as it is not "as much" as we top over a regular pizza. 

For the Covering:

All Purpose Flour: 2 cups

Milk: 3/4 cup

Active dry yeast: 2 tsp

Olive Oil: 3 tbsp

Sugar: 1 tbsp

Salt: 1 tsp

Dissolve the sugar and yeast in the lukewarm milk and wait till it turns frothy.

Add the salt, Oil and the flour to it and  knead till a soft dough is formed.

If it is too sticky, You can apply oil on ur palms and knead again.

Grease a bowl and keep the dough inside that.

Turn the dough once inside the bowl so that it is uniformly oiled.

Keep it in a warm place so that it doubles in bulk.

It might take 2 hours or more depending on the temperature of the surroundings.

For the filling

Frozen Shawerma Meat: 400 gm pack (you can used cooked and shredded chicken breast instead)

Onion: 1 sliced

Tomato: 1 chopped

Green Chilly: 1 chopped

Ginger Garlic: 1 tbsp

Capsicum: 1 sliced

Chilly Powder: 1 tsp

Salt: as needed

Red Chilly Sauce: 1 tsp

Mozarella cheese: as needed

Heat oil, throw in the onions, ginger garlic, green chilly and saute till brown.

Add the tomatoes and cook till mashed up.

Add the capsicum and the chilly powder and saute for a few minutes.

Now add the red chilly sauce and chicken and saute for a few minutes.

Take off fire.

To make the Calzone:

Preheat oven to 200 C

Divide the dough in to 4 equal portions and roll out like for chapati.

Place the chicken filling on one half (the edges should be left free)

Place the mozarella cheese on top.

Fold so that you get a semi circle (or the half moon shape)

Apply water on the edges so that the edges is sealed.

Press with fork along the edges.

Make gashes on the calzone for steam to escape.

Brush the top of the calzone with either Olive oil or egg white. (for a brown finish)

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes till they are brown in colour and cooked.

(oven temperatures vary so keep an eye after 15 minutes)

Serve warm with tomato sauce.