Chicken pepper fry

And just like that, the rains are gone. 
We did not get as much rainfall this year as we would have liked to. 
Especially when we are not going out. 
With the whole world and our lives coming to a a standstill, due to the pandemic raging all around us, all we had was the rains outside to look out at. 
Sitting by the window, or standing in the balcony or lounging in the sofa that I drag half way across the room just for the view ..... all we had was the gentle, quiet Pune rains and fog outside. 

The trees have grown a lot over the years and are now almost at our eye level at the seventh floor. 
Their leaves shiny, healthy, glistening in the rain. 
And swaying to the wind. 
The birds go on with their activities. 
And we go on with life. 
Daily, mundane chores. 
The only welcome break was the rains. 
And that too has gone now. Too soon. 

I don't mind  the sun though. 
The mornings are brighter and clearer now. 
And sunnier. 
There is a chill in the air and the feel of autumn is already in the air. 
Ganpati festival is on. 
Listening to the bhajans and aarti songs all around give an air of sanity. 
As if nothing has changed. 
And all is well with the world. 

I made this beautiful, spicy Chicken pepper fry a few days back for lunch. 
It was quick to make and was the perfect finger food for the dark, rainy days. 
The heat of the black pepper warmed the body as well as the cockles of the heart .... just like Ma  has cooked a warm meal and is feeding me  lovingly.

Need : 

Chicken pieces, on the bone (you may use boneless too ) 
Ginger garlic paste

Soy sauce

Vinegar / Lemon juice

Freshly crushed black pepper 
Chopped onions

Chopped garlic 

Chopped green chillies 

Curry leaves 

Salt - to taste

Sugar - to taste

Cooking oil 

How to : 

Marinate the chicken with vinegar, soy sauce, ginger garlic paste , a little oil and  salt. 
I marinated and froze it. You can keep it for 1 hour. 

Heat oil in a flat pan. 

Let in the chicken pieces one by one. 
Sear them on high heat till the sides turn crisp and brown. 

Lower heat and add the onions, garlic , green chillies and the curry leaves. 
Add salt and the crushed pepper, cover and cook till the chicken is done. 

If you want less spicy, then add the black pepper last, just before removing from heat. 

Serve hot . 

The chicken was crisp on the outside and juicy and soft inside. 
The meat  peeled away smoothly .... I guess the marination did the magic. 

I had made some crisp dosa and so paired with them. 
With some beautiful peanut chutney on the side, this was my lunch on a dark, cold rainy day. 
Will go great with laccha parathas too. 


Stay safe folks. Eat well. Eat healthy. 

Adai, Sambar, Aloo bhaji and Mirchi ki chutney - a South Indian breakfast on the plate today

I am on a serious mission these days. A mission of doing nothing.
Yes, doing nothing. And that means doing nothing at all.
Call it a strike; call it a rebellion .... call it anything you want to. But that is the truth and the whole truth.
I do not remember exactly when it happened ... but something inside me has snapped. The last I remember is cooking up a storm ... two huge degchis of biryani ... yummy, fragrant, spicy yet non greasy biryani .... one chicken and one paneer ... for guests and ourselves on Sunday.
If you are following me in Instagram or on Facebook, you must have seen the photographs there.

Spent the whole day sweating it out in the kitchen ... and loved every moment of it. Enjoyed through the latter half of the day ... watched the match .... felt totally disappointed at what our team was doling out and left it halfway to go out and have waffles ... and all in all had a good day.
And the very next day, something broke inside me. And I just did not feel like getting up and doing any chores.
At all.
At first I thought it might just be the 'start of another week' blues. But no, it worsened as the days went by and today, we are bang in the middle of the week and I am still not moving.
B is indulging .... we went out for dinner on Monday but at other times he has been cooking.
Let me see how long this goes on.

I think I need a break; a trip. Seriously.
And all those photos of  road trips or overseas trips on fb and insta are not helping too.
Social media has its own pressures ... that I can say.
So when the weather in Pune has turned so unbelievably beautiful and the view and the breeze on my balcony is to happily die for, I ignore it like a moron and long for a drive out into the unknown.

Yes, I am a moron after all, I guess.
Like, I have not done anything all this morning except to wallow in morbidity and letting Jagjit singh croon and pull me all the more down into the dark.
Like I have not made a single post here since the last one. And neither am I clicking any photos too. Just the ones that are offhandedly clicked on my iphone and posted on insta.
I'm giving in to social media, finally.

So, pulled myself up and without moving an inch from my settled position in my den and post this beautiful plateful of breakfast before it languishes any more in my 'to post' folder.

I often soak rice + dal and make a batter and store it. And never have to worry about breakfast most days of the week.
Sometimes I up the amount of the dal or soak mixed dals for a protein rich yet light meal.
While this kind of breakfast is very common in my house ... check out the Chakuli pitha or the soru chakli pithe and others, I have not done a post just for the lack of time needed to click proper photographs.
I do post photos on my page on facebook though ... and now on instagram too.
If you follow me there, you are more updated with my cooking, I would say.

To make this light yet very filling breakfast, all the prep work you need is to keep the batter ready. And maybe have some boiled potatoes in the fridge too.
This aloo ki bhaji is usually made for the masala dosa, but it goes perfectly well with the Adai too ... so do try to pair them.
I make it slightly on the sweeter side ... the kind that the Udipi restaurants serve with puris too as puri bhaji.

Adai sambar chutney

How to make the Potato bhaji for masala dosa :

Need :


Boiled potatoes - 2 medium, lightly smashed
Onion - 1 medium, chopped roughly
Haldi / Turmeric powder - a pinch
Fresh green chillies - 2, chopped
Curry leaves - a sprig will do
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Sugar - to taste
Cooking oil - 1 tsp
Water - a little
Urid dal - 1 tsp


How to :


Heat the oil in a small wok.


Add the mustard seeds.
As soon as they splutter, add the dal and fry a little.
Now add the onions and green chillies and fry till the onions turn translucent.

Add the curry leaves and the boiled potato.

Add the haldi + salt + sugar.

Mix well. Raise heat and add a little water ... just so everything comes together.

Keep stirring till it dries up.

Remove and keep aside.


How to make the Mirchi ki chutney :

Need :

Ripe chillies - (not the dry, red ones) 6
Garlic - 2 cloves
Jeera - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Sugar - to taste

How to :

Run everything in the mixer to make a coarse paste.

You can also try my other chutneys too.

How to make the Adai :

 Need :


Red Masoor dal - 1 cup
Yellow moong dal - 1 cup
Urad dal - 1 cup
Rice - 3 cups
Water to grind
Salt - to taste

How to :

Soak everything for 4 to 5 hours.

Grind in a mixie and let the batter stand overnight.

Use a little at a time and refrigerate the rest. I keep mine for almost a week.

Heat a seasoned tawa or a non stick griddle.

Apply a little oil and on high heat pour a ladleful of the batter.
Spread quickly and lower heat.

Don't try to make it too thin.
Cover and let one side cook well.

Remove cover and flip and let the other side cook .
Apply a little oil if needed.
Do not cover.

The slightly thick Adai is good to soak in the sambar.

How to make the Sambar :

You can follow the recipe for Sambar here ... or here.
Will make a new post on it later.

I will be back with a better post and better writing, hopefully soon.

Till then ... enjoy!!

Saantlano Pithe / Tempered savoury pancakes

With the weather turning from beautiful to absolutely, unbelieveably, awesomely beautiful, the outdoors has been a'calling me for a while now.
What with a cold, windy breeze and numerous clouds playing hide and seek, the temperature looking downwards all the while and a very light sunshine all around, the weekends have been diving me cray.
All I want is to go on long drives, for picnics, for photographs, and so on.
Basically to stay out.
Soon, when the rains come, we will have to stay indoors. But this weather now ... it is perfect to be outside.

But things are not always meant to be.
B is submerged up to the neck with work. And I with numerous chores that need to be completed before the rains start. Chores that have been piling up from the last few or more months.
But I will not be bogged down, I thought.
And decided come what may, we will go out and have a break at least on one day of the weekend.

Which was just a day away , by then.

B asked not to pick up any place that would be too far away ... he needed to be back home for work.
And said could give only a few hours, not more.
I sighed.
My dreams of a longish drive and lunch seemed distant. Earlier we had wanted to drive till Panvel, have lunch there and return with a small stop at Lonavla. But gave that up as Lonavla still needs some good rain and greenery.
Then B suggested we take a drive down the Bombay-Pune old highway.
Thanks to the expressway, the traffic there has lessened considerably. With a lot of trees still standing and a lot of open space all around, it has been our favourite road for aimless drives always.

We haven't 't been on that road for a long while now ... almost close to four years or more. It would be fun to rediscover old memories.
So off we went on a late Sunday morning.
Drove down the beautiful , very green with huge trees , road all the way up to Talegaon. It had started to rain by then and we rolled down the windows to let that fresh, wet breeze, in.
The small hills on the side had turned dark and light,white clouds hung on their tips.
It was beautiful.

After a while, we came to Toni da Dhaba, a place famous for its Punjabi food, for many years now.
We stopped for a late lunch, that became later, with us having to wait for around an hour .... it was that crowded.
But the food was worth the wait ... as always.
I did not eat much due to my rct; but B enjoyed his laccha paratha, dal, paneer amritsari and some garam garam jalebis.
On the way back, we took a detour and explored another new road.
Later stopped at a roadside stall for some ginger tea. And then it was time to return.
Dusk was setting in . I leaned back into my seat, closed my eyes and set some Sufi music on the loose.
And happily looked forward to another hectic week.

Before leaving, I had made these Saantlano chakli pithe for breakfast.

Back home, any holiday and sometimes a weekend , meant this  pithe or pitha, for breakfast. Thanks to our Odiya cook , we had a good dose of pithas in our childhood.
The varieties were numerous and unlike the Bengali pithes that are mostly sweet, Odiya pithas have a number of savoury ones.  Almost all of them can be eaten both as snacks as well as a meal.
And almost always paired with a light vegetable curry, these pithas make for a filling, healthy meal. And if had for breakfast, they can keep you going for a long time before you are hungry again.

And this Saantlano pithe or the Santula pitha was our favourite.
A cross between the dosa and the uttapam, this pitha can be eaten with any chutney or the kasundi on the side for a snack.
Ma would use the same batter that she made for idlis or dosas; so do I.
The batter needs to be slightly thicker than a regular dosa batter, but still in a pourable consistency.
Unlike in an uttapam, where the chopped onions are spread on the top of the dosa while it is still on the tawa, this pithe has the temerings and the onions fried a little first and then added to the batter.
And then spread on the tawa as a thickish dosa.

If you have the batter ready, these are real quick to make and are very good with the ginger tea on the side. A life saver when you have sudden guests.

Need :

Fermented Idli batter - thinned a little with water.
( You can see the proportions and method in this post)

Onions - chopped
Green chillies - chopped
Tomatoes - chopped (optional)
Mustard seeds
Curry leaves - chopped
Coriander leaves - chopped ( optional)
Ginger - chopped
Salt - to taste
Cooking oil - as needed

How to :

Heat a little oil in a kadahi.
Or you can use the tawa in which the pithes are to be made.

Add the mustard seeds.
When they start to splutter, add the onions, green chillies, curry leaves and ginger.
Stir fry on low heat for a while.
When the onions start to turn pink, remove from heat.

Add the above mixture to the batter.

Now heat the tawa.
Brush it with a little oil.
Now take a spoonful or two of the batter and spread it carefully on the tawa.
Do not try to spread it very thin.

Cover for a while.
Then remove cover and let it stay for a minute.

Carefully, flip it over and fry the other side too.

Both sides should be done crisp.

Remove and serve hot.

The above photo shows the crisp edges.

This pitha is best enjoyed hot off the tawa.
Hence I usually set two tawas, so that nobody has to wait for a second helping.

Goes great with a light vegetable curry.
Or any achar or chutney.

But best of all, unlike the Soru chakli pithe, this can be enjoyed as is too.
I love it with ketchup and kasundi too.


Enjoy!!

Soru Chakli Pithe with Sada Aloor Chorchori / Rice flour Crepes with a simple Potato curry

Winter means Pithe. Or Pitha.
I know, I know. Winter is still a far way off.
But I am lucky to be staying in a place that has beautiful weather the whole year through.
So, other than the month of May when it does turn very hot, the slightly cool weather and low temperature of this city helps hugely when it comes to making and enjoying dishes that you want to make and not worry about the right time of the year for them.

I do make the Soru chakli pithe quite regularly. But like many other dishes, never got around to make a post out of it for lack of time or energy.
And since this is made for breakfast, time is more the reason here than energy.
Ma used to make this Soru chakli pithe too. But only on holidays.
Winter holidays or winter weekends.
And served it with the Sada Aloo'r chorchori. Or plain potato curry.

But what I remember most is the Chakli pithes at Dadu's house.
Thamma would make them on the mati'r unoon or the chulha .... a hot tawa sitting on the reddish coal embers inside the dark kitchen, that went 'ssssssss' with every ladleful of batter on it.
White smoke curled out as Thamma expertly flipped the pithas and plonked them on our plates, one by one.  It was a quick process as the pithes are required to be soft and not cooked for long.
One side done ...  flip ....  the next side done.
Plonk on a plate held out by a small hand.

And then pour the golden, beautifully fragrant jhola gur or Nolen gur on each pithe.

We sat around the unoon, soaking in the warmth while once in a while a gush of bitterly cold air would come in through the door and make us jostle and sit a little more closer to one another.
That was our time ... Thamma and us grandkids ... together. Jethima, Ma, Kakimas, not even the helps were allowed in then.

Years later, after I had mastered the art of making the batter, fermenting it properly and make a decent dosa, I introduced this pithe to the man.
He took to it and I heaved a sigh of relief.

 

The Soru Chakli pithe, or the Soru Chakuli pitha as it known in Orissa / Odisha, is made from a batter made by soaking rice and Urid dal. 

Soru means thin. The pancakes are very thin hence the name. 

I use the same batter that I use for my idlis. 

You may or may not ferment it. I do. 

Gives the batter a good resting time that way.

Ma makes another version of this pithe. I'll try to make a post of it another time.

Need : 

Rice - 2 cups  

Urid dal (dehusked ) - 1 cup 

Salt - 2 tbsp 

Grated ginger - 1 tbsp 

Cooking oil - 1 tbsp 

How to : 

Wash well and soak the rice and dal for around 3 to 4 hours. 

I soak it overnight. 

Grind in a mixer to a smooth paste. 

Add a little water at a time when grinding. If you add too much water in the begining, it will be difficult to make a smooth paste. 

The rice will stay as stubborn grains.

Add salt and keep it covered overnight to ferment. 

To make the pithes, take a well seasoned tawa. 

A heavy, cast iron one is best. 

If you use a non stick one, then season it well with oil and water and wipe it clean. 

Keep a clean, wet cloth at hand. 

Take the amount of batter needed in a deep bowl and add water and a little salt.
Add the grated ginger and 1 tbsp of oil.
Mix well. 

The batter should be thin but not too runny. 

 

Heat the tawa well. 

Put in a drop or two of oil and wipe it with the wet cloth. 

Heat again. 

Now pour a ladleful of batter on the tawa and slowly move it on the batter to give it a round shape.
Cover it for around a minute.
Remove cover and flip and let it cook for around a minute.
Remove from the tawa and keep in a slotted bowl, so that it does not turn soggy in its own moisture.
Wipe the tawa clean with the wet cloth before pouring in another ladleful.

The pancakes will be thin ... almost crepe like.
Do not keep them on the tawa for long as they might turn crisp.
No harm in that. But the Soru Chakli pithe is supposed to be paper like thin and soft.

They go best with an equally soft aloo ki sabzi. Or the Sada ( white ) Alur chochchori.
Very simple, very light in flavours, no masalas, not even turmeric.
This torkari is the perfect accompaniment to these light crepes or pancakes.

Sada Aloor Chorchori 

Need :

Potatoes - cut into long slices
Kalo jeere / Kalonji / Nigella seeds
Whole red chillies - broken
Black pepper powder
Oil - I use mustard oil
Salt
Water

 How to :

Heat oil in a kadahi.
Add the Kalo jeere / kalonji and the red chillies.
Let in the potato slices and stir well on high heat for around a minute.
Add enough water to submerge the potatoes.
Add salt and cover and cook till the potatoes are tender.
Check to see there is enough water in between.

When the potatoes are well cooked, add the black pepper powder and give a good stir.
Remove from heat.
This dish should have a thin gravy or the potatoes should be cooked till very very soft.
Mine looks dryish because I was busy clicking the pithes.

Most people use fresh green chillies in the tempering.
I had run out of them so used the red, whole ones.
And I'm so glad I did.
The chillies give a wonderfully smoky flavour to the potatoes and mixed with the flavour of the mustard oil and the kalonji seeds, they took the simple torkari to a different level.

We had this for our breakfast today.
And I raced against time and my painful hand to make this post.

Enjoy!!

Onion & Green Chilli Appams

I do not even know if anything like this is common or not ... i.e. anything other than plain appams. And I have never made appams before .... enjoyed them everytime at South Indian joints though.

It was only at a food court .... where you can see the cooks preparing your dish ... that I saw the appam being made. And felt stupid.

Coz I realised that the cute little non-stick wok I have been using for low-oil for frying is actually an Appam kadhai.
And I always make the batter for idlis / dosas. Yet never gave a thought to making appams.


Appams are good to have with any gravy based curry. I have found them to be very soft whenever I have had them outside ... but mine turned out to have quite crisp sides ... but was soft and spongy in the centre.
If anybody can give me some tips on this .... please do.

I had made the batter to make something for breakfast. And as usual ... set off to experiment. Thought of adding onions and chillies to the batter and make something at one shot .... that can be had with just chutney.
So made this. A new thing .... a cross between the Uttappam and the Appam. :-)

If you are averse to the soft and just cooked smell of onions, I'd suggest you fry the stuff first in a little oil and mustard seeds tempering .... and then add to the batter.

Need : A thin batter of rice & urad dal ... (soaked overnight and ground to a smooth paste), chopped onions and green chillies, curry leaves, salt to taste, very little cooking oil.

How to : Heat an appam kadhai and smear a little cooking oil.
Add everything to the batter .... yes ... a little cooking oil too.

Pour around a tablespoonfull of batter into the kadhai and give the kadhai a swirl till a pancake is formed all around and a little batter settles in the bottom.

Cover and wait till the sides are done .... usually the sides are not browned ... but I did.
When done, the appams will come out easily when you try to pick them up.


For a meal, serve with any curry. I was making for breakfast .... and had it with chutney. :-)

Enjoy !!

Updated : Varsha suggested they will go great with stews too ... and I agree completely. Thanks Varsha!
My two stews .... one with the coconut milk and the other creamy stew seem perfect for the combi. :-)

Rawa Masala Dosa

Need : For the dosa : 1 cup rawa(sooji), 2 tbsp rice flour, juice of half a lemon, a pinch of sambar masala, salt to taste.

For the masala : 2 boiled potatoes, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp urad dal, a pinch of haldi, curry leaves, chopped green chillies, 1 onion sliced, 1 tbsp oil, salt and a little sugar to taste.

How to : Heat oil. Add the mustard seeds and dal. Then add the curry leaves, green chillies and potatoes. Fry well. Add the haldi and salt and fry some more. Remove and keep aside.

For the dosa, mix all the ingredients with water to make a batter. Heat a tawa And apply a little oil. Pour a big spoonfull of batter and spread into a dosa. Wait till one side is done and crispy brown.

Now spoon in a little the potato masala and fold the dosa from both sides. Serve crispy rawa dosa hot.

Instant Dosa

Learnt this from a tv show.

Need :

Bread slices - 5 to 6 pieces
Rawa ( sooji / semolina ) - 2 cups
Cornflour 1 tbsp
Dahi / curd / yogurt - 2-3 tbsp
Garlic - 1 or 2 cloves
Salt - to taste
Fresh green chilles 1 or 2 pieces
Water - enough to make a batter
Cooking oil - to fry.

How to :

Soak the bread slices and rawa together in water till well soaked.

Add into it salt, dahi, garlic, green chillies and grind to a paste.

Add water to adjust consistency of dosa batter - it should fall easily when poured.

Add cornflour to it and mix well.

Heat a tawa / gridle.

Smear a little oil and pour in a big spoonful of batter and spread into a round shape.

Let it cook till the sides leave. Flip it over and brown the other side also.

Serve the crisp dosas hot with sambar and coconut chutney.


Sambar
I make it directly in the pressure cooker.
You can add vegetables to it too.

Need :

Toor dal - 1 cup , washed and soaked
Sambar powder - 2 to 3 tbsp ( I use Everest Sambar powder )
Sliced onions - 1 medium sized
Whole dry red chillies - 1 to 2 pieces
Curry leaves - a few
Tamarind pulp - 4 to 5 tbsp
( soak the tamarind in water for about an hour and extract the pulp )
Haldi / turmeric powder - a pinch
Salt - to taste
Cooking oil - 1 tsp
Rai / whole black mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Water - around 4 cups

How to :

Heat oil in a pressure cooker.

Add the mustard seeds. When they start to splutter add the chillies and the curry leaves.

Now add the sliced onions and fry well.

Add the dal, haldi, salt and sambar powder and stir well.

Add water and the tamarind pulp.

Close cooker and cook on low heat till 3 whistles.

Cool and remove cover.

Adjust water, check seasoning and simmer for a few more minutes or till desired consistency.

Serve hot with dosas.