Chettinad Pepper Chicken

Generally my chicken dishes don’t turn out to taste very good but that has never kept me from trying new recipes. Yesterday I tried a different variation in chicken cooking and to my pleasant surprise came out very well. So I wanted to share the recipe. This time around, I was able to take a picture of my dish.

Ingredients:

Chicken: 1.5 lbs (get wings or drumsticks) Cleaned and cut into pieces

Whole garam masala (Cinnamon sticks: 5 inches, cloves: 4, Cardamom:2)

Mustard seeds: 1 tsp

Fennel seeds: 2 tsp

Onion (big): 1 finely chopped

Tomatoes: 2  finely chopped

Ginger Garlic paste: 3 tbsp (freshly ground paste gives the best taste)

Green chillies: 3 finely chopped

Ginger: 2 tsp (finely diced)

Curry leaves: 1 bunch

Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp

Chilli Powder: 2 tsp

Coriander Powder: 3 tsp

Cumin Powder: 1 tsp

Black Pepper corns: 3 tsp (coarsely crushed)

Salt to taste

Oil: 3 tbsp

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds. Add fennel seeds and let them splutter. Add finely chopped onions and sauté till they become golden brown. Make sure they turn golden brown only then they will become into a silky gravy upon cooking.

2. Add turmeric powder and Ginger Garlic paste and sauté till the raw smell goes off. Then add 1 tsp of diced ginger, curry leaves and chopped green chillies.

3. Add tomatoes and sauté on medium flame until they are thoroughly mashed and oil oozes out of the gravy. Cook for another minute or two, then add the chilli powder, coriander powder and cumin powder. Mix well and cook till the raw smell disappears.

4. Add chicken pieces. DO NOT add water. Chicken will ooze out water and the chicken has to cook in that. Cover and cook on medium flame for 10 minutes stirring occasionally so that the bottom doesn’t burn.

5. Check if chicken is cooked well, else add 1/4 cup of boiling water and cover and cook for another 5 minutes. Add enough boiling water to make the gravy to desired consistency and allow to boil for about 3 minutes.

6. Add the rest of diced ginger and crushed pepper corns and cook for about 1 minute. Switch the flame off and cover and let it sit for about 5 minutes.

This dish goes well with all Indian Rotis and Rice.

Do try the recipe and tell me how it came out!

The best home remedy for cold : Chukku Kashayam (Dry Ginger Potion)

As promised, I write this post to share one of the best remedies for cold.

Ingredients:

Chukku (Dried Ginger) – about 5 inch long piece

Black pepper – 10 to 15 (crushed fine)

Cumin and Coriander seeds – 1 tsp each crushed fine (optional)

Karupatti (Palm Jaggery) powdered – 1 cup

Tulsi (holy Basil) leaves – 1 bunch

Water – 5 cups

Coffee powder – 1/2 tsp (optional)

Method:

Crush the chukku in a mortar and pestle  till it almost gets powdered (If you get really good dried ginger, it’ll become powder with relatively lesser crushing – ask for ‘maavu chukku’). Dissolve the karupatti in water in a thick bottomed vessel, to this add the powdered chukku, crushed black pepper, coriander and cumin seeds and the tulsi leaves. Allow this mixture to come to a boil. If desired, 1/2 tsp of coffee powder can be added now for the flavor. Allow this to boil on a medium flame for about 10 minutes. Let it sit for about 5 minutes to sediment. Pour out the clear liquid and drink.

This is a sure shot home remedy for common cold. This mixture would be spicy(hot) and if you have a moderate cold, you can use a little less of the chukku and black peppercorns.

Cold or not, this drink is quite refreshing and can be taken everyday!!!

Do try it sometime and let me know if it helped. Have other home remedies for cold? do write them in comments!

Recipe Time

Today I made Parupu kolambu- one of the default curries in all marriage menu in kanyakumari district. There are several parupu recipies that I have come accross in the net, but have not seen the authentic KK dist.Parupu kolambu recipe anywhere - So here goes the recipe:
Ingredients:
Toor Dal - 1 Cup
Small Onions - 3-4
Garlic pods - 3-4
Salt - as per taste
To Grind:
Grated Coconut -abt 1/2 cup (can be more based on the amount of curry needed)
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1tsp
Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder - 1/4 tsp
For Tempering:
Oil- 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Urud wash - 1tsp
Cumin seeds - 1tsp
Curry leaves - 1 bunch
Red chillies - 2 (broken into halves)
Asofetida -1/2 tsp

Method:
Pressure Cook Toordal along with the small onions and the garlic pods.
Grind the 'to Grind' ingredients to a fine paste.
In a deep bottomed vessel, add 2 tsp oil and temper with the tempering ingredients.
Make sure that the asofetida is added to oil to remove the raw smell. If you have the kootu perungayam (not the powder one) - add it to the toor dal while pressure cooking it.
Now add the finely ground paste and add water as needed. Add salt at this stage.
When the mixture boils, add the pressure cooked dal to the mixture.
Add water to get the consistency of preference. Allow to boil for about 5 mins.

This is a very tasty curry that can be prepared within a short duration. Serve hot with plain rice and Ghee. You can relish it with carrot turuval or vendakai varuval. Appalam is my best combination for this curry