Its been a long time, I haven’t posted any chicken recipes. So when I got this recipe as well as picture from Madhura(My cousin’s wife) I was more than happy to post it here.
I love the taste of fennel seeds in any dish. So I decided to make this dish for a small get together at home. All my guests simply loved this dish. The clarified butter(ghee), fennel seeds, poppy seeds give an amazing taste as well as aroma to this dish. Also this is very simple to make, so it is a win-win situation. Just give it a try and I am sure you all will love this dish. Thanks a lot Madhura.
Ingredients: 8 medium sized pieces(about 800 grams) of chicken 2 tbl spn coriander seeds 1/2 tea spn of fennel seeds(saunf) A pinch of turmeric powder 1 tea spn each of black peppercorns, cumin and fenugreek seeds 1 tbs poppy seeds 12 garlic flakes 12 roasted whole dry red chillies 1 tbl spn tamarind paste 1 medium sized coconut grated 8 curry leaves 1 large onion finely chopped 2 tbl spn clarified butter(ghee) / butter /oil Salt to taste
Method: Heat a little clarified butter(ghee)/butter in a pan and roast the black peppercorns, turmeric powder, fennel, corriander, fenugreek and poppy seeds till aromatic. Allow to cool. Dry grind along with roasted red chillies and tamarind paste. This is the first paste. Coarsely grind the grated coconut, garlic and cumin seeds (for just a round or two) without adding any water at all, till a ball can be formed of the paste. This is the second paste.
Mix the chicken with the first paste. Cover and cook ( without adding water) on low level in a heavy-bottomed pan for about 25 mins or till the chicken is almost cooked. Add the second paste and salt to taste. Cover and cook on low level for about 3 minutes or till the chicken is completely cooked. Heat the clarified butter(ghee)/butter in a pan, drop in the curry leaves and fry for a few seconds. Add the finely chopped onions and fry till brown. Pour this garnish over the chicken.
PS: The most important step in this dish is the dry grinding of the coconut. The paste needs to be very coarse and very dry….as dry as possible.
Serves:4 Preparation time: 28 minutes.
It has been a challenge for me to make my husband eat Pongal . He never touched it whenever I tried it in Bangalore. I had never made it at home. The success rate with my friend Poornima’s recipes is almost 100% at my home. So I asked for her Pongal recipe and tried it. As always, this was a huge success. My husband and I loved it so much that, we had it for breakfast, lunch and dinner on a weekend.
“ Pongal ” is a semi solid dish, usually prepared with rice and daal . We make “sweet Pongal ” and “spicy pongal “. I loved the combination specified by Poornima. She serves Pongal with a sour side dish called as “ HuLi gojju ” or a kind of raita called as “ Mosaru bajji “. But I prepared both the sides.
Spicy Pongal
Spicy Pongal with side dishes (Khara pongal - HuLi gojju - Mosaru bajji)
Ingredients
- 3/4 cups moong daal yellow
- 1 cup rice
- 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds
- 2 tea spns cumin seeds
- 1/2 tea spn black pepper
- 5-6 curry leaves
- 3-4 green chilies
- 1/4 cup chopped onion
- 3/4 cup grated coconut
- 2-3 strands coriander leaves
- 1 tea spn oil
- Salt
Instructions
- Soak daal and rice separately. Crush black pepper roughly (I used black pepper powder instead).
- For best results, make the Pongal directly in cooker.
- Heat oil in cooker, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and when they start popping, add curry leaves, crushed black pepper, green chilies. Fry for a minute. Add onion and fry till they turn brownish.
- Drain water off the daal and add it to the onions and fry for a minute.
- Now drain off the water from the rice and add it to the mixture and fry for few seconds.
- Add 8 cups of water (for 1 cup rice, 8 cups of water should be added.
- When I took above picture, I used just 6 cups of water to make it slightly thicker, but usually I prefer using 8 cups).
- Add coconut, chopped coriander and salt.
- Close the lid of the cooker and cook for 2 whistles.
- The Pongal should be in semi-liquid state when cooked.
- Serve hot with HuLi gojju or Mosaru bajji.
HuLi gojju :
Spicy Pongal with side dishes (Khara pongal - HuLi gojju - Mosaru bajji)
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups of slitted onions
- 1 tea spn oil
- 1 garlic clove optional
- 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds
- 4-5 curry leaves
- 1/2 tea spn tamarind extract or 2 tbl spn of thick tamarind juice
- 1/2 tea spn chili powder
- 1/2 tea spn sambar powder any ready made sambar powder can be used
- 1 cup grated coconut
- 2-3 strands coriander leaves
- Salt
Instructions
- Heat oil and add mustard seeds.
- When they start popping, add curry leaves and chopped garlic.
- Fry for a minute and add onions.
- Fry till onions turn slightly brownish.
- Add tamarind and around 2-3 tbl spn of water.
- Add chili powder, sambar powder, coconut, chopped coriander leaves and salt.
- Cook for around 7-8 mins.
- This gojju should also be semi liquid.
- I made it a bit less-watery to suite my taste.
Mosaru bajji
Spicy Pongal with side dishes (Khara pongal - HuLi gojju - Mosaru bajji)
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup finely chopped cucumber
- 3/4 cup finely chopped onion
- 1/2 cup finely chopped tomato optional
- 2-3 strands coriander leaves
- 3-4 curry leaves
- 1/2 tea spn oil
- 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds
- 1 cup yogurt curd
- 2-3 green chilies
- Salt
Instructions
- Mix cucumber, onion, tomatoes, coriander leaves and chili with salt.
- Add yogurt(curd) and mix well.
- Heat oil and add mustard.
- When they start popping add curry leaves, fry for a minute and them to the yogurt mixture and mix well.
