Chicken/Kori Ghassi

Source: Konkan Cookbook by Sanjeev Kapoor

Ingredients:

For the marination:

• 1 kilo chicken, cleaned and cut into small pieces
• 1 and a half tbsps lemon juice
• 1 and a half tbsps ginger garlic paste
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• Salt to taste

To grind:

• 1 and a half cups scraped coconut(I used a cup of desiccated coconut)
• 1 and a half tbsps coriander seeds
• 15 peppercorns
• 1/2 tsp Fenugreek seeds(methi)
• 1 and a half tsps cumin seeds
• 10 whole bedgi red chillies deseeded(I do not deseed)
• 3 tbsps oil
• 3 medium sized onions finely chopped(to use half of this for grinding)

To season:

• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 10 curry leaves(I didn't have any)
• 8 garlic cloves finely chopped

For the gravy:

• 1 and a half tbsps tamarind pulp
• 3/4 cup coconut milk

Method:

1. Marinate chicken with the marinade ingredients for an hour.
2. Dry roast scraped coconut to a light brown color. Lightly sauté coriander, fenugreek, cumin seeds, peppercorns, and whole red chillies in 2 teaspoons of oil. Grind these along with roasted scraped coconut and half the chopped onions to a fine paste using a little water if required.
3. Heat remaining oil in a vessel. Add mustard seeds and curry leaves. When the seeds begin to crackle, add chopped garlic and onion and sauté for 5 minutes on low heat.
4. Add ground masala and sauté for 5 minutes till a nice aroma is given out.
5. Add marinated chicken. Stir well and add one cup of water. Adjust salt. Cover and cook till chicken is well cooked. 
6. Add tamarind pulp and stir well. Add coconut milk and remove from heat just when it comes to a boil.
7. Serve hot with Mangalore roti or with Deutsch brötchen(bun) as I have done...:)

Spicy Chicken Stew/ Jeeren Meeren

Hi guys!! I hope everybody's Sunday is turning out just as they want it to be. This side, it is lazy and nice..:) We were on our weekend outing yesterday so today was a quiet day at home. 

        Over to what was on our lunch menu this afternoon. Every Sunday it is the hen that is cooked in our home. Occasionally the pig too has an entry to make. Depends on the mood, mine.... not the pig's...:) The spicy chicken stew I made today is one of the family's favorite. It does taste a lot like the jeere meere version of Mangalore, though it's a blend of all the Indian spices without coconut. It is an excellent accompaniment with neer dosa, appam, sanna or pulao.

Ingredients:
To grind:

• 3 medium sized onions quartered.
• 2 inch piece ginger chopped
• 2 big cloves garlic
• 1 tomato chopped
• 3 green chillies
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds
• 1 tbsp pepper corns
• 3 inch cinnamon stick
• 5 cloves
• 4 long red chillies
• 1/2 tsp mustard
• marble sized tamarind

1 kilo chicken cut into small pieces

1 small onion finely sliced.

1 tbsp ghee

1 tsp vinegar(optional)

salt to taste.

Method:

1. Wash chicken and keep aside.
2. In a mixer grind all the ingredients to a fine paste.
3. In a khadai, heat the ghee. Fry sliced onion till golden brown.
4. Add the ground masala and fry well till it gives out an aroma(about 10 minutes). Be careful not to burn.
5. Drop in the chicken pieces and mix well till the masala coats all the pieces. Add salt.
6. Add in a cup of water( you can rinse the masala from the sides of the mixer with a cup of water and add this)
7. Depending on your taste you can add more water if you would like a thinner form of gravy.
8. Cook till the chicken is soft and tender.
9. If you would like an extra tinge of sourness you can add the extra teaspoon of vinegar. 
10. Serve hot with neer dosa, appam, sanna or pulao.

(This gravy does turn out spicy. To suit your palette you can reduce the amount of green chillies and pepper)

Vegetable Bonda with Coriander Chutney

 (I know the picture is not good nor presentable. But with 3 hungry mouths waiting to dig in, it was pretty hard for them to be patient while I kept clicking away...:D)

Summer vacations have finally begun and I had been waiting like crazy for this moment. The German classes were finally getting to me(seriously) and I must admit that my multi tasking skills at home were being put to the test!! Unlike India where there is excitement and frenzy in the air and a certain kind of thrill to schools closing for the summer vacation, over here there is absolute no feel at all. Maybe due to the fact that the kids have no annual examination of any sort(they are assessed the whole year through in the form of surprise tests). The last academic year 2010, I was pretty shocked with the whole concept and in fact missed the drama we parents encounter back home in India. From the morning madness to the revision of chapters on our drive to school, on return going through the question papers back at home and finally the day the report cards would be issued....:D  Sigh, I still miss all this. 

Anyway, just like me, hubby too was waiting for me to be at home and don the role of Hausfrau(house wife) for a month..:D His only wish though was for me to prepare bobo everyday for tea( Can anybody please tell me where on earth did this word originate from??) And by Bobo he definitely meant his typical favorite Mangalorean snacks or savories like vorn, ambade, mani and so on.. I also knew the two blogs I would be referring to the maximum this month...:) Ruchik Randhap and Food, Football and a baby. Both Shireen's and Michelle's blog are the kind which take me through flashbacks and help me reminisce over all my favorite food from our home town Mangalore. There are days when just their pictures of food make me miss my homeland like crazy. 

So over to today's bobo, Vegetable Bondas from Michelle's space. To know more about this savory snack head on over to Michelle's blog. The hot spicy bondas taste best on a cold rainy day, though I didn't wait for any showers as we are already experiencing a very cold summer( or early winter??). I have tweaked the recipe slightly to suit our palette.

Ingredients for the vegetable filling:

2 medium potatoes peeled and chopped

2 carrots peeled and chopped

half a cup of green peas

2 green chillies finely minced(can add more or less depending on your tolerance level to spice)

2 cloves garlic minced

1 inch ginger minced

1 sprig curry leaves

1 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp hot chill powder or to taste

1/2 tsp garam masala powder

1 tbsp oil

a few sprigs coriander leaves chopped fine

salt to taste

For the batter:

2 cups chickpea/gram flour

1/2 tsp chilli powder or to taste

1/2 tap garam masala powder

Salt to taste

Enough water to make a thick batter

Oil for deep frying

Method:

1. Boil the vegetables with salt until soft. Drain well and mash coarsely.
2. In a small pan, heat the oil. Add the mustard seeds. When they splutter, add the curry leaves, finely chopped green chillies, ginger, garlic, chill and garam masala powder. Saute for around 20 seconds and then pour this into the mashed vegetable mixture.
3. Stir in the chopped coriander and mix well. Check seasoning and add more salt if you feel the mash needs it.
4. Shape the filling into small balls and place them in the fridge to firm them up a bit.
5. In another bowl, stir together the gram flour, chilli, garam masala powder and salt. Add water little by little, stirring continuously until a thick batter is formed. The batter should be thick. If too runny add a little more flour. When done, keep aside.
6. Heat oil for deep frying. Take out the vegetable balls. Dip them into the batter so they are covered thoroughly with the batter. When the oil is very hot, carefully drop the balls into the hot oil. Fry the bondas till they are a light golden color. Carefully lift out of the oil and drain on kitchen paper.
7. Serve hot with ketchup, mint/coriander or coconut chutney along with a cup of hot Indian chai..:)

Blend together half a bunch of fresh coriander leaves, 1/2 inch piece of ginger, 1 garlic clove, 1 green chilli, 1/2 tsp jeera powder and a little bit of tamarind along with very little water to make a quick coriander chutney!!

Batata Poha

I am married to a mama's boy....:) And mama's boy has a long list of favorite dishes solely prepared by mommy dearest. Batata poha or beaten rice with potatoes is one of them. For the 12 years that we have been married, I never attempted to learn or prepare these select recipes simply for the fact that they should be enjoyed during our visits back home or when mum in law visited us. Well, things have changed now. With us living so far away, trips to and fro have reduced. Plus when you have a husband pining for his favorite food, you have got to give in some time..:D

Batata Poha makes for a very nutritious breakfast. Rich in iron and paired along with potatoes and groundnuts gives you a power packed breakfast to begin your day.

BATATA POHA (serves 4)
Source: Modern Cookery by Thangam E Philip


Ingredients:

• Beaten Rice                 225 gms
• Potatoes                       225 gms
• Onions                         200 gms
• Groundnuts                    50 gms( added by me)
• Cumin                            1 tsp
• Mustard seeds                1 tsp
• Coriander leaves            to garnish
• Turmeric                        1 tsp
• Curry leaves                   2 sprigs
• Oil                                  4 tbsps
• Salt                                 to taste
• A dash of lemon juice.

Method:

1. Peel and dice potatoes. Chop onions and coriander leaves finely.
2. Heat oil. Add mustard and cumin seeds. When they splutter drop in the curry leaves. Fry onions till brown.
3. Add potatoes, groundnuts and turmeric powder. Cook on a slow fire till potatoes are cooked. Be careful not to burn them.
4. Put rice in a colander. Hold under a running tap or pour water for about half a minute. Let it drain.
5. Add the rice to the potatoes and salt to taste.. Cook for another 5 minutes. Add a dash of lemon juice to taste. Serve garnished with chopped coriander leaves.

Summer Berry Crepes

Yaaaaay!!! Spring is here, it's here to stay. With this, it has also brought a whole lot of berries in the supermarkets. Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, black berries.....name them, they are all there!! All lined up in neat packs, colorful and sinful eagerly waiting to be picked up by people like me. Much as I miss fruits from my home country, I am taking advantage of the fact that I get to enjoy fruits which are considered exotic back home. Apart from costing a bomb, berries in India lack the taste(they are sour or under ripe) and end up rotting away too soon.
Last year we hoarded on them as it is. I ended up trying only 2 recipes which called for berries. This year, I want to try out much more before the season ends, which will be towards Autumn. So, presenting to you Summer Berry Crepes.
  What is a crepe?  It is a French pancake generally made from wheat flour or maida too. The word CREPE refers to both the individual pancake and the filled creation. While we do get ready made fillings in plenty both in the bottled and canned form, there is nothing like preparing your own. Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda.
• 1 large egg
• 1 and quarter cups milk
• a few drops of vanilla extract
• oil for greasing
• powdered sugar for dusting

For the fruit:

• 1 tablespoon low fat spread
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup orange juice
• 2 cups mixed berries( I used blue and straw berries)
• 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier or other orange-flavoored liqueur

Method:

1. Sift the flour into a large bowl. Break in the egg and gradually whisk in the milk to form a smooth batter. Stir in the vanilla. Set the batter aside in a cool place for half an hour.
2. Apply a light coat of oil in a non stick frying pan. Whisk the batter, then pour a little of it into the hot pan, swirling to cover the bottom evenly. Cook until the mixture comes away from the sides and the crepe is golden underneath.
3. Flip over the crepe with a large spatula and cook the other side briefly until golden. Use up the batter to fry the remaining crepes, meanwhile keeping the ready ones warm in an oven or a hot box.
4. For the filling, melt the spread in a thick bottomed vessel. Stir in the sugar and cook gently. Add the orange juice and cook until syrupy. Then add the berries and warm through. Turn off and add the liqueur. 
5. Fold the pancakes into quarters and arrange two on each plate. Spoon on the berry mixture and dust with powdered sugar. Serve the remaining fruit separately (Trust me, there is going to be huge demand for the remaining fruit...:D)

The above recipe makes 8 pancakes. How I wish, I had a cosy little garden along with some garden chairs to relax and sink into this exotic preparation. But for now, we are content with our tiny dining space, digging into the crepes as warm sunshine fills our homes. Boy, do I love spring!!!!!

Goli Baje.

I had seen this coming. Sonny declared with exasperation that he was done with the baking and eating cakes. He wanted something theek(spicy in konkani). That's the only konkani word he knows..:D And by theek, he meant all the Indian snacks that his brain could think of. Chakuli, sonte, kaara kaddi.....the list goes on. Not that I would prepare all of this back home. These are goodies which are freely available at any store. Also, a variety of snacks are available in many hotels, so there was indeed no need to break your head over preparation. 

Sonny's desire got me thinking. It is true that now being well versed with baking, I think I must have gone overboard. But to me, it is simple to bake a cake, healthier, and easier to pack it as a snack(in the muffin form). So, when Michelle's blog popped up with the goli baje post and the drooly pictures, I thought I would surprise my family for a change.

So, on the decided day, I informed hubby of what I was upto in the kitchen and informed him to come home early. It tastes heavenly to pop in the goli bajes into your mouth when piping hot than when it is stone cold(which is what the food turns to pretty soon in Deutschland). In between frying and constant calls to hubby dearest to get home as soon as possible, the goli baje's turned out to be such a hit that I had content children going to bed without any dinner, cause they had stuffed themselves with so many of these fried balls. Not to forget the glee on hubby's face too when served with these the kudla way!!!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup plain flour(maida)
• 1/4 cup besan flour(chickpea)
• 1/2 cup plain yoghurt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tbsp sugar,
• salt to taste
• 2 tsp finely chopped ginger
• 1 green chilly finely chopped
• 3 tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped
• enough oil for deep frying

Method:

1. Sift the flour, besan, baking soda, salt and sugar.
2. Add the yoghurt, mixing well.
3. Now slowly whisk in the water, a little at a time, until the batter just heavily slides off a spoon.
4. Stir in the ginger, chilly and coriander leaves.
5. Let the batter sit for 30 minutes to 6 hours( mine sat for 7).
6. Heat enough oil for deep frying in a pan. The oil should be hot enough so that when batter is dropped in, it should quickly rise to the surface.
7. Drop in spoonfuls of batter, not too many at a time. Lower the heat as you do this.
8. Deep fry for seven to eight minutes until they are a light golden brown in color.
9. Use a slotted spoon to remove them gently from the pan and drain them on an absorbent kitchen paper.
10. Repeat until batter is used up.
11. Serve hot with a chutney(I didn't have the ingredients to whip up one) or ketchup along with a cup of hot tea!!!

A great snack to wipe away not only the winter blues also homesickness!!!!

Michelle's Punjabi Chole.

Hello to readers of my blog. Am sorry for the guest appearances I have been giving. Its just that managing two blogs seems quite hard and am giving more attention to the other fellow..Sorry to The Chef. Please do not get angry. I promise to give attention to you too.

  Well, over the New Years, we as a family decided to have more of vegetarian meals. Okay, I made the decision and husband and kids welcomed it with glee. You heard me right. With glee. What? Aren't we Mangy's who love dukra maas and sannas with toddy?? Oh yes we are, but somehow I have children who are more of the Bangy kind, mosaru ana(curd rice) lovers!! They absolutely love veggies. But being the mangy I am, I never mastered the art of cooking exotic vegetarian dishes.

  So when the kilos in me started piling up, thanks to expat life and non availability of a lot of Indian food, we resorted to eating meat everyday. Being the lazy woman I am who hates to exercise, I thought it is now or never. High time to make some changes in our food would be the first step. Which meant, I had to put in more effort to searching recipes and bring about a change in our cuisine. It has been a month, and am happy to report(that I have lost a kilo without exercising..:D) that the change has been good and the family has been relishing the meals. And we do have our share of non vegetarian meals, thrice a week.

 Michelle, a fellow Mangalorean with an awesome food blog, blogged this recipe last week. Chick peas is an all time favorite with the family. I generally prepare it with bafath powder, seasoned with oil, mustard, curry leaves, onions and coconut(this was my own recipe). Her recipe looked tempting enough to try, and here's how it goes...

• 500 gm chick peas, boiled
• 1 large onion, diced fine
• 250gm chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
• 2 tbsp oil
• salt to taste

For the masala powder:

• 2 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 inch piece cinnamon
• 3 whole cloves
• 4 green cardamom
• 1 tsp whole black pepper
• 2 dried long red chillies
• 1 big dried bay leaf

Method:

1. Soak the chickpeas overnight. 
2. Boil them in a pressure cooker till soft and keep aside.
3. Put all the spices on a tawa and roast them well, stirring constantly.
4. Powder them fine in a mixer. 
5. In a kadhai, heat oil and cook the onion till color changes. Add the ginger garlic paste and continue to fry for another minute.
6. Add the tomatoes to the mixture and cook well till the onion and tomatoes become a thick paste.
7. Add the ground spice powder, bay leaf and salt to taste. Cook on a slow flame, stirring for about 10-15  minutes, until the masala is fairly dry.
8. Add the chickpeas along with the water and stir together gently. Simmer for 5 minutes. Garnish with spring onions and serve hot with roti or rice.

Michelle, looks like the bafath powder is going to have to take a backseat for a while. The Chole with the blend of spices was perfect to beat the winter blues. 

Garlic Bread.

Garlic Bread, the children's favorite. So also the place which serves it...PIZZA HUT!!!! This would always be on our menu whenever we visited Pizza Hut in India. The major cities in Germany do have these joints, but not our little villages. Whenever we have had the opportunity, we have visited Pizza Hut at Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Garmisch Partenkirchen. Last month I thought that maybe I should try making some myself since the kids are very fond of it. I found a very easy recipe and here it goes.

You need :

• 1 baguette (its a long thin loaf of French bread)
• 2 tbsp garlic paste
• 200 gms butter
• 4 tbsp parsley chopped finely
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 175 degrees celsius
• Mix in the butter, garlic paste, parsley, salt and pepper(I skipped it) in a bowl. Mix thoroughly.

•  Place the baguette on a chopping board and cut across diagonally, into 2-3 cm slices, without cutting completely through the bread.

• Create a gap between the slices, add a dollop of the garlic butter and smooth it down.

• Finally, spread any remaining butter over the baguette.

•  Wrap the baguette in an aluminium foil, making sure you seal the ends well.

• Place the baguette in the centre of the oven and cook it for 10 minutes. Turn it over, cook it for a further 10 minutes and then remove.
• Unwrap the baguette, cut through into slices and serve with minced meat or have it along with a hot soup!!

Note: This also works with slices of bread. I have applied the garlic butter onto slices of bread, toasted it in a toaster and served along with some scrambled eggs!! Tastes heavenly...:)

Stuffed Roast Chicken the Indian way.

Happy New Year everybody!!! I know this is late, but then NEVER TOO LATE!!! I hope everybody had a fantastic holiday, good time with loved ones and lots of good food, drink and cheer.
   Well, this side of the globe, our holidays have come to an end and the kids go back to school tomorrow. I am surely gonna miss them, but then I have a whole lot of back log of personal work, for instance updating this blog..:) So, it's gonna be a good break from them till the next vacation, which happens every other month or so!!!
My first post this year will be our "Weinachtsbraten" or Christmas lunch. I decided to prepare something totally different this year than our special mangalorean preparation.  I decided to roast a stuffed chicken the Indian way. Am glad i took that decision, cause not only did the family thoroughly enjoy this meal, it gave me plenty of time to chat with my loved ones on Christmas day, while the bird roasted gently in the oven...:)

Ingredients:
 1 whole chicken - 1.25 kilograms

For the marinade:

• 2 tbsps fresh yoghurt
• 2 tbsps lemon juice
• 2 tbsps ginger garlic paste
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

For the filling:

• 3 tbsps cooking oil
• 2 medium onions chopped fine
• 2 medium sized tomatoes chopped fine.
• 300 gms minced meat, beef or lamb
• 3/4 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
• 1 tbsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tbsp garam masala powder
• 1 cup fresh/frozen peas
• 1 cup chopped potatoes
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander leaves

For the base while roasting:

• 1 cup assorted veggies like potatoes, carrots or peas( I used only peas)
• oil for drizzling over the chicken.

Method:

1. Wash chicken, remove innards and pat dry.
2. Put all the ingredients for the marinade in a large deep bowl and mix well. Put the whole chicken into this marinade and coat well. Keep aside for 4 hours in the refrigerator.
3. An hour before roasting, prepare the filling. 
4. Heat oil in a wok or deep pan.
5. Add the cumin seeds. When they splutter, add onions and fry till golden brown.
6. Add the ginger-garlic paste and fry for a minute.
7. Add the minced meat, powdered spices, salt and fry well for 7-8 minutes.
8. Add the tomatoes, peas and potatoes. Cook till potatoes are soft.
9. Turn off the flame. Add lemon juice, coriander leaves and mix well.
10. Preheat oven to 175 degrees celsius.
11. Fill the stomach cavity of the chicken with the prepared filling. Try to fill in as much filling as possible.
12. Line the base of a glass or roasting pan with chopped veggies or peas.
13. Place the filled chicken and drizzle all over with oil.
14. Roast the chicken for 75 minutes, uncovered. It will turn to a golden brown.
15. Serve hot with a potato or a lettuce salad.