Gongura Chicken - Chicken cooked in sorrel leaves!

There is always this quandry, particularly if you like to take food pictures between what looks good and tastes good...

Now in winter, I am doing what most people who conserved during summer do - I am reclaiming my refridgerator! Lots of frozen herbs, frozen chopped tomatoes, frozen tomato paste and such. The tomatoes are an interesting story, we probably had beginers luck this year, but Anshul had to do a lot of work to make sure we did not waste this years bounty! So the debate of the year (well, we still have 6 months to resolve this, is whether to plant fewer plants this year!). So among everything were these sorrel leaves called Gogura leaves - lovely bold lemony leaves. I guess I had picked them up and frozen some.

This is what I made, a nicely spiced chicken recipe that we enjoyed over saffron rice.

Gongura Chicken - Spicy Chicken in sorrel leaves

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 cornish hen, skinned and jointed (1.5 lbs)

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon red chili powder

3-4 tablespoons oil

1 onion, very thinly sliced

1-2 cloved garlic, chopped

2-3 pods cardamom

1 stick cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cumin powder

1/2 teaspoon coriander powder

2 tomatoes, chopped

1 cup chopped gongura or sorrell leaves

Chopped cilantro leaves to garnish

Method of Preparation

1. Rub the chicken with the salt, turmeric and chili powder and set aside.

2. Heat the oil and add the onion and cook for about 5-7 minutes, the onions, wilt soften and then turn golden brown.

3. Add the chicken, cardamom, cinnamon, cumin and coriander powder and cook stirring occasionally for 5-7 minutes.

4. Add the tomatoes and cook for another 10 minutes, until the chicken is fairly soft.

5. Add in the gongura leaves, cover and cook on low for 10 minutes, until the chicken is soft and dry and covered with cooked gongura leaves.

6. Serve with rice or chapatis!

Green Tomato Chicken

I don't know if like us you have a plethora of green and semi ripe tomatoes, but we have had loads and loads of these semi-ripe orange and crisp hard green gems. I have been playing around with the green ones like there is no tomorrow.

Surely, I thought there is more one can do with green tomatoes than jam and fried green tomatoes. I did make both, I have to confess I was not super thrilled about my results with the fried version.

Well, this chicken was really nice... Spicy, tangy and just perfect for a cool, crisp fall day!

So, here is how I did it.

Green Tomato Chicken

Prep Time: 1 hour (mostly marinating)

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

For the marinade

2 lbs chicken on the bone, skinned and cut into pieces (I used 2 cornish hens)

1 teaspoon red chili pepper

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 lemon, sliced

For the gravy

3-4 pods garlic

2 green tomatoes

1 firm red tomato

1 -inch piece ginger

2 green chilies

3 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 onion, thinly sliced

8-10 curry leaves

2-3 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Method of Preparation

1. Place the chicken in a large container. Rub evenly with the dry spices, squeeze the lemon juice and set aside for an hour.

2. Heat the oil and add the cumin and mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds begin to pop, add in the onion and saute for 2-3 minutes.

2. Grind the tomatoes, garlic, ginger and chillies to a paste.

3. Add in the tomato mixture and the chicken and now continue cooking this on medium heat for a good 20 minutes. The spices meld and soften, the tomatoes become a nice thick gravy with shards of carmelized onions.

4. Add in the curry leaves and cook for 5-6 minutes.

5. Stir in the cilantro and serve and enjoy as appropriate.

Potatoes with Swiss Chard

What a crazy week, we have been so glued to the TV watching in delighted disbelief the great american ritual called the presidential election! Shall talk about that more later, want to commence the weekend with a simple comforting recipe that I had cooked a couple of weeks back in class.

I refined this somewhat and made this for our meal with these very crisp and satisfying rawa tomatoe dosa. Nothing like comfort food for our couch potato instincts.

Potatoes with Swiss Chard

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp asafetida
2 cloves minced garlic
4 potatoes peeled and cut into eights
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
2 tomatoes chopped
2 cups swiss chard finely chopped
1 tsp garam masala powder

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the oil and add the cumin, asafetida and garlic.
2. Saute for about 2-3 minutes and add the potatoes and cook on medium low heat stirring frequently, till the potatoes begin to turn golden brown.
3. Add the turmeric, salt and tomatoes and cook for 3-4 minutes.
4. Stir in the chard and cover and cook on low for 5 minutes.
5. Remove the cover and stir well, the vegetables should be soft uniformly mixed.
6. Stir in the garam masala.

Rawa-Ragi Tomato Dosas

Makes 15 mid-sized dosas

Ingredients

1/2 cup rawa
1/4 cup rice flour
1/4 cup ragi flour
1 tsp salt
2 cups buttermilk
8-10 curry leaves
3 tomatoes processed in the food processor
4 tbsp chopped cilantro
2-3 green chillies, finely chopped
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 onion finely chopped
Oil for frying the dosas

Method of preparation

1. Mix the flours, salt, buttermilk, curry leaves, tomatoes, cilantro, green chillies, cumin and onion into a thick batter and set aside for at least 2 hours.
2. Stir well and add additional water to thin the dough into a pouring thin pancake consistency.
3. Heat a tawa or griddle and pour about 1.5 ladlefuls of the batter and spread out, the batter should bubble and spread with some small holes (sort of lacy consistency),
4. Pour a little oil around the dosa and cook on low for about 6-7 minutes.
5. Remove carefully and turn. This should be crisp and brown.
6. Cook lightly on the other side and serve hot.

Sabudana Dosa with Sambhar

It is probably an extremely rare, make that practically never day, when I think of trying to do any prepping prior to leaving for work. Well, my dear Aadi, has just been asked to get of the bottle all of 2-months back. My life has not been the same since then, I spend about 30 minutes every morning wrestling with him to drink from these silly colorful cups that I have bought him. Well, since I am pretty much stuck in the kitchen, a couple of day back, I was fussing around. I had some extra tapioca and my friend Vasu informed me this could be used for dosa.
I did not exactly remember a recipe, but this is broadly what I did.

For the dosas

I soaked

1/2 cup tapioca
1/2 cup chire (rice flakes)
1/2 cup rice flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup yogurt
1 cup water

I mixed the above ingredients and left for work, I came back and found a pretty thick concoccotion. I ground this with some more water in the blender.

Then I mixed in some chopped onion, sweet potatoes, cilantro and the half granny smith apple that I had in the fridge with half the batter. I heated the tawa, added oil and spread the batter, it took a good 12 minutes and then I turned and cooked briefly, the result was a nice and really crisp dosa. The kids loved this.

Once, they were done I made some sambhar using frozen sambhar vegetables. This was a pre-mixed pack that I bought from our Indian store, I have to confess I was pleasantly surprised by the quality.

In the remainder of the batter, I added some finely chopped chillies for us. A nice fun meal!

Coconut-Cashew Mixed vegetables or fruit of the refrigerator

Coconut-Cashew Mixed vegetables
Originally uploaded by brinku11

I cannot even believe this is something I am writing about, but there you have it, sometime the strangest of things thrown together work just fine. This was last friday, I was trying to make something to complement the fish, I had one zucchini, a quarter head of cauliflower, 1-2 carrots and a few pods of okra. This is how I through them together.

Cashew Coconut Vegetables

Serves 4 people

Ingredients

2 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
8 -10 curry leaves
1 tsp urad dal
1 tsp channa dal
1-2 dried red chillies
1 tsp crushed peppercorns
1 small onion thinly sliced
1 tsp salt
1.5 cups mixed vegetables (I used the ones mentioned above)
2 tbsp coconut powder
2 tbsp broken cashews

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the oil and add the cumin and mustard seeds.
2. When they crackle, add the curry leaves and the lentils and cook for 1 minute.
3. Add the chillies, peppercorns and the onion and cook for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add the vegetables, mix well and cover and cook on low heat for 5 minutes.
5. In the meantime dry roast the coconut and cashews till aromatic and add this to the vegetables.
6. Check for seasonings and serve with any other accompanyments of your choice.

While there are lots of interesting flavors in this dish, the ingredient I would like to highlight is curry leaves, these are incredible flavorful and used extensively in north and south indian cuisine. The freeze wonderfully and adds elegance and flavor to anything it is added to.

This goes out to WHB, being hosted by Ann at Food Lovers Journey.

Shrikhand and Chicken for Jane

Photo Source - Wiki

Asking me to make Indian food, is nothing out of the way. It happens all the time, I am more than happy to indulge. Jane is my new boss's wife, who has never visited India but loves India in a deep, to the roots wonderful kind of way. She senses the deep simplicity of India, unfortunately, however there are so many layers and versions to India. I understand and feel the warmth she percieves from India, but, have to temper this my telling her the India that features on the business week covers every week, well close enough is different.

Well, we asked them to join us at our house a couple of weekends back and among other things, I made an interestingly simple coconut chicken recipe and mango Shrikhand. The Shrikhand, was made from fresh mangoes, something that you can get pretty good ones this time of the year at our local Indian store.

By the way, one of the good things about making curry on a weeknight dinner, is that this can actually be made ahead of time, and the flavors actually improve.

Chicken Curry with Coconut and Curry Leaves

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

1/3 cup oil
A few cloves, cardamom, cinnamon
1 tsp turmeric
2-3 green chillies
1 onion finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh ginger, finely grated
1 whole chicken, skinned and cut into small pieces
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp freshly ground pepper
1 tbsp cumin-coriander powder
1 can coconut milk
1 sprig of curry leaves
2 tbsp finely chopped cilantro

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the oil and add the whole spices, onion and ginger.

2. Saute this briefly and add the chicken, salt, pepper, cumin-coriander.

3. Cook on high heat, stirring frequently, until the chicken is well browned and the oil begins to surface.

4. Add the coconut milk, curry leaves and 1 cup water and simmer for 20 minutes.

5. Garnish with cilantro and serve with rice.

Now, for an exceedingly simple, delicate dessert from Gujarat.

Shrikhand

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 carton whole milk yogurt

3-4 fresh mangoes

1/3 cup powdered almonds

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp crushed cardamoms

Method of Preparation

1. Hang the yougurt for 6-8 hours to drain the water, this should be a nice solid cheese-like mass.

2. In the meantime, peel and puree the mangoes.

3. Mix with all the ingredients and chill and serve.

Punida-Lemon Rasam and a meme

Well without the camera I have lost a little blogging momentum. This week I did make something interesting. That and then I was tagged by Sharmi, for a meme. So I figured, let me just write without having to worry about the uploading, downloading getting the picture just right...

What I made earlier in the week was Rasam, and, on a whim I added some dried mint leaves to it. The results were pretty amazing. The delicately tart and spicy broth tingled on the tongue and was balanced perfectly by the gentle freshness of the mint leaves.

Now for my random throughts,

1. Living in the East Coast I love Fall. I thing I live 10 months of the year to experice the burst of colors and crisp clean air. I am probably one of the few people who feel happy when summer is leaving.

2. My children want to make me be a better person everyday. That among many other ways is how they have enriched my life. I want to eat better, do better deeds on a daily basis. So, I thank you Aadi and Deepta for helping me strive everyday.

3. Only when you have your own children do you really understand how much your parents did for you. Especially the early years, they mean so much, needs so much and they still continue to give every day of our lives.

4. My one regret is that I am so far away from my parents. I wish I could be closer and do more for them.

5. I love cooking, it helps me feel happy on both good days and bad. Especially on bad days, the calming experience of chopping, mixing and putting everything together makes a big difference in my spirits when I am done.

6. As a mother, it is very difficult to find time for oneself. However, simple things like even doing groceries peacefully (yes, this is what I do every Saturday morning, while my husband feeds the kids breakfast can make a difference).

7. I think overall, I have been lucky with my share in life.

Well, thanks Sharmi for making me thing. I must be so self-obsessed since all my random thoughts are about myself.

Andhra Shrimp Curry

I think we all like noovelty in our life, so my North Indian husband who loves spices (since this is what he has grown up with) expresses his independence by insisting how much he loves South Indian and (yes after marriage) - bengali food. I cook general South Indian food reasonably well, but have never tried my hand with fish and seafood recipes.

Well I figured the RCI event which features diverse Indian cuisines, this month featuring Andhra recipes, hosted by Latha.

Well, I adapted this recipe from something a friend of mine from Andhra makes. I think it is close, but since I am doing this recipe by instinct, it may not be perfect

Andhra Shrimp Curry

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

Grind to a paste

1 large onion

4 cloves garlic

1 piece ginger

4 green chillies

3 red chillies

3 tbsp coconut powder

Grind to a powder

2 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

2 sticks cinnamon

2 cardamoms

2-3 cloves

1 tsp turmeric

1 lb shrimp

1 tsp salt

1 lime

3 tbsp oil

1 small onion chopped

For garnish

A few curry leaves

1 tsp chopped cilantro

Method of preparation

1. Coat the shrimp with the lime and vinegar and set aside

2. Heat the oil and add the chopped onion and saute well.

3. Add in the ground paste and powdered spices and cook stirring frequently for 15-20 minutes until it is well browned and the oil separates.

4. Add in the shrimp with 1 cup of water, bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.

5. Check the salt and serve hot with rice.

Thinking Winter

I have to tell you this season is one of those mixed blessing seasons, I do not like to deal with ice, although we have been lucky thus far in New York, around February the bare trees start bothering me, but, I do like drinking good hot tea especially in winter, love soups, love all warm flavors, and along with my tea I like snacking. I was thinking of these amazing snacklets that someone I worked with called Nivedita had once made for a potluck. She has currently formed an organization called RagaChitra, where she teaches children BharatNatyam and Indian classical music.
Anyhow, I googled for Masala Vada and eventually landed on Lakshmi's blog and found this recipe for Pappu Chekkalu.


I at once decided to try it, made some very tiny tweaks, some for convieniece and some for fun and now since I am sending these with Anshul for a snack tomorrow, I also have a happy man at home. This is the recipe as I did it. I actually tried half the recipe from Lakshmi's blog and used the moong dal that she had suggested, but I used the whole variety since that was all I had.




Pappu Chekkalu - Mixed grain crisps

Makes 10

Ingredients

1/2 cup whole moong dal soaked in 1 cup water
1.5 tsp garlic paste
1 cup rice flour
1/4 cup besan
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1.5 tsp ajwain
1 tsp dried methi
1.5 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1 red cherry pepper
1.5 cups oil for frying


Method of Preparation


1. Grind the dal with the garlic and mix in the remaining ingredients except the pepper. I did this in the food processor.
2. Thinly slice the cherry pepper, (yes, I discovered these in the market for the first time, they are really too spicy for me, but I am using them in tiny doses wherever I can). Mix into the dough.
3. Shape these into small balls and flatten between parchment paper, as shown above. I think this is a really neat tip, I would not have thought of it.
4. Heat the oil and fry in medium heat till golden brown.

Chettinaad Chicken

This recipe with its generous doses of black pepper is certainly one for the spice lovers. In the good old days my husband loved spicy food, ever since our little ones have taken over my cooking regime there is not that much space left for fiery spices. Anyhow, I cooked this today and hope writing this up will in some very small measure help the little ones who do not have enough to eat.

Chettinaad Chicken

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 small cornish hen skinned and cut into pieces (1.5 lbs)

1 tsp turmeric

2 tsp salt

1 lime

6 pods garlic minced

2.5 tbsp whole blackpeppercorns

3 tbsp oil

2 onions chopped

1 tbsp ginger grated

4-6 green cardamoms

3-4 cloves

1 tbsp cumin-coriander powder

3/4 tsp red chilli powder

2 tomatoes chopped

10 curry leaves

2 tsp chopped cilantro

Method of preparation

1. Marinate the chicken in the salt, lime juice, turmeric and garlic.

2. Coarsely crush all but 1tsp of the peppercorns and add to the mixture.

3. Heat the oil and add the onions and ginger and cook for 7-10 minutes.

4. Add in the chicken with cardamoms, cloves, cumin-coriander and chilli powder.

5. Mix well and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

6. Add in the tomatoes and curry leaves and cook till the tomatoes are soft.

7. Add one cup water and simmer for 20 minutes. The chicken should be soft and the mixture fairly dry.

If you want more gravy you can add upto one more cup water.

8. Remove from heat, garnish with cilantro and serve.

Sweet and Spicy Apple Buttnernut Rasam

This soup like many other creations in my kitchen started as a dish for my little ones, however after tasting this, I felt the flavors had potential to do more that provide good nutrition, they could grow up. A little bit of this and that produced an interesting rasam.

A traditional rasam is plentiful in tomatoes and a fairly thin soup. My variation is thicker than the typical broth but still thin enough to pass muster.

Sweet and Spicy Apple Butternut Rasam

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients

2 granny smith apples

2 cups of butternut squash peeled and cubed

4 tomatoes finely chopped

1/2 cup brocolli slaw (optional)

3 tbsp toor dal (pigeon peas)

2 tsp salt

2 cups vegetable broth

1.5 tbsp rasam masala

1 tbsp ghee

1.5 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/3 cup yogurt

1/4 cup cream

4 tbsp chopped cilantro

2 limes juiced

Method of Preparation

1. Peel the apples and cut into chunks.

2.Place with squash, brocolli slaw, dal, tomatoes, broth, salt and rasam masala, into a pressure cooker and cook for 10 minutes and cool for 5 minutes. Alternately, simmer for 45 minutes on a a low flame till all the ingredients are very soft and pureed.

3. Beat the mixture till smooth with a wisk and add 2 cups of water and check for the salt.

4. Heat the ghee and add the cumin and mustard seed. When the seeds start to crackle add this to the lentil mixture and bring to a boil.

5. Let this simmer for 5 minutes.

6. Remove from the heat.

7. Beat the yogurt and cream together till very smooth and gently stir into the soup.

8. Top with the cilantro and lime juice.

9. Serve in individual bowls either over rice and alone.

Rawa Masala Dosa - Crepes with a potato filling

Rawa Dosa (Semolina and Onion Crepes)

1 Cup Sooji (Semolina or Rawa)
1 Cup rice flour
1/2 cup flour
1 cup yogurt
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp hing (asafateda)
1 onion finely chopped
2-3 green chillies chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
10-15 curry leaves
1/2 cup finely chopped coriander leaves
salt to taste
1 cup oil

1. Mix the first five ingrediants and salt. Mix with enough into a stiff batter and set aside for 1-2 hours.
2 Heat 2 tbs oil, add the mustard seeds. When they splutter, add cumin seeds till they sizzle (this should a be 30-40 seconds), quickly add the curry leaves and hing and pour over the batter.
3. Add about 3 additional cups of water and mix with coriander leaves and onions. Note: the batter should be fairly thin.
4. On a non-stick skillet, add a few drops of oil. Pour one or two ladlefuls of the batter, and allow this to cook slowly. It is good to start for a couple of minutes on high flame and then lower the flame and allow the dosa to cook slowly (about 7-10 minute).
5. Gently remove anf turn and cook on the other side for a couple of minutes. The dosa should be golden brown and crisp in appearance. Serve hot with chutney.