Kodi Kura (Andhra Style Chicken Curry)

Hmmm... looks delicious, isn't it? The newest chicken curry for the weekend.. I was amazed by the aroma of the spices when it was being cooked, and then I was totally mesmerized to see the wonderful, lovely coloured spicy curry... So go ahead and enjoy this Andhra style chicken curry.. !!

Ingredients:

Chicken: 200 gm
Poppy seeds: 1 tsp.
Dried red chilli: 2
Fennel seeds: 1 tsp.
Cloves: 2
Cinnamon stick 1 inch
Black peppercorns: 1 tsp.
Cumin seeds: 1 tsp.
Turmeric powder: 1 tsp.
Mustard seeds: 1 tsp.
Curry leaves: a few
Onion (chopped): 1
Ginger (chopped): 1 inch
Garlic (chopped): 3 cloves
Coriander powder: 1 tsp.
Salt: to taste
Cooking oil: 2 tsp.
Tomato puree: 5-6 tsp.

1. Wash and dry the chicken. Sprinkle turmeric powder and set aside.
2. Dry roast poppy seeds, dried red chillis, fennel seeds, cloves, cinnamon, peppercorns and cumin seeds for 3-4 minutes on medium flame. Remove from heat and keep aside.
3. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds and curry leaves. Add chopped onions after 30 seconds. Sauté till they become transparent.
4. Add ginger and garlic. Mix well and cook for 2 minutes.
5. Add the dried roasted spices and coriander powder. Add little salt and mix well. Let cook for another 2 minutes.
6. Add the tomato puree and mix well. Let cook till the masala gets cooked and starts leaving oil on the sides.
7. Add the chicken pieces and the remaining salt. Mix well, add about 1/2 cup of water and cover. Let cook for 15 minutes.
8. Remove cover and serve hot. Fireworks on your plate !!

Kodi Kura masala mix

Chicken being fried in the spice paste

How to make the perfect boiled rice (without rice cooker)

Making rice the perfect, grainy way.. with the long grain separated.. yes this is the problem I have seen with a lot many people who fail to achieve the perfect results for the same, and end up either overcooking or under cooking the rice, which turns out to be either too soggy to eat, mostly in presentation, or it is a little bit uncooked, which becomes difficult to eat. A lot of people asked me how I always achieve the perfectly cooked rice, so today I'm sharing my method.

I am using long-grained basmati rice for this results. The results will depend on the brand and type of rice you are using.

1. Wash the rice thoroughly and soak in water for about 10 minutes before preparing.
2. Drain water and add 4 times the water of the quantity of rice taken, that is, 4 cups of water for a cup of uncooked rice (I do this to remove starch from the rice, you could take twice the water if you don't wish to remove the starch; in that case 1 cup rice + 2 cups water).
3. Put the container on the highest heat uncovered and bring it to a rolling boil (when the water boils completely and you see the white starch being formed on the top).
4. Turn off the flame (I use an induction cooking range which stays hot for quite a lot of time, but if using flame stove top, turn the heat to the lowest).
5. Remove the boiling rice container from the heat and carefully drain the foamy white water on the top, this is the starch. Handle this water carefully because it has boiling water in a super hot container. Don't let any rice fall through, use a sieve if required. If you are not wanting to remove the starch, simply turn off the heat (for induction cooking range) or turn the heat to lowest (for flame stove tops) and let cook uncovered till all the water is absorbed.
6. After removing the starch, most of the water will also be drained through. Now keep the container back on the heat (turned off/ minimum flame cooking range) and cover. Let cook for 3-4 minutes. Remove from cooking range. Serve hot as Jeera Rice, make Indian fried Rice or just any other rice variety, or serve as it is with any chicken curry/vegetable curry.

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Zafrani Chicken Curry

After my Zafrani Chicken Biryani was absolutely loved, and we soaked in the royal feeling of the same, I decided to try my hands with the zafrani masala to prepare this Zafrani Chicken Curry.. Originally, this curry is a shade of orange, which is obtained by adding food colour. I try to avoid food colours, but if you like, you could skip the turmeric and add the orange colour instead.

Ingredients:

Chicken: 200 gm
Butter: 3 tsp.
Cloves: 2
Cardamom: 1
Cinnamon: 1 inch
Star anise: 1
Bay leaves: 2
Onion (chopped): 1
Garlic chopped): 3 cloves
Ginger (chopped): 1 inch
Green chilli (slit): 2
Mint leaves: a few (also mint powder can be added)
Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp.
Red chilli powder: 1/2 tsp.
Coriander powder: 1/2 tsp.
Garam Masala: 1/2 tsp.
Lemon juice: 2 tsp.
Salt: To taste
Yoghurt: 4 tsp.

1. Heat butter and temper all the whole spices: cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, star anise and bay leaves. Add chopped onions and let fry till they start getting brown.
2. Add ginger and garlic and cook for another minute. Add the mint leaves and mix well. Add the slit green chillis and cook for 30 seconds.
3. Add turmeric, red chilli, coriander powder, salt and yoghurt. Mix well. Add the chicken pieces. Mix well and let cook for a minute. Add the garam masala and mix.
4. Add a bit of water (1/2 cup) and cover. Let cook for 15 minutes. Remove cover, add the lemon juice and serve hot.

Rajma Chaat (Red kidney beans)

Much like the Black eyed beans chaat, this is another evening snack to satisfy my hunger pangs. But unlike the black eyed beans, these must be soaked in advance, at least 6-8 hours before you would like to prepare this chaat.. This chaat picture is of brown rajma, similarly red rajma can also be used with the same procedure. What I do is, whenever I prepare Punjabi Rajma Masala, I soak a handful of extra beans and keep the extra boiled beans in the refrigerator. Then I make this chaat the next day, so it turns out to be pretty easy for me.

Ingredients:

Red kidney beans (boiled): 1 cup
Onion (chopped): 1
Tomato (chopped): 1
Green chilli (chopped): 1
Salt: to taste
Red chilli powder: 1/2 tsp.
Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp.
Chaat masala (optional)
Cumin seeds: 1/2 tsp.
Cooking oil: 2 tsp.

1. Heat oil in a pan and splutter the cumin seeds. Add onions and fry for few seconds, do not cook for long time.
2. Add the tomatoes and green chilli. Add salt, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and mix well. Let cook for a minute. Don't let the tomatoes be soft or it will not taste like chaat. 
3. Add the rajma and mix well. Add chaat masala, mix well and cook for 30 seconds. Remove from heat, add lemon juice and serve. 

Lemon Chicken

Ingredients:

For the marination:

Chicken: 200 gm
Ginger: 1 inch
Garlic: 3 cloves
Green chilli: 1
Turmeric powder: 1 tsp.
Coriander powder: 1 tsp.
Lemon juice: 2 tsp.
Peppercorns: 1/2 tsp.
Salt: To taste

For the curry:

Onions (chopped): 1
Curry leaves: a few
Lemon pickle/lemon juice: 2 tsp.
Green chilli (chopped): 1
Lemon pieces of 1-2 lemons
Cooking oil: 2 tsp.

1. Make a paste from ginger, garlic and green chillis. Mix with turmeric powder, coriander powder, salt, peppercorns and lemon juice. Marinate the chicken in this mix for 30 minutes.
2. After 30 minutes, add this mix to a pan and cook for about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and take out in a separate bowl. Keep aside.  
   
3. Heat oil in a pan and add the chopped onions and curry leaves. Let cook for about 2 minutes. Add the lemon pickle (which gives a wonderful taste, otherwise you can use lime juice as well) and green chillis. Mix well and let cook for another minute. 
   
4. Add the cooked chicken and the lemon wedges. Mix well and cover for 10 minutes. Remove cover and mix well. Serve hot.

Egg Curry

Egg curry has always been my favourite at home, but when I moved out of home, I could never successfully boil eggs. So I could never make egg curry myself. But when I discovered the recipe for How to make perfect hard-boiled eggs, and it was a big success, I was delighted and the first thing I did was to prepare this wonderful punjabi style egg curry, which I had been craving for such a long time.

It turned out so perfect I was impressed of myself.. lol. And hubby complimented by saying that this is so perfect that even if anyone wants to find out a fault in this dish, he won't be able to.. Needless to say I was flattered.. !! So here I'm sharing the perfect (ahem!) recipe of Egg-curry from my kitchen.

Ingredients:

Hard boiled eggs: 3
Onion: 1
Garlic: 3 cloves
Ginger: 1 inch
Green chilli: 1
Tomato: 1
Cumin seeds: 1 tsp.
Salt: to taste
Red chilli powder: 1/2 tsp.
Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp.
Cooking oil: 2 tsp.

1. Roughly chop onions, garlic, ginger, tomatoes and green chilli. Make a paste of onions and garlic and keep aside. Same way make another paste from tomato, green chilli and ginger and keep aside.
2. Heat oil in a pan and temper the cumin seeds. Add the onion.garlic paste and let cook until it gets browned and starts leaving oil on the sides. 
3. Add the tomato paste and mix well. Add salt, red chilli and turmeric. Mix well and let cook until the masala is done and leaves oil on the sides. This might take about 10 minutes, do not skip this step.
4. Make small slits in the boiled and peeled eggs (which I forgot) so that the masala seeps in. Add the eggs to the masala and let cook for another 3-4 minutes, mixing well. 
5. Turn off the heat and serve hot.

Rawa dhokla (3 minute microwave recipe)

After I tried Khaman Dhokla (3 minutes microwave recipe) so many times, which is also the most famous post on my blog.. here I come with another 3-minute dhokla recipe.. this is the rava dhokla, which is made entirely of sooji (semolina) and takes the same amount of time; and of course tastes entirely different.

Ingredients:

Semolina (sooji): 1 cup
Ginger (grated) : 1 inch piece
Green chilli: 1 (finely chopped)
Oil: 3 tsp.
Lemon juice: 2 tsp.
Turmeric powder: 1 pinch
Sugar: 1 tsp.
Salt: to taste
Eno (fruit salt): 1 tsp. (or a mix of baking soda + baking powder)
Mustard seeds: 1 tsp.
Curry leaves: a few
Asafoetida: 1 pinch
Grated coconut: As required

1. Mix semolina (sooji), salt, lemon juice, ginger, green chilli, 1 tsp. oil, turmeric and sugar. Adding little water, make it to a paste. Do not add a lot of water. Keep aside for 20 minutes.
2. After 20 minutes, add eno (fruit salt). If eno is not available, a 50-50 combination of baking soda + baking powder will work the same way, I have heard it tastes better. Mix well and keep aside for 5 minutes.
3. Grease a microwave safe container and transfer the paste completely. Cover and microwave for 3 minutes on high power. My microwave has 750 W high power. If yours has less, adjust accordingly. 
4. After 3 minutes, insert a toothpick and check if it is done. If the toothpick comes out clean, means it is done. If not, microwave for another 30 seconds or a minute. Take out in another flat plate. Let cool for 5-10 minutes.
5. By the time, prepare the tempering. Heat oil and splutter the mustard seeds. Add the asafoetida and curry leaves. Add 3-4 tsp. water after a minute. Turn off the heat after 30 seconds and pour this tempering over the dhokla. 
6. Garnish with grated coconut and coriander leaves (optional), cut in desired shapes and serve with Coriander Chutney.