Chicken curry...ma's special recipe

In this hot sizzling summer, we all prefer to have something simple and light. The curries I make during summer is less oily and spicy. So last Sunday when the kid and the man asked to have a simple chicken curry for lunch I went for my Ma's special chicken curry recipe.

The curry my Ma makes is very simple, chicken on bone slow cooked along with onion, garlic and other few common spices. I have tried to recreate this curry so many times, but unable to achieve the exact flavor like my Ma does. May be mothers have magic in their hand, that makes something simple to be very special.

For few reasons I never ask recipes from my mother. Either she will say it is too simple why you need a recipe? or in between the narration of a recipe she will ask me whether she uses that particular spice or the other!!! So better stand quietly next to her while she is cooking that particular dish, ignoring all her attempt to send you back to your own room and watch precisely what's going on actually. What I have learnt from these observations is that you may know what spices go in which curry but you should know when to add them and how much to add. And I learnt this chicken curry that way, by watching her.

The lightly spiced thin curry with chicken and potato is simple yet delectable. A chicken curry that used to be our Sunday special lunch, along with some Gondhoraj lebu (an aromatic Lime) and steamed white rice. I still remember how we used to enjoy the leftover curry for dinner with freshly made ruti (whole wheat flat bread). And this curry is still a part of my regular menu, specially when we are in a mood for something simple. Though I know it is not possible to replicate the same taste as ma's, but after trial and error for 10 years it's somewhere very close. And to my outright pleasure my daughter loves this curry too.

Things needed to make Ma's Special Chicken Curry:

• Chicken (on bone): 700 gm (cut into 12 pieces)
• Potato: 5-6 small or 2 large cut into quarters
• Red Onion or shallots (finely chopped): 1/2 cup
• Garlic (crushed): 2 tbsp
• Ginger (grated): 1 tbsp
• Tomato (grated): 1 large
• Cumin powder: 2 tsp
• Turmeric powder: 1 tsp
• Red chili powder: 1-2 tsp
• Kashmiri red chili powder: 1 tsp
• Garam masala powder: 1 tsp
• Cinnamon stick: 1
• Green cardamom: 4-5
• Cloves: 5-6
• Green chilies: 5-6
• Mustard oil: 3-4 tbsp*
• Vinegar: 2 tbsp
• Sugar: 1 tsp
• Salt to taste

*Mustard oil is a must ingredient for this dish.

Steps of making Ma's Special Chicken Curry:

1. Clean the chicken pieces, pat them dry. Marinate the chicken pieces with vinegar and red chili powder. Peel the potatoes, if you are using large potatoes then cut them into quarters. I prefer to use small potatoes and keep them whole.

2. Heat mustard oil in a pan, fry the potatoes till nicely brown from all sides. Keep aside.

3. Add more oil to the same pan, when the oil is hot, reduce heat and add a teaspoon full sugar. Add crushed garlic. Cook for 1 min, or till the garlic starts to change red, add the whole spices cinnamon, green cardamom and cloves. Cook for 1-2 min.

4. Add finely chopped onion and cook till nicely brown. Add grated ginger, mix well and cook for 2 min. Add grated tomato (discard the seeds), mix well and cover the pan, cook over medium flame for 2-3 min.

5. Add the dry spices, turmeric powder, cumin powder, Kashmiri red chili powder, along with a spoon full of water, mix well. Cook over low heat for 3 min, keep stirring. Add the chicken pieces. Discard any excess vinegar. Add salt and mix well. For the first 5-6 min cook over high heat and keep stirring continuously. Reduce heat to medium and cover the pan and cook for 10 min. The chicken will release a considerable amount of water. Uncover and cook till oil separates from the spices. At this point there will be very less water, so be careful not to burn the meat pieces.

6. Add 1.5 cups of hot water. Let it boil. Add the fried potatoes, cover the pan and cook till the potatoes are done. Check seasoning and adjust accordingly. Add garam masala powder, green chilies (use whole, this to impart a distinct flavor), switch off the heat. Cover the pan and let it rest for 10 min. Serve hot with steaming hot rice.

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Prawn Paturi for Elephants and the coconut trees...

I have made a bunch of new friends during last one year while blogging. The like-minded foodie friends, who thinks about how to plate the dish while they cut the vegetables and spend hours to click a simple homemade cake and are always looking for some new props to enhance the food photo. But above all encouraging each other all the time. Meena from elephants and the coconut trees is one of them. Though I have not met her personally, but she is always there to support me. So when she asked for a guest post on her space I said yes without any hesitation. She has wonderful recipes in her blog from day to day regular simple dishes to exotic biryani.

I wanted to make something traditional for this special post. So here is a Bengali speciality, Paturi for you all. Paturi is a palate tantalizing dish, where the fish is marinated with mustard-green chili paste and wrapped in banana leaf and cooked. The banana leaf imparts an exotic flavor to the fish, and the pungency of mustard paste and mustard oil give it a different dimension.

I used fresh large prawns. I kept the head and tail intact for more flavor. I added coconut paste along with mustard and poppy paste to accompany the sweet taste of prawn. Paturi can be made from different fishes, Bhetki or Bekti is the first choice for the Bongs while making paturi. But one can use hilsa, rohu, prawns, or other small fishes as well to make paturi. For vegetarian option one can try fresh paneer and vegetables. Whatever you are using do make sure to add Mustard oil to the marination, a must ingredient for any paturi.

Now it over to Meena's blog Elephants and the coconut trees for this must do prawn recipe. You will need some steaming hot rice to enjoy this Bong delicacy. Meena has sent this cute little thank you card to me. Thank you Meena.

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Chicken marsala...

Whenever we visit Olive garden, the Italian restaurant, the man always orders Marsala for himself. So I was thinking to try my hand on that. I searched for the recipe of chicken marsala in the Internet, and to my surprise it is a very quick and easy dish one can make. Marsala is a simple Italian dish where sauteed chicken cutlets are served with mushroom and Marsala wine reduction sauce. In the restaurant they served it along with some potato wedges, I went for the potato wedges as well as some freshly made angel hair pasta. It was our last night dinner and we enjoyed it so much.

This button mushroom image is going to be my entry for "Color Me Photography Challenge Series". The month of June is for 'Color Me White Month'. I'm really excited to join this event. This wonderful event is hosted by Priya Elias of The Humpty Dumpty Kitchen.

Now back to the Chicken Marsala recipe.

Things needed to make Chicken Marsala:

(Recipe adapted from epicurious.com)

For the chicken cutlet:

• Chicken breast: 1
• All purpose flour: 1/4 cup
• Dried parsley: 1 tsp
• Salt
• Black pepper powder
• Butter: 1 tbsp
• Olive oil: 1 tbsp

For the Marsala sauce:

• Button Mushrooms: 100gm
• Shallots/red onion (very finely chopped): 1/4 cup
• Butter: 2 tbsp
• Marsala wine: 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp
• Chicken broth: 1 cup
• Heavy cream: 2-3 tbsp
• Dried parsley: 1 tsp

For pasta and potato wedges:

• Angel hair pasta
• EVOO: 1/2 tbsp
• Salt to taste
• Black pepper powder
• Green pea (blanched): 1/4 cup (optional)
• Fresh parsley chopped to garnish
• Potato cut into cubes with skin
• Oil to fry potato

Steps of making Chicken Marsala:

1. Wash and pat dry the chicken breast. Cut the chicken breast into two equal halves. From a single breast piece you can make 2 servings.

2. Cover the chicken breast pieces with cling film and gently pound with the flat side of a meat mallet or rolling pin.

3. Season the chicken pieces with salt, black pepper and dried parsley, on both sides.

4. Take all purpose flour on a flat tray or plate, dredge the chicken pieces with the flour.

5. In a flat pan heat butter and olive oil, shallow fry the chicken pieces to red-brown color. Drain excess oil and keep it on paper towel lined plate.

6. Keep the cooked chicken on a hot oven to keep it warm.

7. On the same pan add more butter and oil, add chopped onion. Cook till the onion turn red-brown in color. Add sliced mushrooms. Cook for 4-5 min. Add chicken broth and cook over high heat for 3-4 min. Add wine and heavy cream and cook till the sauce reduces to thick. Switch off heat, add extra 1 tbsp Marsala wine to the sauce and mix well.

8. While the sauce is getting ready, cook pasta according to the directions on packet. But never wash the cooked pasta. Toss the pasta with EVOO, salt and black pepper powder. Add blanched green pea, if using.

9. Fry the cubed potato till evenly browned. Keep the skin of the potato.

10. Place the pasta and the chicken cutlet on the serving plate. Pour the Marsala sauce over the chicken cutlet. Put some potato wedges, garnish with fresh chopped parsley.

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Chicken tandoori pizza..

It is easier to pick up the phone and order a pizza from a pizza outlet than making a pizza at home from scratch. We all are used to with pre-packaged, convenience food available in the store. If you think deep and look at the preservative-filled, chemically enhanced, sugar-filled foods, you will understand they do more harm than good. 

Other than the health hazard, store bought foods are much more expensive than homemade one. A homemade pizza crust and sauce can hardly cost you $2. The topping may cost between $5-6, but again if you use all the possible toppings those pizza outlets offer you. 

And I'm sure you have noticed how a delivery pizza leaves a big greasy spot on a paper napkin, where as a homemade one can be made absolutely oil free and you can choose the best quality healthy ingredients for you and your family. Moreover the options for toppings becomes so wide, anything of your choice can be the pizza topping.

It is not that I don't have those store bought food once in a while, but they are not  part of my daily diet. I always enjoy making everyday food at home, from jam to juice, bread to curries as well as special occasion sweets or fancy cake. Today it was a pizza for dinner, topped with my favorite tandoori chicken. I already had a pizza recipe in my blog, but this time the crust I made came out so good I wanted to share it with you all. As a self taught cook, with frequent baking I did learn the finer details.

For the chicken tandoori recipe please go to this link http://www.colorandspices.com/2012/07/tandoori-chicken.html

Things needed to make Pizza Crust:

(This will yield 2 large, 14 inch pizza crusts)

• Bread flour: 3 cups
• Warm water: 1 cup
• Active dry yeast: 2 and 1/4 tsp
• Sugar: 1 tsp
• Salt: 1 tsp
• Olive oil: 1/4 cup (divided)
• Garlic powder: 1 tsp
• Extra flour to dust

Steps of making Pizza Crust:

1. Proof yeast. In a deep bowl add water (just warm to touch), yeast and sugar, mix well. Cover the bowl and wait for 10 min or till the yeast bubbles up.

2. In a deep large container or the bowl of a standing mixer add 2 cups of flour, salt, garlic powder, olive oil and mix well with a spatula for 2-3 min or till well incorporated. Make a well at the center, add the proofed yeast and mix. Gradually add the rest of the flour and keep mixing till all the flour comes together and no longer sticks to the wall of the bowl. You can use a stand mixer, I used a spatula and worked the dough with my hand.

3. Dust the working surface, drop the dough on the floured surface. Knead the dough for 10 min with hand (you can use a standing mixer). Dust the working surface as needed but do not use too much of flour. I generally use 3-4 tablespoons.

4. As the dough becomes pliable, grease a large deep container, put the dough in that container, roll the dough to coat with oil from all sides. Cover the container and keep in a warm corner in the kitchen. The dough will rise to double by 1-2 hrs.

Punch down the dough, divide the dough into two equal halves. Work with one part at a time. You can keep one half wrapped in cling film for future use. Dough can be refrigerated for 2-3 days, take it out from the refrigerator 2 hrs prior cooking.

5. Take a round 14 inch pizza pan or a large baking sheet, dust with flour or corn meal, I used whole wheat flour. Stretch the dough on the pizza pan or on the tray. Use finger tips to stretch it evenly. Brush the dough well with olive oil. Cover with a cling film and let it rise for 30 min at room temperature.

6. As the dough is rising prepare the sauce and toppings and pre-heat oven at 475 F. For the sauce recipe check this link http://www.colorandspices.com/2012/11/pizza.html To compliment the flavors of chicken tandoori, I added honey and freshly chopped coriander leaves to the sauce.

7. After the dough rise for 30 min, spread sauce (of your choice) on the dough. Arrange topping and cheese. I used the tandoori chicken I made specially for this pizza, along with some bell peppers, red onion and few black olives(due to popular demand from the little one at home).

For the topping I pulled small pieces from the tandoori chicken, and added some chopped fresh coriander leaves to the tomato sauce for a different flavor. I used mozzarella cheese, you can always use cheese of your choice.

8. Cook the pizza on the middle rack on the oven, for 12-15 min, or till the cheese melts and turns brown on the side. Take the pizza out from oven, let it rest for 5 min, cut with a pizza cutter and enjoy your pizza.

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Homemade burger bun...

Lot of people have asked  me, why do I need to make bread at home when they are readily available in stores. My answer is unless you try your hand at it you will never know. First of all, I love baking, though a late starter, I have fallen for it completely. And it gives me an immense pleasure when all the effort comes together and I end up with a perfect well done bread.

And  the second reason, which I feel far  more important that the first one. Just go through the ingredients list of the bread you have bought. I'm sure you will need to Google for a lot of them, as you probably haven't heard of them before. Unfortunately most of them are preservatives to increase the shelf life of the bread.

Like most of the kids  of her age, my daughter loves burgers. Every-time we pass by a burger joint, she feels hungry, even if it's just after the lunch or dinner. So when on Mother's day my little one surprised me with a beautiful ceramic paper weight shaped like a star fish and  a few pretty  looking cards saying "Mom I love you", I promised her the best burger as her treat.

I followed the braided bread or challah bread recipe to make the dough. This dough, can be used for making several different breads, like burger buns, dinner knots, sweet cinnamon rolls etc. Today it was burger buns time.

Things needed to make Homemade Burger:

For the Burger Bun:

• Bread flour: 4 cups and more to dust
• Dry yeast: 2.5 tsp
• Sugar: 1/2 tsp
• Water (warm): 1 cup
• Salt: 1/2 tbsp
• Honey: 1/4 cup
• Eggs: 2
• Butter or olive oil: 1/3 cup
• Egg wash: 1 egg + 1 tbsp water
• Sesame seeds to sprinkle (optional)

Steps of making the Burger Buns:

1. Proof the yeast: Take the yeast, 1/4 cup warm water, sugar in a deep bowl, mix well. Cover and let the yeast stand at room temperature until foamy (about 10 min). The water should be just warm to touch, not hot.

2. In a large, deep mixing bowl add 1 cup bread flour, eggs, honey, butter (or oil, whichever you are using, I used butter), and rest of the water, mix well with a dough whisk (a ladle also works good) till no lumps.

Add the yeast and mix well. Add the remaining bread flour 1/2 cup at a time, until a soft dough is formed that pulls away from the sides of the mixing bowl.  As I do not have a stand mixer, I used my hand to make the dough. You can use a heavy duty stand mixer like Kitchen Aid, in that case use the paddle attachment.

3. Lightly flour the kitchen counter or any work surface ( I used a large wooden chopping board), turn the dough on the floured work surface. Knead the dough, stretch it, fold it, turn it 90 degree and repeat. Knead for 7-8 min by hand. Keep dusting the work surface with flour to prevent the dough from sticking to hand and to the work surface.

4. Grease a large and deep container, place the dough and turn once to grease the top. Cover the container and let the dough rise at room temperature until double is size, about 2 hrs. Punch down the dough and cover the container and let the dough rise again for 1 hr. If you are in hurry you can skip the second rise, but for a better flavor let the dough rise for the second time.

5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Take out the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into two equal halves.

6. Divide each half into 6 equal portions. Make balls from each portions. Roll the dough with cupped hand until smooth and perfectly round. Place the shaped dough on the baking sheet, with smooth side up. Repeat the same for other portions of the dough and place them at least 2 inches apart from each other. Flatten each dough with the palm. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for 20-25 min at room temperature. Halfway through the rising press the dough balls very gently to flatten a bit.

7. As the shaped dough are rising, place the oven rack to the center position and preheat oven to 350 F. The oven should be preheated at-least 20 min before baking. Mix the egg and water for egg wash.

8. Brush the rolls with egg wash with a pastry brush and sprinkle sesame seeds. You can skip the sesame seed part.

9. Bake in the preheated oven, in the center rack for 18-20 min or until golden brown in color and firm to touch. Transfer to cooling rack.

I used only half of the dough to make 6 buns. With the rest of the dough I made few dinner knots and mini challahs. The dough recipe is same, but you can make various other breads from this dough.

For the Patty:

• Minced meat of your choice: 1 lb/ 425 gm
• Onion (finely chopped): 2 tbsp
• Garlic powder: 1/4 tsp
• Dried parsley: 1/2 tbsp
• Worcestershire sauce: 1 tbsp
• Smoked Tabasco sauce: 1 tbsp
• Egg: 1
• Bread crumbs: 1-2 tbsp
• Freshly ground black pepper: 1 tsp
• Salt to taste

For making the patty you can use any minced meat of your choice. Even vegetarian options like falafel, or minced soy-granule patty or mixed veggie patty are also good. You can make the burger patty as per your choice. This time I used minced chicken and following is how I did it.

Steps for making the Patty:

1. Mix minced meat, finely chopped onion, garlic powder (or minced garlic), dried parsley, Worcestershire sauce, smoked Tabasco sauce, salt and pepper well. I used smoked Tabasco to bring the smoky flavor as well as increase the spicy level, you can use liquid smoke and chili powder instead. Liquid smoke is readily available in shops like Walmart or Target. For kids, you can avoid chili powder. I added frozen corns and grated carrot to the kid version patty I made for my daughter. An easy way to add some veggies to your kids diet.

2. Now shape the patty into round disks around a diameter of 3 inches or the size to match your burger buns. To shape the meat patty quickly and easily I found out something very simple. We always have different sized lids of jars in our kitchen. Take any lid that matches to the size of burger bun.

3. Line the lid with plastic wrap.

4. Drop the patty mix on the lid.

5. With the help of spoon level the mix and spread it on the lid. Press a little so it takes the shape of the lid.

6. Take a piece of parchment paper, and holding the plastic wrap flip the meat mix to parchment paper, voila you have a perfect round patty ready to cook.

You can grill the patty on an outdoor grill or just shallow fry them on a pan, like I did.

So we are ready with the bun and patty, now the burger needs to be assembled.

To assemble the burger: (these are few suggestions)

• Mayonnaise
• Mustard sauce
• Tomato slices
• Lettuce
• Guacamole
• Onion
• Pickled jalapeno
• Bacon
• Cheese slices
• Grilled mushrooms or bell peppers

 Etc & etc....

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