Chettinad Lamb Curry

This is yet another chettinad delicacy from my kitchen. All my friends and family knew that I am very obsessed with chettinad recipes so this time my sister who took the privilege of passing on this recipe to me, I was not interested to know how she got it so I am not sure on its authenticity but I can assure you, "it’s very delicious". Anyway why bother about other stuff when it tastes excellent. Generally I adapt recipes to my taste, this is one kind of recipes I did follow faithfully and I have the taste and texture nailed down in this recipe and I doubt me trying another mutton curry recipe after tasting this one. This recipe is not too complicated and once if you try this, you’ll never go back to your own mutton curry recipe (like me). This curry is an excellent combination with idli. A plate of steaming hot idlis with mutton curry ….hmmm…. nothing can taste better than this..sorry vegetarian guys.

Ingredients
Lamb – 1 lb
Pearl onions – 15
Garlic Cloves – 10
Tomato – 1 medium
Coriander Powder – 1 tsp
Sambar Powder – 1 tsp
Paprika powder – 1 tsp (optional)
Chili Powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Ginger garlic paste – 2 tsp
Oil – 3 tsp
Cilantro
Curry leaves
Salt to taste

To Grind
Coconut – ¼ cup
Fennel seeds – 1 tsp
Cardamom – 2

For Seasoning
Cloves – 5
Cinnamon – 1”
Cardamom – 3

Method
Chop the onions if you its too big. Heat oil in the pressure cooker and add cloves, cinnamon and cardamom and when its aromatic add onions and garlic and sauté well and add the ginger garlic paste and now add the tomato and sauté until the tomato is mushy. Next add mutton/lamb and fry in slow flame for 10 mins. Add all dry powders one by one and mix well and add sufficient water and pressure-cook for 10 mins. When its done look for the consistency and add more water if needed and now add the grinded coconut paste and curry leaves and when its starts to boil turn off the flame and add cilantro generously. Enjoy!!

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.

Spicy Shrimp/Prawn Curry

This is one of the easiest and tastiest shrimp curry ever. Shrimp is one favorite food of my boy and he likes different variety of dishes prepared with shrimp so I have to keep trying out new dishes with it by making changes with the ingredients and even a little variation to the same dishes he likes a lot but this dish turned out to be little spicy than I expected so he did not like this dish L but he did like it to eat with dosa, this is a excellent dish when eaten with rice and I really enjoyed every mouth of it with rice. This is very simple to make and I bet every one of you will sure love this dish.

Ingredients
Shrimp – ½ lb
Onion – 1 finely chopped
Tomato – 2 finely chopped
Tomato paste – 1 tsp (optional)
Green chilies – 2 slit
Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp
Coriander Powder – 2 tsp
Cumin powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Chili powder – 1 tsp
Cloves – 3
Cardamom – 3
Cinnamon – ½”
Salt to taste
Cilanto to garnish
Oil – 3tsp

Method
Clean and de-vein the shrimp and set aside.
Heat oil in a non-stick pan and add the clove, cardamom and cinnamon and when its aromatic add the onion and fry till it turns brown and add the green chilies and ginger garlic paste and fry.
Add all the dry powders one by one and mix and add the tomato and cook until tomato turns to pulp by adding little water to it.
Now add the tomato paste and mix and add shrimp and give a good mix and add 1 and ½ cups of water and close and cook in a reduced flame for 10 mins or until the curry like consistency is reached and garnish with cilantro.
Serve hot with rice and enjoy!!!

Chettinad Chicken Curry

I am very obsessed with the word “chettinad”, to me they are very tasty and really spicy to eat and they are the best. Any restaurant or any food with a chettinad tag to it drives my attention and every one can guess I gonna order only that. I lived in Chennai for a very short period of only six months and within that short time I had visited almost all of the chettinad restaurant there. Not just visiting restaurant, if anyone says I have the authentic chettinad recipes I waste no time to take the recipe from them. This recipe I got it from internet long time ago that’s before I started blogging and during my transit from Illinois to North Carolina I misplaced it, though I have prepared this recipe many times, its always difficult for me to remember all the ingredients and more over the method of cooking is what adds the taste to it and I also have no idea from which site I got this recipe, so didn’t get a chance to prepare it until now during these holidays while cleaning my old crap I got this recipe back and I was so much delighted and prepared it the following Sunday and relished it so much. I actually made for breakfast, as a side dish for idli and every one loved it, especially my boy who always prefers dosa for idli, loved idli with this chicken curry.

Ingredients
Whole cut chicken – 1lb
Pearl onion/sambar onion – 15
Tomato – 2 chopped
Garlic – 10 cloves
Green Chilies – 2 slit
Ginger Garlic paste – 2 tsp
Cilantro to garnish
Oil – 4 tsp
Salt to taste
To marinate
Yogurt – 2tsp
Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp
Coriander powder – 2-½ tsp
Chili powder – 1tsp (use to your taste)
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Salt
To Grind
Coconut – 3 tsp
Poppy seeds – 2 tsp
Fennel seeds – 1tsp
Seasoning
Cloves – 5
Cinnamon – 1inch
Cardamom – 2
Fennel seeds – 1tsp
Pepper Corns – 1tsp
Curry leaves - 5

Method
Marinate the chicken with all the ingredients under 'to marinate' and set aside for minimum half an hour.
Dry roast poppy seeds and soak in hot water for 5 mins and grind with coconut and fennel seeds.
In a big pan, heat oil and add all the ingredients under 'seasoning', one by one and when its aromatic add onion, garlic and green chilies and sauté for 5 mins and add the tomato and fry till tomato is soft and mushy.
Now add the ginger garlic paste and mix well and add the marinated chicken and mix and add little water or as much water depending on the consistency to need and cook closed until the chicken is cooked well.
Add the coconut paste and cook for just 5 mins and garnish with lots of cilantro.
Enjoy it with rice.

Stuffed Brinjal Curry

This is an Andra's popular dish and its called "Gutti Vankaya Currry" and every one seems have their own version for this recipe. Each of my friends use different ingredients for the same recipe, I dunno which of it is the traditional, any way what every one do in common is grind all the ingredients and stuff to the brinjal..ha ha. I follow the way we used to cook this dish for many years at home and I am sticking to it and every one loves that way, may be some day I might also try my other friend’s version too. Whenever I see the small brinjal in the Indian store, I make sure to get as I love this stuffed brinjal a lot, for past one month I couldn’t go to Indian store, my hubby who goes never brings this small brinjal, he gets only the big one and this time I was very specific to get the small one and as he did, here I am with the recipe of my favorite dish.

Ingredients

Small Brinjal - 8

Sesame Seeds - 2 tsp

Onion - half of one full onion , chopped

Tomato - 1 medium chopped

Cinnamon - 1/2" stick

Garlic - 4 cloves

Coconut - 2tsp

Whole red chili - 3

Coriander Powder - 2 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Tamarind Paste - 3/4 tsp ( I used the tamarind concentrate)

Jaggery - 1 tsp

Curry Leaves - 5

Oil - 3 tsp

Salt to taste

Method

Dry roast the sesame seeds until it turn golden color and set aside. Fry onion, garlic, red chili, cinnamon, tomato and coconut in a pan with 1tsp of oil until onion and tomato become soft. Grind this along with sesame seeds, and other ingredients other than oil to a smooth paste.

Cut the stem of the all the brinjal and retain the crown, make a '+' cut on the other end of brinjal and dont make it into two halves just a slit is fine. Stuff the grinded masala into the each brinjals.

Heat oil in a skillet and place the brinjal in the skillet and cook until you see wrinkles on them. Now pour the remaining masalas and cook covered until the gravy thickens. Serve hot with rice and Enjoy!!!!

Shrimp/Prawn Gravy

When I want to cook only for me and it should be simple and tasty I always prefer cooking shrimp, shrimp is always a magical dish, which cooks fast. This dish takes no more than 30 mins and I have made this dish numerous times. Shrimp is one dish which tastes always great however cooked provided if you like shrimp. This dish is cooked in a wonderful onion and tomato sauce with all the spices. This is a great combination for rice.

Ingredients

Shrimp - 2 cups

Tomato - 2 chopped
Onion - 1 chopped
Ginger - 1/2"

Garlic - 4 cloves

Green Chilies - 3

Coriander Powder - 2 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala - 2tsp
Oil - 3 tsp

Red food color - Optional 

Salt to taste

Method

Fry onion , tomato, ginger, garlic and green chiles in 1 tsp of oil in a pan for 5 mins and grind to a fine paste. In a pan heat 2 tsp of oil and fry the grounded paste for few mins and add all the dry masala powders and add the shrimp and cook till the gravy thicken to your desired consistency. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy with rice.

Kale in Lentils

 Normally greens are not in the top favorite list among kids and my boy is no different in that. Almost every Saturdays I make sure to prepare some dish using greens for lunch and I'll feed my boy without his knowledge, this way I am satisfied that he eats something healthy. I love greens and I would eat anything made with it.
This tasty recipe features a mixture of good kale green with a wonderful dhal. Kale is a leafy green vegetable and rich in vitamin C and A and is incredibly healthy food. This dish is amazingly easy to prepare and delicious to eat with rice.

Ingredients
Kale Greens Chopped - 2 cups
Toor dhal - 1/4 cup
Small onion - 3 chopped
Tomato - 1 chopped
Green Chilies - 3 chopped
Garlic - 2 cloves chopped
Salt to taste
For Tempering
Mustard - 1 tsp
Cumin Seed - 1/2 tsp
Curry Leaves - 3
Garlic - 1 clove minced
Whole Red Chili - 2
Ghee - 1tsp

Method
Pressure cook toor dhal with little turmeric powder and set aside.
In a separate pan cook kale with onion, green chilies, tomato and garlic with little water and salt until its done.
Mash the kale mixture and mix with cooked dhal. Season it with mustard, cumin seed, curry leaves, red chili and garlic. Serve hot with rice and papad..hmm yummy..Enjoy!!  

Chicken and Mushroom Curry

After the success of egg and mushroom curry, I made this another great dish using mushroom and chicken and undoubtedly even this was also great. In this dish mushroom didn't do any magic, there was not much of any difference in the taste by adding it other than getting the mushroom pieces in between the chicken in your each mouth, which I liked. Mushroom works very well with any combination, no complaints so far from my family. This dish can be prepared using only chicken. This goes well with rice and may be with chapathi too.

Ingredients
Chicken boneless thigh - 1/2 lb
Mushroom Chopped - 2 Cups
Onion - 1 chunks
Garlic - 6 cloves
Ginger - 1"
Clove - 4
Cinnamon - 1"
Tomato - 3 Chopped
Coriander Powder - 2tsp
Cumin Powder - 1tsp
Chili Powder - 1tsp
Tuemeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt as required
Oil - 3tsp

Method
Blend together onion, garlic, ginger, cloves and cinnamon to a fine paste.
Heat oil in a pan, add the onion paste and stir for few mins.
Add all the powders and mix well.
Add tomato and cook closed in a reduced flame for 10 mins.
Add the chicken and cook for 10 more mins and add the mushroom and cook for 30 mins in low flame and stir inbetween. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with rice. Enjoy!!

Spicy Egg Curry

This is an absolute delight and simple dish to prepare. This is an great dish it goes with anything you name it like rice, parota, appam and even as a side dish for briyani. I made this dish for kerala parota and it was a great treat. I opted to prepare this dish as I was lazy and this sure was a easy and quick. I served this dish with frozen kerala parota and it turned out to be a wonderful dinner. Here is the recipe for egg curry.

Ingredients:

Egg - 4

Onion Chopped - 1 medium

Tomato chopped - 1

Green Chilies - 3 slit

Coriander Powder - 2 tsp

Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp

Garam masala - 1tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp

Cumin Seed - 1tsp

Ginger Garlic paste - 1&1/2 tsp

Coconut - 1/2 cup

Cilantro

Oil - 3 tsp

Salt as required

Procedure:

Boil the egg and peel , make sure you peel it when it is still hot otherwise it would be hard to peel. Make 2 to 3 shallow slits on the egg so the egg can absorb the masala and set aside. Grind the coconut and keep aside. In a pan heat oil and add the cumin seed, when it splutters add onion and fry for 5 mins. Add ginger garlic paste and mix well. Add tomato and green chilies and cook till the tomato is well done. Now add all the masala powders one by one and fry well by sprinkling little water. Close and cook until the raw smell of the masala is gone. Add the egg and give a good mix and last add the coconut and close and cook for 5 mins, add water according to the consistency you need. Garnish with cilantro. Serve hot with parota, rice or chapati.

Fish Curry

This fish curry is very delicious, I say so because my hubby just hates sea foods and I have tried three different fish curries so far and this is the only fish curry he like so it has to very delicious , am I right?? This recipe I got from one of the TV food shows.I don't remember the program name ...doesn't matter.. the recipe is important. Here is the recipe of the fish curry.I made this curry using the tilapia fish, you can use any fish of your choice.

Ingredients:

Tilapia fish - 3

Onion chopped - 1 medium

Tomato chopped - 1 medium

Green Chilies - 2 slit

Coriander Powder - 2tsp

Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp

Pepper Powder - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp

Tamarind - lemon size

Salt as required

Jaggery

Mustard - 1 tsp

Fenugreek - 1/2 tsp

To Grind:

Coconut - 1/2 cup

Ginger - 1''

Garlic - 3 Cloves

Pepper - 1/2 tsp

Cumin seed - 1/2 tsp

Curry Leaves - 3

Procedure:

Soak the tamarind in water and squeeze the tamarind and take the water and mix the powders in the tamarind water and keep aside. Heat oil in a pan and season it with mustard , fenugreek and curry leaves. Add the onion and saute well. Add tomato and green chilies and mix well for 2 to 3 mins. Add the tamarind water and allow it boil for few mins,then add the grinded paste. When the raw fragrance leaves add the fish . When the fish is cooked add jaggery and remove it. Garnish with cilantro.Enjoy!!!

Chicken Curry

After a lot of indo-chinese recipe here is an awesome South Indian style chicken curry recipe. I learned this dish from my sister who lives in Nagercoil. The combination of coconut , cashew and poppy seeds gives a rich taste to this dish. This dish doesn't fall into simple chicken curry category, you can name it chicken korma, or even salna as you like. There are probably hundreds of different chicken curry recipes available but each takes the basic chicken curry and enhances it according to the taste. Try my version of this rich aromatic chicken curry. Good recipes are always meant to be shared ....

Ingredients:

Chicken pieces - 1lb

Coconut - 1cup

Cashew - 2tsp

Poppy Seeds - 1tsp

Fennel seed - 1tsp

Cinnamon - 1" stick

Cloves - 5

Ginger - 2"

Garlic - 6 Cloves

Coriander Powder - 2tsp

Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp

Sambar Powder - 1tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Onion chopped - 1 medium

Tomato chopped - 1 medium

Mustard and curry leaves for seasoning

Salt to taste

oil

Procedure:

Soak the poppy seed and cashew nut in hot water for 10 mins. Dry roast fennel seed , Cinnamon , cloves and set aside. With little oil fry garlic, ginger and coconut for few mins and grind to a paste along with dry roasted Cinnamon,clove and cashew and poppy seeds. In a cooker pour oil and season it with mustard and curry leaves. Add onion and saute it till onion turns brown. Add tomato and give a good mix. Now add all the powders , if needed sprinkle little water . Add chicken to it keep mixing for few mins and add the grinded paste with little water . Now close the cooker and pressure cook for 10 mins. Garnish with cilantro . Serve with rice, idli dosa.