Monday, November 26, 2012

Kadhi with Urdachi Vadi


This kadhi is made at my in laws place.. but I loved it the first time I tasted.. Its the same Kadhi like we make, except instead of putting pakoras, we put Wadi made of Urad dals..

Ingredients

- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- two sticks of curry leaves
- 1 inch ginger
- 4 -5 cloves of garlic(medium size)
- 5-6 green chillies (big size)
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 400 gms Curd
- 3-4 tsp gram flour (besan)
- one bowl Urad dal (soaked for one hour)
- few strands of Coriander leaves
- Salt
- pinch of hing

Method

For Making Wadis: Wash Urad dal for 3 times and soak it in enough water for around one hour. After an hour, drain the dal and grind it(adding very little water) till it becomes coarse. Then add 1/2 tsp cumin seeds and few curry leaves(snip it with kitchen scissor) and grind again in a fine paste. If you find it difficult to grind, you can add few tsp of water and then grind. Remove the paste in a vessel and add salt, pinch of hing and pinch of turmeric powder and mix well.

Heat a frying pan with 2 tbsp oil and shallow fry the wadi by putting the batter using teaspoon in a small balls. Fry it both the sides till it turns brown and transfer them in a plate with kitchen paper..Keep aside

For Making Kadhi: Take all the curd in a big bowl and whisk it till it turns creamy. Add gram flour and beat again till there are no lumps left. Add enough water and whisk till water gets incorporated (more like buttermilk consistency) and keep aside.

Make fine paste of ginger, garlic and green chillies.

Take a heavy bottomed vessel and heat two tsp of oil. Add remaining cumin seeds and let it crackle. Add curry leaves and ginger,garlic and green chillies paste and let it fry for few seconds. Lower the flame and add the curd mixture and keep stirring. Add turmeric powder and salt and keep stirring till it comes to a boil ( its important to continuous stir till it boils on slow flame, so that it doesnt curdle).. Adjust the seasoning and simmer for few minutes till you dont taste the rawness of gram flour. Add chopped coriander leaves and the wadis and close the flame and cover the lid.

it can be served with rice or even with chapathis..


Enjoy!!!
 

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Mangalorean Chicken Curry

I learned most of my non veg cooking from my mother-in-law, and this recipe is one of them. This is one of the simplest recipe and yet very delicious.. I usually prefer this recipe when we have more number of guests..
October was the month of Rosary and the whole month we had prayers and dinner at our every community member's place, taking turns. It was fun.. When our turn came, we knew that the decoration part was to be done by my sweet hubby and son and the cooking part to be done by me...As you can see they did such a pretty job..

 
 
Well, as far as my part was concerned, I didnt wanted to stress too much, and so I decided on some simple stuff..
 
  - Chicken Curry( everybody feels good when thrs non veg as we all are pure non vegetarian)
  - Pav ( readymade from Bakery)
  - Cucumber Salad ( very simple - chopped onions, cucumbers, fresh coriander leaves, little hung curd, salt and pepper, little lemon juice.. thats it)
  - Some sweets ( Store brought Haldiram's Rasgullas)
 
I know you guys must be thinking, half of the stuffs are store brought, .. But hye.. there were 20 guests and it was the first time I was cooking for so many people... Neways at the end it was good, we felt so good... 
 
So here is the recipe for our Mangalorean Chicken Curry..(the chapathis were for my hubby as he prefers chapathis)

 
Ingredients
 
- 1 kilo chicken with bones(cleaned, washed and cut in medium size)
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
- 3/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 5-6 cloves of garlic
- 1 inch ginger
- 3 big onion sliced
- 1/2 fresh coconut grated
- 5-6 Dry red chillies( assortment of Bedki and Kashmiri)
- few curry leaves
- 1/2 tsp raw rice
- Tamarind paste of small lemon size tamarind
 
Method
 
Crush all the ginger and 4 garlic together. Marinate the chicken with turmeric powder and crushed ginger and garlic overnight or for few hours.
 
Dry roast coriander seeds, cumin seeds and mustard seeds and raw rice and keep aside. Heat little oil(around 1/2 tsp) in a pan and roast remaining garlic(sliced) and one onion (sliced) till it turns a little brown and keep aside. In the same pan, add curry leaves and dry roast till it becomes little crisp(dont burn) and keep it with roasted onion and garlic. At the end in the same pan add the dry red chillies and roast till it becomes crisp from both side(again make sure dont burn)... and let all the ingredients cool a little.
 
In a grinder or mixer add roasted coriander seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, raw rice, red chillies, and coconut(not roasted) and grind it till its fine paste by adding little water now and then as required.. At the end add roasted onions, garlic and curry leaves and grind it again till all the ingredients are very fine and smooth..
 
Heat a big heavy bottomed vessel with 2-5 tsp oil. Add 2 sliced onions and fry till light brown. Now add the marinated chicken and fry it for few minutes till it becomes little brown as this process will seal all their juices in it. Once done add tamarind paste and salt and mix well. Let it boil and then lower the flame to slow, close the lid and cook till its just cooked( around 15-20 minutes). Make sure thers is liquid in the chicken while cooking, if you find it dry add some water. Once its cooked , add the prepared red paste and mix well.. Add more water depending on the consisitency you require( if making for chapathis, keep it thick, for rice little less thick, but dont make too watery, it will loose its taste). Let it boil and simmer for few minutes till you see the oil coming on top. Adust the seasoning. Close the flame and let it sit for some time before serving.. This will ensure all the flavours are diluted nicely in the curry.. Somehow I find the same curry taste much better in the evening than in afternoon..
 
This can be served with rice, chapathis or Bread.. or even used as Kori Rotti..