Meat Ball Curry / Kofta Kandhari

I think if you are living in Europe and look to British cooking shows you will already know about Atul Kochar and he is the first  Indian chefs who have Michelin Star, which I think is wonderful.

So when I found out he had a new book ( I have the book for a while) I had to buy the book and must say I love the book it has so many unusual curry recipes .

The book itself id called Atul's Curries of the World and you will find in the book recipes of curries not just from India but from around the world. And you have a picture of the dish for most of the recipes which I think is wonderl as I love cooking books with the picture of the dish as then I can visualize how the dish looks like when the dish is finished making.

Serves 4:

For the Kofta.
500 gm mince lamb
50 gm cashew nuts ( in the recipe they just said chopp, so i roughly chopped but next time i will chop more finer)
50 gm raisins soaked in a little water to plump
4 tbsp finely chopped mint leaves
3 green chillies finely chopped
30 gm finely chopped fresh ginger
1 tbsp cumin seeds, lightly roasted and ground
1 tsp garam masala
500 ml beef stock or water ( I used chicken stock)

For the Sauce:
3 tbsp of vegetable oil
2 black cardamom pods, bruised
1/2 tsp black pepper corns
1 tsp cumin seeds
3-4 cloves
2 bay leaves
3 onions finely chopped
1 tbsp of ginger/garlic paste
1 tbsp corriander powder
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala
450 gm fresh tomatoes pureed whole
2 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves.

Method.

Mix all the ingredients ( except the stock) for the kofta, seasoning with salt.
Shape into golf size meat balls.
Heat the stock in a shallow pan and blanch the kofta, a few a time for 3- 5 minutes or until they are firm ( I blanched all the balls together once), remove with a slotted spoon and keep aside. Reserve the stock for the gravy.
Heat the oil in  a pan and saute the whole spices with the bay leaves until they crackle. Add the onions and saute till they are lightly browned.
Add the ginger-garlic paste and stir for 2-3 minutes to cook the paste, then add the groung spices, the pureed tomato and salt to taste. Simmer for 10 - 12 minutes.

Add the Kofta and the blanching stocl and simmer for 10-12 minutes or untill the koftas are completely cooked.
Add the chopped corriander leaves . Serve with rice or rotti.

Chicken Skewers with Cardamom

 

I am a huge fan of British chef Rick Stein, and love to watch his cooking shows.
So it is not a mystery I have his cooking books.

And ofcourse after watching his show, In search of the Perfect Curry I bought the book and I have made few dishes from the book which came out really good like this  Sali Murgh  which is a parsee chicken dish with apricot and fried potatoes.

 

I didn't follow his exact recipe. But I have given the exact recipe and written what i didn't add or what i added more.
 Recipe Source

700 gm skinless,boneless chicken breast cut into 4 cm pieces ( the recipe asked for thighs)
Juice of 1 lime
2 fresh green chillies finely chopped ( I added 4 )
40 gm ginger grated
3 tbsp thick greek style yougurt
1 tsp turmerice powder ( my addition)
2 tbsp of coconut cream ( I didn't use as I didn't have)
2 tbsp double cream
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp coarsly ground black pepper
15 cardamom seeds powdered ( i added 10 )
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Pinch of chat masala for sprinkle in the end which I didn't use as i didn't have)

Mix the chicken , lime juice, chillies and giner together in a bowl and marinate for 15 minyutes.
In another bowl mix together the yougurt, cream and coconut cream, then stir in the salt black pepper and cardamom powder.
Mix with the chicken and marinade and keep in the fridge for 2- 3 hours.

Preaheat a grill to high or heat a sturdy grill ( tha is what I did) pan over a high heat ( or a light a barbacue).
Thread the chicken on to skewers, brush with oil and cook for 3 to 4 minutes each side and cooked through.
Sprinkle with chat masala, if using and serve with roties, onion pickles and green chutney.
 

Chicken Kurma

 

It has been sunny but still cold, and I had planned to cycle after going to FIL's home today.

Last  days it has been cold but sunny , and when I go to FIL' place to take his food or shopping i stay there for a while and then go with my cycle for a longer ride.

 

And that was the plan today too, so I went to his place but I spend almost 2 hours there that I decided there is no more sun left and  rather cycle back home than going for a longer ride.

 

There are times when I say to Hans I never thought I would be so busy with FIL, Ok when ever I went there when MIL was still alive FIL was also there always but I was more busy with mom as you know we would talk about what we cooked, and what we are planning to cook tommorw, then recipes we saw and all the other gossips about the other family memberes.

 

 

But now it is not like that ,like today I was there and FIL was showing me all his old pics and talking about the past that I just sit there and listen and see the pics. Ok I have seen most of these old pics plenty of time, but he still shows me .
Today ofcourse I saw newer pics too including the pic of his home when he bought some 58 yrs ago and then i saw his grandfathers pic who was born in late 1800 etc...
It is unbelievable, FIL will become 87 in May but he still remember what happend in his youth even and I am like my god ask me some thing from my youth I have no idea :-)

You will find a variety of recipe for kurma/korma even in my blog you will see a vriety like this Moghul Chicken Korma which we love and for people who don't like that much spicy dish this moghul korma is perfect as it is a very mild one. And then there is this chicken korma with almonds  which is fabulous too so i guess you can have your pick for a korma recipe :-)



Chicken Kurma:

1 kg chicken ( Use chole chicken as the sauce taste better)
1/2 cup hot water
1.4 tsp turmeric powder
2 cinamon sticks
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp cardamom pods
Salt to taste
100 ml vegetable oil
350 gm onions sliced
2 tbsp garlic paste
2 tbsp ginger paste
1/2  tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp corriander powder
2 tsp chilli powder
2 tsp aniseed
200 gm tomatoes chopped
1 cup youghurt
hand full of corriander leaves
3 green chillies sliced in hhalf
1/4 cup cashw nuts
1/2 cup fresh coconut grated

1. Cut the chicken in pieces and cook the chicken in a pan with hot water, turmeric ,cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and salt for 10 minutes and keep it aside.

2. Heat the oil in a pan/wok and fry the sliced onions , stirring freequently . When they are fried well add the ginger and garlic paste.Mix with a little water corriander , turmeric , chilli poder and anise powder and add to the pan. Fry this ix well.

3. Add the chopped tomatoes. Fry well untill the oil seperates. Add the curd, corriander meaves, green chillie and the cooked chicken together with the water the chicken was cooked.
Cover with a lid and reduce the heat and simmer for futher 10 minutes or till the chicken is cooked.

4. In the mean time drind the cashews together with the coconut ( adding a bit of water while grinding if you need).
Add this paste into the curry when the chicken is fully cooked. Mix everything well .
You can serve the korma with rice or roties.

 

Chicken Vindaloo

 

I think if you are familiar with Indian Cusine you will know about Vindaloo, I remember reading somewhere In UK when the Indian food started becoming popular men who wanted to show how macho they were ordered the most spicy dish which was vindaloo and aparently vindallo, roties, rice and beer was was a done thing.

I have made Vindaloo before but then from a spice paste I got from Aparna when Hans went to visit there in Goa .

But I have been wanting to make them from scratch and few weeks back while taking to my sis she was saying she made this delicious Chicken Vindaloo which her husband and kids loved it, so I asked her to give me the recipe and made them to the delight of my family.

Ofcourse as this is a very spicy dish I only made it when the day when FIL and Niece was not comming for lunch as I know they woudn't be able to handle the heat :-)

If you like you can less the amount of chilli or add more chilli depends on how much heat you can handel. Plus you also can aadd 2 potatoes cunt in chunks. I ddidn't even though I love potatoes in curries but Hans is like that is doubel carb :-)

 

 

 

 

1500 gm Chicken with bones cut in medium pieces

4 tablespoon oil

5 tsp corriander seeds

1 tsp black peppercorns

3 to 4 tsp chilli powder (I used Kashmiri chilli powder)

5 cardamoms just the seeds from it

1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds

3 sticks of cinamon

1 tablespoon cummin seeds

1 tablespoon mustard powder

1 tsp turmeric powder

3 large cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon ginger paste or ginger piece

125 gm grated fresh coconut

100 ml red whine vinegar ( you can use white too)

3 onions cut in pieces and then make into a rough paste

1 bay leaves

100 ml water

3 tsp garam masala powder

Salt to taste.

In a pan dry roast coriander seeds, peppercorns,chilli powder, cardamom seeds,fenugreek seeds, cinamon and cummin seeds.

When they are roasted powder them using your spice grinder.

In the mean while add the grated coconut together with the turmeric powder, mustard powder, ginger, garlic ,vinegar and make into a smooth paste, you might have to add a little water to get it really smooth.

Mix this smooth paste and the roasted powdered spices and keep it aside.

Heat the oil in a wok or deep pan, add the onion paste and bay leaves and fry tillt hey are lightly brown.

Add this chicken pieces with salt and fry for few minutes, add the smooth paste mixed with the powdered spices and fry for futher few minutes.

Now add the water and bring into boil.

Lower the heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes till the chicken is almost done.

Add the garam masala and simmer till the chicken is fully cooked.

Serve with plain white rice.

Chicken Korma With Almonds

Shyama have started making Indian food in her place and she has most of the basic spices in her shelf and she looks to my blog to find some easy to make Indian dishes and I have been telling to her for few weeks that I will post this easy chicken recipe which is nnot spicy so that when she makes it her friends can enjoy the dish too.

But as you all noticed I have not been blogging regularly as before plus we also went to a short holiday to London last week will write about the trip in my next post as I did meet two food bloggers there which was so much fun.

As I love to cook and have been cooking for long, I never thought of explaining in details, Shyama made one of my recipes last time and she said as I had written roast the spices she roasted them in oli the spices and all the onions etc and it turned black and smokey and all her friends who came to the kitchen was saying what is that burned smell,

So here it go Shyama, when I write  Dry Roasting whole spices then what you have to do is
 Place the spices  in a small frying pan or saucepan over a medium heat and stir and toss them around for 1-2 minutes, or until they begin to look toasted and start to jump in the pan.
Now transfer them to a pestle and mortar, crush them to a powder or coarsely grind them according to the recipe instructions. This will be easier to do now that they have been roasted.

Couscous (dog) while i was setting the table to take the pic, he was just drooling over chicken :-)

 

 

Chicken Korma With Almonds:

700 gm Chicken skinned and cut into bite size pieces.
3 to 4 tablespoon of oil
2 tsp cummin seeds
2 garlic cloves finley chopped
1 inch ginger finley chopped
300 gm onion puree ( chop onions and use a hand held blender to make them into a puree)
50 gm Almond powder
2 tsp garam masal
1 to 2 table spoon of corriander leaves chopped

For the Marination
125 gm of youghurt
1 tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric

Spices to powder:
4 cloves
3 cardamom pods
5 cm piece of cinamon stick
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 table spoon of corriander seeds
 Dry roast the spices above and grind them to a fine powder
200 ml water

50 ml of cream or more if you like more creamy

Marinate the chicken with a marination ingridients and the spice powder in a glass bowl and keep in the fridge for few hours. I sometimes forget this and just marinate the chicken for a hour and use.

Heat the oil in a wok , add the cummin seeds and stir fry for a minute, then add the garlic and ginger and fry for futher 1 minute. Now add the onion puree and fry for some 6 to 8 minutes till the onions are lightly golden color, if you thing th emix is looking too dry add a bit more oil.
Now add the chicken with the marination and fry for few minutes , and add the almond powder ,and add the water , close the wok with a lid and cook in a low fire till the chicken pieces are almost cooked.

Now add the garam masala and cook till the chicken is cooked well .
Add the corriander and cream and stir well and serve with rice or chapathies.
Taste if salt is enough otherwise add a bit more salt.
 

Fried Eggs on Potato Chips

I think it is getting a habbit I post on Sunday's ( to the habbit I never keep busy with my blog on sunday)

Ok reason for that is, I have been having head ache, for the last three days, and I think in the last days I have taken so many painkillers,

I went for a concert yesterday from Hans and Shyama and even before going for that I gulped down a painkiller.

So today's plan was Shyama had to attend a lecture we thought we will driver her there ( as it is in Brussels, so that she don't have to take the train , metro etc..) and Hans and Shyama will attend the lecture and I will go to a good happening which is going on near by.

But then today morning I decided after all the headaches and taking all the pills , the last thing I wanted to do was sit in the car for a 100 km drive plus walk around there .

So I stayed home, with Hans saying take rest, lay down and don't do anything, just sleep and rest.

I don't know aobut you all I am one person hates just laying there or sitting doing nothing,.

I don't mind doing nothing, but then I sit in the sofa and watch TV and that is doing nothing for me :-)

So as you can see I am not resting, I am writting a blog post.

Good that Hans or Shyaùa don't bother about my blog otherwise they will say didn't we tell you to rest.

I remember seeing this Delicious Fried Eggs on Chips in Monica's place and bookmarking it.

I know if you like Indian cusine you will know her as she is a food writter and authour and I do have her book Modern Spice which I love.

Actually I made the a while ago when I was home alone and wanted to have something for dinner but not my normal sandwich etc.... i wanted to have something to indulge on and I thought why not make this and I must say I loved it.

I would have loved to have a but more runny egg, but I must have been busy doing something else as I over did my eggs, but that didn't matter anyway as i loved it.

You want to make this hop over to her place for the recipe.

It is so easy to make.

 

Egg Masala

I love egg curry and Shyama loves it too, but Hans don't love the egg curies as much as us, so I tend to make them when he is out of the country :-) and this I made couple of months ago while he was in Austria,

 I think when I am alone at home for few days, I have noticed my food bill is low ( OK but the other bills are high , like when I am alone I go for prop shoping or some other shopping) but the food bill is really low, simply because I tend to make all the dishes I miss eating and they don't need any thing expesive, like this egg curry, I will have everything at home and even if I don't have eggs I just have to out to the local shop and buy them.

I remember when ever there was not that much veggies letf in the fridge, mom always made something with eggs, or just say when there was unexpected guests comming home, what did mom do make super fast egg curry.

I love making this egg curry, I know the recipe is from a blog which I have written down in my hand written cook book years ago, just that I don't know from which blog it is.

Egg Curry:

Boiled eggs 2 ( peel them and I give it few slashes so that the masala and go inside)

2 red onions slices ( if you want you can use 1 but I love onions)

Ginger paste 1 tsp

Garlic Paste 1 sp

1 tomato slices

Chilli powder 1 tsp

Corriander powder 1 tbsp

Curry leaves few

Gaaram msala powder 2 tsp

Few  tbsp oil

Salt to taste

1 cup of water

Heat oil in a pan add the onions, curry leaves and saute for few minutes. After that add ginger , garlic paste fry for few minutes or till the onions are brown.

Add the chilli powder, corriander powder, garam masala for few minutes.

Then add the tomatoes fry well atleast 5 minutes the sauce should look brown.

Add water boil for few minutes. And when everything is thick add the boiled eggs and remove from the heat and serve.



Vengaya Kara Kuzhambu

 

When ever i go to Nags place Edible Garden , I am always impressed, she is a young woman with talent for cooking and baking, plus point is most of her recipes are so easy to make.
I have made couple of dishes from her place which is always so easy and yummy and I still have loads of bookmarked recipes which I have to do from her place too.

There are sometimes when I see a picture of a food, I really want to grab and eat it.
That is what I thought when I saw the picture of th eplate of food Nags added in her Flickr account, it was a picuture of a plate of rice and a curry poured over to the rice.
I think this was in May.Don't remember the exact month anyway when hubby went to Austria for a week for his work I decided I will make this for lunch, plus point was ,as I was alone I could have it for two days:-)
I really Loved it and it was so easy to make.
So when Apolina and family came to visit us in August , I made this as part of lunch and hubby loved it so much that when I was plaaning the Onam Dinner he asked me why don't you make that onion curry.



And I am sure this will be showing up in my dinner/Lunch more.

If you like to make this delicious kara kozhambu, hopp over to Nags delicious blog for the recipe



 

Semiya Payasom

Last week it was Onam and I was like should I make a huge Onam Sadya ( in our case it was Dinner) as Traditionally back at home it is all vegetarian dishes.
The reason I was reluctant was because first of all I don't get all the Indian vegetables and secondly if I make all veggie Sadya and ask my in laws etc they would not enjoy.
So in the end I decided to celebrate Onam but then with dishes everybody will love.
So there were few Veg and few Non Veg dishes.

When it came to dessert I gave the choice to Hans and Shyama and they said they would love to have Semiya payasom.



So the day before the Onam I was slaving in the kitchen for few hours as I wanted to make most of the dishes and keep in the fridge so that I won't have too much work on the day it self.
But it is always a pleasure to prepare all these dishes especially if they love the food you have prepared which all of them did anyway.
And also had the plus point of getting all the oh and wow when the thali plates were brought to the dinning table.
Traditionally they are served in banana leaves back home but from were can i get them here :-)



So here goes the payasam recipe courtsey to my eldest sis :-)

I cup Vermecelli ( broken into small pieces) in India we use and here i ised too the vermecelli you get for making this dessert)
Milk 1 cup
Water 1/2 cup
Ghee/ Butter 2 tbsp ( I used butter)
200 ml sweet condensed milk, ( I am just giving the measurement, but i didn't measure it, i just poured and then tasted it and if it was not sweet I added more, depends on your taste)
Raisins 15 to 20
Cashewnuts 15 to 20
Cardamom powder 1/4 sp
Pinch of salt

Heat the ghee / Butter and fry the raisins and cashewnuts, remove and drain in a kitchen paper.
In the same pan roast the vermecelli till it turns to light golden colour and ramove it to a plate.
In a pan add the milk and water when it boils add the fried vermicelli, cook it, mine only took few minutes and if you think there is not enough liquid add more milk.
You must stir it continiously so that it doesn't stick to the pan. When the vermicelli is cooked add the condensed milk and give it a stir. Add the cardamom powder , the nuts and the raisins,remove  from the heat.
You can serve this hot or at room temperature. I love it it room temperature.



Moghul Chicken Korma

Mughlai cuisine is a style of cooking developed in the Indian subcontinent by the imperial kitchens of the Mughal Empire. It represents the cooking styles used in North India(especially Uttar Pradesh and Delhi) and Pakistan as well as in parts of Dhaka in Bangladeh and the Indian city of Hyderabad.

The cuisine is strongly influenced by the Muslim Persian and Turki cuisines of West and Central Asia, and has in turn strongly influenced the regional cuisines of Kashmir and the Punjab region.

The tastes of Mughlai cuisine vary from extremely mild to spicy, and is often associated with a distinctive aroma and the taste of ground and whole spices. A Mughlai course is an elaborate bufft of main course dishes with a variety of accompaniments.

Dishes

The names of the dishes are quite often Persian, the official language of the Mughal court. Dishes include various kebabs, kofta (meatballs), nihari, pulao (a.k.a. pilaf in Central Asia), and biryani.

This recipe is from one of my favourite Brittish TV chefs, Rick Stein. And from his book Far Eastern Odyssey. I love this book, the recipes seems to be really authentic,

I have made few dishes from this book and one of them is Nasi Goreng which is really yummy and something I do make often and then there is this Thai Yellow Curry with Shrimps. I can go on with the list but these are the two dishes I have posted in my blog.

This is a very mild curry and if you are not used to spicy food this is really perfect.

When i saw 2 table spoon rose water I was reluctant to add so much but I am glad I did it, as the rose water taste was really mild. Could be also my brand of rose water I used TRS brand.

You can serve with Naan, roties or rice like I have done it.

It is a easy chicken to make, just take a little time to grind the spices etc...
I did add extra things int he dish that i have written below too.

Serve 6.
2 tbsp white poppy seeds

2 tbsp Rosewater

1/2 tsp looslet packed saffron strands ( I used powder)

40 gm peeled ginger grated

25 gm garlic grated

2.5 cm cinamon sticks

Seeds from 10 green cardamom pods ( I only used 5 but my Hans think if the recipe asked for 10 i should have added that)

2 tsp corriander seeds.

1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
(1/2 tsp turmeric powder)

250 gm natural wholemilk youghurt

700 gm skinless and boneless chicken , cut into 5 cm pieces

350 gm onion roughly chopped

50 gm ghee ( I used oil)

50 gm ground almonds

1/2 tsp freshly dround peper

3 green chillie halved lengthways

75 - 100 ml double cream.

Salt to taste.
Also added few sprigs of corriander leaves when the dish was done.

Heat a dry , heavy based frying pan over a medium heat, add the poppy seeds and shake them aorund for a few seconds, until they darken very slightly and smell nutty.

Tip into a spice grinder, leave it to cool, then grind into a fine powder.

Put  into a bowl and set aside.

Warm the rose water, add the saffron and set asdie to soak.

In the same pan over a medium heat add the cinamon, cardamom pods and corriander seeds, lightly roast them, and grind them into a powder.

Put that garlic,ginger,ground roasted spices, nutmeg, youghurt and 1 tsp of salt into a bowl and mix together. Put the chicken pieces and leave it to marinate for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile put the onions into a food processor and blend into a smooth paste.

Heat the ghee/oil in a wok or heavy based pan, add the onion paste and fry gently for 5 - 6 minutes until it just starts to brown.
Add turmeric.

Add the chicken and all the marinade and 5 tablespoon of water.

Bring up to a gentle simmer, partly cover and simmer gently for 25 minutes.

Uncover the chicken, add the green chillies, ground poppy seeds and saffron rosewater and simmer uncovered for futher 5 minutes,by the time sauce should be quiet thick.

Add the cream and simmer for a futher 1 _ 2 minutes,  Sprinkle with coriander leaves ,then serve.