Sesame Red Chilli Garlic Pickle

Few days back, I went for a family dinner while my husband was away and in between the chit chats rose the topic of pickles and how everyone loved my recently made chilli pickles. That was when one of my cousin's Mom-in-Law shared a chilli pickle recipe with sesame and garlic which she had prepared for her daughter, an avid chilli eater. With husband away for a whole week and not much cooking to do, the pickle was the first thing I wanted to do. So this it, a very Assamese fiery hot Red Chilli Pickle with bits of Garlic and soaked in sesame, vinegar, and oil. If you love chillies and homemade at that, you must try this extremely easy classic recipe!

                             

Ingredients

250 gms red chillies

6 tbsp black sesame seeds, powdered

3 tbsp rock salt

6 tbsp vinegar

1 tbsp sugar

15-20 garlic cloves, thinly sliced (you can add or reduce as per your liking)

Mustard oil, just enough to cover the chillies till the brim

Direction

Wash the chillies thoroughly and air dry them completely on a kitchen towel. Now, remove the stems and diagonally slit the chillies. 

Take the sesame seeds and grind them to a coarse powder. I did not dry roast them as I used store bought ground sesame. You can dry roast if you would like to.

In a air tight jar, add the chillies, garlic, sesame powder, salt, sugar, and vinegar and mix well. You can also close the jar lid and vigorously shake it till everything is properly mixed. 

       

Put the jar in the sun for 2 days, lid on. On the third day, heat the mustard oil to smoky hot and then let it cool. Add the cooled oil to the chilli jar and mix well. Keep it at room temperature for 2 more days before serving.

                                       

Royale Hyderabadi Chicken

It has been just a day since my In-Laws have left and I am all ready to welcome my second set of relatives, just for dinner though. At first, the thought of cooking an elaborate meal really pulled my spirits down as I am quite exhausted and tired of three weeks' continuous cooking. However, I came across this wonderful recipe on one of my google pursuits and immediately my spirits touched the sky and then there was no sitting back. With just an overview of the recipe, I knew it is a winner and sure it is! Although it took me more time and effort to make it, I was happy at the end of it all. After all, it is the only star of the evening to be served with Bengali Mishti Pulao, to balance the spiciness of the chicken, and so it had to be special. The guests are yet to taste it, at the time of writing this recipe, and I am not sure how well they like it but I love it and this I am saying not because I cooked it, but because I really think it is superb and very rich in flavors and high on taste.

Ingredients

For the marinade

1 kg chicken washed and cut (the original recipe was for 1/2 kg; I simply doubled it)

3-4 heaped tbsp yogurt

1 tsp spicy chilli powder (can reduce the qty as per tolerance)

1 tsp salt

For the spice paste

1 1/2 inch piece ginger 

8-10 fat garlic cloves

4 tsp poppy seeds (I would recommend soaking them first for 1/2 hour)

2 green chillies (I used only 1)

3 dry red chillies (again as per tolerance)

For the spice powder

1 tsp cumin seeds

3 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp black peppercorns

4 green cardamoms

6 cloves

2" piece cinnamon

Rest of the ingredients

2 big onions finely sliced

1 big tomato chopped

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp kashmiri chilli powder (optional, but helps to enhance the color)

2 pieces mace, 2-3 cloves, 6-8 black peppercorns, and 1" piece cinammon roughly thrashed in a mortar

3-4 tbsp oil

Direction

Start with marinating the chicken. Wash and drain the water completely and mix all ingredients listed under marinade. Cover and keep aside. I did this first thing in the morning and kept covered in the refrigerator until used. 

Next, prepare the spice paste. Put all the ingredients in a grinder (one you use for your chutneys) and make a smooth paste. The original recipe did not mention soaking the poppy seeds which I followed and got a coarse paste as a result. I would recommend soaking it first to get a smooth paste and not getting to chew poppy seeds directly. 

Now, dry roast all the ingredients under spice powder and let it cool. Transfer to a dry grinder and make a fine powder. Make sure to skin the cardamom pods and discard the cover. Keep the powder aside till further use.

Time for the assembly. Take a big kadhai or wok, preferably with a handle, and heat the oil. Put the crushed whole spices and let the aroma arise. Now add the sliced onions and just a pinch of salt and fry until golden. Add the turmeric powder and chilli powder and fry till oil separates and the mixture turns a beautiful golden red. Add the tomatoes and fry till mushy. You can also add a dash of salt to quicken the process. Keep it covered on a medium flame and let it cook. Once done, oil should again appear on the sides. 

Now add the chicken along with the marinade and start the frying process until all the spices are well mixed and no water remains and its oil on all sides. This process took me a good 1/2 hour as my chicken and yogurt let out a lot of water. I cooked it covered on medium high flame and stirring every 5 minutes. However, be alert not to burn the spices.

Once the chicken and the masalas are well coated, add 1 1/2 to 2 cups of warm water (keep it ready while frying) and bring it to a boil. Cover and cook on high flame until oil starts floating on top and chicken is nice and tender. Let the gravy reduce a bit and thicken. Now add the spice powder and mix well. Check the seasoning and adjust accordingly. Cover and cook on a medium flame undisturbed for the next 10 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl with a good fitting lid. Keep covered until serving time. For serving with indian breads, you can thicken the gravy a bit more. 

                                      

Kosha Mangsho (Mutton in a Spicy Gravy Bengali Style)

It has been a through and through Bengali weekend for me starting with Matar Ghugni on friday, Bangladeshi Chicken Curry on Saturday, and now Kosha Mangsho to bring this lovely weekend to an end. It was quite a relaxed time at home as well. A bit of swimming, some shopping, and some couple time refreshed us for the week to come. This is the second time I have attempted Kosha Mangsho and as they say, it only gets better. This time the gravy was so delicious and the marination was so perfect, we just kept on licking our fingers. Scrumptious!! 

Ingredients

For the marination

500 gms mutton (I had used boneless mutton, but strongly recommend with bones as it tastes much better. I had no option)

1 medium onion, chopped

1 tbsp garlic chopped

1 tbsp ginger chopped

2-3 green chillies

1/2 cup yogurt

1 tbsp coriander powder

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp salt

2 tsp mustard oil

Other ingredients

2 big onions, finely sliced

1 medium tomato, chopped

2 medium potatoes, cut into four cubes

1 bay leaf

2 cloves

2 cardamom

1 inch cinnamon

1 tbsp cumin powder

1 tsp hot chilli powder

2 tsp kashmiri chilli powder

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp garam masala powder

1 tbsp ghee

1 tbsp mustard oil

Salt to taste

Direction

Start with marinating the mutton overnight. Make a paste with the onions, ginger, and garlic and marinate the mutton with this paste and the rest of the ingredients. Cover and keep in the refrigerator overnight. If you are short of time, you can also marinate for 2-3 hours or even less. However, the longer the marination period, the better the mutton will taste and cook. You may skip the marination if your mutton is really fresh and tender and put all the ingredients used in marination while cooking it directly as well. 

In a pan, heat the oil. Rub a little turmeric on the potato halves and fry in the oil till golden brown. Remove from oil and drain excess oil on paper towels. In the same oil, add the bay leaf, cloves, cinnamon, and cardamoms. Let it crackle. Now add the sliced onions and fry till pink and translucent. Reduce the flame to medium and fry further till slightly golden, stirring frequently. Now add the chopped tomatoes and the dry spices. Keep stirring till tomatoes are mushy and oil starts appearing on the sides. It is important to properly fry the masalas at this point as this step ensures the perfect color for your gravy. Now add the marinated mutton (it is important to take out the mutton from the refrigerator about 1-2 hours before cooking so that it comes down to room temperature). The mutton will have a lot of water in the marinade. Do not discard. Add salt as per requirement keeping in mind that you have already added during marination. Keep frying on a high flame till the masalas and the mutton are mixed well. Now reduce the flame to medium low and continue stirring intermittently ensuring that it does not stick at the bottom. We need to dry up the excess water before transferring the mutton to the pressure cooker for the final cooking. However, if your mutton is tender enough and you can already see that it is cooked, you may skip using the cooker. Replace the pan with the cooker on the stove and transfer the contents. Pressure cook for 6-7 whistles as you deem necessary depending on the extent to which your mutton is cooked in the pan. Please note that I have not added any water as I wanted a thick gravy. The mutton will anyway release a lot of far while in the cooker ensuring that it does not get burnt. Remove from heat and let the pressure release completely on its own. Now add the fried potatoes, ghee, and garam masala. Also check how well the mutton is cooked. Now close the lid and pressure cook for 1 whistle (if mutton completely cooked) or more as you deem necessary. Remove from heat and let the pressure release completely. Serve hot with plain rice.

Bangladeshi Style Chicken Curry

When I posted the pictures of this dish on a food forum, the first question was how different is Bangladeshi cuisine from Indian or, more specifically, Bengali cuisine. Well, to start with, we must not forget that Bangladesh used to be a part of India and hence its cuisine cannot be vastly different from what we eat in India. However, bengalis and bangladeshis, specially, believe in home ground spices and its just a combination of different spices which makes all the difference. Having said that, I am no expert in Bengali cooking and this is just my observation. Coming back to the point, today's recipe has been adapted from a series of bangladeshi recipes for chicken and since in every recipe, I was falling short of one ingredient or the other, I decided to put together all the recipes and make something of my own. While traditionally all the spices would be ground on a pestle and mortar, modern homes do not have that luxury of space and time and hence the shortcut methods of electronic grinding come into play. However, given a chance, I would definitely love to grind my spices the traditional way!

Ingredients

For the paste

1 tbsp coriander seeds

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1/2 piece of nutmeg

1 piece of mace

10-12 black peppercorns

1 bay leaf

4-5 cloves

5-6 green cardamom

1 inch piece cinnamon

1 tbsp chopped garlic

1 tsp mustard oil

4-5 dry red chillies

Other ingredients

1/2 kg chicken washed and cut

3 medium onions, thinly sliced

1 inch piece ginger, grated

3 medium tomatoes, chopped (if the tomatoes aren't too red and ripe, you can use 2 tomatoes and 1 tbsp tomato puree)

2 medium potatoes, halved and fried

Fresh coriander leaves for garnishing

1 tsp salt plus as per taste

1 tsp turmeric powder

2 tbsp mustard oil

Direction

Marinate the chicken pieces with salt and turmeric and keep aside for 1 hour. Meanwhile, dry roast all the ingredients for the paste except the garlic and let it cool. Now, grind to a fine paste with the garlic,  oil, and a dash of water. 

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and fry the potato pieces until golden and keep aside. The potatoes need not be cooked at this time. Now in the same oil, fry the chicken pieces until golden. Make sure not to over fry the pieces. You just need to get a light golden film on top. Adding the remaining 1 tbsp oil, bring it to smoking hot and add the sliced onions. Fry till translucent and then add the grated ginger. Continue frying until raw smell disappears, about 2-3 minutes. Now add the ground paste and fry on medium flame till oil starts appearing on the sides. Add the tomatoes (and the puree, if using) and fry till the tomatoes are mushy but not completely cooked. Now add the potatoes and the fried chicken and stir. Coat the chicken pieces well with the masala and then add 1 cup warm water from the sides. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes until the potatoes and chicken are tender. By now, a thin film of oil would start appearing on the top, which means your gravy is well cooked. Check the seasoning and garnish with fresh coriander leaves. Serve hot with plain rice or roti/paratha.

                                       

Chettinad Pepper Chicken

Chettinad cuisine is known for its spiciness and strong flavors. In Singapore, there are specialty Chettinad restaurants which serve authentic dishes from this cuisine. Easy on the pocket but heavy on taste and satisfaction. I was having a flu since past few days and what better cuisine than Chettinad to provide me some relief from it!

Ingredients

750 gms chicken, washed and cut

3 medium onions, thinly sliced

1 big tomato, chopped

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

2-3 green chillies, slit

1 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tbsp black peppercorns, ground to a fine powder (not advisable to use store bought pepper powder)

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp cumin powder

1 sprig curry leaves

Salt to taste

1 tbsp mustard oil

Direction

In a pan, heat the oil and splutter the cumin seeds and mustard seeds. Add the onions and fry till translucent. Add green chillies, curry leaves, and ginger garlic paste and sauté. Next add the tomatoes and fry till mushy. Add the dry spices along with the salt. Tip in the chicken pieces and mix well. Cover and cook till chicken is almost done. Now add the ground pepper and cook for 5-10 minutes or until done. Remove from heat and serve hot with plain rice/ roti/naan.

                                          

Red Chilli Pickle

Pickle at home and made by you!! That was my mom's first reaction when I narrated my success story to her over the phone. She could not believe her youngest can now even make pickles at home, leave aside running a food blog. Well, time flies Maa. Maybe oneday I will feel the same for my baby.

Ingredients

150 gms Green or red chillies (the original recipe called for 250 gms)

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp methi seeds

1/4 tsp hing

1 tbsp mustard seeds

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tbsp salt

1 tsp garam masala

2 tbsp olive oil (I added 2 extra tbsp of oil while mixing the next day)

2 lemon or 2 tbsp lemon juice, whichever is more

Direction

Chop your chilles, ideally into three parts. Make sure the chillies are washed and patted completely dry before chopping. Roast the cumin seeds and methi seeds in a pan. Turn off the heat and add hing while the pan is still hot. Transfer the contents into a blender and add mustard seeds. Make a smooth powder and empty the masala into a bowl. Add turmeric powder, garam masala, and 1 tbsp lemon juice and half the salt. Keep aside. 

In another bowl, preferably a glass one, put the chillies, salt, turmeric powder, oil, and the remaining lemon juice and mix well. Cover with a tight lid and either keep it in the room or in sunlight for few hours for best result. After 5/6 hours, add the prepared masala and mix everything well again. Now keep covered in the same bowl for 1 day occasionally stirring in between. Next day, transfer the pickle into a glass jar and add a little more oil. Keep bathing the pickle in the sun for a few days for best results. Remember to keep shaking the jar once in a while for proper mixing. Enjoy!

                       

Flavors of Rajasthan- Gatte ki Sabzi

Rajasthan is known for its superb cuisine and has a long list of speciality dishes. One such is Gatte ki Sabzi or gram flour cakes in spicy gravy. It gives a good change of taste and variety to our regular lunch or dinner menu. There are a lot of variations to this recipe. Here, I have done a combination of different recipes and the end result is a superb dish with rich rajasthani flavors.

Ingredients

For the Gatta

1 cup besan (gram flour)

1 tsp garlic paste/grated

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp black pepper powder

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp kasuri methi, lightly roasted and crushed

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp oil

Water to knead the dough

Oil for frying the gattas

For the Gravy

1 medium onion chopped

1 tomato chopped

1 tsp garlic paste/grated

2 tbsp whipped yogurt

1 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp black pepper powder

1 tsp kasuri methi lightly roasted and crushed

Coriander leaves for garnishing

2 green chillies chopped

Salt to taste

1/2 cup water

2 tbsp oil

Directions

In a bowl, add all the ingredients for the gatta except water. Knead a stiff dough, adding little water at a time. Make small balls and roll into a cylindrical shapes (similar to sausages). Add these rolls to boiling water and let it remain till they become light and start floating (about 5-7 minutes). Remove and let it cool. You might notice a few cracks appearing in the rolls while boiling. This happens because the dough was not stiff enough. However, there is nothing to worry. Once cool, you can shape it back gently with your hands. Now cut small pieces out of these rolls and fry them on high heat till golden brown. Remove on paper towel and keep aside.

In another pan, heat the oil and add cumin seeds. Let it splutter and then add the chopped onions. Fry till golden brown and then add the garlic paste and chopped green chillies. Stir for sometime. Tip in the dry spices, that is, turmeric powder, black pepper powder, coriander powder, and kasuri methi. Fry everything well. Next, add the chopped tomatoes and fry on low flame till they become soft. Add the whipped yogurt, salt and mix well. Pour half a cup of water and simmer and bring to a boil. Lastly, add the gattas and let it cook for another 3-5 minutes. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with roti or plain rice.