Chicken(Mutton) Pepper Roast

My in-laws are from a small town near Madurai, in Tamil Nadu, in South India. This small town is situated in the foothills of a mountain range with lush vegetation around. It is only 3 hours drive from Munnar, a popular tourist spot. The people of this small town are mostly from an agricultural background. This town is famous for its elaichi(cardamom) cultivation, processing and all activities related to cardomom growing and selling. The food in this area is rich in flavor with lot of spices used and all the people I have come across are excellent cooks. That said, my mother in law is a great cook herself and I have tons of her recipes all written in tamil in pieces of paper. I decided that it is high time that I translate all these recipes and store it indefinitely through my blog. The next series of posts are translations of these recipes. As and when I try these recipes, I will update the blog posts with pictures as well.

To start off with, today I made Chicken Pepper Roast. An easy recipe in terms of number of steps.

[The same recipe can be used to make mutton pepper roast as well. The only change would be to cook the ]mutton in a pressure cooker in a little salted water prior to following the below steps.]

Ingredients:

To grind:

Chicken - 1/2 lb

Pepper corn - 1tsp(can increase to make it more spicy)

Jeera - 1 tsp

Fennel seeds(Sombu) - 1 tsp

Poppy seeds(Casacasa) - 1 tsp

Scraped coconut - less than a handful

Garlic pods - 4

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp

Method:

1. Grind all the above ingredients without water. (It is not a problem if the paste is coarse)

2. In a pan, add oil.

3. Once the oil heats up, add the ground paste and saute for a few minutes

4. Add the washed chicken to the pan and sprinkle a little water. 

5. Add required amount of salt.

6. Let the chicken cook in its juices until all the water has disappeared.

7. At this point, you can remove from the flame or let it roast a little further until it obtains a slightly brownish hue.

Enjoy as a side to any other dish!

Mushroom/Chicken Biryani

A cloudy lazy Sunday afternoon with no other social commitments in sight, called for a heavy meal at my house today. I finally decided upon south indian style mushroom biryani and tandoori fish. Since hubby dear has been asking for fish kulumbu for months together now, I decided to throw that in as well.

I have to mention here that the biryani I make is different from the north Indian style biryani or the Shaan masala type one. This is a rich tasting biryani with a myriad ingredients that add a super enticing flavor to the dish. Served with a simple raita, it is one rich dish for a cozy Sunday afternoon lunch with the family.

Ingredients:

To grind 1:

small onions - handful - grind to paste without water

To grind 2:

cashewnut - 6 to 7

scraped coconut - less than a handful or a piece of coconut

Grind both these together with minimal water

Other:

Onion - 1 big or 2 medium- sliced

Tomato - 1 big - diced

Green chillies - 6 - sliced

Mint leaves -  1 bunch - remove the leaves and chop

Coriander leaves - a few stalks - remove the leaves and chop

Ginger Garlic paste -  1tbsp

Mushroom - 1 box- diced (OR chicken - cut into required size pieces)

Saffron - few strands soaked in warm milk

Ghee - 1.5 tbsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Basmati Rice - 1.5 cups

Dhania Powder - 1 tsp

Red Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Garam masala - 1/4 tsp

Salt

Lemon juice - few drops

Whole Spices:

Bay leaves - 4 to 5 small

cloves - 4

cinnamon - 1/2 inch

mace - little

star anise - 1 - broken

maratti moggu - 2

elaichi - 2

Method:

1. Dice the onions, tomato, green chillies and mushrooms as mentioned in the list above.

2. Chop the mint leaves and coriander leaves and mix together and keep aside.

3. Prepare the grinding mixtures 1 and 2 as mentioned above and keep aside.

4. Soak the saffron in warm milk. Keep aside. 

5. Soak the rice in water for about 10 minutes.

6. In a pressure cooker, add oil and ghee.

7. Once the oil-ghee mixture is hot, add all the whole spices and let it saute a little bit. Let the spices brown slightly.

8. Add the sliced onions and saute until slightly brown.

9. Add the ginger-garlic paste and saute.

10. Add the sliced tomatoes and sliced green chillies and saute well until tomatoes are crushed.

11. Add the chopped mint-coriander leaves and saute.

12. Add the small onion paste and cook for a few minutes.

13. Add the cashew-coconut mixture and cook for a few minutes.

14. Add the dhania powder, chilli powder and garam masala and let it all cook for a few minutes.

15. Add the mushrooms and mix and cook for a few minutes.

16. Drain the rice and add the drained rice to the cooker.

17. Add 3 cups of water for 1.5 cups of rice.

18. Add required amount of salt.

19. Add the saffron with the milk.

20. Add a few drops of lemon juice to the mixture.

21. Close the pressure cooker and let it cook for one whistle.

22. Let the pressure release on its own.

Voila! Steaming hot biryani is ready. Serve with a simple raita and enjoy!

Mushroom Biryani

Arachivitta Pumpkin(ashguard/winter squash) Sambar

Another typical tamilian treat! I have made this umpteen times to various get-togethers and it is always a hit. The flavor of different spices mixed with the softness of the pumpkin pieces is an intoxicating mix.

The procedure here is a tard bit more lengthy than regular sambars, but the end result is well worth the effort and time.

grinding ingredients for arachivitta sambar

Ingredients:

To Grind -

Oil - 1 drop

Channa Dal - 1tsp

methi seeds - 1/4 tsp

dhania seeds - 3 tsp

red chillies - 4 to 5

scraped coconut - handful

curry leaves - 5

Veggies:

Onion - 1/2 diced

Tomato - 1/2 of a big one

Pumpkin/Ashguard/Winter Squash - diced into big chunks

Seasoning:

Oil

Hing/Asefitoda

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves - 6

Other:

Toor dal - 1/2 cup

turmeric - pinch

tamarind - small lemon sized ball soaked in water

Method:

1. Soak the tamarind is a little water and microwave it for one minute.

2. Put the toor dal in the pressure cooker and add some water to cover the dal and a little more. Add a pinch of turmeric and a few drops of oil. Pressure cook for one whistle and allow the pressure to release on its own.

3. In a pan, add one drop of oil. Once the oil heats up, add the grinding ingredients one by one.

4. Start with the channa dal. Once the channa dal roasts a little, add the methi seeds. Follow this with the dhania seeds, the red chilli and the curry leaves.

5. Once the above ingredients roast well, add the scraped coconut and saute for 2 minutes. Switch off and allow the mixture to cool.

6. Once the mixture cools, grind it to make a smooth paste.

Ground paste for arachivitta sambar

7. Dice the pumpkin, onion and tomatoes.

 8. In another pan, add a little oil.

9. Once the oil heats up, add a little hing and mustard seeds.

10. Add the pumpkin, onion and tomatoes and saute for about 5 mins. The veggies do not have to change color.

11. Strain the tamarind water from the pulp and keep aside.

12. Open the cooker and mash the dal a little bit.

13. Switch on the stove for the cooker and add the ground paste.

14. Once it begins to boil, add the sauted veggie mix.

15. Add the strained tamarind water.

16. Add required quantity of salt.

17. Pressure cook for 3 whistles.

Once pressure is released, serve with hot rice and drizzle with ghee! One happy south Indian meal:)

Arachivitta sambar

Gadgets

I have a weakness for cooking gadgets! My hubby teases me about it, but the truth is it extends beyond kitchen gadgets. Most of the As Seen on TV products fascinate me for some reason. Luckily for hubby and me, atleast I do not venture to buy all of them! The only one product I have brought from the As Seen on TV commercials in my eight years of stay in the US has been the Vidalia onion chopper for $29.99. I must say it was a let down and that curbed my fascination to just on-screen fascination. Also, the fact that we do not have a cable connection for the past 4 years has helped quite a bit:)

But I was curious to know what kind of kitchen gadgets everyone owns? What are your cannot-live-without ones? What are some that you spent money on and were totally let down?

Let me go over my list:

1. Cuisinart food processor (7 cup) - useful gadget if you know when and where to use it; I do not seem to use it much except to make salsa once in a while; Also the first few times I tried, the chappati atta came out quite well, but the amount of dough produced was too much. I prefer fresh ones, and hence stopped using it for atta making.

2. Mini food chopper+Hand mixer - This has been quite handy to chop onions or other veggies as well. Plus, I was impressed when my Indian mixie broke down and I was able to use this to make my Indian style gravy pastes.

3. Garlic press - Let down for me; I hardly use it

4. Bottle/Jar openers - simple device but super useful

5. Sandwich maker - useful, but somehow I hardly use it

6. Panini grill press - I adore it, but again, somehow do not use it as much

7. Coffee grinder - used it a few years ago to grind baby food and it has been sitting unused ever since

8. Chef's Envy - It is a slicer, chopper etc - This was a recent acqusition when I fell aprey to the product demo in Kroger. Luckily for me, hubby has been singing praises of it ever since we got it; Useful if you can handle the super sharp blade edges.

I will keep updating the list as I remember and come across more gadgets from my stashes. We did a kitchen cleanup, where we stowed away our unused utensils and gadgets in the basement. I probably do not remember the other half of the gadgets that are down there.

Kattrikai Kolumbu (Eggplant curry)

This is a traditional tamilian recipe handed down by my mom and I love it for its authentic taste. It is also fondly known as enna kattrikai kolumbu. The tangy taste of the gravy combined with the taste of the eggplant and mixed with hot white rice with a dollop of ghee on top, is one yum finger licking south indian staple I would die for! The only dependency is a powder known as Kolumbu powder. I will soon post a link for the powder as well. I am lucky to have my family make the powder in India and send it to me in a well sealed pack. I generally bring a couple or more packs of different types of powder during my visit from India and store it in the fridge.

Ingredients:
Eggplant - 5 to 6 small ones
Small onions - about 15
Scraped coconut - handful
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Kolumbu powder - 1 heaped spoonful
Oil - Vegetable oil (2 tbsp) - can use more
Tamarind - lemon sized ball soaked in water
Seasoning Ingredients:
mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
urad dal - 1/2 tsp

curry leaves

Method:
1. Soak the tamarind in water.(I generally microwave it for close to a minute and leave it aside)
2. In a non-stick pan, put a couple of drops of oil and saute about 10 small onions until the skin is roasted. Then add the turmeric powder, the kolumbu powder and the scraped coconut and saute for 2 minutes and switch off the stove. Let it cool. Once cooled, grind the cooled ingredients into a thick paste with minimal amount of water.
3. Cut the eggplants into florets without removing the stalk and drop them in salted water (This will help them not oxidize and change color).
4. Strain the tamarind pulp water and discard the pulp.
5. To the pulp water, add the ground mixture. Add required amount of salt.
6. In a small pressure cooker or pressure pan, add the oil.
7. Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds. Let it splutter.
8. Add the urad dal, the curry leaves and 5 small onions.
9. Then add the eggplants and let it change color.(I sometimes just place the lid of the pressure cooker on the cooker without locking it) . This helps in the eggplant cook and change color. Toss the eggplants around a few times to ensure that all the sides of the eggplants change color. This should take about 5-7 mins.
10. Now pour the tamarind+ground mixture into the cooker.
11. Close the pressure and reduce the flame to a low and let it cook for one whistle.
12. Once the pressure releases, open the cooker and enjoy the kulumbu served on hot rice.

Time for action!

After years and years of cooking and enjoying different varieties of food, I definitely must say I am foodie! Not only do I love cooking, but I think I have way too many recipes that I would love to share with the community. Additionally, its time to build a storehouse of recipes that I can easily reference and pass down to my future generations:) The intent of this blog is to create a central repository of all the recipes that I have accumulated from my ancestors to the ones that I have created and learnt and tested and tried.
So lets get started!