Was seeing a show on Food Food channel the other day and came across this recipe by Harpal Singh Sokhi. Was intrigued because he mixed Indian spices in a Chinese dish. Had to try it and have to say it turned out to be perfect for the Indian palate.
I like the flavor and crunchiness the till seeds gives to this dish. Kids love to eat the crispy fried chicken before adding it to the gravy and hence remember to reserve some for them.

Here is my recipe for this dish.

Ingredients

1. Chicken breasts - 500 gms
2. Onions (medium) -2 , cubed
3. Red Capsicum -1/2 piece, cubed
4. Yellow Capsicum - 1/2 piece, cubed
5. Sesame seeds - 4 tsp
6. Ginger  - 1 inch piece, finely chopped
7. Garlic - 5-7 cloves, finely chopped
8. Green chillies -2 , finely chopped
9. 2 tsp chicken masala - I used Kitchen King masala; you can use 1 tsp of garam masala instead
10. 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
11. 2 tsp soya sauce
12. 2 tsp red chilli sauce
13. 1 egg - white separated 
14. 2 tsp corn flour
15. Spring Onion for garnishing

Method

1. Cut chicken breasts into long thin slices. Marinate with salt, ginger garlic paste, chicken masala, soya sauce, red chilli sauce for 15-30 mins.
2. Now add egg white and cornflour to this mixture and deep fry it in hot oil till crispy brown. Drain the chicken and keep aside.
3. Now in a pan, take 2 tsp oil. When the oil is hot, add 2 tsp sesame seeds (till) and roast it till slightly brown. Take care not to burn it.
4. Add finely chopped ginger garlic and green chillies and saute for a minute
5. Add onions and red and yellow capsicum  cut into cubes and saute for 2-3 mins
6. Add 1 tsp of red chilli sauce and soya sauce each and mix well.
7. Add 1 tsp of chicken masala or 1/2 tsp of garam masala and saute
8. Adjust the salt and saute it till the capsicums are cooked. You can add a bit of sugar here in case you prefer the dish to be a bit sweet.
9. Add the fried chicken to it and mix well
10. Garnish with spring onion and roasted sesame seeds 

 In case you want it to be of gravy consistency, you can add some water after adding garam masala and cook it. This dish goes very with fried rice.

Was in a mood today for some south Indian flavors of chicken. As was searching online came across this simple and quick recipe Curry Leaf and pepper Chicken recipe from my favorite chef - Sanjay Thumma.
The best part about this dish is that it doesnt require any fine chopping and dicing and hence saves a lot of time. Once ready, I am sure you are going to love the aroma of Curry leaves and pepper that fills the house :)
Here is my recipe for Curry Leaf and Pepper Chicken

Ingredients
Chicken  - 500 Grams
Curry leaves  - 3 Sprigs
Onion - 2 medium sized roughly chopped
Tomatoes   - 2 Medium sized roughly chopped
Ginger - 1 inch cut into small pieces
Garlic - 5-7 cloves
Grated Coconut  - 2 tbsp

Fennel seeds -  1 tsp
Oil   - 2 tbsp
Coriander powder  - 1 tsp
Chilly powder   - 2 tsp
Turmeric  - a pinch
Pepper -  2 tbsp roughly crushed
Coriander chopped - optional


Method

1. Take 1 tbsp oil in a pan. Heat it and when hot, add onions and saute. Add some salt to fasten the cooking. 
2. 2 mins into the sauteeing, add roughly chopped ginger and garlic and saute
3. When the onions are translucent (no need to brown it), add the tomatoes and saute well.
4. Cook for 2 mins and then add turmeric, chilli powder and coriander powder and grated coconut
5. Saute well, add 1/2 cup water, put the lid on and let it cook for 5 mins.
6. When done, remove from heat and let it cool. Blend in a blender to a coarsepaste. I like it rough because that goes well with the chappatis.
7. Heat oil in a pan and when hot, add fennel seeds.After a minute add a handful of curry leaves and saute.
8. Now add the chicken pieces and some salt and 1 tsp crushed pepper and saute for 5 to 10 mins till the chicken is white and almost cooked.
9.  Now add the onion -tomato paste, mix it well with the chicken and let it cook for 20 minutes with the lid on. Adjust the water and salt according to your taste.
10. Add some more crushed pepper and serve with chappatis, dosa, appams or rice.
11. You can also garnish with chopped coriander.

This dish is like the western concept of Sunday Roast for my family. We grew up eating this tasty chicken curry prepared with all the traditional Konkani spices on most Sundays, accompanied by Sol Kadi and Fish Fry . Though chicken is not part of our staple diet, somehow this curry is prepared in this same way in most Konkani households. I always wonder how and when this dish entered into our traditional recipes.
This dish has a very strong aroma and I somehow associate the aroma of this dish with Sunday afternoons :)

Here is my mom's recipe perfected over the years. This dish has all the ingredients that go well with chicken and I have never gone wrong with this one. 


Ingredients

• Chicken - 1 kg
• 4 medium Sized Onions - finely chopped
• Tomato  - 2 finely chopped
• Coriander leaves -1 bunch
• Ginger-garlic paste 2 tea spn
• Sun flower Oil 
• Ghee
• Salt

Brown Masala

• Pepper 7-8
• Cloves 4
• Cinnamon  - 2 inch
• Shahi jeera - 1 tsp
• Coriander seeds - 1 tsp
• Cardamom (Elaichi) - 1
• Red chillies (Bedgi)- 7-8
• Poppy Seeds(Khus Khus) 1 tsp
• Fennel seeds (Saunf)- 1 tsp
• Coconut  - 1 cup
• 4-5 cloves of garlic
• pinch of haldi
• Tamarind - lemon sized ball

For the Green Paste

• 1 cup of coriander leaves with stalk
• handful of mint leaves
• 2-3 green chillies
• 1 inch ginger piece
• 5-6 cloves of garlic

Method

1. Make a fine paste by grinding together roughly chopped ingredients listed under for the green paste.
2. Take a pan and dry roast all the ingredients under Red Masala except the tamarind. Take care not to burn the spices. When the spices leave out a good aroma, cool it and then grind it to fine paste with tamarind and water. Keep this red masala aside.
3. Clean and Marinate 1 kg chicken with green paste and salt for atleast an hour before cooking
4. Take a pressure cooker and add 1 tsp sunflower oil and 1 tsp to it. When the oil is hot, add the finely chopped onions and saute it till brown.
5. Add 2 finely chopped tomatoes and saute it till mushy.
6. Add the marinated chicken to the cooker and mix well.Add 1/2 cup of water and pressure cook it for 1 whistle and then simmer on low for another 10 mins. Be careful here to not overcook the chicken. If you are unsure about using a pressure cooker, you can just cover and cook it till the chicken is almost (80%) cooked.
7. Now add the brown masala to the chicken and cook it for good boil. You can add some dried Sol for additional color and sourness.
8. Cook it for 10 more mins on a slow flame.Adjust the salt and water according to taste.
9. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with Pav (Bread) or Chapatis

Vahrehvah.com is one of my favorite recipe sites. The videos are pretty good and every dish I have cooked from this site has turned out to be good.
Today I was in a mood to cook Mutton in a different way and went to the site. Came across this recipe and decided to make it. The output was a really spicy gravy which we all licked off from our plates.

Method

1. Wash and drain 500 gms of mutton (I used boneless but you can use mutton with bone)
2. Take 3 tsp ghee/oil  in a pressure cooker and fry the mutton in it for 5- 10 mins till it is turns brown in color.
3. Add 1/2 tsp turmeric and mix well. Add salt to taste
4. Add 3 medium sized onions diced and mix well. Add 3 medium tomatoes chopped finely and mix well.
5. Pressure cook the mutton for 3-4 whistles. 
6. In the meantime prepare the kadai masala. For this take 3-4 red chillies, 1 tsp pepper corns, 1/2 tsp fennel seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1 tsp coriander seeds in a pan and dry roast it till a sweet smell emanates from this. Add a 1 tsp of kasoori methi and dry roast for a minute and let the mixture cool in the pan. 
7. Grind the masala with a mortar and pestle to a coarse paste.
8. When the pressure is off open the pressure cooker and add 2 tbsp dahi and 2 tsp of kadai masala. You can add more masala if you want the gravy to be spicy
9. Add 2 slit green chillies or 1 tsp red chilli powder (of course according to your taste)
10. Adjust the salt and cook till the gravy starts to boil
11. Garnish with ginger juliennes and finely chopped coriander and mint leaves
12. Serve hot with rotis.

We have a lot of Tulu friends and this is one dish I love in their cuisine. Very elaborate dish but is so good that I dont mind spending the extra time in kitchen to cook it.
Cooked it recently for one special set of friends who love Mangalorean cuisine. 




Method

1. Clean and cut 1 kg chicken pieces into cube sized pieces along with the bone and keep aside.
2. In a pressure cooker, take 2 tbsp oil and heat. When hot, add 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp jeera seeds and when they splutter add 5/6 sprigs of curry leaves. The curry leaves give a distinct flavor to this dish and hence feel free to go heavy on them
3. Now after sauteeing it for 2-3 mins, add 1 finely chopped onion and some salt. Saute the onion till it is pinkish in color.
4. Now add the chicken and saute it well. 
5. As the chicken is cooking, dry roast 1 tsp coriander seeds, 7-8 dried red chillies, 10 pepper corns, 5-6 garlic pods, 1 inch dalchini, 1/2 tsp jeera, 4-5 cloves, 1/2 tsp khus khus(poppy seeds) with 2 tsp of onion and 2 tsp of grated coconut till the aroma of the spices fills up your kitchen. Let this cook for some time and then grind it to a coarse paste in the grinder.
6. Add this to the chicken, mix well  and pressure cook it for 1 whistle. Pressure cooking though not the best way to cook meat, is the easiest and hence I took this option. You can just cover the pan with a lid and cook for 15-20 mins till chicken is cooked. Adjust the water according to the consistency you want. I like it to have some gravy so that it goes well with chapatis.
7. Now again dry roast, 1 cup grated coconut, pinch of haldi and 5-6 pods of garlic and 1/2 tsp jeera till coconut is slightly brown. Grind this to a coarse paste
8. Add it to the chicken when chicken is almost done. Mix well and cook for 3-4 mins with lid on. You can add some more curry leaves for additional flavors.
9. You can serve this with chappatis, hot neer dosas or in this case we made Rice Rotis (Tandlachi Bhakri). Here is the recipe of these awesome Rice Rotis 

Chicken Vindaloo is a Goan dish which proudly sits on the menus of many famous Indian restaurants abroad, next to the Indian Chicken curry. I have been wanting to cook this dish for long. Recently saw this in dish being featured again in one of my favorite shows "Twist of Taste - Coastal curries" by Vikas Khanna and that spurred me to find the best recipe online and cook it.

Just finished cooking this dish and must say its a beautiful dish. The tanginess of the vinegar dominates; followed by the sweetness from the caramalised onions and jaggery and the spiciness of the chillies.

History has it that this is a Portuguese dish which means Wine, Garlic and Pork (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vindaloo). The original dish has no "aloo" or potatoes but I found many recipes online with potatoes. Decided to cook mine without potatoes or tomatoes. So this recipe has just the goodness of chicken with onions, vinegar and spices.

Here is my version of Chicken Vindaloo.

Method

1. Dry roast 2 tsp coriander seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds,1/2 tsp fenugreed seeds,  7-8 dried red chillies (I used Byadgi chillies), 1 tsp pepper seeds, 1 bay leaf, 2 inch cinnamon, 2 cardamoms, 4-5 garlic pods, 1/2 inch of ginger for 2 mins on a low flame ensuring you dont char out the spices. Cool these spices and then grind them to a fine powder in the mixie.
   
2. Marinate 750 gms of chicken with the spice mixture, salt, 1/2 tsp turmeric and 4 tbsp white vinegar. Add 1 tsp of grated jaggery and mix well. Let it rest on the kitchen counter for 3-4 hours. You can also leave the marinade overnight.
3. Now take a pan and add 2 tbsp ghee to it. Once the ghee is hot, add 1 tsp of mustard seeds. 
4. When the seeds start spluttering, add 3-4 cloves. Now add 3 finely chopped medium sized onions. Add some salt and start sweating the onion till it is brown. finely grate 3-4 garlic pods and another 1/2 inch ginger into the pan and saute for another minute
5. Now add the marinated chicken and saute it for 7-8 mins.
6. Add 2 cups of water and let it cook with lid on for 30 mins on a low flame. Keep stirring occasionally. When the chicken is cooked, open the lid and cook for another 10 mins for the water to evaporate
7. You will be left with a fine thick gravy. Garnish it with finely chopped coriander leaves and serve with rotis or rice.

"Singapore Chilli crabs" was the best dish I tasted in Singapore. It is called the unofficial national dish of Singapore. Recently had a craving for this dish and I went looking for crab here in Hyderabad. We dont get the kind of meaty crabs here but then had to make do with what we get here.
Looked online for Singapore Chilli crab recipes and came up with this one which is a mish mash of the different elements from recipes found online

Here is how the original dish looked

and this is how my dish looked

Method

1. Clean and scrub 3 crabs and crack the legs and claws with a spoon so that the masala can seep in. Keep aside
2. Clean and remove the skin of 2 onions and pulse it with 5-6 red chillies to a coarse paste
3. Take 1 tbsp oil in a pan. Fry the onion chilli paste till the raw smell of the onions goes off. I grated in 1 inch of ginger and 5-6 garlic pods too into this onion paste and fried it well till cooked.
4. Add paste of 2 tomatoes along with 1 tbsp tomato  puree or ketchup and saute in the onion mixture. Bring it to a boil.
5. Add 1 tsp white vinegar, 2 tsp light soya sauce, salt to taste, pinch of sugar. I also added 2 sticks of lemon grass for additional flavors. You can add some red chilli sauce too in case you prefer it hot.
6. When the paste is well cooked, add  the crabs and mix well. Add a cup of water to cover the crabs and cover and cook for 15 mins on medium flame. 
7. Beat an egg in a bowl. Now remove the lid of the crab gravy and add the egg with one hand stirring the gravy with the other. Cook for another 5 mins so that the extra water evaporate
8. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve

Here is video of one of the recipes I followed

http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/singapore-chilli-crab

Tried this awesome Chicken with dried red chillies in Singapore and decided to recreate it.This is my own version which is a mish mash of a few recipes I found online.



Method

1. Marinate 500 gms of chicken with bones with 2 tsp soya sauce, 3 garlic cloves peeled and grated, 1 tsp red chilli sauce, 1 tsp vinegar, 1 tsp pepper powder 1 tsp honey and salt and keep aside for an hour.
2. Take 2 tsbp olive oil in a pan and heat it. When hot, deep fry 10 dried red chillies and keep aside. In the same oil deep fry 1 inch ginger which is cut into long thin slices and keep aside. Fry handful of peanuts and keep aside
3. In the same oil, sear the chicken in batches along with the marinade till they are almost cooked. 
4. Make a mixture of 1 tsp soya sauce, 1/2 tsp red chilli sauce, pepper, 1/2 tsp honey and 1/2 tsp vinegar or according to your taste, add 1 tsp of cornflour and keep it aside. 
5. Add back the chillies, ginger and peanuts and the above marinade. Mix well and stir fry for 5 more minutes. Garnish with spring onions cut into long thin slices.

Decided to cook some boneless chicken for dinner...thought that I should cook something low fat. Decided to use Dahi for the gravy and came up with this dish. 
Pretty simple dish to cook - The flavors of the dahi, capsicum and kasoori methi go very well in making this a very tasty dish.



Method

1. Take 2 cups of dahi. Mix 2 green chillies slit finely. Add 1 tsp cumin powder, 1 tsp garam masala, 1-2 tsp chilli powder, 1 tsp ginger garlic paste, pinch of haldi, a pinch of kasoori methi and salt.
2. Mix 500 gms of boneless chicken in this marinade and set aside for atleast 30 mins.
3. In a hot pan, add 2 tsp oil. When its hot, add 1 tsp cumin seeds. When they start spluttering, add 2 finely chopped onions. Fry well. Add 2-3 finely chopped garlic cloves.
4. When onion is translucent, add 2 finely chopped tomatoes. 
5. When the tomatoes are soft, add the above marinade with the chicken. 
6. Cover and cook on a slow flame till the chicken is cooked. When chicken is 80% done, add finely cubed capsicum. Cover and cook for a few more minutes.
7. You can adjust the consistency of the gravy according to your taste. You can open the lid and let all gravy cook till its dry if you want less gravy. I added a pinch of sugar to balance the tanginess.
8. Garnish with coriander leaves and kasoori methi and serve with chapatis or rice.

I chanced upon this recipe while browsing for newer Mutton side dishes. "Chukka" means dry gravy in Tamil, and this  apparently is a very famous Chettinad dish. The south indian flavors of curry leaves and the spices gives an added taste to the mutton! A must try for all mutton lovers :)

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Method
1. Cut 500 gms of boneless mutton (lamb)pieces into small 1 inch pieces. Marinate with salt, pinch of turmeric, 1 tsp ginger garlic paste and 1 tsp red chilli powder for atleast 1 hour. 
2. Pressure cook the marinated mutton  for 5-6 whistles along with water to just cover the pieces. Remove from heat and keep aside to cook before opening the pressure cooker. 
3. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan. When the oil is hot, saute 5-6 cloves, 1 inch cinnamon and 1 bay leaf. Add 2 sprigs of curry leaves and saute
4. Now add 1 finely chopped onion and saute. Add 5-6 cloves of finely chopped garlic. When the onion is translucent, add 2 chopped tomatoes and saute it till cooked. Add 1 tsp coriander powder at this point.You can also add a pinch of garam masala at the end to increase the balance towards the spices. 

5. Add boiled mutton along with the water used in cooking, mix well with the masala and cook without the lid till the water evaporates. I kept it a little wet so that it can be eaten with rice as well. 
6.Adjust the salt depending on the taste. 
Serve hot as a side dish with chappatis or rice.

Last week, I had lunch with some colleagues at Rayalseema Ruchulu - one of my favorite Andhra cuisine restaurant. We ordered Chicken curry the Seema style and the gravy was spicy and extremely tasty. Wanted to try the recipe and was searching online yesterday. Surprisingly found out that the restaurant themselves have put up a few recipes online. Cooked this dish and it did not even take me a total of 30 mins of cooking time, chopping included. Highly recommended for everyone who loves South Indian flavours.



Method
1. Marinate 1/2 kg chicken with 1 tsp ginger garlic paste, 1/2 tsp turmeric, salt and 1 tsp chilli powder for atleast an hour before cooking. I added 2 tsp curd to the marinade though this was not part of the recipe.

2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan. When hot, add 1 sprig of curry leaves and fry them till they are crisp. Now add 2 medium onions finely chopped and fry them till they are brown in color.
3. Add marinated chicken pieces and fry until chicken looses its pink colour. Add 1 tsp garam masala powder, 1 tsp red chilli powder and fry the same. You can give the chilli powder a miss if you dont like your gravy too spicy.

4. Add 1 cup water and bring to boil. Cook the chicken pieces for another 15 mins on slow flame with lid covered or till its cooked.  Keep stirring all the while. Adjust the water according to the consistency you want.
5. Adjust the salt if needed. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve

Came across this interesting recipe on a youtube video last Sunday and decided to cook it. This is probably a Hyderabadi dish because the fried onion, curd and mint combination is something I see a lot in Hyderabadi cuisine. I am glad I cooked this dish because not only was it very easy, but also the richness of the dish makes it a very good dish to cook when you have guests over.




Method
1. Take a non stick pan and add 1 tbsp oil. When the oil is hot, add 2 medium sized onion juliennes and saute till brown.
2. When onions are brown, add 2 tsp of ginger garlic paste and saute. Add handful of curry leaves and saute. Add 1 tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp cumin powder, pinch of turmeric, salt and saute till the spices are well cooked. Sprinkle some water if the spices are getting charred.
3. Add 1/2 kg chicken and mix well. Saute for 3-4 mins. Add 1 cup of yogurt to the chicken and mix well.
4. Make a fine paste of 1 cup of coriander, 1/2 cup of mint, 3-4 green chillies and 1 tbsp of grated coconut with little water. Add this to the chicken and mix it well.
5. Add 1 cup of water and cover and cook for 20 mins or till the chicken is well cooked
6. Add cream if you want a richer gravy and a pinch of garam masala before taking it off from the stove

Serve hot with chappatis.

The usual chicken gravy recipe with onion and tomato paste. Very easy to cook, this spicy chicken gravy is ready in less than 45 mins.. You can hardly go wrong with this recipe.

Method

1. Clean and chop about 500 gms of boneless chicken. Add salt and set aside.
2. Roughly chop 3 medium sized onions. Blend in a mixie with about 7-8 pods of garlic and 1 inch ginger till you get a fine paste and keep aside. Blend 2 tomatoes in the same mixie and keep aside
3. Add 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1 inch cinnamon, 5-6 cloves, 2 tsp coriander powder, 2 tsp chilli powder, 1 cardamom and blend in the mixie to a coarse powder. You can add some salt if you need to add some volume to blend.
4. In a pan, add 1 tbsp oil.  Add the coarse masala powder and saute till you can smell the aroma of the spices. Now add the the onion paste and saute till golden brown. Since the onion was blended raw, you need to ensure that you saute for a longer while till the raw smell of onions is gone. 
5. Add the tomato paste and some turmeric and again saute till the tomatoes are cooked. Add additional chilli powder if you want a spicy gravy.
6.  Add chicken and coat it with sauce. Add 2 cups of water and mix well. Now cover with a lid and let the chicken cook for 15-20 mins on a slow flame. Keep stirring in between and cook till chicken is tender.
7. Adjust the salt. Add 1 tsp of garam masala powder. Garnish with coriander leaves. Squeeze some lemon juice on the gravy and serve with rotis.

I had seen this episode of Chak Le India - Kachcha Raasta long back and had noted down the recipe. I like Aditya Bal's style of cooking where I see him char the aromatics regularly. This reduces cooking time and also gives a good consistency to the gravy.
Wanted to cook something quickly today and hence decided to try this recipe. The dish was amazingly tasty and ready in less than a hours time. 




Method
1. Take 250 gms of chicken, clean and keep aside. I used boneless chicken but you can use one with bones too. Marinate the chicken with 1 tsp turmeric powder, 1 tsp oil and salt and keep aside
2. Char the aromatics a la Aditya Bal - 2 medium sized onions cut into cubes, 5-6 garlic pods, 1 inch ginger, 2-3 green chillies and 1 bunch of chopped coriander leaves and stalks. Saute this well till the onions are slightly browned and the raw taste of the aromatics is gone. Keep aside
3. Now dry roast the 7-8  cloves, 2-3 cardamom pods, 7-8  black peppercorns, 1 tsp coriander seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds and 1 inch of cinnamon for 2 mins. 

4. Grind the dry roasted spices to a nice powder. Add the charred aromatics and again grind to a fine paste. Aditya Bal generally uses a mortar and pestle to grind the spices, but I used the mixer grinder to save on time. Add the paste to the marinated chicken. Add 3 tbsp curd to the chicken and mix well and keep aside. 

5. Take a pan and add 2 tsp oil. Add 2-3 green cardamoms and saute. Add a handful of raisins and saute again. Now add the marinated chicken and mix well. I added 1 cup of water but you can add water according to your preference. Adjust the salt.

6. Cover, simmer and cook for 20 mins. 

I am a fan of spinach and hence decided to make Mutton with spinach today. Most of the recipes of Saagwaala Mutton and other spinach mutton use Spinach Puree but I thought of adding finely chopped spinach instead. The dish was absolutely tasty! Highly recommended




Method
1. Blend 1 cup coriander leaves, 5-6 cloves of garlic, 1 inch ginger, handful of mint leaves and 2 green chillies in a mixer. Add salt and marinate 1/2 kg mutton for at least an hour before cooking.
2. Take 1 tsp ghee and 1 tsp oil in a pressure cooker. When hot, add 1 bay leaf, 3-4 cloves, 1 inch cinammon, 1 cardamom, 1 tsp cumin seeds and saute till the cumin splutters. Add 1 big onion finely chopped and saute till pink.
3. Add 2 medium tomatoes finely chopped and saute till mushy. Add the mutton and saute for some time till the raw taste of ginger garlic goes away. Now add 2 cups of water to the pressure cooker, close the lid, add the weight and cook for 4-5 whistles.
4. Remove the lid when the pressure is off and add 2 cups of finely chopped spinach and 1 tsp kasoori methi and cook till the spinach is well cooked.

Serve hot with chappatis. You can add more water in case you need a gravy to go with rice.

What I love the most about cooking is that it lets you be creative in your day to day life. You experiment with your spices and you sometimes have a totally new taste. Last week I cooked this mutton curry with no particular recipe in my mind - just mixed spices that I love and created this dish :)





Method


1.Heat 2 tsp oil and 1 tsp ghee  in a pressure cooker. Add 1 large onion finely chopped and saute till its brown. Add 1 inch ginger, 7-8 pods of garlic, 1 inch cinnamon, 5-6 black pepper, 2-3 cloves, 2 elaichi, 1 tsp coriander seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds and saute for 2 mins. Grind the whole mixture in grinder to a coarse paste.
2. Again add 1 tsp oil in the same pan and add 1 bay leaf. Add the above mixture and saute for 2 mins. Add 2 small tomatoes finely chopped and cook it till tomatoes soften. Add 500 gms of mutton, 1 tsp garam masala,  1 tsp red chilli powder (or more according to your taste) , water and pressure cook for a good 5-6 whistles. I added some fresh mint leaves for added taste.
3. Open the pressure cooker after the steam is out and adjust the salt. Add the juice of half a lemon and garnish with coriander leaves. 


This curry tastes awesome with both rice and chapatis.

This is originally a Pakistani recipe. I like the tomato flavor in this dish which makes it different from other chicken dishes. In restaurants, they usually also add capsicum, but  I gave it a miss as I am not a big fan of capsicums :)

Method

1. Marinate 500 gms of boneless chicken with turmeric, chilli powder and salt.
2. Heat 2 tbsp  oil pan. Add 1 large sized grated onion and saute for a minute. Add 5 cloves of garlic, and saute till onion is brown in colour. 
3. Add the chicken and saute well for at least 5 mins.
4. Now pour 3 medium sized grated tomatoes and saute well. Now cover and cook for 20 mins.
5. Remove the lid  and Add 1 tbsp cumin powder, 1 tbsp coriander powder and saute.
6. Now cook for another 10 mins till all the excess liquid evaporates. 
7. Sprinkle 1tbsp ginger juliennes and finely chopped coriander and serve

A simple and yummy recipe which my grandmother taught me. My granny who is 78 loves to cook anything new (and of course within the cuisine that suits her) that she reads or sees on TV.  Whenever we call her, she always has some or the other new recipe to tell us about. She likes to share new recipes which she tried out and liked. I hope I am able to be half as enthu as her when I am old :) So this is one such tried and tested recipe that she had read in a newspaper.


Method
1. Clean and de-vein the prawns. Keep the tail on - it gives a crunchier taste to the dish.
2. Marinate the prawns with red chilli powder, salt, turmeric, ginger garlic paste for at least half an hour
3. Add one egg white to the marinated prawns.
4. Heat refined oil for deep frying. Roll the prawns in cornflour and deep fry on medium flame till crispy brown. Drain on absorbent paper.



P.S. I was so hungry that I forgot to take pics after frying these. We started our lunch and then when a few were remaining, it struck me that I should take a pic..thats why this pic with a so few prawns...will replace the pic next time I cook this again!!

This is a recipe shared by a cousin of mine. I like the fresh taste of mint and lemon in this dish.This dish does not require a lot of oil as the chicken is cooked in steam and hence is healthier than other deep fried starters.




Method
1. Marinate 500 gms of chicken with 1 lemon juice, salt, pinch of turmeric, 2 tsp chilli powder, 1 tsp Cumin powder, 1 tsp coriander powder for at least an hour. The more you marinate the better. I also add 2 tbsp of curd to the marination.
2. Take 2 tsp oil in a non stick pan. Add 2 chopped green chillies, 10 cloves of garlic chopped finely and 1 inch of ginger chopped finely and saute.


3. Add 2 medium size onions cut into cubes and saute for a minute
4. Add the marinated chicken and saute. Sprinkle some water. Cover it and let it cook in the steam on a low flame till almost done. 
5. Grind 1/2 cup mint with 1/2 cup of coriander leaves to a coarse paste


6. Add it to the chicken once chicken is 80-90% cooked. Add 2 tsp garam masala powder and saute for 5 mins. Sprinkle some crushed  Kasoori Methi
7. Adjust the salt, squeeze 1 lemon juice and serve hot as a starter or a side dish with the main course.