Chicken in Coriander-based gravy

There are endless variations to the same old chicken gravy that we make for rotis or rice. This is one such variation. If I am bored of cooking the same gravy every single time, imagine how bored folks at home are eating it. So I keep browsing for newer ways of making the chicken gravy. I came across a recipe on Maria's blog.

Ingredients: 
Chicken - 500g
Onions - 2 (medium sized), coarsely chopped
Tomato - 2 (medium sized), cut into 4 quadrants
Coriander - 1/2 bunch
Cumin, powdered - 1 tsp
Ginger paste - 1/2 tbsp
Garlic paste - 1/2 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Green chillies - 2
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp

Oil - for frying
Coriander - to garnish

Method:
Wash and clean the chicken pieces well. 

Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed vessel and fry the onions until pink in colour. Add tomatoes and continue frying until the raw smell goes. Add green chillies, and ginger-garlic paste and continue frying. Next add the garam masala, cumin powder and salt and finally the coriander leaves and stalks. 

Leave a few pieces of onions and tomatoes behind, and grind the rest of the fried mix into a coarse paste. 

Now add the chicken pieces to the ground masala paste and the onions, tomatoes kept aside and mix it well, such that the pieces are coated well with masala. 

Once the raw smell goes, add very little water and  close the vessel to cook the chicken until tender. 

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with roti or rice.

Verdict: This gravy has a delectable and wonderful blend of spices and the mild coriander flavour makes it a great accompaniment for rotis or rice. Do try it out sometime.

Grilled Chicken Drumstick

College days! That wonderful days phase, absolutely light-hearted fun with friends, those delicious road-side Chaat and Bajji's, the numerous trips to the ice-cream parlour. Those were great times indeed... How I miss all that fun now... Yes we do eat out a lot more now (read every day lunch at cafeteria), than in those days, but the fun factor is completely missing now. Meal-times are nowadays just barely to survive and energize ourselves, a mundane, drab every day task. But there are certain foods that bring back such loving, fond memories. For me the chicken drumstick is one such dish.

The entire gang from college went to a nice up-class restaurant for a change from the mess food. We ordered some wonderful starters and soup. Some of us were very fond of chicken starters, and we ordered a plate of chicken drumsticks. When the plate arrived, all of us pounced on it and then pulled back with the same urgency. It was so hot that we realized we could not hold it and eat immediately. It was too greasy too.  So a couple of us, reached into the tissue holder, wrapped the drumstick bone with the tissue and started devouring it. A few others who saw us do this, started teasing us "Eh, Peteru... look at that, ivanga kaila saappida maataanga (look at these little missy's they will not use their hands)". That is what we all do in college don't we?

When there was a bag of chicken leg pieces in the fridge and I had just purchased my Samsung Convection oven, I wanted to try out the grill function. That is how this dish came about one Saturday evening and ofcourse it brought back some fond memories from college. I miss you, girls!

Ingredients:
Chicken drumsticks - 10
Masala:
Ginger paste - 1/2 tbsp
Garlic paste - 1/3 tbsp
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Thick Curd  - 2 tbsp 
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt - to taste
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp

Oil - for grill
Method:
Wash and clean the chicken legs. 

Mix all the masala ingredients in a bowl; Drop every  leg piece in the mix and cover it thoroughly with the mixture and place aside. Marinate the chicken pieces for an hour or more at room temperature. If leaving it for longer, refrigerate the marinated chicken pieces. 

Cook the marinade mixture and the chicken pieces without adding any more water. When the chicken is cooked until soft, add a few drops of oil and let the masala mix dry up, coating the chicken leg pieces. 

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Place the pieces on the roasting tray, brush some oil over the pieces and grill for 15 minutes. 

If the chicken is tender enough, you can use the microwave + grill mode for 15 minutes and directly cook the chicken and grill at the same time. You can skip the cooking part above. 

Serve hot with chutney. 

Verdict:

The blend of spices was perfect and the chicken was cooked perfectly. The little one and the elders at home enjoyed this dish.

Chicken in Coconut Gravy

I can never tire of chicken recipes. Like the new "makemytrip.com" ad, where a middle aged man is unable to eat any other meat and looks for chicken in a Chinese city. I love the idea of dishing up a chicken dish anytime for dinner or lunch. It is so much simpler and most methods I pick involve little or no pre-preparation at all.

So what is different about this recipe is that we actually need to use the blender to make some coconut gravy with desiccated coconut.

Ingredients:

1. Chicken - 350 grams (cleaned and skinned)

2. Onions - 2 (medium sized)

3. Tomatoes - 2 (finely chopped)

4. Chilli powder - 1 tsp

    Dhaniya (coriander powder) - 1tsp

   Salt - 1 tsp

   Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp

   Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp

   Saunf powder (fennel) - 1/4 tsp

   Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp

   Ginger paste - 1/2 tbsp

   Garlic paste - 1/2 tbsp

   Curry leaves - 15 to 20

   Mint leaves - 15 to 20

   Coriander stalk - 3 to 5

5. Oil - 1 tbsp

6. Coriander leaves for garnishing

7. Desiccated coconut - 1 1/2 - 2 tbsp

Method:


Grind the ingredients in No. 4 together. 
I always keep powdered ingredients (cumin, pepper, chilli, coriander seeds) but you can use 1 tsp of the seeds to get 1/2 tsp of the powder approximately.

I also always use ginger and garlic paste. Only this time I chopped the garlic instead of grinding it. Very often the stalks of the coriander leaves turn out to be too thick for garnishing. In such cases, I use the leaves and save the stalks to grind with masala gravy.

Slice the onions fine. Heat the oil and fry the chopped onions until they are golden brown; add the masala paste and fry until the raw smell is gone and there is good aroma. Add the chopped tomatoes and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the chicken pieces and ensure that the pieces are covered well with the masala.

Add a cup of water and boil the chicken until soft.

Grind the desiccated coconut into smooth paste with 1/4 cup of water. Add it to the chicken gravy and boil for just a minute. The gravy thickens as it cools and so you can turn off the heat even with the gravy is a little thinner than desired. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with Chapati or Rice.

Verdict: This was loved and devoured by everyone at home. The mild spices in the coconut gravy are and excellent compliment to the delicate  flavour of the chicken and so this dish goes equally well with rice and rotis.

Chicken in yoghurt based gravy

Finding variations in chicken curry is very difficult for me... The reason being, I can't make anything spicy, else my little girl will not be able to eat; I cannot make a chinese gravy as hubby dear does not prefer chinese; Hubby does not like anything tangy either; The quantity of gravy has to be more since we prefer it always with Chapati and so I am left with very limited scope for variation.
So here is one innovation that worked well in my favour:

Chicken - 350 gms

Large onion - 1 (coarsely chopped/sliced)

Tomato - 1 (chopped)

Ginger paste - 1/2 tbsp

Garlic paste - 1/2 tbsp

Chilli powder - 1 tbsp

Salt - to taste

Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp

Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp

Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves - chopped - 10

Coriander leaves for garnishing

Fresh thick curd - 1/4 cup

Oil for frying - 1 tbsp

Powdered cashew and almonds - 1 tbsp

Wash and clean the chicken pieces and keep aside. `Heat the oil and add onions and curry leaves. Saute  for a few minutes and then add tomatoes. Add all the masala ingredients (chilli powder, cumin powder, garam masala, ginger-garlic paste, pepper powder and salt). Saute until the raw smell is gone. Add the chicken pieces and fry for a few minutes, until the oil separates from meat. Add 1/2 cup of water and cook the chicken pieces. Once done, add the curd quickly and mix it. Add the powdered nuts mixed in water and bring to a boil. The gravy thickens as it cools down so turn off the flame just before the      gravy reaches the desired consistency. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rotis.  

Verdict: The yoghurt mellows down the spices and brings out the flavour of the chicken. It was relished well with hot rotis.

Pepper Chicken

Another Chicken gravy... As I mentioned in one of my earlier recipes, bringing in variations to chicken gravy is very challenging for me :). Here is one recipe that uses only pepper powder and has no grinding etc required. It is a really quick recipe provided you have cleaned and cut chicken pieces.

Ingredients:

Chicken - 350 grams

Onion, large - 1

Tomato, large - 1

Pepper powder -  1 1/2 tsp

Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1 pinch

Ginger paste - 1/2 tbsp

Garlic paste - 1/2tsbp

Oil - for frying

Water - 3/4 cup to cook the chicken

Coriander leaves - for garnishing

Method:

Wash and clean the chicken pieces well and keep aside. Coarsely chop the onions and tomatoes. Heat the oil in a cooker and add the chopped onion and tomato pieces. Fry for a few seconds and then add ginger and garlic paste. Fry well until the raw smell is gone. Add the Pepper, cumin and turmeric powder and put in the chicken pieces. Keep frying the chicken pieces until the fat dissolves and raw smell is gone. Add 1/2 cup of water and close the lid. Allow two whistles and turn off the flame. When the cooker cools down, check the consistency of the gravy and add another 1/4 cup of water if needed and bring to a boil. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with Chapati.

Verdict: Well, my daughter relished three pieces of chicken from her dad's plate, that I had to give hubby dear a second serving :).

Butter Chicken

Who wouldn't be tempted by the buttery flavourful chicken gravy that we so often come across at restaurants. Well I always assumed they add a lot of butter to get the gravy thick and creamy, but I was wrong. My microwave recipe booklet has this recipe for butter chicken that uses hung curd. I adapted the recipe from the booklet, except that I used the pressure cooker instead of the microwave.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

Chicken - 350 gms

Hung curd - approximately 300ml

Oil - 1 tbsp

Lemon juice - 1 tbsp

Grind together:

Onion - 1 large

Tomato - 1                                                        

Curry leaves - 10

Ginger paste - 1 tbsp

Garlic paste - 1 tbsp

Chilli powder - 1 tbsp

Salt - to taste

Cumin powder - 1 tsp

How to make hung curd: Take creamy thick curd (I used Amul masti Dahi - 400 ml appox) and filter out the water with a thin muslin cloth. Leave the curd in the cloth to drain out the water for about 20 minutes. Scrape the hung curd from the muslin cloth and store in a bowl.

To make butter chicken:

Wash and clean the chicken pieces and marinate in lemon juice for 15-20 minutes.

Heat the oil in a heavy cooker. Add the ground masala paste and saute till the raw smell is gone and there is good aroma. Add the chicken pieces and fry for a few minutes. Add the hung curds and cook the chicken pieces well. When done, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rotis or rice

Verdict: The flavour is wonderfully buttery (all the milk solids from the curd) and thick. It is a definite hit with both rotis and rice.


 

Chicken cutlet

I love Chicken starters... Anytime at a Chinese or North Indian restaurant, I do not miss the opportunity to try some new chicken starter.

I've been planning to make chicken nuggets for a while now and been buying boneless chicken for the same, but just didn't find the time. So the boneless chicken would be made into some semi solid chicken fry dish :)...

Last weekend dad bought 1/2 Kg of boneless chicken as usual; I decided to make shallow-fried  chicken cutlet this time, in contrast to the deep fried nuggets...

I just tried this intuitively from my experience with vegetable cutlets.
 

Here is the recipe:

For the chicken filling:

Boneless chicken - 500g

Medium sized onions, coarsely chopped - 2

Large Tomato, coarsely chopped - 1

Ginger paste - 1 tbsp

Garlic paste - 1 tbsp

Chilli powder - 1 tbsp

Salt - to taste

Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Water - 1/2 cup

Wash and clean the boneless chicken breast and cut into large pieces. 

Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed cooker. Add the chopped onions and tomatoes and saute well. Add the ginger garlic paste, chilli powder, salt and garam masala and saute until the raw smell is gone and there is nice aroma. Add the chicken pieces and fry for a few minutes. There is very little fat content in chicken breast and hence you will not find oil separating from the meat. Add just enough water to cover the chicken pieces until halfway and close the cooker. Allow two whistles and turn it off. 

Once the pressure is gone, open the cooker and turn on the flame to let all the water dry out. When you get a semi-solid mass, turn off the flame again and let it cool down completely.

Pulse this entire preparation in a blender for 10-20 seconds. It becomes a soft light brownish paste. Make small balls the size of a lemon with this paste and keep aside.

To assemble:

Corn flour or Maida - 3 tbsp

Powdered rusk - 1 cup

Water - 1.5 tbsp

Mix the water and corn flour to make a paste. Take the chicken ball, flatten it and dip it in the maida/corn paste, then roll it over the rusk powder to coat all sides. Shape the cutlet as desired. 

You can shallow fry these cutlets in a girdle with 3 - 4 tbsp of oil. Heat the oil in a girdle and place three or four cutlets. The cutlets can easily break and hence you need to place them atleast an inch apart on the girdle. Wait until one side turns golden brown and then flip over to the other side and let them fry until golden brown. The second picture on top (right) is that of the shallow fried cutlets.

Alternately you can also grill them with the microwave-grill option. This uses very little oil and ensure even browning. Place the cutlets on a grill sheet and apply oil over both sides of the cutlets using a pastry brush. Place the tray on a high rack in the microwave; grill them on the microwave-grill option for 10 minutes. Midway through the grilling time, pause the oven and flip the cutlets. 

Here is a picture of one shallow-fried and one grilled cutlet.Serve with Mint chutney or Tomato Sauce.   Can be had as an evening snack with tea or as a starter. But remember that these are quite heavy and it is difficult to eat more than two at a time. This recipe makes 20 cutlets.         

 Verdict: Well this one was a winner, especially the grilled cutlets, but as I mentioned earlier, obviously we could not finish it between the 5 of us; We had my dad's friend joining us for dinner that night. So we sent some over to my friend who shares the same taste for chicken as I do ;) and put the left overs in the fridge for consumption with tea the next day.

Chicken Curry

I was bored of the usual chicken curry or pepper chicken and I was really finding it difficult to get the right gravy consistency without using besan or cornflour (much to my husband's chagrin; he feels gravy thickened in this manner tastes and looks like chinese gravy) even though the taste always turned out right. So I decided to tweak my usual recipe a little and made a green curry this time. Thanks to Marias chicken recipes for the cashew paste idea; I was sure my husband would have no objections to thickening the gravy with this method.

Ingredients:

1. Chicken - 350 grams (cleaned and skinned)

2. Onions - 2 (medium sized)

3. Tomatoes - 2 (finely chopped)

4. Chilli powder - 1 tsp

    Dhaniya (coriander powder) - 1tsp

   Salt - 1 tsp

   Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp

   Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp

   Saunf powder (fennel) - 1/4 tsp

   Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp

   Ginger paste - 1/2 tbsp

   Garlic paste - 1/2 tbsp

   Curry leaves - 15 to 20

   Mint leaves - 15 to 20

   Coriander stalk - 3 to 5

5. Oil - 1 tbsp

6. Coriander leaves for garnishing

7. Cashew paste.

Method:

Grind the ingredients in No. 4 together. I always keep powdered ingredients (cumin, pepper, chilli, coriander seeds) but you can use 1 tsp of the seeds to get 1/2 tsp of the powder approximately.

I also always use ginger and garlic paste. Very often the stalks of the coriander leaves turn out to be too thick for garnishing. In such cases, I use the leaves and save the stalks to grind with masala gravy.

Slice the onions fine. Heat the oil and fry the chopped onions until they are golden brown; add the masala paste and fry until the raw smell is gone and there is good aroma. Add the chopped tomatoes and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the chicken pieces and ensure that the pieces are covered well with the masala.

Add a cup of water and boil the chicken until soft.

Add the cashew paste and boil for just half a minute. The gravy thickens as it cools and so you can turn off the heat even with the gravy is a little thinner than desired. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with Chapati or Rice.

Verdict: Well, the chicken gravy was not too spicy and brought out the flavour of the chicken pieces very well. We thoroughly enjoyed it with both Rotis and Rice.

If you wish, you could step up the chilli and pepper quantity to make it more spicy.