Chicken curry .... light, soupy and flavourful , perfect for winter meals

Ps : This was made sometime during the monsoons and has been sitting in my drafts all the while. 

I have given the story alongwith that led to the making of this curry. 

The very vegetarian, very Rajasthani husband cooked this beautiful chicken curry for me today. .

I woke up with a stiff back, body ache and painful hands. All that strain and working with water yesterday and sleeping with the a/c on last night has shown fruit. And has immobilised me completely. With the knowledge that it will be very difficult to get to my ortho or my physiotherapist, we decided that I take a break today. So while I stayed put with my heating pad and book, B took over the kitchen. .
.
.
I washed and prepped the chicken and asked him what should I marinate it with.
Drew a blank.
“Vinegar or curd?”.
“Vinegar. But very little.”
“Do you want big pieces or small pieces?”
Blank.
“What are you planning to cook ... a gravy? Or dry?”
“Hmm ... gravy. But dryish.”
“What will you be cooking in? Pressure cooker or kadahi?”
“Pressure cooker.”
So I gave him the pieces marinated with a little vinegar. .

After that I had  no idea how he made it.
But the moment the cooker let out the first whistle, I breathed in deep and knew I was in for a treat.
And a treat it indeed was.
I quickly make some mishti bhaat / basanti polau  for myself and happily put it in the background of the photo because that chicken curry / murgir jhol deserves all the limelight. .

It was light, perfect balance of salt and sugar and nothing overwhelming. Soothing, comforting, beautiful jhol.
Soft succulent pieces.
I realised it would go great with both plain rice as well as rotis.
I haven’t asked him the recipe but have asked him to make it again sometime.
It felt so good to have a homecooked chicken curry that I have not cooked myself.
Things like this makes the lockdown life bearable .

The recipe is ridiculously simple. 
I kept asking what else .... but this  is all ,  he says. 😊

Need : 

Chicken pieces 
Sliced onions

Ginger garlic paste 

Curd

Turmeric powder

Red chilli powder
Crushed black cardamom

Crushed black pepper 

Bay leaves

Salt

Sugar

Lemon juice 

Halved potato

Cooking oil  ( I use mustard oil ) 

How to : 

Mix everything together except the oil. 

Cover and keep aside for at least half an hour. 

Dump everything in a pressure cooker and cook for two whistles on low. 

Adjust gravy consistency with water as per your requirement. 

Serve steaming hot. 

I love to top with with some ghee and some more lemon juice and sip on it when the weather turns cold. 

This pairs beautifully with plain rice, rotis, parathas, mishti bhaat or even plain bread. 

That is what I love about it most .... its versatility. 

Enjoy!! 

Ps : I have been getting too many spam comments and at my wits end. 

If you are here, can you please help me out and tell me if you are able to see the captcha ??
Please share your commenting experience so that I can make the necessary changes. 

Thank you. 

 

Masala Pav and Misal ..... quick cooking meals during the tough days of lockdown

The one thing that this lockdown has taught us, among others, is the value of time. 
As well as 'me time'. 
Which is possible only when we ration our time in the kitchen, while putting a proper balanced meal on our plates .... a huge necessity these days for good health and immunity. 

Life has been overwhelming of sorts these days. Even if we did not have much of house helps all our married lives, except for when I am down ill, it is with time .... and age .... that I am realising the need for one in our lives now. 

All the following of precautions, loads of laundry every time we go out .... which we have kept to the barest of minimum , not getting to buy the produce and things we are used to and having to make do with whatever is available online or at the nearest shop .... the list is endless, has been eating into my time, leaving me with little left to do what I love to. 
Or even to just plain rest.

All through the summer and the monsoons, I had to rack my brains to be able to put a full meal on the table using a limited number of vegetables. We had no options other than the bottle gourd, the okra, eggplants once in a while and potatoes. 

Monsoons, we avoid all leafy vegetables, and so were again confined to the above few and then some more. 

So I turned to legumes. 
Soaked, un soaked, sprouted, ground into a batter, fried dumplings, dosas / pancakes ..... numerous ways to use them. And way more healthy too. 
Sprouted Moong beans are a favourite of mine.
I use  them in salads, in stir fries, in khichadis, .... in almost everything. 

And since we both love Maharashtrian food, the Misal is also a regular at home. 
Usually B makes the misal .... see my insta stories. 
But this time I made it .... albeit using the same masala that he had used ( I had frozen the extra ). 

And paired it with some gorgeous Masala Pav .... the recipe I got from a friend.  The masala is so good ... I have already made it thrice ... and tastes great when paired with bread. Especially a day old bread, crisped up in the oven. 

Since I made a lot of changes to the original recipe ..... purely based on the availabilty of things in my pantry, I am writing down the recipe here. 

Also, although I have been baking a lot of bread and Pao during this lockdown ( again on my insta feed ), I have never got around to posting any here on the blog .... something I am going to correct soon, .... I have used store bought pavs this time. 

The Masala : 

Need : 

Tomatoes  - 3 medium sized 

Onions - 1 medium sized 

Garlic - 10 to 15 cloves 

Green chillies - 5 to 6 

Toasted Peanuts - half a cup 

Ginger - 1" 

Curry leaves 

Red chilli powder 

Turmeric powder

Jeera powder 

Salt - to taste 

Sugar - to taste 
Cooking oil - 2 tbsp 

How to : 

Make a coarse paste of everything except the powders and oil. 

Heat oil. 

Add the paste and cook till all moisture dries up. 

Store in an airtight bottle in the fridge. 

To assemble .... 

Heat butter in a flat pan. 

Slather the pavs with the masala and fry them on the pan till crisp on both sides. 

These are great as is with tea or with some bhaji on the side. 

The Misal : 

Need : 

Mung bean sprouts - 1 cup 

Chopped potatoes - half cup 

Chopped onions - 2 tbsp 

Ginger garlic paste - I used one cube of my homemade ones 

Turmeric powder

Red chilli powder

Cumin / Jeera seeds - 1 pinch 

Salt - to taste 

Cooking oil - 1 tbsp 

How to : 

Heat oil. 

Add the jeera. 
Once it starts to splutter, add the  onions. 

Fry well and then add the ginger garlic paste. 

Add the powder masalas and the chopped potatoes and moong sprouts. 

Mix well and add enough water for a gravy. 

Cover and cook till done. 

Serve hot. 

Ideally it should be served with a topping of chopped onions, green chillies , any farsan or mixture, chopped coriander leaves and a good squeeze of lime juice. 


Like this one that B had made. 😊

He declared that his was better than mine. 
Well .... if one can judge by the looks, what do you think??  😉

Enjoy!! 

Stay home. Stay safe. 

Happy Diwali!

 Wish you a very happy Diwali !

May the Festival of Lights light up your life with much brightness and joy!!

Stay safe. Stay happy. 

❤️

Prawn Masala Fry and Prawn Rice ...... cooking a meal under thirty minutes

Yesterday I made a post on my instagram feed on one of my current knitting projects, as I was getting a lot of messages to share my works in progress. 
And I wrote about how this year has been for all of us. 
And could not help contemplating on it the whole day. 

I realised what I had written was just the tip of the iceberg. Given insta's limited word allowance per post, I am not always satisfied with writing there. Which is why I have almost stopped writing a good post. The hurried feel does not suit me. 

I like to write in a way that the reader gets the essence and the feel of not only the photo but also the setting , the prelude as well as the interlude and conclusion. 

So while I did mention how we all found out some hobby to hold on to for comfort in this difficult year, I felt a there is a lot more to it than what meets the eye. 
Like how we learnt to manage our days and to divide time among work and family and chores in a more balanced way.

How we learnt the real meaning of division of labour. 

And how to make the division of chores interesting .... focussing not only on the jobs getting done but also on  how to give the other person a break too. 

And the most important thing we learnt was how to manage the kitchen in the shortest possible time, how to cook up a nutritious meal for the family without getting exhausted and above all, how to come up with quick cooking ideas with the most basics of ingredients. 
And at the same time ensure that it is tasty to please every palate sitting at the dining table. 

No mean feat I must say. 

For me, it has been a long, difficult year when it comes to eating restaurant kind of food. 

Not that we used to eat out regularly. But I had a surgery last year towards the fag end of August and was on monitored food for almost 6 months. And just as we started to eat out a little .... we must have eaten out for exactly three times .... lockdown happened. 

And now it has been 8 months that I have been craving for some good Chinese food. Or a good Vada Pao. And Phuchka too. 

I have made every one of these at home too. And even more like baking breads, pavs, focaccia , cakes .... and so on. But it requires big work. Lots of effort. And at the end I feel so exhausted that actually enjoying the food becomes an effort too. 

So I have turned to cooking some spicy and masaledar food for myself recently. 

Any change to the tastebuds is welcome now. 

Recently, my fishmonger got me some very fresh and good sized prawns. 

They were so fresh that I wanted to keep the sweet taste with just a smattering of spices. 

And so made this beautiful fry. The coating was of spices and the inside held the juicy, sweet meat that was so good when bitten into. 

For the Masala Prwan Fry : 
 
Need : 

Prawns - 6 to 8 pieces, cleaned and deveined 

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp 
Jeera powder - 1 tsp 

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Lemon juice - 1 tsp 

Rice flour - 2 tbsp 

Salt - to taste 
Oil - to stir fry 

How to : 

Marinate the prawns with the rest of the ingredients except for the oil. 

Keep aside for 15 minutes. 

Heat oil. 

Let in the prawns one by one and fry till done. 

Serve immediately. 

For  the Prawn Rice : 

Need : 

Leftover Rice 
Whole garam masalas 
Chopped green chillies 
Salt to taste 

How to : 

In the same oil that the prawns have been fried, add the garam masalas
and the green chillies. 

Let in the rice and toss well. 

Add salt and adjust the rest of the seasonings. 

Remove and serve hot. 

Enjoy!! 


Here is my link to the post on Instagram where the write up is even better. 
I am going crazy trying to keep track and coordinate my writings at both places. 
Hope to sort out the time management soon so that I can write the same post and thoughts in both places as well as share the links too. 

Kala Chana / Pindi chole with Missi Roti - rustic food to welcome winter with

 

It is funny the way this meal ended up being made.
The cold, damp weather got the better of me and I spent the morning just lounging and surfing the tv.
Moving through channels on YouTube, I ended up watching way too many videos on villages and their local food.
Starting from Uttarakhand, to Rajasthan and  Punjab.... I watched people rustling up beautiful, rustic and delicious food in minutes. With whatever local things were available.

By the time it was noon, I knew I could not eat anything other than some hot, freshly made food.
So giving up my plan for using up leftovers,
I quickly kneaded makke ka atta/ corn meal with lots of garlic chives , from my little garden,
and freshly pounded ginger garlic and green chillies.

Made thick rotis and applied my fragrant, homemade ghee on them while still very hot.

.

The boiled kala chana / black chickpeas was tempered with chopped onions ,  green chillies and tomatoes.
I used half whole ones and the other half crushed.
Set it to boil and absorb the flavours while I made the rotis.
I did not add any masala other than chopped coriander leaves.
Tasted awesome.

Some sliced juicy onions and a big green chilli completed our meal. 
Impulsive cooking does give great results. 😊

This is a hurried post. 
Will try to put in some writing in the next one. 
Till then ..... 

Enjoy!!

Ps: Are you following me on Instagram? 
There are a lot of recipes and photos and news that I share almost daily there. 
S do follow to stay updated with recent happenings in my kitchen and in life. 😊

Fried rice and Chilli chicken ... a Bengali's favourite classic combo meal

I cooked this for lunch last Sunday. 
And the way it turned out to be, immediately decided it should be on the blog. 

I have been missing eating out for a while now. Not that we used to eat out very frequently, before the pandemic shut the whole world up at home, but yes, once in a while we did.

Or at least  had the freedom and the option to go out and grab a bite when not feeling like cooking or stepping into the kitchen. 

Now, however, life has been revolving around the three meals and snacks the whole day.

Not to mention the boredom of the familiar tastes and masalas . 

And Chinese food being my favourite, it is there that I was hit the most.

I do cook chinese food at home ..... mostly for dinners. But that is limited to just stir fried vegetables, hakka noodles and my quick, cheat's  Chilli Chicken. 

This time, however, my intense craving for Chinese food made me decide to whip up a meal.

And in detail .... no short cuts. 

Easier said than done. 

Chinese food has one elaborate thing for sure .... and that is prepping. 

Cooking the actual dish does not take much time .... just throw in a little of this, a little of that, toss, toss, toss .... and done!
But the prepping .... boy! ..... takes up all the time you have and also exhausts you. 

I realised I had bitten off more than I can chew by the time I was halfway and neck deep into the prep work. And I thanked the good gods for providing me the sense to eat a heavy breakfast that morning. 
The greater part of my problem is cooking two kinds of food .... vegetarian and non vegetarian. 

And keeping everything apart so that nothing touches each other, planning to use the oil for deep frying for the vegetarian part first and then use it for non vegetarian ..... and so on.

These are the little things that require constant alertness and are really stressful and exhausting. 

I had leftover rice in the fridge. 

I had marinated chicken in the freezer. 

I had a block of paneer in the fridge.

B assured me he would chop the vegetables. 

And so I dived headlong into cooking lunch. 

For the Chilli Chicken : 

I make the Chilli chicken the way I have grown up eating .... with lots of green chillies nad no capsicums. You may add them if you like though. 

Need : 

Chicken pieces - 250 gms, marinated with ginger garlic paste, soy sauce and a little vinegar 

Cooking oil , enough for deep frying

Corn flour  - 1 tbsp

Maida / Apf - 3 tbsp

Rice flour - 1 tsp 

Diced onions 

Chopped green chillies 

Minced garlic

Minced ginger

Salt - to taste 

Sugar - to taste 

How to : 

Mix the flours with the marinated chicken. 

Heat oil and deep fry the pieces.  Keep aside. 

In a wok, heat a little oil. 

Add  garlic and ginger. Then add the green chillies and the diced onion. 

Stir fry on high heat and add the chicken pieces, soy sauce, vinegar and salt. 

Toss on high heat till everything comes together. 

For the  Vegetable Fried Rice  : 

Need : 

Leftover rice 

Cooking oil

Chopped vegetables like carrots, green peas, french beans, cauliflower

Chopped onions
Chopped green chillies

Minced garlic

Minced ginger

Soy sauce

A little vinegar

Black pepper powder

Salt

Sugar

How to : 

Heat oil in a seasoned iron wok. 

Add chopped garlic and ginger. Toss.

Add chopped onion and green chillies. 

Add the vegetables and toss on high heat.

Add the rice and the rest of the ingredients and toss on high heat till everything comes together. 
Serve hot. 

 
And now .... as promised on my last post .... the winner of the giveaway of the beautiful book by Sandeepa Bongmom, Those Delicious Letters . 

I made chits and drew out the name of  ..... 
Julie of Savoury Delights !!!!! 

Congratulatoins Julie!!! 
Do drop me an email with your full address and phone number so that I can ship the book to you. 


My next post is going to be on another classic ..... so stay tuned folks! 

Stay safe. Stay at home. 💓


You can find my other recipes on Chinese food here.