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!!