Hope you all had a very happy Diwali. So after all that sweet dishes that you all might have enjoyed, I thought of posting a spicy dish.
Last year when we visited India, my SIL R prepared this dish for us. She got this recipe from a magazine and she made little modifications to it. I loved it so much that I asked her to send the recipe. It sat in my inbox forgotten for a long time. Finally one fine day I tried it. Although we eat quite spicy food, it is still very mild compared to what we ate while we were kids. So I used the mild banana peppers for this. It may not be authentic mirchi ka salan, but I can guarantee that it tastes great.
Ingredients: 6-7 big green chilies (I used banana peppers) 1/2 cup onion 1 tbl spn grated coconut 2 tea spns sesame seeds (til) 1 tea spn cumin powder 1 tea spn coriander powder 1 tea spn red chilli powder or 3-4 red chillies A pinch turmeric powder 2 tea spns ginger–garlic paste Tamarind juice Salt
Method: Boil the green chillies in salted water, till it changes its color. Keep aside. Dry roast sesame seeds and grated coconut. Grind to a paste. Add coriander, cumin, chilli and turmeric powder to the above paste. Heat oil, add cumin seeds, onion, ginger-garlic paste. Add the masala paste. Fry till the oil separates. Add the boiled chilies and curry leaves. Stir fry for 2 minutes. Add the tamarind water. Simmer till the gravy thickens. Served best with Biryani.
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Couple of months ago, V’s maternal uncle and aunt visited us in Kansas. Did I mention I love to have guests at home? Their stay was packed with lots and lots of travel in and around Kansas. In between, we squeezed in some time for food. I baked a cake for them, which aunt requested, and she gave me couple of her signature recipes. This is one of those recipes.
She called this “Marathi chicken”. The specialty of this is the ghee seasoning – she called it “ Kaat ” – the red ghee seasoning that floats on top. She uses ghee in marinade, for frying onion and for the “ kaat “. I used it for only the seasoning.
Ingredients: 1 lb(0.45kg approx) chicken 1/4 cup chopped coriander leaves 1 tea spn chopped ginger 1 tea spn chopped garlic 2 green chillies 2 tbl spns lemon juice 1/2 cup onion 1/2 cup tomatoes 1-2 tea spn ghee 1/2 tea spn chilli powder A pinch turmeric
Masala : 1 tea spn cumin seeds 1 tea spn coriander seeds 2″ cinnamon 3-4 cloves 1 tea spn poppy seeds (khus khus) 1/2 tea spn chilli powder 1 tea spn fennel seeds (saunf/badishep) A pinch turmeric 2 tbl spn fresh/frozen coconut
Method: Make a paste of ginger, garlic, green chillies, coriander leaves and lemon juice. Add this paste to chicken and leave it aside for around 30mins. Dry roast fennel seeds, cloves, cinnamon, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, poppy seeds. Add coconut, chilli powder, turmeric powder, fry for a minute. Grind with chilli powder, turmeric and coconut to a paste. Keep it aside. Heat oil and fry onion, add little salt to onion to break it down faster. Add tomatoes, chicken and fry for few minutes. Add the paste and cook till chicken is done. Heat ghee and add turmeric, chilli powder. Pour over the curry like a seasoning. Serve with chapatis or rice.
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 30mins
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