Kadhai chicken

There is a story behind me making the Kadhai Chicken. Last month we went for office lunch and had kadhai paneer, everyone loved it as it was finger licking good. Then and there I made my mind of making Kadhai Chicken someday. So here it is, home made yet restaurant taste alike Kadhai Chicken.

Kadhai Chicken

Ingredients: 1 kg medium to large size chicken breast pieces (with bone), 5 medium size onions cut into cube, 2 medium capsicum cut into cube, 2 tomatoes cut into cube, 2 tbsp garlic paste, 2 tsp butter, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp chilli paste, 4 tbsp curd, 5 tbsp refined oil, salt, turmeric powder, chopped coriander for garnishing.

Spices-  whole coriander 2 tbsp, whole black pepper 1 tsp , fennel seed 1 tsp, kasuri methi 1 tsp. Roast all these spices and then bled it all together.

Kadhai Chicken

Stage 1# Put a pan on the gas, add the oil and let it become hot. Add half of the onions and the whole amount of capsicum, fry till it in high flame so that the veggies remain crispy, later add half amount of the chopped tomatoes in it and fry for another few minutes and then keep them aside. 

Kadhai Chicken

Stage 2# Now add the remaining onions and saute until they become golden and tender, then add the tomatoes and fry for some more time. Add salt and turmeric powder. Now is the time to add garlic and chilli paste, and saute until the raw smell goes away, then add the curd and the half amount of the spices mixture that you made before hand. Saute it for few more minutes and then add the chicken pieces into it.

Kadhai Chicken

Stage 3# After adding the chicken pieces cook for few minutes in open lid and then add the remaining spices mixture. Close the lid and let it cook in a low flame for next 10 minutes. 

Kadhai Chicken

Stage 4# Open the lid and add water if required ( I did not add water as the curd and the chicken secreted enough water). Wait for few minutes until the water starts drying up. Then add some sugar and the fried onion, capsicum and tomatoes. Saute for few more minutes. and close the lid. After the chicken starts secreting oil add the butter and turn off the flame. Garnish it with some chopped fresh coriander and serve hot.  

Kadhai Chicken Garnished With Fresh Coriander Leaves

P.S#  you can add tomato puree in it to thicken the gravy. :)

Dahi Mutton/ Curd Mutton/ Doi Mangsho

In our Bengali culture 'kochi pathar jhol' is a famous mutton recipe, mutton kosha is also very famous. Just like these two recipes Dahi Mutton or Doi Mangsho is also a very popular and tasty item. 

Dahi Mutton

Dahi Mutton is usually made in various occasions such as marriage, birthday party etc. This preparation is very simple and produces a  thick and yummy dish which goes awesome with rumali roti, parantha, biriyani or any kind of rice. I tried my hands on making this, and succeeded. Here are the ingredients required for making Dahi Mutton/ Curd Mutton/ Doi Mangsho.

Kosha Doi Mangho

Ingredients: 1 kg mutton, 150 gm curd, 2 tbsp garlic paste, 1 tbsp chilli paste, 1 and a half tbsp ginger paste, 5 medium sized onion paste, salt, 1 tsp nutmeg and mace powder, 2 tsp turmeric powder, 1 tbsp poppy seed paste (posto bata), 1 tbsp cashew paste, 5 tbsp mustard oil, 2 tsp ghee, 10 gm whole garam masala, 1 bay leaf, 2 tbsp rose water, 2 tbsp kewra water.

Stage 1# Take the pieces of mutton one by one and press it with the front side of the fork. See the picture below for getting the clear idea.

Press the meat with a fork

Stage 2# Marinate the meat with curd, garlic paste, chilli paste, ginger paste, nutmeg and mace powder, onion paste, salt,  turmeric powder. Marinate it for at least for 4 hours.

Mutton marinated with the spices paste

Stage 3# Put a pan on the flame and add the ghee and mustard oil. After it turns hot add the garam masala and the bay leaf. After the garam masala starts cracking add the marinated meat and close the lid. Keep it on a low flame for 15 minutes. Then remove the lid and add the poppy and cashew paste. Mix it well together and close the lid, while keeping it on a low flame for 15 minutes more. 
 

Dahi Mutton

Remove the lid and see if it starts secreting oil, if it does then add the rose and kewra water in it and cook for 5 minutes more in a closed lid. Then turn off the heat.

Serve It Hot With Rumali Roti

Methi chicken

I love Indian food, its spices, its aroma and its tastes, so delicious, so aromatic that I can not resist myself from loving it. Just like eating Indian food I love to cook them also. The authentic Indian foods which are full of taste and flavors. I recently cooked methi chicken which was very yummy and the aroma was enough to blow anyone's tongue ;). 

It is not a tough recipe rather a very easy one. You need few very regular easily available ingredients to cook this dish. Some basic things which are needed are, 700 gm with bone medium size chicken pieces, 3 big onions finely sliced, 1 tbsp garlic paste, half tbsp chilli paste, 1 medium sizes tomato chopped, 100 gm curd, 1 tsp coriander and cumin powder, 1 tbsp kasuri/ kasoori methi, 1 tsp turmeric, 1/4 tsp food colour, salt, 1/2 tsp sugar, 2 tsp butter, 1 bay leaf, 4 tbsp refined oil (as per need).

The basic ingredients

In a bowl take garlic paste, chilli paste, curd, coriander and cumin powder, turmeric salt and mix. Add this paste to the chicken pieces and keep aside.
Put a pan on the gas oven, add some refined oil in it. Let it become hot, then add the bay leaf and the onions and keep frying until it becomes soft and golden. Then add the marinated chicken pieces in it with all the masala paste. Cook for 2 minutes in an open flame and then cover the lid and let it cook for 10 minutes in a low flame. After 10 minutes of cooking like this open the lid and check if it has enough water in it, if not then add some water along with the food colour and the kasoori methi, then close the lid.

Methi chicken being cooked

Open the lid and add some sugar and some butter and cook in a open flame for few minutes unless it forms a thick gravy. Once it is cooked it will start secreting oils and the aroma of kasoori methi will be there. 

Methi Chicken

Turn off the flame and add the remaining butter on top of it and serve hot with plain roti, parantha, naan, rice, polao etc.

Methi Chicken served hot

Chicken Rezala

Summer is here and this fixes the mood for eating things made using lots of curd, so I made chicken rezala last week. It was yummy and full of flavors. I made rezala in a more healthy way than it is usually made, I used home made curd, that is fat free and tried my best to use less ghee in it, but believe me, that taste was exactly the same as we eat at the restaurants.

Chicken Rezala

Ingredients: 700 gm medium chicken pieces with bone, 150 gm homemade curd, 3 big size onion in paste form, 1 tbsp garlic paste, 2 tsp chilli paste, 2 tbsp poppy seed (posto) paste, 2 tbsp sesame seed paste, salt as per need, 10 gm whole garam masala, 1 bay leaf, 1 tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp mace and nutmeg powder, 1 tsp cumin powder, 3 dried red chilies soaked in water, 1 tbsp pure ghee, 3 tbsp refined oil, half tsp sugar, 1 tsp kewra water, 2 drops of meetha attar.

chicken rezala served hot

Stage 1# In a bowl take garlic paste, chilli past, coriander powder, cumin powder, curd and salt, mix together and add the washed chicken pieces in it and marinate for preferably 1 hour but I marinated for 30 minutes only.

Chicken Rezala

Stage 2# Take a non stick pan, add the ghee and refined oil, wait till it becomes hot and then add the whole garam masala and bay leaf in it. After the garam masala starts cracking add the onion paste and cook until it becomes pink, then add the marinated chicken pieces. Cook for 2 minutes then cover with lid and let it cook on a low flame for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes open the lid and stir the chicken and add the  poppy seed and sesame seed paste and mix well otherwise it may start burning at the bottom. Cook in a open lid for 5 minutes and then add the mace and nutmeg powder and close the lid. After 5 more minutes open the lid and add some sugar, it enhances the colour. Cook it for another few minutes until it starts secreting oil, once it does add the dried chilies, kewra water and meetha attar and mix well. Close the lid and keep it on a low heat for 2 more minutes then turn off the heat.

Hasher Dim Kosha (Duck Egg Curry)

As a cook what makes you happy? in my case I become very happy when the people whom I serve the food, love it so much that they keep asking for more :). This is exactly what happened when I made this awesomely delicious Hasher Dim Kosha aka Duck Egg Curry. In this recipe I used some out of the box spices and believe me, the outcome was very good, everyone loved it. Here I am penning down the recipe so that you can make your family happy too :)

Ingredients: 6 boiled and later fried eggs, 2 big onions chopped, 1 small tomato chopped, 2 tbsp garlic and chili paste, 50 gm curd, 1 tsp - aamchur powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, red chilli powder, 1/2 tsp - kasuri meethi, black pepper powder, turmeric, ajwain, 1 bay leaf. For garnishing - chopped coriander and chilli.

Process: at first take a mixture blend, put garlic and chili paste, curd, aamchur powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, red chilli powder,  kasuri meethi, black pepper powder, turmeric, ajwain, bled it and make a thick yet liquid type paste.

Put a pan/ kadhai on the flame, add some mustard oil (you can go for any other oil), add the bay leaf and onion, wait till the colour turns into golden. Then add the paste that you made and add some salt in it. Cook it for 2 to 3 minutes and then add the already fried eggs into it. Cook the whole thing for another 5 minutes until it starts secreting oil, once it does, add some water and bring it to boil while covering the lid. 

After 5 more minutes open the lid and cook it on open flame for a little more time so that the extra water gets soaked and the curry gets a rich colour. Turn off the flame and garnish it with some chopped coriander and chilli. Serve it hot with chapathi, parantha, rice etc.

Egg Bhurji Sandwich

Has this ever happened to you that you feel like eating something good and different all of a sudden and there is hardly anything special in your fridge? I’m sure this has happened, as this is quite normal for any foodie ;). I too went through this feeling one morning. Wanted to eat something good and hardly had anything in the fridge. So I decided to make a quick sandwich and ended up making this, egg bhurji sandwich.

Egg Bhurji Sandwich

It is a real simple dish to make; anybody can make this at any certain time without much fuss. It needs 3 slices of bread (I used brown bread), 1 egg, 1 small onion, 1 small tomato, a small potato (fried separately), a little amount of chilli, salt, turmeric, crushed garlic, one cheese slice and yea, that’s all you need.

Egg Bhurji

Put a pan on the flame, add some refined oil. Fry the onion, add garlic, tomato and chilli gradually. When these are cooked properly add the fried potato and make the centre of the pan empty and crack the egg in it and start mixing the whole thing very fast. Add salt and turmeric and fry for some more time.

Bhurji on Bread Slice

Add Some Cheese

Take one bread slice, put some butter (I used garlic butter) and then add the egg bhurji in it, put some black pepper powder, some cheese and cover with another piece of bread and repeat the procedure. In this way you will get your lovely and tasty sandwich ready.

The Egg Bhurji Sandwich