Beetroot chicken

Ingredients:

Chicken -1/2 kg

Chilly powder - 2 tbsp

Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp

Beetroot - 1 medium

Tomatoes - 2 medium

Big Onion - 2 nos 

Green chilly -  4 nos

Crushed Ginger - 2 tsp

Crushed Garlic - 2 tsp

Coriander leaves - Few

Garam masala powder - 1tsp

Salt - to taste.

Method :

Marinate chicken with 2 tbsp of Chilly powder, 1/2 tsp of Turmeric powder and Salt for half n hour.

Heat oil in a Kadai / pan and fry thinly sliced onions into golden brown n keep aside.

In the same oil shallow fry the chicken.

In another pan take little of  oil and saute crushed ginger, garlic and green chillies.when the raw smell goes out  add grinded beetroot and tomatoes and stir well. When it start boiling add fried onion and chicken kept aside.

Add a cup of water to the gravy and cook till the gravy is thick. Check salt and chilly and add more if needed. Finally, add garam masala powder and coriander leaves and remove from fire.

Yummy and healthy beetroot chicken ready. Enjoy with Rice, chappathi or Ghee rice.

Recipe Coutesy: Sapna Mumthaz @ KFG

Chicken Biriyani

Ingredients:

For Chicken masala:
Chicken - 1kg
Basmati rice/ Kaima rice - 3 cups ( 750 gms)
Ginger, Garlic, Green chilly paste - 3 tbsp
Big Onions - 7 big
Chilli powder - 1 tbsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1⁄2 tsp
Tomato - 3
Poppy seeds -1⁄2 tsp
Fennel seeds (Perum jeerakam)- 2 tbsp
Garam Masala Powder / Biriyani masala Powder- 3 tbsp
oil- as required
Ghee - 2 tsps
Cardamom - 1⁄2 tsp
Cloves-1⁄4 tsp
Cinnamon sticks- 3
Cashew nuts- 1 tbsp
Raisins- 1 tbsp
Boiled water - 6 cups
Mint leaves chopped -  1 tbsp
Coriander leaves chopped - 1 tbsp
Fresh lime juice - 1 tbsp
Boiled eggs - As needed
Salt as required

Home made biriyani masala ingredients:-
Cinnamon - 3, 1"sticks
Cardamom - 5-6
Cloves -5-6
Caraway seeds/sa jeerakam - 1⁄4 teaspoon
Cumin seeds - 1⁄4teaspoon
Fennel seeds  -  spoon 1⁄4
Star anise - 2-3nos
Mace -1-2nos
Nutmeg -  1⁄2 piece

Bay leaves - 2 nos
             To prepare  home made biriyani masala  roast all the ingredients separately and make fine powder by grinding in a mixer all together. keep it in an air tight container.

Method:
Wash the rice thoroughly and soak in cold water for 25 – 30 minutes.  Drain and keep aside. 

Add 2 tbsp of ghee and 2 tbsp of oil to a large vessel. Fry cashew nuts and Raisins.remove from oil and keep aside.


Slice big Onions very thin and fry in the same oil till golden brown. Remove from oil and keep aside.

To the same vessal add cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves and cardamom and fry for a minute. Add the drained rice and fry for 5 - 10 minutes. Meanwhile, keep the water on another stove and let it boil. Add the boiling water and salt to the fried rice.

Cook the rice with the vessel closed with a tight lid. Also gently stir in between to make sure that the rice does not stick on the bottom of the vessel. Once the rice is done keep it aside.

Wash and clean the chicken pieces and marinate with 1 tsp Chilly Powder, 1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder, 1 tsp Ginger-garlic Paste, 1/2 tsp Pepper powder and Salt. Keep it aside for half an hour. 

Deep fry or shallow fry the chicken pieces.Take a pan and pour oil. Heat the oil and fry the marinated chicken pieces until golden brown. Keep this aside.If you dont want to fry chicken Add the marinated chicken to the masala and cook until done.

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Saute the sliced onions in oil until they become translucent. Grind green chillies, garlic and ginger to a fine paste. Add the ginger, garlic and green chilly paste. Saute them well. Add 1 tsp coriander Powder, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder, 1/2 tsp Red chilly Powder and 1 tsp garam masala and fry for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and let it cook until mashed. 

Grind Snauf and poppy seeds to fine paste and add to the masala and cook well. Add  curd and give a boil. 

Add the fried Chicken once the gravy starts boiling. Let it boil for few minutes. Gravy should be thick and not watery. Add chopped corriander and mint leaves. And remove from fire. 

 Now we need to start layering for that, divide the cooked rice into three Portions. Chop coriander leaves and mint leaves. keep lime juice and garam masala ready. 

In a big wide open vessel start layering by spreading the first layer with rice. Sprinkle one pinch of garam masala, Roasted onions, cashew nuts, raisins, few tsp of chopped coriander and mint leaves on each layer of rice. Sprinkle 1 tsp of lemon juice also . On top of this spread chicken masala. cover this layer with cooked rice. 

 Again repeat the same layers. finally end with a rice layer. 

After layering we can either bake this in a preheated oven for 180 degree Celsius for 15- 20 minutes or keep in dum on a stove top method by heating a thava/dosa kallu, when it is really hot, place the biriyani vessel on top of that. Reduce the heat to the lowest flame & cook for 10 - 15 mins. Keep the heat at the lowest flame throughout, otherwise it might get burnt. Also place a pan of boiling water on top of the biriyani vessel at the same time.

When its time to serve remove the lid and  mix the rice well with the masala.To serve, on the plate keep the chicken pieces and cover with the rice. Garnish with fried cashew nuts, raisins and onion. Also place a boiled egg on top.

Chicken biriyani Ready...:) Enjoy with salad, Pickle,  Pappad, Dates Chutney and pudina Coconut Chutney. 

Recipe Courtesy : Mrs. Prassana Sugathan.

Pepper chicken

Ingredients:

Chicken - 1 kilogram

Pepper powder -  1 1⁄2 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1⁄2 tsp

Lemon juice -1 1⁄2 tbsp

Onions - 4

Ginger, Garlic, Green chilli (crushed) - 3 tbsp

Whole black pepper - 3 tbsp

Garam masala -  2 tsp

Salt - to taste

Curry leaves - few

Coriander Leaves - 2 tbsp

oil - 3 tbsp

Method:

Marinate the cleaned chicken pieces with salt, pepper powder, turmeric powder and lemon juice. Keep it aside for 30 minutes.

Saute pepper in 1 tbsp of oil. when cool crush in a mixer. keep it aside.

In a kadai, heat the oil. when hot enough, add the sliced onions and curry leaves and saute well. Adding salt, helps the onion to get cooked fast.When the onions are soft add turmeric powder. Add crushed ginger, garlic and green chillies and Saute well till the aromatics release their flavor.

 Add marinated chicken pieces and stir around till the chicken pieces are well coated with the masalas. Don't add water.Cover and cook for 20 minutes.

Now open the lid and cook until the water evaporates. Add garam masala, curry leaves, coriander leaves and crushed black pepper. Saute well and when dry remove from fire.

Best served with rice :)

Recipe Courtesy: Nirmala Jayakrishnan(Nirmalamayi)

Chicken Stew

Ingredients:

Chicken - 1 kg

Big Onions - 2 medium size 

Tomato - 2 medium size

Green chillies - 4 

Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp
Ginger - 2 inch 
Salt - to taste

Maida (All purpose flour)- 1 tbsp

Thick coconut milk – 1 cup (first milk, Take 2 cups of grated coconut and grind in mixer with 3/4 cup of water. stain and take milk separately. This is first milk.)

Thin coconut milk (second milk)– 1 1/12 cup. Add 2 cups of Water to the mixer with the coconut from which the milk was already extracted and grind . Strain and extract the milk for second time. This is second milk. This will be thin compared to the first milk.)

Pepper Powder- 1 tsp

Cloves - 4Cinnamon - 1 inch

Method:

Wash and clean the chicken pieces. In a pressure cooker, add the chicken pieces, onions, green chillies, ginger, salt and a little water -just for the chicken to cook (do not add too much water as we need to add coconut milk at a later stage). Let it cook till one whistle. 

Once the pressure cooker has cooled, open and  add Thin (second) coconut milk to the cooker.

Once it’s boiled, lower the flame, mix 1tbsp of maida in water and add to the cooker. Also add cubed tomatoes and cook.

In thick coconut milk (first milk)add pepper powder and keep aside.

When the stew is the cooker is done and become thick add  thick coconut milk (first milk) into the cooker and switch off the gas. You should not boil stew after adding first coconut milk.Also add chopped coriander leaves. In a separate kadai, saute some onions and add to the sew. This gives a good aroma.Give it a gentle mix (taking care not to mine the chicken)

Garnish with coriander leaves and Serve hot with Appam, Noolappam,Ghee rice, bread or chapattis. you can use this stew recipe and make mutton stew and beef stew too.....:)

Recipe Courtesy: Mrs.Prassana Sugathan (Amma)

Varutharacha Chicken Curry

Ingredients:

Chicken – ½ kg (cut into medium pieces)

Onion – 2 big

Tomato – 1

Green chillies- 2

Crushed Ginger Garlic- 1 tsp

Curry Masala Powder- 1 tsp

Curry leaves

Coriander leaves - few

Oil - little

Salt - to taste

To roast and grind:

Coconut grated – ½ cup

Cardamom – 4

Cloves – 4

Cinnamon – a small piece

Whole pepper – 1 tsp

Garlic - 4 - 5 pods

Ginger - 1"piece

Curry Masala Powder- 1 tsp

Method:

Heat a frying pan and dry roast the grated coconut, Garlic, ginger, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, pepper on low-medium heat till coconut becomes brown in color. Do continuous stirring and be cautious that it don't get burnt. Finally add  1 tsp of curry masala powder and remove from fire, allow to cool and grind the mix with little water to a fine paste.

Heat a Pressure pan and add oil. Saute chopped onions, green chillies, Crushed ginger and   garlic. Add 1 tsp of curry masala and stir. Add tomatoes and saute them well. Add chicken pieces and 1/2 cup water, stir well and Pressure cook giving two whistles in high flame.

Once done, Finally add coconut paste and curry leaves. Add water according to your desired consistency . Let it boil for 2-3 minutes and remove from fire. Add chopped coriander leaves also.

Yummy chicken curry is ready. This curry tastes good with Ghee rice, Plain rice, Vellappam etc etc

Recipe Courtesy: Mrs.Prassana Sugathan (Amma)