Hariyali chicken

| Rekha Vengalil
Wishing all my readers and friends a very happy and prosperous TWENTY FOURTEEN …
 
“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.” –Edith Lovejoy Pierce
 
Winding up 2013 with this delicious and yet easy to make chicken curry. 

You need –

  • Chicken – 1/2 kilo, cut into bite size pieces
  • Coriander leaves – 1.5 cups
  • Mint leaves – 1/2 cup
  • Garlic pods – 3 big
  • Garlic – 1’ inch piece
  • Green chili – 4-5 or per taste
  • Onions – 2, finely sliced
  • Yogurt – 1/2 cup, beaten
  • Lemon Juice – 2 teaspoon
  • Green cardamom – 2
  • Turmeric powder – 1/4 teaspoon
  • Cinnamon – 1 stick
  • Clove – 1
  • Ghee – as required
  • Salt to taste

How to –

Clean and wash the chicken well. Drain the water completely and marinate the chicken with salt and lemon juice for 30 minutes.
 
In blender, make a fine paste of ginger-garlic, cinnamon, cardamom, clove. Set aside. Blend together the green chilies, coriander leaves and mint leaves to a fine paste.
Heat ghee in heavy bottom pan. Add the ginger-garlic and whole spice paste and fry till raw smell is gone. Add the onion and cook till translucent. Add the turmeric powder and sauté for a minute.
 
Add the chicken and mix well. Cover and cook till chicken is half cooked. Now add the coriander-mint paste, 1/2 cup water or as required and cook till done.

Reduce the flame and add the yogurt, salt (remember you have marinated the chicken with salt so add accordingly). Bring to gentle simmer and turn off the heat.
 
Serve hot with rice or Indian flat bread.
 
P.S – I have made the gravy thick so please add water accordingly.

 

Chocolate cup cakes with orange butter-cream frosting and The Cooking Doctor silicone cupcake liners review

| Rekha Vengalil

Candied fruits cookies

| Rekha Vengalil
Candied fruits are so Christmassy. I had plans to make them at home but laziness took over and ended up with store-brought. But if you want to make them yourself, check out the recipe here.
 
These cookies are crunchy on the outside, Soft and chewy on the inside. Double up the recipe if you want to make big batch as they disappear really fast. Perfect for Christmas gifts too. 

You need –

  • Unsalted butter – 75 grams, softened
  • Light brown muscovado sugar – 40 grams
  • Caster sugar – 40 grams
  • Vanilla extract – 1/2 teaspoon
  • Egg – 1.5 tablespoon of 1 beaten egg
  • Plain flour – 110 grams 
  • Baking  soda – 1/4 teaspoon
  • salt – 1/4 pinch
  • Mixed candied fruits – 100 grams
 How to –
Preheat the oven to 170 C. Line the baking trays with non-stick baking paper. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Set aside.
In the mixing bowl, beat  the butter and sugars into a bowl and beat lite and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract and egg. Add the sifted flour mixture. Using a wooden spoon, gently mix well. Add the candied fruits and mix till everything is well combined. 
 
Drop 1 tablespoon of the dough into the prepared baking tray. Slightly press with the back of the spoon  and spacing at least  2 inches  between each cookie.
 
Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until light brown on the edges and still slightly soft in the center. 
Allow the cookies to firm up on the tray for about 10 minutes and  then transfer to a cooling rack.
 
 
 
 

Sindhi dal

| Rekha Vengalil


Recipe source – Sanjeev Kapoor

You need –

  • Bengal gram/Channa dal – 3/4 cup
  • Turmeric powder- 1/4 teaspoon
  • Chili powder – 1/2 teaspoon
  • Garam masala powder – 1/4 teaspoon
  • Amchur/dried mango powder – 1/2 teaspoon
  • Cumin seeds –1/2 teaspoon
  • Asafetida – A good pinch
  • Green chili – 2. slit length-wise
  • Curry leaves – 1 sprig
  • Onion – 1 small thinly sliced
  • Salt to taste
  • Oil as required
  • Fresh coriander leaves to garnish
How to –
Wash and clean the dal in several changes of water. Pressure cook the channa with turmeric and salt with 1.5 cups of water till done.
 
In sauce pan add the cooked dal,  chili powder, amchur powder. Add water if the dal is dry.  Stir and cook over low heat.
 
For tempering, heat oil in a small pan, tip the cumin seeds. once they start to splatter add the green chilies, curry leaves, asafetida, garam masala powder. Stir briefly and add this to the dal . Mix well and turn off the heat.
Garnish with chopped onions and coriander leaves and serve hot with Rice or roti.
 
 
 
 

Ulli theeyal

| Rekha Vengalil
 
Ulli means pearl onion/shallot and theeyal means fried curry. Shallots has always been an integral part of Kerala cuisine. A simple and flavorful curry where the shallots are cooked in roasted coconut paste. Simple yet a delicious curry.
 

You need –

  • Shallots/ pearl onions – 1 cup, Cut into half if big
  • Grated coconut – 3/4 cup
  • whole coriander – 1.5 tablespoons
  • Whole died chili – 3-4 or per taste
  • curry leaves – 2+ 1 sprigs
  • Turmeric powder – 1/4 teaspoon
  • Tamarind – 1gooseberry sized ball, Soaked in 1/4 cup warm water and pulp extracted
  • water – as required
  • salt – to taste
  • Coconut oil – as required

For tempering-

  • Mustard seeds – 1/4 teaspoon
  • Fenugreek seeds – 1/4 teaspoon
  • Curry leaves – 1 sprig
  • Dried chili – 1
  • Coconut oil – as required


How to –

Heat a frying pan, dry roast the coconut, dried chili, whole coriander, turmeric powder and 1 sprig of curry leaves till dark brown but do not burn. Turn off the heat and allow to cool. once cooled blend till smooth paste. Set aside.
In pan, cook the shallots, 1 sprig curry leaves with just enough water to cover the shallots or around 1 – 1.5 cups of water till tender and pale.
 
Add the ground paste, tamarind pulp, water as required and salt and bring to a gentle simmer, Turn off the heat.
 
 
For tempering :
 
Heat around 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, dried chili, curry leaves and allow to splatter. Add this to the curry and serve hot with rice.
 
 

Dundee cake – A traditional Scottish fruit cake

| Rekha Vengalil
So for this season it’s the Scottish  fruit cake that is moist, fruity and very chirstmassy. And it is ludicrously straightforward.
There is someone I want to thank and that’s Jehanne of “The cooking doctor”. I have been discussing for over 2 weeks about the cake with her. Thank you for the recipe, tips and ideas.  They went well in making this cake a hit.
 
A few notes I would like to share; the cake takes around 2 hours to bake and will turn golden much before but do the skewer test and then remove the cake from the oven. It does look a bit oily when you remove from the oven due to the ground almonds but don’t worry they will be absorbed as the cake cools.
 

You need –

  • Unsalted butter – 175 grams, at room temperature
  • Caster sugar – 1/4 cup
  • Egg – 4, at room temperature and lightly beaten
  • Ground almonds – 1 & 1/3 cups
  • All purpose flour – 1 cup
  • Salt – 1/4 teaspoon
  • Baking powder – 1/2 teaspoon
  • Sultanas/ golden raisins – 1 & 1/4 cup
  • black raisins – 1 & 1/4 cup
  • Glazed cherries – chopped, 1/4 cup
  • Mixed candied peel – 2 tablespoons
  • Ground mixed spices – 1/2 teaspoon
  • Orange juice – 1/4 cup
  • Blanched almonds – to decorate, around 20

How to –

In a bowl, put the sultanas, black raisins, glazed cherries, mixed candied peel and orange juice. Cover and let it soak overnight.

Preheat the over to 150 C. Line a 8 inch cake tin with parchment paper and set aside. Sift together the flour, mixed spices, salt and almond flour. set aside.
 
In mixing bowl, cream the sugar and butter till pale and fluffy. Gradually add the egg and wait till in forms a smooth batter before each addition. With a wooden spoon fold the ground almonds – flour mixture and mix till smooth. Stir the soaked dried fruits and stir till evenly distributed.
 
Spoon the batter into the prepared cake tin and level the top with a palette knife. Decorate the top of the cake with blanched almonds.  Bake the cake for 2 hours or when skewer is inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
 
Brush the hot cake with 1 tablespoon orange juice. Cover tightly with a foil and cool in the pan.
 
 
 

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