Pepper Curry

I love green pepper curry which is generally done with peanut, cashew or coconut paste. Not necessarily green pepper, you can substitute cashew with sesame seeds for the famous andhra gutti vankaya kura. The dish is very rich in protein, but the peanut adds load of fat.

When I prepared aloo chole the other day, I thought I could use the channa puree for thickening sauces. So I used the channa puree paste in the green pepper curry to try the low-fat green pepper curry. The taste was great. Since I had boiled channa at hand I used it. Next time I am going to use soaked channa and see whether it cooks in the curry itself.

For this curry I did do home made Garam masala. The recipe for garam masala is as versatile as our own recipes for curry. This chettinad masala recipe I got from ndtv site has been my favourite masala recipe for a long time. Ofcourse, I have customized it according to my taste.


Garam Masala
1 inch cinnamon stick
4 cloves
5 cardamom pods
10 peppercorns
3 dry chillies
2 tsp fennel(saunf)
2 tsp coriander powder or roughly 3 tsp coriander seeds

Roast for a couple of minutes and dry-grind in a coffee grinder. If you are using store-bought garam masala then add 1 tsp of chilli powder to the curry.


Ingredients
- 3 large peppers (Anaheim / banana / bell / capsicum ) cut into large pieces
- two cups presoaked and boiled garbanzo beans
- 1 tomato
- half a big onion
- 3 tsp garam masala powder
- 1 tsp chillipowder ( omit if using the garam masala recipe above )
- pinch turmeric & salt.


1. Saute the chopped onions in a tsp oil.
2. Meanwhile puree the boiled channa and the tomato.
3. When the onion is soft, add puree and garam masala powder and a cup of water.
4. Add salt and cover and cook for 15 minutes.
5. Add the pepper pieces and continue to cook for another 20 minutes. No need to add the pepper along with onion and saute it as we do commonly with any curry. The pepper becomes mushy when added early in the process.

Njoy over rice or chappathis.

Mock Eggflower Combo soup

I love soups. Especially soups that make a complete meal. South western Chili and Chinese soups are my favourite. Once a colleague made this soup for the first course of dinner and since then I was hooked to it.

I guess soups are so versatile and easy and just by adding one ingredient you can completely change the flavour. I have tried different methods to do soups, right from the scratch, lot of store-help versions - depending on my mood and patience.

Generally for preparing the chicken stock I either use swanson brand or make my own. To prepare chicken stock at home, I pressure cook the chicken thighs in water ( upto 4 whistles ) and dilute it and use it. This also freezes up well.

So this is how I do it.

Ingredients

- Chicken or vegetable stock - 4 cups
- Frozen corn
- 1 egg white
- pepper powder
- cilantro
- knorr sweet corn soup mix - 2 tablespoons ( optional )
- boiled chicken pieces finely shredded ( optional )


1. Bring the stock to a boil and add the soup mix. Dissolve two tablespoons of corn flour in water and add if you are not using the soup mix.
2. Add frozen veggies, I generally use frozen corn. Mix of corn, peas and carrots would be great too. Also add the chicken pieces.
3. When you reach the required consistency, stream in one egg white. Use a fork to lightly break the egg whites when stirring into the soup. Dont stir too much it will get completely mixed up in the soup.
4. Boil for another minute, add chopped cilantro, pepper powder and Njoy


Tips:

- Remember the soup thickens when egg white is added.
- Beating the egg white before adding into the soup helps the egg white to spread quickly instead of forming a lump.
- Dont add salt if you use store bought stock.

Aloo Chole

This weekend for cooking it has been regulars french beans, cabbage & eggplant. So I was browsing the web to try something different and ofcourse low fat and high protein. And I came across this recipe by Indira of Mahanandhi - Aloo chole. Thought would be perfect combination for the whole wheat tortiallas I had purchased last week.

I loved the idea of using pureed garbanzo beans to get the gravy instead of coconut or peanuts - I have no idea whether this is the way to do traditional aloo chole or not - but its a smart way and I think this is how I am going to thicken gravies in kormas hereafter - Low-fat thickener and a healthy dose of protein.

Anyways, I followed her recipe - Not the quantity of ingredients only the items. I added some extra chickpeas for the puree and omitted cilantro paste. And I did not have channa masala so used regular garam masala.



Indira has a cool description of the recipe. So I am not repeating it. But just a couple of fotos to show how it turned out :) The taste was too good. I loved it so did Ravi.

Chicken - 65 - Without the fat !!

Who does not like Chicken-65 ?( Well ofcourse, this question does not apply to the vegetarians ). The answer is apparently everyone does. The juicy pieces of chicken coated with the garammasala, chillypowder and a hot & sour onion salad on the side is very tantalizing to the taste buds.

But it used to pull me down to know that the chicken should be deep or atleast shallow fried in oil.. MY BIL taught me this recipe to use the oven to roast the chicken so we get the flavour of the chicken - 65 without the oil..

This recipe is rather very diverse and there is no single recipe that is "original" or "correct". Chilly powder and salt are the only two ingredients that is common to all chicken-65 recipes - apart from the chicken, ofcourse. Some call for yoghurt instead of or in addition to lime juice, few other would use ginger-garlic paste in the marinade. Some chicken 65 recipes even use eggs..

This recipe that I follow is adapted from Pachakam site. Here is how I do it..
Ingredients
- Chicken pieces - 15 small one inch cubes
- Marinade - Lime juice 2 tbsp, Red chilly powder 1/2 tsp, Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp, Coriander powder, Jeerakam powder 1/2 tsp, Masala powder 1/2 tsp, Salt 1/2 tsp
- Curry leaves - 6 or 7 leaves
- Green chillies - 5


1. Marinate the chicken pieces in the marinade ingredients - the lime juice, chilly powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, masala powder and salt. Marinate overnite.

2. Spread an aluminium foil directly over the middle oven rack and arrange the chicken pieces and spray some oil (like PAM) on top.

3. Set the oven to 400 degrees and let the chicken roast in the heat for around 20 to 25 minutes. Once the pieces are golden brown turn them once. Wait for another 10 to 15 minutes.

4. Heat a tsp of oil in a pan, add curry leaves and chopped green chillies. Once the curry leaves pop, add the chicken pieces. Toss around a couple of times and switch off. If you cant eat spicy food you can skip this step altogether.

5. Thinly slice some red onions and marinate in some lemon juice, (sliced chillies optional) and salt. Serve on the side along with the chicken 65 and a lime wedge. Njoy !!

Poondu Kozhambu - Debut with the Mann Chatti

This weekend I thought I will put the chatti to use by cooking some kozhambu. Kozhambu (or pulusu) is a red sauce typically made with tamarind, onions, tomato & chillipowder. Apart from these, there will be one ingredient that will make that kozhambu special - Garlic, in this case. I had got some beautiful vine ripe tomatoes and the moment I saw the vine ripe I knew I was going to put them to good use.


Poondu kolambu over curd rice mudha

Cooking in chatti ( clay pot ) as we all know enhances the taste and earthenware absorbs the acidic effects of the tamarind making it safe for the stomach.

The resulting honey-like consistency of the kozhambu along with the buttery garlic awakes even a sober palette. I love to enjoy this kozhambu with idli and with curd rice.


Ingredients

- half a medium sized onion chopped
- 6 cloves of garlic whole
- two medium sized vine ripe tomatoes
- 1 and half tsp sambar powder
( Use 1 tsp chilli powder and half tsp dhaniya powder if you dont have sambar powder )
- For tempering, 1 tsp cumin, half tsp mustard, half tsp fenugreek, 6 curry leaves
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- Puree extracted from tamarind which is size of a lime
- salt to taste
- 2 tsp gingely oil (Gingely oil adds a special flavour)



1. Heat the chatti, add oil and when the oil is hot, temper with cumin, mustard, fenugreek and curry leaves

2. After the mustard splatters, add whole garlic cloves and saute for a couple of minutes.

3. Add chopped onion and chopped tomato with a couple of minute intervals.

4. Now add the sambar powder (or chillipowder & coriander powder), turmeric and salt.

5. After all the water comes out from the tomato ( may be 5 minutes ) add the tamarind puree and continue to cook till the sauce thickens and the garlic become soft.

6. Njoy over curd rice, dhal rice, plain rice or even chappathis and idlis.

Happy Tamil New Year ! Puthandu Nalvazhthukkal !

Mango Pachadi

This is a sweet and sour and spicy dish that I simply loveeeddd as a kid and still do. The taste of this dish takes me right to Chennai to my home :) I love sucking on to the mango seed that is soaked in the seasoned jaggery juices. Nostalgic !!!

After I made maamidikaya pappu (mango dhal) yesterday I saved half of a mango for this pachadi.

The nice things about this pachadi is that it has very very few ingredients, incredibly no-brainer dish ( I never ever missed the original taste ) and a kid-pleaser. I would also advocate for this dish that its a better alternative for jams as it has jaggery instead of sugar.

Call me crazy I love to have this pachadi as a side-dish to sambar rice, yoghurt rice and rasam rice. I guess everyone has their own crazy combinations which is not very appetizing to the rest of the world.

I really dont know whether it can be called "chutney" - It is kind of but not very similar in taste to the famous "Mango chutney" that is served in some Indian restaurants nor am I sure about the ingredients in that other chutney.

So without much more ado, here is the recipe :


Ingredients

- Half of a raw Mango chopped into small pieces with the seed. Seed is optional
- 2 tbs of Jaggery
- Tempering: 1 tsp oil, 1 tsp mustard, 1 tsp jeera, 2 dried red chillies, few curry leaves
- turmeric


1) Boil the mango pieces with little bit of turmeric and little water

2) Meanwhile, dissolve the jaggery by boiling it in little water, cool and strain it to remove any impurities

3) Heat oil in a kadai, add oil and temper it by adding the mustard, jeera, red chillies and curry leaves

4) Add jaggery water and mashed mango pieces & salt to taste. Add the jaggery water little by little to make sure that the dish does not become not too sweet.

5) After it thickens to consistency of jam remove from heat and enjoy !!!!


Variations

- For a rather smooth texture, use peeled mango pieces
- Including the seed is optional

Thank you !

After two weeks of blogging food that I really enjoyed and proud to present - I was very happy to see the feedback for my recipes. I was over-joyed that other fellow bloggers had a peek into what I had posted and left some comments that I read and re-read and re-read and re-read many times :)

For a novice in blogging, it really meant a lottttt. Thank you guys - Anjali, Diane, Vineela, Santhi, Priya, Saffron Hut, Tanuja, Puspha, Kitchenmate, Sumi, Vaishali, Priya Balabhaskaran for posting comments and ofcourse thanks to Anthony for including my Soya fritters for the 14th Curry mela. Thanks to all the food-lovers who had a peek into my blog. Keep coming !

I am still not very sure of the direction my food blog is going to go. Food tasted and savoured at my home in Chennai, tasty food with no or very little oil, food that are definitely nutritious are all the thoughts in my head right now.

OK. I have something to show you all - I proudly present "The Mann Chatti ( clay pot ) " - The mann chatti - fish curry of Kitchen mate was too tempting to resist - This weekend I bought 2 of those and I was really really lucky to find them here in Bay area. I have started using it for boiling potatoes for now to remove the soluble outer clay ( if any, trying to be cautious thats all ! )


Thats all for now. Happy Blogging !

End of the Week - Soya Fritters ( Vadai )

Whew, I am really relieved that this week is coming to an end. Been really busy - But always sneaked-in some time too see other food-bloggers' sites - Too good to miss ;)

Hey ! I found out just now Kitchenmate has included me in her meme. Been here just over 2 weeks ! Thank you kitchen mate :) :)

Well for this weekend I made soya fritters today. I saw this recipe a long time ago in Nutrela website and impressed by the nutrient content of the dish. I did not want to use bengal gram because simply I did not have time wait until its soaked. So I used Udaichakadalai ( or pottu kadalai ) - That is putnaalupappu in Telugu and Dhalia in hindi and Roasted chick peas( click here for the nutrition info) in English. Also I found adding dhalia makes the vada / fritters crispy.


Ingredients

- soaked soya chunks/granules ( around 12 ) - if you have no time to soak pour hotwater over the soya and let it sit for 10 mins
- roasted chickpeas one handful ground in a coffee grinder
- onion 1/2 of a medium sized onion finely chopped
- ginger garlic paste half tsp
- green chillies chopped ( optional ) - number depends on how hot you want I would add 1 chilly
- cilantro chopped ( optional )
- garam masala powder half tsp ( optional )

Balls Ready to be flattened and fried

1) Grind the soaked soya chunks, ginger and garlic, chillies in a blender - with very little water

2) Add the roasted chickpeas powder the ground paste ( its ok if its coarse)and mix well without lumps.

3) Add chopped onions, cilantro, garammasala powder and salt

4) Make into round balls of equal size and flatten it out in the palm of your hands and deep fry in oil.

5) Njoy with ketchup or any chutney

Thai Chicken - My Version

Ravi and I love thai food. After we moved to Bay area a few months ago, we were longing for the lovely thai food that we had relished in Reno. Atlast we found one. With great expectations we went to the restaurant and in an effort to go on low-fat diet Ravi asked the waiter "Can you suggest some dish that is not deep fried ?"

The waiter thought and thought and after a while he suggested a dish that I already wanted to order. Any other suggestions Ravi asked - "No thats the only one I can think of" was the response of the waiter.

So we decided not to eat Thai food outside ( Well, atleast for sometime ). But we had to indulge in Thai food - So I came up with this Thai dish with the familiar ingredients in thai food - basil, soy sauce and oyster sauce. Ravi really enjoyed the outcome.

Ingredients

Marinade - 3 cloves garlic finely chopped, 1" peeled ginger finely chopped, A bunch of basil roughly chopped, soy sauce 3 tbp, chilli sauce 2 tbsp, oyster sauce two tsp

Chicken - 1 pound breast meat

Veggies - any of these veggies - bamboo shoots, snap peas, sliced carrots, bell peppers, onions.

Marinade

1. Slice the chicken into bite sized pieces. Take a big ziplog throw in the marinade items together along with the chicken & veggies. Marinate in the fridge for atleast 2 hours. ( I marinated mine overnight )

2. Remove the veggies from the marinade-mix and pop the rest into the oven covered with a alumininum foil for 30 mins at 400 degrees.

3. Remove the foil add the veggies and again into the oven for another 20 mins at 450 degrees. ( without the foil this time )

4. Add some fresh basil and serve over hot rice.