Coco Chicken :)

Couldn't come up with a better name than this :D..Coco chicken is a type of chicken curry made with Coconut and coriander paste...creamy,yummy easy to make chicken curry...here goes the recipe,

Ingredients:

For marinade,

Chicken - 500gm (Clean and cut into pieces)

Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1 large pinch

Garam masala powder - 1 tsp

Salt - as required

For Coco paste,

Freshly grated coconut - 1/2 cup

Coriander - 1 bunch (clean and chop finely)

Cashews - 1 tbsp

Khuskhus seeds - 1.5 tsp

Milk - 1 small cup

Onion - 1 (sliced)

Green chillies - 6-7 (chopped)

Oil - 2-3 tsp

For the curry,

Onion - 2 (sliced)

Salt - as required

Garam masala powder - as required

Oil - 1 tbsp

Coriander - for garnish

Method:

1. Marinade the chicken pieces with all the ingredients listed under marinade for 30min.

2. Meanwhile prepare the paste with all the ingredients listed under coco paste as follows.

3. Soak cashews and khuskhus seeds in warm milk for 5min

4. Heat 2-3 tsp oil in a kadai. Add the onions and green chillies.

5. Saute until the onions turn transperent. Remove from heat and let it cool.

6. Take this sauted mixture, soaked cashews and khuskhus along with the milk, grated coconut and chopped coriander intlo a blender and grind into a smooth paste. Set this paste aside.

7. Now for the final curry preparation heat 1 tbsp of oil in a thick bottomed kadai.

8. Add the sliced onions and saute till transperent.

9. Add the marinated chicken, coco paste and mix well.

10. Adjust salt and garam masala powder if required.

11. Cover and cook on medium flame for 15-20min mixing occassionally.

12. Finally garnish with chopped coriander.

Serve hot with roti or rice.

Chicken Curry

There are too many versions of chicken curry on the net. S and me cook this curry in our own versions. S uses the readymade garam masala powder and he also uses yogurt to marinate. I make my own masala with whatever ingredients I find in my Non-veg Masala cabinet. Today I wanted to make the masala with dhania seeds, poppy seeds, ginger,garlic and coriander leaves. I normally prefer fresh ground masala over the readymade one expecially when it comes to cooking non-veg and that too on a relaxing sunday...recipe follows,

Ingredients:

Chicken - 1kg (wash and cut into medium sized pieces)

Onions - 2 (grind into a smooth paste)

Salt - to taste

Red Chilli powder - 2 tsp (adjust)

Turmeric powder - 1 generous pinch

Oil - 2tbsp

For masala paste,

Poppy seeds - 2 tbsp (soak in warm water for 10min)

Dhania seeds - 1 tbsp (dry roasted)

Ginger - 1 piece

Garlic - 5-6 pods

Coriander leaves - 10 stems (chopped)

For garnishing,

Green chillies - 5 (cut lengthwise)

Curry leaves - 10

Chopped coriander - 1 tbsp

Chopped garlic - 1 tbsp

Procedure:

1. Make a smooth paste with Dhania seeds, poppy seeds, ginger garlic pieces and coriander leaves by adding little water.

2. Take a large mixing bowl. Add the chicken pieces, Onion paste, masala paste, turmeric powder and salt, mix well and marinate it for 30min.

3. After 30min boil the chicken mix on high until all the water evaporates. Chicken should be soft n almost cooked.

4. Take oil in a frying pan, add the cooked chicken mix, red chilli powder and fry for about 15min. Switch off the heat when the color starts changing to brown.

5.For garnishing heat oil in a small pan, fry the green chillies, curry leaves and garlic pieces until the curry leaves turn crisp.

6. Take the cooked chicken curry into a serving dish and garnish with the roasted green chilli mix and fresh coriander leaves.

Serve hot with rice or rotis.

Crispy Chicken Nuggets with Tomato Soup

I missed a Barbeque party yesterday...It was arranged to celebrate our Company summer event...The venue was so far from our home and all sorts of games conducted there..'ve got no clue of them..like quad biking, Archery etc etc...and after the event there was a drink party at cardiff bay..none of these were of interest to me...So I decided to stay at home..The weather was not that good for a barbeque yesterday...So dark n gloomy...we haven't had much summer this year...and we felt very chilly all this week...looks like winter gave an early entry...hmmm

So I've got a long weekend this week...my hubby was working yesterday So I was all alone at home...whatelse other than food comes into my mind then? I wanted to make something very very hot..like a soup...I had loads of tomatoes in the fridge which were on the verge of getting soft and damaged...So my choice was tomato soup...

I make tomato soup in three different ways..One to accompany veg based fry items (Tomato soup with rasam powder), One to be served on its own (simple version with ground pepper) and the last one to accompany non-veg fried dishes (Soup with Masala spices)....I've recently come across a simple recipe for chicken nuggets on videojug...so decided to try them....

Though it was the first time I tried these nuggets, I was so happy that they tasted similar to the Mc Donalds nuggets which are one of my favourite snack items...The link to the video is here

Recipe for Tomato Soup:

Ingredients:

Tomatoes - 8 (wash and cut into chunks)

Ginger/Garlic paste - 1 tsp

Cinnamon stick - 1 inch broken into pieces

Cloves - 5

Pepper corns - 5

Elachi powder - 1 pinch

Salt as per taste

Ghee - 1tbsp (It tastes good only with Ghee and NOT oil)

Coriander - 2 stems

Method:

1. Boil the tomatoes in 500ml of water until soft and cool.

2. Blend the tomatoes into a puree

3. Take this puree in a pan and put it on the flame.

4. Add salt and let it come to boil.

5. In a small pan heat Ghee and toss the broken cinnamon sticks, cloves, pepper corns. Add the elachi powder and ginger garlic paste and rast for 3-4min.

6. Add this mix to the boiling soup and remove from heat.

7. Garnish with coriander and serve hot with rice and any fried item.

Recipe for Chicken Nuggets:

Ingredients:

Chicken Breasts - 2 (slice off any bones, fat n skin)

All purpose flour - 2 tbsp

Eggs - 2

Bread crumbs - 2 tbsp

Salt - as per taste

Pepper - 2 tsp

Dried Basil - 2 tsp

Oil - 100ml

Method:

1. Clean and cut the chicken breasts into chunks.

2. Take these chunks into a blender and add the salt and spices (basil and pepper). Blend for a few sec until the chunks are roughly chopped.

3.Break the eggs into a bowl and beat.

4. Shape the chicken mix into small balls. Roll them in the flour

5. Dip into the egg mix.

6. Coat with bread crumbs finally.

7. Heat oil in a pan to medium hot and fry these nuggets on both sides until brown for abt 5min, turning them frequently so that they don't get burnt.

8. Serve hot.

These chicken nuggets are my favourite snacks and hence this is my entry to What's your Favourite Snack, WYF event hosted by Hima of SnackORama