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Friday, July 13, 2012

Mutton Chettinad

Chettinad style recipes originates from the Chettinad region in Tamil Nadu. Its one of the most aromatic curries from South India and is a culmination of variety of ground spices. It has the most distinct flavour among all the Indian curries one would have tasted. Yesterday I tried out the recipe with mutton. My preparation turned out to be quite delightful with the home crowd :).
It has a bit of sweetness coming in from the onions with a light tangy flavour from tomatoes. Though the recipe has a whole gang of spices in it, every bite seems to brings an unique flavour experience. The best accompaniment to this dish would be steamed rice, but it goes well with dosas as well.

Ingredients:
Mutton - 750 gms, cut into medium chunks, boneless preferred but not necessary
Ginger - 2"
Garlic - 10-12, medium sized, if large cloves 5-6 should do just fine
Onion - 2 medium sized, finely chopped
Tomato - 3 medium sized, finely chopped
Curry leaves - 1 string
Shallots (small onions) - 110 gms, peeled
Cinnamon - 2"
Cloves - 4
Cumin seeds - ½ tsp
Fennel seeds - ½ tsp
Pepper corns - 1 tsp
Black stone flower - 1 tbsp, Its a kind of fungus (look for it in google images)
Marathi moggu - 3, i don't have the English name (look for it in google images)
Star anise - 2
Chilly powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 2 tsp
Turmeric powder - ½ tsp
Oil - 3 tbsp + cup
Coriander leaves (optional) - cup, roughly chopped
Salt to taste

Method:
To prepare the marinade, grind all the ingredients into a coarse paste except onion, tomato, curry leaves and oil. Add mutton to the paste, mix thoroughly, add salt and keep it aside for around an hour.

In a pressure cooker, heat 3 tbsp of oil, add the mutton and keep stirring for a minute. Put the lid on and pressure cook till one whistle on high flame and two on medium flame till just done (no need to add water).

In a pan, heat cup of oil, throw in the curry leaves and chopped onion. Add some salt and cook till onions are translucent. Now add the chopped tomatoes. Cover and cook till the tomatoes are pulpy. Add the mutton from the pressure cooker, mix thoroughly. Cook on high flame for 5 minutes (I'm assuming there is some water in the cooked mutton or else add ½ cup) with lid on. Adjust the seasoning, simmer and cook for another 10 minutes with the lid off. Optionally you can garnish with coriander leaves.

Mutton chettinad is ready. Enjoy this unique recipe with your loved ones and don't forget to write in your feedback and comments.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Mutton Rogan Josh

Here's another mutton recipe inspired from the Kashmiri delicacy Mutton Rogan Josh. There are quite a lot of variations from the original recipe. Hope you enjoy the recipe.

Ingredients:
Mutton - 500 gms
Oil - 4 tbsp
Onion - 400 gms, finely sliced
Ginger paste - 1 tbsp
Garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Cloves - 4
Cinnamon - 1 inch
Black cardamon - 2
Bay leaf - 1
Kashmiri chilly powder - 2 tbsp
Fennel powder - ½ tbsp, lightly roast the fennel seeds before grinding
Dry ginger powder - ¾ tbsp
Curd - 250 ml, beaten
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Water
Salt to taste

Method:
Heat oil in a pan, add all the dry whole spices (cloves, cinnamon, cardamon, bay leaf). Add sliced onion. Saute till onions are browned (take care not to burn the onion). Now add ginger and garlic paste, saute for a minute or so. Add the mutton, saute for 2 minutes on high flame. Add water just enough to cover the mutton, add salt. Cover the pan with a lid and cook for about 30 to 40 minutes on medium flame or until the mutton is cooked. Top up with water if you feel water has evaporated during the cooking process. Now, in a small bowl, dissolve the chilly in some water and add to the mutton, mix thoroughly. Now add fennel and ginger powder, mix thoroughly. To this add curd, adjust the seasoning. Cook for another 5 minutes or till the sauce thickens. At this point, add the ghee and switch off the heat.

Enjoy mutton rogan josh with rice or naan.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Butter Chicken

World renowned Indian curry, next to ofcourse the infamous Chicken Tikka Masala, Butter Chicken is enjoyed with plain or buttered Naan. Succulent chicken breast strips cooked in  rich, creamy buttery tomato and onion sauce is an absolute winner on taste, my family just loved it. Hope you like the recipe..Enjoy!!

Ingredients:
Chicken breast - 500 gms, cut into ¾" strips
Red chilly powder - 2 ½ tsp
Corriander powder - 2 tsp
Kasuri methi (Fenugreek leaves) - 1 tbsp
Cashew nuts - 25 gms
Sugar - ½ tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Tomato - 600 gms, chopped
Fresh cream - 100 ml
Ginger garlic paste - 4 tsp
Onion - 2 medium, finely sliced
Butter - 70 gms
Water -  3 cups
Oil - 5 tbsp
Corriander leaves - ¼  cup, finely chopped
Salt to taste

Method:
Take chicken in a bowl, add 1 tsp red chilly powder, 1 tsp corriander powder, 2 tsp ginger garlic paste and salt. Mix thoroughly with your hands, massaging the spices into the chicken pieces. Heat oil in a pan (shallow fry pan), when its smoking hot, add chicken saute for around 2 mintues. Just sear the chicken to ensure all the moisture is trapped within. Drain and keep the chicken aside (we'll the need the juices that will ooze out of the fried chicken).

In the same pan, fry onion, add 2 tsp of ginger garlic paste, 1 tsp corriander powder, 1 ½ tsp red chilly powder. Add 1 ½ cup of water, cashew nuts, bring to a boil. To this, add tomato, kasuri methi (crushed to powder using your palm). Cover and cook till tomatoes are soft and mushy. Switch of heat and let it cool slightly before blending into a smooth sauce in a food processor/mixer (make sure to cool it sufficiently well, else it may explode out of your food processor because of all the steam generated).

Heat the pan again, on a high flame, melt the butter, add all juices that would have oozed out of the fried chicken. Add the blended sauce, 1 ½ cup water, salt, bring to a boil. I have avoided using food colours here. But, you can add red colour at this point to make it restaurant like. Add sugar, chicken. Simmer, cover and cook for around 5 mintues or till the chicken is done. Now add cream, garam masala, switch off after a minute or two. Garnish with corriander leaves.

Enjoy with Naan or steamed rice.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Laal Maas

Red meat or Laal Maas is a cuisine from Rajasthan. The original recipe has loads and loads of red chilly, I've modified the recipe a bit to suite my pallet.


Ingredients:
For the marinade -
Mutton - 500 gms
Raw papaya paste - 2 tbsp
Whole red chilly - 10
While Kashmiri chilly - 6
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Coriander seeds - 2 tsp
Curd - 1 cup, beaten

For the gravy -
Oil - 3 tbsp
Onion - 4 medium, finely sliced
Garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Pepper corns - 10
Cinnamon - 1 ½ inch
Cloves - 4
Bay leaf - 1
Green cardamon - 6
Black cardamon - 2
Salt to taste

Tempering & garnish -
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Whole red chilly - 2
Coriander leaves - ½ cup

Method:
Dry roast and wet grind red chilly, kashmiri chilly, cumin and coriander seeds. Mix the ground paste with curd, papaya paste and marinate the mutton in it for 2-3 hours.

In a cooker, heat some oil, add the dry masala (pepper, cinnamon, cloves, bay leaf, black and green cardamon), saute for 2-3 minutes. Now add the onion and fry till golden brown, add garlic. Now add the mutton, saute for around 4-5 minutes, pressure cook for 4 whistles or till the mutton is tender. Temper with ghee & red chilly and garnish with fresh coriander leaves. Serve with hot puris or rotis

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Chholey


Ingredients:
Chickpeas - 1 ½ cup
Onion - 3 medium sized, chopped
Purée of 3 ripe tomatoes
Green chillies - 4, slit
Chana masala - 1 ½ tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Chilly powder - 1 tsp
Chat masala - ½ tsp
Kasuri methi - ½ tsp
Sugar - a pinch
Oil - 4 tbsp
Salt to taste
Teabag - 1

Method:
Soak the chickpeas in water for overnight. Drain the water and place it in cooker with 5 cups of water. Drop in the teabag along with the chickpeas. Cook under pressure for 6 to 7 whistles or until chickpeas are nicely cooked and soft.

Drain the chickpeas, retain the water separately and discard the tea bag. In a pan, heat oil and sauté onion and green chillies. Cook till the onions are lightly brown. Add chana masala, coriander powder, chilly powder to the onion and sauté for 2 minutes. To this, add tomato purée and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Add the boiled chickpeas and salt and nicely mix till the chickpeas gets coated with the tomato-onion masala, cook for 5-6 minutes. Add may be around ½ cup of the retained water to the chickpeas, cook for 3 more minutes. Add chat masala, kasuri methi (crush and powder kasuri methi on your palm) and sugar, cook for a minute.

Garnish chholey with some chopped onions (onion in chholey gives out a fantastic flavour...mouth watering mmmm), drizzle lemon juice lightly and enjoy with hot bhatura.