I am camera-less for next couple of weeks. I was way too excited to post something last time and even after many reminders from V, I was not very careful with handling the SD card. It got broken and stuck in the SD card slot. Looks like it was pretty bad and we had to take it to repair shop to get it fixed. Not sure how I am managing to mess up things these days!. First I lost my phone and now this. So that means, I cannot click any new pictures for few weeks. I also can’t access any of the pictures I clicked in last few weeks – Grrr I should have transferred them to laptop!!. Luckily I have few pictures I had saved earlier which needs to be posted and I am very lucky to have amazing parents who have a huge hand in keeping this space alive and going. Â They promised they will post something whenever they can. Anyway, sorry for that rant, now that it is off my chest, I feel good :).
Coming to this recipe, I am making a conscious effort to make atleast one chicken dish a week. Somehow I love to try new recipe every time, than sticking to one tried and tested recipe. I usually end up at Sig’s blog for chicken dishes or try something completely new by adding different ingredients. Some of my experiments in last few weeks were big hits with my family and friends. Tomato chicken with whole spices is one such recipe. Ingredients: 1 lb chicken 1/2 cup onion 1 and 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes (about 3 large ones) 1 tea spn chopped garlic 1/2 tea spn pepper powder 2 cloves 2 cardamoms 1 bay leaf 2″ stick cinnamon 1 tea spn slightly crushed coriander seeds 1/2 tea spn cumin seeds 1 tea spn chilli powder 4-5 leaves of mint Oil Salt
Method: Cut chicken into small pieces and add salt and pepper to it. Heat little oil, add chopped garlic. Add the chicken pieces and let them cook till they are 3/4th done. Take out the chicken on a clean plate. In the same pan, heat oil and add all the whole spices, onion and fry for few minutes. Add crushed coriander seeds, tomatoes, little salt and let them cook for few minutes. Now add the chicken pieces and cook till they are completely cooked. Sprinkle mint and cook for a min. Serve hot with chapatis.
Okra(English), Bhende(Konkani) is one of the most loved vegetables for Konkanis. The okra we get here is pale green in color and quite big in size. When my father in law was alive, we used to grow lot of vegetables in our garden and okra was one of them. There is nothing like cooking with very fresh ones. Now we have more coconut/mango/banana plants in the garden taking up the space. So we usually buy relatively fresh ones from farmer’s market ( saante as we call it). We make sagle , ambat , phodi , bharth , song and many more. This sukke is also a very common dish in North Canara. I find this very frequently on the menu at my SIL’s place. Teppal gives a very nice aroma to this dish.
Pictorial: Cut okra into long pieces. Cook with masala made of coconut, red chillies, kokum and teppal.
Okra in Coconut Sauce (Bhende Sukke)
Ingredients
- 1/4 kg approx 0.5 lb okra/bhende
- 1/2 cup fresh/frozen coconut
- 5-6 teppal
- 4-5 kokum pieces or 1/2 tea spn tamarind extract
- 5-6 red chillies
- Salt
Instructions
- Make a very smooth paste of coconut, red chillies with minimum amount of water.
- In a mortar and pestle, take teppal with a table spoon of water and crush them slightly (do not make a paste, just bruise them so that the aroma comes out).
- Cut okra in long pieces.
- In a thick bottomed pan, take the coconut paste, okra, kokum (or tamarind), salt, teppal along with the water used to crush them.
- On a medium-low flame, let it cook till okra is completely done.
- Serve hot as a side dish.
