Spicy Egg Masala

Sometimes its becomes difficult for me to think what to cook with egg as egg being such an versatile and tastes very good however way its being cooked and goes fabulous with almost anything. At last I settled with this spicy egg masala which is easy to cook and the best. Each time I prepare I try to use different seasoning and all the time the taste is always wonderful. This recipe is very good side dish for any bland rice but I like it for biryani and its tastes even great for roti or chapati.

Ingredients
Egg – 5
Onion – 1 finely chopped
Tomato – 2 medium size finely chopped
Green Chiles – 2 finely chopped
Clove – 2
Cinnamon – ¼”
Cardamom – 1
Fennel seeds – ½ tsp
Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp
Coriander Powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Chili Powder – ½ tsp
Pepper Powder – ½ tsp
Cilantro to garnish
Oil – 3 tsp
Salt to taste

Method
Boil the egg and remove the shell and cut the eggs into two haves and keep aside.
In a pan, heat oil and add the fennel seed, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves. When its aromatic add the onion and sauté until it turns brown.
Add the ginger garlic paste and mix and add the tomato and cook until the tomato turns mushy and if needed sprinkle water in between.
Now add all the dry masala powders other than the pepper powder and cook in a reduced flame until the raw smell is gone and add little water in between to avoid burning the masala. Last add the pepper powder.
Now add the egg and mix carefully to coat the gravy with the egg and take care not to separate the yolk and white
Add cilantro and enjoy with anything you like.

Hot Chili Chicken

Here is yet another favorite hot dish of mine - chili chicken. This is not the usual Chinese style chili chicken, this kind of chili chicken is available at all the Andra style restaurant in Bangalore and they use the whole green chilies to make this dish “really spicy” and they used to be pleasantly spicy for me and I still have not found something else very tasty and that also made my eyes water like this. Suddenly I just started craving for this dish and I prepared myself remembering the taste and I would say I could nearly match more than 75% of the original taste and just enough to satisfy my lingering craving. I used the chicken for the chicken curry and really tasted good but still you can marinate the chicken and use for this recipe. Here is the recipe,

Ingredients
To marinate
Chicken – ½ lb
Yogurt – 2 tsp
Ginger Garlic paste – ½ tsp
Chili powder – ½ tsp
Turmeric Powder – ½ tsp
Salt – little

Other Ingredients
Green Chilies slit – 10 to 13 (depending on your need)
Onion – ½ of 1 Chopped very finely
Tomato – 1 finely chopped
Coriander Powder – 1 and ½ tsp
Garam masala – 1tsp
Cardamom Powder – ¼ tsp
Oil – 3 tsp
Salt to taste

To Grind
Garlic – 6 Cloves
Ginger – ¾ inch
Cilantro – ½ Cup

Method
Marinate the chicken with all the ingredients and refrigerate for 1 hr.
Heat oil in a non-stick pan and add the onion and sauté for 5 mins or until its tender.
Add the tomato and fry for few mins and add the grinded paste and mix. Add the coriander powder and mix.
Add the green chilies and mix. Now add the chicken and sprinkle little water and close and cook for 5 mins, checking in between to avoid burning.
Now open and reduced the flame and cook by mixing occasionally until the chicken is fully cooked and the dish is dry without any water.
Garnish with cilantro and enjoy as a side dish for any kind of rice.

Mushroom and chick peas Curry and An Award

I love to add mushroom in all my side dishes I make for chapatti as it is very good source of nutritional value and more over I love the taste of mushroom. This is also same kind of dish I tried by adding the mushrooms to the chickpeas and as usual it also tasted excellent and I think for me any dish with mushroom would taste great. I want my family some how they should eat mushroom at least once in a week and I make sure to do that and I try to avoid making anything in fried form using mushroom as  there would be no point in taking the mushroom for what it is. This is the good side dish for chapatti and in every bite you get the taste of channa and the mushroom that's the best of all.

Ingredients
Mushroom - 1 Cup Chopped
Channa/Chick peas - 1 Cup Boiled
Bell pepper - 1/2 cup chopped
Onion - 1 chopped
Tomato - 2 Chopped
Green Chilies - 2
Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 2 tsp
Cumin Powder - 1 tsp
Chili Powder - 1 tsp
Kasoori methi / dry fenugreek leaves - 2 tsp
Cilantro to garnish
Salt to taste
Oil - 3 tsp

Method
Heat oil in a non-stick pan and cumin seed and they splutter add the onion and green chiles and saute till its tender and add the ginger garlic paste and mix for a min.
Add the tomato and cook till its turns pulp and add all the dry masala powders and give a good mix and add 1 cup of water and cook cooked for 10 mins and stirring in between.
Add the mushroom,bell pepper and boiled chickpeas and mix and if needed add little water and cook until mushroom is done. Add the kasoori methi leaves and mix and garnish with lots of cilantro and remove and serve hot with chapatti and enjoy!!!

My fellow blogger Renuka Bendre Rao  from http://cookingyummy.blogspot.com/ has shared this wonderful award to me and I thank her for remembering me for this.

Its no good if I keep this award all by my self so I love to share this with ,

Ashkuku from http://asha-oceanichope.blogspot.com/
Latha from http://flourishyourflavour.blogspot.com/
Rohini from http://curriesandspices.blogspot.com/
Muraligeetham from http://ruchibhedangal.blogspot.com/
Babli from http://khanamasala.blogspot.com/  

Please kindly accept this.

Bhindi/Okra Masala

This is another one recipe I got from cleaning my old crap. I don’t remember taking drown this recipe and also never tried this recipe before, might have forgotten completely about it but actually this dish tasted really good when I prepared and it’s a very good combo for chapati. This is a totally dry dish and I was not sure whether everyone in my family would like it so I have to make another dish to be on safer side but surprisingly everyone liked it.

Ingredients
Bhindi/okra – 1lb cut lengthwise
Onion – 1 chopped
Tomato – 2 mediums chopped
Green Chilies – 2 slit
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Bay leaf – 1
Clove - 2
Coriander powder – 2 tsp
Cumin Powder – 1 tsp
Chili powder – ½ tsp
Amchur powder – ½ tsp
Garam masala – 1tsp
Ginger garlic – 1 tsp
Oil
Salt to taste
Cilantro to garnish

Method
In a non-stick pan, heat 2 tsp of oil and fry the okra until its cooked and turns light brown in color and set aside.
Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds, clove and bay leaf and when its aromatic add onion and green chilies and sauté well.
Add ginger garlic paste and fry for few seconds and add tomato and cook till tomato are mushy and now add all the dry ingredients leaving garam masala and cook.
Now add the fried okra and mix well to coat with the masala and finish it of by adding the garam masala and garnish with cilantro. Enjoy with roti, naan or chapatti.

Potato N Mushroom Curry

When you are in need of a easy and tasty recipes for a side dish to please your family member, this is it Potato N mushroom curry. Vegetable dishes are a nutritious way to our family feast. A combination of heart mushroom, everyone favorite potato and some green peas made this dish look and taste is so luscious. Nothing satisfies like mushroom and potato and this great dish with all the spices raises to a new height of taste.

Ingredients
Potato – 1 big cubed to small bite size pieces
Mushroom Chopped – 2 cups
Peas – 1 Cup
Onion – 1 chopped
Ginger Garlic Paste – 2tsp
Tomato Puree – ½ cup or use 2 tomato
Coriander Powder – 2 tsp
Cumin powder – 1 tsp
Garam Masala – 1 tsp
Chili Powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder – ½ tsp
Dry Mint leaves – 2 tsp
Cream – 2 tsp (Optional)
Oil – 2tsp
Salt to taste

Method
Heat oil in a non – stick pan and add the onion and sauté for few mins.
Add the potato and mix well and add ginger garlic paste and mix well, add some water and cook for 10 mins.
Now add all the dry ingredients except the mint leaves and give a nice mix.
Add the chopped mushroom and peas and the tomato puree and cook in a low flame, add water if needed.
Add the mint leaves and cook until all the veggies are cooked. Add cream and remove and garnish with cilantro. Serve hot with chapati.

Mixed Peas Curry

I made this dish accidentally, actually I wanted to make channa masala but I didn’t have sufficient chick peas for that so I had to make up with what I had, sweet peas and I ended up preparing something and at last the result was excellent, that’s what matters and named it as mixed peas curry. I made it tangier by adding the tomato juice, which was lying in my refrigerator for quite some time and made it little sweet by adding jaggery for the kids. My boy loved it and said its “scrumptious”, new word he learnt from school and I dunno whether he really meant it. Kids learn so many new words and they try to use it at the appropriate place and this helps them to remember those words and they use it again and again. Well, back to the recipe, this is a quite easy and fast to cook and more over very tasty side dish for chapati. I heartily recommend every one to try this recipe.

Ingredients
Chickpeas – 1 tin
Sweet peas – 1 tin or use frozen
Onion – 1 chopped
Tomato – 2 chopped
Ginger garlic Paste – 1 tsp
Tomato Juice or puree – 1cup
Cumin Seeds –1tsp
Coriander Powder – 2 tsp
Cumin Powder – 1 tsp
Chili Powder – 1tsp
Garam masala – 1/2tsp
Turmeric Powder – 1tsp
Jaggery – 1 tsp (optional)
Kasoori methi – 1tsp
Oil – 3tsp
Cilantro for garnish
Salt to taste

Method
Heat oil in a non stick skillet and add cumin seeds and when splutter add onion and fry for few mins and add ginger garlic paste and fry well.
Add tomato and give a good mix and all the dry powders one after another and add the tomato juice or puree and cook till the tomato is well cooked and mushy, if required add water.
Add the chick peas and cook for few mins and finally add the peas and cook covered for 5 more mins and garnish with cilantro. Serve hot with Chapati or roti.

Vegetable Kurma for Idiyappam

Kurma is the one great magic side dish goes very well is many dishes like chapathi, idiyappam, pulao.  Whenever I think of idiappam only kurma comes in mind for the side dish, I dunno I love this combo very much. Though making kurma and idiyappam is very time consuming, the final taste and praises from the family members are worth the efforts. I made this special dish on the day of diwali and I am very glad as every one liked it. What gives us more joy than when every one in our family likes and eats well the dish we prepare, so this made me more happier on the special day. Almost every one knows to prepare this vegetable kurma but still I wanna share my way of doing this recipe. 

Ingredients
Vegetable of your choice Chopped - 3 cups ( I used cauliflower, carrot, peas, beans)
Coconut shredded - 1/2 cup
Cashew - 2 tsp
Poppy Seeds - 1 tsp
Onion - 1 medium chopped
Cloves - 2 , Cinnamon - 1" , Cardamom - 2
Ginger Garlic Paste - 2tsp
Coriander Powder - 2 tsp
Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 3tsp
Salt as required

Method
Microwave poppy seeds and cashew with little water in small bowl for 30 secs and grind  together with coconut to a fine paste and set aside.
Heat oil in a non-stick pan and add cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and you get a nice fragrance add onion and saute for few mins. 
Add ginger garlic paste and stir well. Add all the dry powders and splash little water if required.
Add all the vegetable and some water and cook coved in a low flame until vegetables are cooked. 
Add the grinded coconut paste and cook for 5 mins, garnish with cilantro and serve with idiyappam.

Egg N Mushroom Curry

This is a fabulous side dish. Though the combination sounds weird but it does work, the taste was excellent. Actually I tried this combination for fun as me and my hubby loves mushroom a lot and I had some few mushrooms left after making the mushroom stuffed omelette and used it for this dish and surprisingly this dish was delicious. This dish is so easy and quick to cook and can be served as a side dish for chapathi, or any flavored rice.

Ingredients
Boiled Egg - 4
Mushroom Chopped - 1 cup
Bell Pepper - 1 sliced
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1tsp
Onion - 1 chopped
Tomato - 2
Coriander Powder - 2 tsp
Chili Powder - 1tsp
Cumin Powder - 1tsp
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 2tsp
Salt to taste

Method
Heat oil in a non-stick pan and fry onions until brown.
Add ginger and garlic paste and stir well. Add tomato and cook for few mins.
Add all the spices and a splash of water to avoid burning of the spices. Cook for few mins.
Add pepper and mushroom and cook in low flame, stir in between.
Slice the eggs to 4 pieces each.
When mushroom and pepper starts cooking add the eggs and cook in low flame, keep turning the eggs to coat well with the gravy. Garnish with cilantro. 
Enjoy this dish chapathi or even plain rice.

Cilantro Chicken

Although coimbatore is my home town, I adore Bangalore more, reason may be I started my Bangalore life in college and got a lot of chance to explore Bangalore more with friends which I consider a pleasant memories to cherish.

Intailly when we  moved to Bangalore, my brother's office colleague Laksmi aunty's family  helped  us a lot.  I would say I got introduced to everything in Bangalore through them. She was such a lovely person and  I used to admire her a lot for what she was-a working woman, best cook and in free time she used to do lots of craft work and not to forget she had 2 small girls and a husband to care for and  that makes me  wonder how she could perfectly balance everything. She is my inspiration for lot of things . Her lovely girls, vanitha and anusha were my kannada tutors, they used to listern patiently to the worst kannada I speak and they have also corrected me which helped me to speak better. We had a wonderful time together with lots of family get togethers, trips and many more. All of a sudden there is been no contact between our two families for almost 10 yrs now, I have no idea what had happened in between and I feel that is an immature act.  I never got a chance to tell her that how much I admired her and she is my first inspiration for cooking and I actually owe her family a lot.
Today post the cilantro chicken , is the only simple chicken recipe I learnt from her and still is one of the  best chicken recipe for me. Unfortunately I did not get an opportunity to learn more of her mouth watering recipes.

I am writing this in my blog hopping one day accidentally she may read it. 
  

Ingredients:

whole cut Chicken - 1 lb

Onion - 1 chopped

Garlic - 5 cloves

Ginger - 1"

Cinnamon - 3/4" stick

Cloves - 4 

Cilantro - 1/2 bunch 

Black Pepper - 1tsp

Green Chilies - 3 

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Coriander Powder - 2 tsp

Oil - 3 tsp
Salt to taste

Method
In a pan heat oil and when it heats up add onion and saute for few mins and add chicken and add turmeric powder, coriander powder and cook for 10 mins. In the mean time grind together garlic, ginger, chilies, pepper, cloves, cinnamon and cilantro to a fine paste. Now add this grinded paste to the chicken and cook untill the raw fragrance is gone and you get a nice gravy consistency. Serve with jeera rice or any pulao or even plain rice it would taste good. 

Palak Paneer

Another popular dish in India which is tasted and tried almost by every Indians so there nothing new I can say about this dish. I am a big fan of panner so any dish with paneer is my favorite and this dish is truly delicious. My 2% milk past the "sell by" date so I decide to make the paneer out of it. Till I made paneer I had no idea of making this dish but the moment I saw the beautiful paneer cubes, just a thought of this palak paneer made me drooling and as a result we ended up eating a rich dinner. This dish was even more tastier with the home made paneer. 

Ingredients
Paneer cubes - 1 cup
Palak/Spinach - 3 cups 
Garlic - 3 cloves chopped
Onion - 1 chopped finely

Tomato - 2 chopped

Green Chilies - 3 

Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tsp

Coriander Powder - 2 tsp

Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp

Cumin/jeera powder - 1 tsp

Garam Masala - 1 tsp

Cumin seed - 1 tsp

Heavy whipped Cream - 2 tbsp

Salt to taste

Oil - 3 tsp

Method 
Boil water in a pan and add spinach and boil for 4 mins uncovered. When it cools down grind to a smooth paste along with green chilies. Heat oil in a  skillet and add cumin seeds and when it crackle add the garlic and onion and saute till onion is soft. Add ginger garlic paste and tomato and cook for few mins and add the masala powders and cook and if needed sprinkle water to avoid burning  the masalas. Add the grinded palak and cook in simmer for 10 mins. Last add the paneer and cream and give a quick mix. Palak paneer is ready. I served with chapati and asparagus salad which I'll be posting soon. Enjoy!!  

Tomato Gravy for Idli or Dosa

This is a satisfying dish pairs very good with idli or dosa. This is a recipe of our family may be most of the families in tamil nadu. As far as I remember this is the best combination for idli other than sambar in our house right from my childhood. My mom used to prepare a big bowl full of this curry for idli and we end up eating 2 more idlies just b'coz of this tomato curry and in no time the bowl would be empty. I used to mix idli with that tomato curry and make a big mess in my hand and eat it ..eww.. that way it was even more tastier only in my child hood times not now ;-). Here is the recipe..

Ingredients

Tomato - 3 to 4 chopped

Garlic - 5 cloves chopped

Onion - 1 medium chopped

Green Chili - 3 slit

Cloves - 3

Cinnamon stick - 1/2"

Coriander Powder - 2 tsp

Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 2tsp

To Grind

Coconut - 1/2 cup Grated

Ginger - 1" piece

Seasoning

Mustard - 1 tsp

Urad Dal - 1tsp

Asafetida - little

Method

Heat oil in a pan , add the cloves and cinnamon and add mustard, urad dal and asafetida. When the mustard crackle add onion , garlic and green chilies and saute till the onion turns soft. Now add the tomato and saute till the oil oozes out. Add the dry powder and mix , if needed sprinkle little water and take care not to burn the dry masala powders. Add the grinded coconut and cover and cook for 10 mins. Garnish with cilantro and serve with idli or dosa. Enjoy!!!

Back After a Long Break with a recipe - "Chicken Bharta"

At last I am back on my blog after a long break:-). I had to spend time with my son during his summer vacation and now he is back to school but.. still my one year old daughter takes all my time:-(. I blame myself for not managing the time. So I'll try to update my blog whenever I find time.

My recipe today is "chicken Bharta" , this is the new recipe I actually tried this for the first time and no doubt it came out really good. Surprisingly this dish is quite easy to prepare. This is a recipe where finely chopped chicken is cooked with onion , tomato and other spices and here is the recipe of chicken Bharta.

Ingredients:

Boneless Chicken thigh - 1lb ( finely chopped)

Finely Chopped Onion - 1

Finely Chopped tomato - 3 medium

Green Chilies - 2 slit

Ginger Garlic paste - 2tsp

Cloves - 3

Cardamom - 2

Cinnamon - 1"

Coriander Powder - 2tsp

Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp

Tandoori masala - 2 tsp (optional)

Cilantro chopped for garnishing

Oil - 4 tsp

Salt to taste

Method:

Heat oil in a non- stick pan and add clove, Cinnamon and cardamom then add chopped onion and saute for few mins and add the ginger garlic paste and mix . Now add chopped tomato and all the dry masala powders and give a good mix and close and cook for 5 mins. Now add the chicken and little water and close and cook for 10 to 15 mins or until chicken is well cooked and don't forget to stir in between. Garnish with cilantro. Server with chapati or even plain rice.

Mushroom and Capsicum curry

This is one of the delicious dish for chapati. In my opinion bell peppers and peas are the best combination for mushroom to enhances its flavour.This is one vegetarian dish I make often for the chapati. So here is the recipe for the awesome dish.

Ingredients:

Mushroom Chopped - 2 cups

Bell Pepper - 1 Medium cut to small cubes

Onion chopped - 1 medium

Tomato chopped - 1 medium

Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tsp

Coriander Powder - 2tsp

Chili Powder - 1 tsp

Garam Masala - 1 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Cumin Seed - 1 tsp

Yogurt - 3tsp

Salt as required

Oil - 3 tsp

Procedure:

Heat oil in a non - stick pan and add cumin seeds to splutter then add onion and ginger garlic paste and saute till the onion is well cooked. Add bell peppers and tomato and mix well. Add all the masala powders and mix. Now add mushroom and yogurt and salt and give a good mix and sprinkle little water. Close and cook in a reduced flame and continue mixing in between until the vegetables are fully cooked. Serve with Chapati.Enjoy!!!

Mutter Paneer / peas and cheese

When ever we go to a restaurant we make sure to order atleast one paneer dish and I guess mutter paneer is the most frequently ordered one as it is our family's favorite. Mutter Paneer is a delicious curry made of peas and home made cheese .Almost everyone would have tried making this dish and each one gets a different taste. I am posting my way of making this recipe. Please try it and pass on some comments.




Ingredients:
Paneer cubes - 1 packet
Peas - 1 cup
Onion - 1 chopped
Tomato - 2
Ginger Garlic paste - 2tsp
coriander powder - 2tsp
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Cumin Powder - 1 tsp
Salt as required

Procedure:
Boil the onion with little turmeric powder and blend to a fine paste and set aside. Make a fine paste out of tomato and keep aside too. Heat oil in a pan and saute ginger garlic paste. After few mins add the onion paste and saute well. Add all the powders and fry for 2 mins. Next add the tomato paste and stir continuously till the oil begins to separate from the masala. Add peas (if you are using a frozen peas thaw them first )to it and cook it for 5 mins . Last add the paneer and little water, cook in reduced heat till the gravy thickens. Mutter paneer is ready. Server with chapati , nan or roti of your choice to enjoy this dish.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Ingredients: For Marination

Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Chili Powder - 1ts
Coriander Powder - 1tsp
Cardamom Powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala Powder - 1/2 tsp
Kasuthri Methi (Fenugreek ) Powder - 1tsp
Ginger Garlic Paste - 2 tsp
Lemon juice
Yogurt (thick) - 1/2 cup
Red food colour (optional)
Salt as required
Boneless Chicken (thigh Piece) - 1lb Cut into small cubes
Onion, green bell pepper, tomato - 1 cup chopped into small cubes

For Gravy:

Finely chopped Onion - 1

Tomato - 2

Ginger Garlic Paste - 2tsp

Cashew - 2 tsp

Cumin Seed(jeera) - 1tsp

Coriander Powder - 2 tsp

Cumin Powder - 2tsp

Chili Powder - 1 tsp

Whole Garam Masala (Cardamom -2, bay leaves, clove, cinamon stick)

Oil

Salt as required

Method : For Marination

Prepare the marinade by whisking all the ingredients under for marination in a large bowl. Mix the chicken pieces and the vegetables to the marinade. Close the bowl and refrigerate for 1 hour. Pour little oil in a non - stick pan and fry the marinated chicken and vegetables for 15 mins and keep aside.

For Gravy

Blend tomato and cashew together to a fine paste. Pour oil in a pan, put the whole garam masala and cumin seeds. When the seeds sputter add the chopped onion and saute it till it turns to light brown, add ginger garlic paste. Next add all powders and mix well, pour the tomato and cashew paste. If required add little water to it.Close and cook for 5 mins. Now add the fried chicken and cook untill all the masala smell is gone and chicken is well cooked. Garnish with cilantro. Enjoy this dish with chapati, nan, roti or even plain rice.