Goan Chicken

Goan Chicken-Fiery Chicken, It wouldn’t be wrong if I say this dish comes with tagline, “Feed the Fire”, a much loved recipe by Goans!

     Red chillies and peppercorns add real heat to the dish. Those who prefer a little sweet and mild heat may add a tsp of brown sugar to beat the heat. Chicken drumsticks suits much better for making of this dish, I used the whole chicken. It is quite different recipe as the marinated chicken goes directly on to the stove top. Hence, It is suggested to use the same pan for marinating chicken bring it on to stove top, 2 cups water and cook covered.

    You can enjoy watching a favorite movie while cooking, yes.. it’s that easy. Chicken is tender, soft, flavourful and real spicy!

Ingredients

500gm Chicken

6 Red chillies

1 tsp Cumin

½ tsp black pepper corns

4 cloves

½ tsp mustard

1 small pod garlic

1 ½” ginger

½ tsp turmeric powder

1 tbsp white vinegar

2 medium size tomatoes

Salt to taste

4 tbsp oil

Directions:

Step 1: Wash, clean, pat dry chicken. Cut, deseed and chop tomatoes and keep aside.

Step 2: Grind all ingredients from chillies to vinegar in a mixer/blender to smooth paste with very little water. Take a deep skillet/pan and mix the ground spices with chicken. Let it marinate for 1 hour.

Step 3: Add a cup of water, salt and cook covered until the chicken is tender and water is absorbed for about 18 to 20 minutes in medium low heat (use more hot water if it tend to become dry). Stir in-between to avoid burning.  Now add oil, stir fry for 3 to 4 minutes till the chicken and gravy is well fried.

Step 4: Add chopped tomatoes and cook covered till they become soft and mushy (about 5 min). Stir well to coat the chicken pieces in thick gravy. Transfer to plate, garnish with French fries and coriander leaves. Serve hot with roti/naan or rice. Enjoy!

Note:

As I always say, spices can be adjusted according to your spice level.

Karela Chips/Bitter gourd chips/Hagalakayi chips

“To keep the body in good health is a duty..Otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear”. – Buddha

Karela/bitter gourd, as the name itself suggests it has bitter taste. It is a medicinal food for diabetics. It is consumed in various forms, curry, cooked with sauce, stuffed with minced meat and many more. Due to its significant health benefits it is a must in our breakfast/lunch menu once in a week. My mum being diabetic has raw juice of it which really tastes awful! She has it in any given form, we usually prepare curry to go with chapathi/roti and it is served with ghee for young adults (sometimes also with little jaggery).

   Coming to the recipe karela chips is vegetarian,vegan, a little bitter, crispy tea time snack and is very easy to prepare.

Ingredients

1 medium size bitter gourd

3 tbsp besan/gram flour/chick pea flour

1 tsp chili powder

Pinch of cumin powder

Pinch of asafoetida

Salt to taste

Oil for frying

Directions:

Step 1: Wash, wipe, and make thin slices of bitter gourd. Add two pinch of salt and mix well, keep aside.

Step 2: Take small bowl, add besan, chili powder, cumin powder, salt, and asafoetida. Prepare thick batter using 6-8 tbsp water. Transfer the bitter gourd to the batter mix well and adjust salt. Batter as to be just coated, you may reduce the gram flour if required.

Step 3: Heat oil in a wok, when it’s hot reduce to medium heat and drop the slices one by one. Deep fry them in batches depending on your wok size for 3 to 4 minutes in medium heat or until it is golden brown by flipping over and transfer to absorbent paper. Fry the next batch and transfer to another plate. Repeat the deep frying one more time for the fried once so it’s perfectly crispy in a low heat for less than a minute(don’t burn them).

Note:

• If it is for immediate consumption frying once is sufficient, but deep frying twice ends up in perfect crispy chips and can be stored in air tight container jar for a week.

Dosa/Masala dosa/Pan cakes

Dosa’s and Idli’s are South Indian traditional breakfast. This savory pancake is very popular throughout India and now it is available worldwide. To prepare the batter soaked rice and black lentils are ground to fine smooth paste and allowed to ferment overnight or 8 hours and then goes to the oil coated skillet and roasted till brown in color based on personal preference.

          It is served with chutney/dips and sambhar(Stew/curry). Grinding stone was used in the olden days to prepare the batter that which reassured the love and humble efforts of my grandma and great grandma, gone are the day! They are crispy, soft and goes well with chutney. For Fluffy, soft idli recipe kindly click on the link http://gofoodieworld.blogspot.in/2015/01/idlithatte-idliplate-idli.html

                 

Ingredients:

3 cups Sona Masuri/Parboiled rice

1/2 cup black lentils/urad dal

½ cup flattened rice

2 tbsp fenugreek seeds

3 tbsp chana dal/yellow lentils

Oil

Salt to taste

Directions:

Step 1: Soak rice and flattened rice together, in another bowl soak black lentils, chana dal and fenugreek seeds for 4-6 hours. Drain out the excess water from lentils and keep that water aside for later use.

Step 2: Drain out the excess water from rice and start grinding using the drained water as required, add few tbsp at a time. Batter should be soft and smooth to touch it with finger tips should feel paste like and medium consistency, transfer the batter. Repeat the same for lentils and fenugreek and pour it to rice batter. Mix (don’t over stir) and allow it to ferment overnight.

Step 3: Keep it in a warm place or use ¼ tsp of baking soda if batter hasn’t risen. Add salt and give quick stir and you are ready to go.

Step 4: Heat skillet/non stick tawa, spread a tsp of oil on the tawa.Now pour a ladle full of batter in the center of tawa and spread over moving in circular motion. It shouldn’t be spread too thick, spread a tsp of oil around the edge and on top of dosa, once the edges start to turn brown and the batter dries up transfer to the serving plate. Serve hot with chutney/potato curry/pickles/sambhar

Note
It may be flipped and cooked from other side as well.