Tandoori Chicken drumsticks

 

 

Chicken drumsticks made in tandoori style by baking in an oven is a very healthy way to cook chicken. Also it is a must-have if you are having a party at your place because you can marinate it ahead of time and then just put in the oven when the guest arrive and serve it nice and hot from the oven.

 

What you will need:

• Chicken drumsticks - 4 pieces, skin removed
• Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
• Chilli powder - 2 tsp
• Yogurt - 1 tbsp
• Lemon juice - 2 tsp
• Coriander powder - 1 tsp
• Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
• Olive oil - 2 tsp
• Salt to taste

How to prepare

Hang the yogurt in a muslin cloth to remove all the water. Mix the yogurt with ginger garlic paste, chilli powder, tumeric powder, lemon juice, coriander and cumin powders and salt.

Leave it to marinate for atleast an hour. If leaving it for longer, put it in the refrigerator.

Preheat oven at 400F. Place the chicken drumsticks on the baking tray and pour some olive oil over the drumsticks. Bake for 15 minutes and then turn them over. Bake for another 15 minutes. Serve hot with lemon wedges.

Butter Fried Chicken

What you will need:
Chicken - 1lb (pound), boneless, cut into pieces

Chilli powder - 3 tsp

Tamarind juice - 1/2 tsp, thick

Coriander powder - 1 tbsp

Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp

Butter - 2 tbsp, melted

Fresh curry leaves - 2 strands

Salt to taste

How to prepare

In a bowl, take 1 tbsp of butter and mix it with chilli powder, salt, coriander powder, ginger garlic paste and tamarind juice. Poke the chicken pieces with a fork so that it can absorb the marination well. Apply the paste to the chicken pieces and leave it to marinate in the refrigerator for atleast 4 hours or overnight.
Heat the remaining 1 tbsp of butter in a pan. Add the curry leaves. Now add the chicken pieces with all the paste. Cook until the chicken is done.

I did not make too much masala , but if you want more gravy, just increase the amounts of all the powders to 1.5 times.

Green Peas Pulav / Mutter Pulao ( Rice cooked with peas and onions)

Green peas pulao is very easy to cook and is ready within 20 minutes. The secret ingredient here is the milk. It adds a very rich taste to the pulao. I usually do not use basmati rice for this as it tastes equally good with the normal white rice. Here in Canada, I made it with 'jasmine' rice which has a very nice aroma when cooked. If you are using a rice cooker, you can follow the same procedure given below, and in the end transfer everything to the rice cooker and then add the water.

What you will need:
Rice - 2 cups, washed
Green peas - 1 cup
Onions - 3 medium, sliced
Ghee / Oil - 1 tbsp
Cashews - 10 - 12 (optional)
Whole garam masala (1" cinnamon stick, bay leaves, cloves, cardamom , mace blades)
Green chillies - 5 to 6
Ginger - 1 inch, finely chopped
Garlic - 4 to 5 pods, finely chopped
Water - 3.5 cups
Milk - 1/2 cup
Coriander leaves - finely chopped, a bunch
Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Salt to taste

How to prepare
Heat ghee/oil in a pan. Add whole garam masala, green chillies and cashews. Fry them all together. Add the chopped ginger and garlic and then add the sliced onions. Fry the onions until they turn brown in color. Now add the rice and fry it for atleast 5 to 10 minutes. Add the green peas, 3.5 cups of water and 1/2 cup of milk. Cover and let the mixture boil. Now add the coriander powder, cumin powder and coriander leaves. Mix well. Cover and cook until the rice is done.
Instead of a pan, you can also use a pressure cooker. Serve hot.

Mooga upkari / Moong sprouts palya

What you will need:
Moong sprouts - 1 cup

Dried red chillies - 2

Green chillies - 2

Fresh shredded coconut - 2 tbsp

Asafoetida, dissolved in water - 2 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - 2 strands

Oil - 2 tsp

Salt to taste

How to prepare

Heat oil. Add mustard seeds. When they crackle add the curry leaves and red chillies. Now add the moong sprouts, salt and green chillies. Add 1/4 cup of water and cover and cook until the moong is almost cooked. Now add the shredded coconut. Cook until the moong is done and is not mashed up. Turn the heat off and add the asafoetida dissolved in water.

Masala Mandakki / Charmuri upkari (Puffed rice with onions)

What you will need:
Puffed rice - 2 cups

Onion - 1 chopped

Coriander leaves - 5 strands, finely chopped

Coconut oil - 2 tsp

Red chilli powder - 2 tsp

Fresh shredded coconut - 2 tbsp

Lime juice - 2 tsp

Salt to taste

How to prepare

In a large bowl, add onion, coriander leaves, red chilli powder and salt. To that add the shredded coconut. Now mix the puffed rice and coconut oil. Garnish with coriander leaves. Squeeze the lime juice and serve.

This is best eaten fresh as the puffed rice gets soft after a while.

Mooga ambat (Moong sprouts with cashews in coconut sauce)

What you will need:
Whole moong sprouts - 1/2 cup
Cashews - 10 - 12
Coconut shredded, fresh or frozen - 1 cup
Dried whole red chillies - 6 - 8
Tamarind - size of a chickpea
Onion - chopped 1 cup
Salt to taste

For seasoning:
Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 2 strands

How to prepare

Grind the coconut, red chillies and tamarind into a smooth paste.
Boil water in a pan and cook the moong sprouts together with the onion and cashews. Cook until the moong is almost cooked, but is still firm and not mashed up.
Remove the excess water from the moong. Add the ground masala to the cooked moong. Add salt and bring the mixture to a boil and turn off heat.
In a pan heat oil. Add mustard seeds. When they crackle, add the curry leaves and pour the seasoning over the mooga ambat. Serve hot with rice.

Cauliflower butti (Cauliflower with onions and coconut)

What you will need:

2 cups cauliflower florets

1 cup grated coconut, fresh or frozen

2 medium onions

8 fried red chillies

2 tsp coriander seeds

small piece of tamarind(or 1 tsp tamarind paste)

6 tsp oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

salt to taste

How to prepare:

Cook the cauliflower florets with a little salt and set aside. Cut the onions into thin slices and keep aside. Grind coconut, red chillies and tamarind into a paste. The paste does not have to be very smooth. Then add the coriander seeds and grind again. Head oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds begin to cracke, add the sliced onions and saute for a minute. After the raw smell of the onion goes away, add the ground masala and some salt and fry for a minute. Now add the cooked cauliflower. Cook the mixture for about 5 minutes. Serve hot with rice.

Whole Masoor Masala (Lentils in spicy sauce)

This is a recipe from my mother-in-law. Everyone back home loves this dish. It is also very easy to prepare. It can be served with pan polo /Neer dosa , poori , chapati or parantha.

What you will need:
Whole masoor (Black lentils) - 1 cup ( you can even use any other beans)
Potato - 1 small
Onion - 2 small
Garlic - 4-5 pods
Ginger - 1" piece
Coconut - shredded - 3/4 cup
Cinnamon - 1" piece
Black peppercorns - 3 to 4
Green chillies - 5 to 6
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 2 strands
Oil - 2 tsp
Salt to taste

How to prepare
Cook the masoor and potato in a pressure cooker until soft. Peel and cut the potatoes into small cubes. Grind together onion, garlic, ginger, coconut, cinnamon, peppercorns and green chillies into a fine paste.
Heat a pan. Add the cooked masoor, potatoes, salt and the paste. Mix well and bring it to a boil. Heat oil. Add mustards seeds and when they crackle, add the curry leaves. Pour the tempering over the dal.

Stuffed Bhindi (Stuffed Okra)

What you will need:
Bhindi - 15

Lemon juice - 1 tbsp

Besan (Gram flour) - 1/2 cup

Coriander powder - 2 tsp

Asafoetida powder - 1/2 tsp

Chilli powder - 1 tsp

Cumin powder - 1 tsp

Oil - 2 tbsp

Salt to taste

How to prepare

Put a gash on the okra without cutting it into 2 pieces. Apply salt and keep aside for 10 minutes.

In a bowl mix besan, salt, chilli powder, asafoetida powder, coriander powder and lemon juice.

Stuff this mixture into the bhindi.

Heat oil in a pan. Add the bhindi and the remaining powder. Mix well. Cover and cook on a low flame. Cook until the bhindi is fried and cooked completely.

Baked Fish (Salmon) in green masala

What you will need:
Salmon fillet - 1
Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup
Garlic pods - 6 to 8
Olive oil - 1 tbsp
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Lemon juice - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

How to prepare
Crush or grind coarsely the garlic and coriander leaves.
Mix olive oil with chilli powder, coriander powder, lemon juice, salt and the green paste. Apply this mixture to the fish and keep aside for 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 400F. Bake the fish for 20 minutes. Sprinkle lemon juice on the fish and serve.

Kadai Bhindi / Bhendi ( Okra with capsicum, onion and tomatoes)

I went to my grocery store last Saturday and saw the bell peppers in different colors...red, orange, yellow, green and I could not stop myself from buying them. Then I really did not know what to prepare using these. When I was looking through my recipe book, I found this recipe for kadhai bhindi.
What you will need:
2 cups of okra cut into 1" pieces
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1 cup of capsicum/peppers cut into squares(yellow, green, orange and red)
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
3 - 4 green chillies
1 cup chopped onion
4 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
1 tbsp coarsely ground coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp garam masala powder
3 tbsp oil
salt to taste

How to prepare:
Heat oil in a pan. Add the okra and fry in an open pan until slightly cooked. This is to remove the stickyness of the okra. Remove the okra and set aside.
In the same pan, heat the remaining oil and add cumin seeds. When the cumin seeds crackle, add the chopped onions. Add a little salt and let the onions cook for some time. Add the turmeric powder, ginger garlic paste and the green chillies. Cook for a minute and then add the chopped tomatoes. Add the coriander powder, cumin powder, garam masala powder and chilli powder. Cook until the tomatoes are soft. Now add the capsicum. Mix everything well. Add more salt if needed. Add the okra and cook until the okra is done. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot.

Vegetable Upma / Uppittu / Rulavu

What you will need:
Rava / Sooji - 1 1/2 cups
Onion - 2 medium sized, chopped
Vegetables - 1 cup (beans, carrot, peas etc , this is optional)
Coriander leaves - few, finely chopped
Shredded coconut,fresh - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 2 strands
Urad dal - 2 tsp
Green chillies - 4 to 5
Warm water - 2 1/2 cups
Oil/Ghee - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste

How to prepare
Cook the vegetables with a little salt. Drain all the water and keep aside.
Heat oil/ghee in a pan. Add mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds crackle, add urad dal, green chillies, curry leaves and onions.
Fry until the onions turn golden brown. Now add the rava. Fry the rava until a nice aroma comes out. Now add the sugar, salt and cooked vegetables and stir.
Pour the warm water into the pan and mix it well with the rava. Cover and cook on low flame for 5 minutes. Add the coconut and coriander leaves and mix well. Cook until all the water is absorbed by the rava. Serve hot.

Mushroom Masala

What you will need:
Mushrooms - 12-15 big, sliced
Onion - 2 medium sized, sliced
Tomatoes - 2 medium sized, finely chopped
Coriander leaves - few finely chopped
Cream - 2 tbsp (or use 1/4 cup milk instead)
Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red chilli powder - 2 tsp
Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

How to prepare
Heat oil in a pan. Add sliced onions and cook until the onions are slightly brown in color. Now add the tomatoes, turmeric, cumin, red chilli and coriander powder. Cover and cook until the tomatoes are cooked and mashed.
Add the mushrooms and salt. Cover and cook. When the mushrooms are half done, add the cream/milk. When mushrooms are almost done, add the coriander leaves and garam masala powder. Bring it to a boil and turn off the heat. Serve hot with any Indian bread or rice.

Potato onion bhaji / Aloo bhaji

What you will need:
Potatoes - 3 medium sized

Onions - 2 medium sized, sliced

Green chillies - 6 finely chopped

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Curry leaves - 2 strands

Lemon juice - 2 tsp

Coriander leaves - few finely chopped

Oil - 5 tsp
Salt to taste

How to prepare

Cut the potatoes into small cubes.

Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds and mustard seeds. When they crackle, add chopped green chillies, curry leaves, turmeric powder and sliced onions. When the onion turns slightly brown, add the cubed potatoes and salt. Cover and cook. Add little water if required. When the potatoes are done, add the lemon juice and garnish with coriander leaves.

Vegetable Korma

What you will need:
Vegetables - 2 cups ( beans, carrot, peas, potato, cauliflower and beetroot)

Green chillies - 4

Coriander leaves chopped - 1/2 cup

Coconut - shredded fresh/frozen - 1/2 cup

Cinnamon stick - 1" piece

Garlic pods - 4

Pepper corns - 6

Oil - 3 tsp

Salt to taste

How to prepare

Cook the vegetables with half teaspoon of salt. Keep aside.

Heat the oil and then fry the cinnamon, garlic, green chillies, coconut and then the coriander leaves. Grind them all with peppercorns into a smooth paste.

Add this paste to the cooked vegetables. Bring the mixture to a boil.

Serve with puri/chapati.

Phova upkari / Sweet and spicy poha

What you will need:
Thin Poha - 1 1/2 cups
Sugar - 3 tsp (you can also use a small amount of jaggery)
Freshly grated coconut - 3 tbsp
Sambar powder - 1 tsp
Salt to taste

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 2 strands
Oil - 2 tsp

How to prepare
In a bowl mix coconut with sugar, salt and sambar powder. Now add the poha to it and mix well.
If the poha is too dry, you can sprinkle some water.
Heat oil. Add mustard seeds. When the seeds crackle, add curry leaves. Allow this to cool for a couple of minutes.
Now add to the poha and its ready to be served.

Optional: You can also add one finely chopped onion to the poha.

Spicy pepper chicken

What you will need:
Boneless chicken - 1/2 pound ( or 250gms)
Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp
Curd/ yogurt - 1 tbsp
Pepper powder - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 2 strands
Lemon juice - 2 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

How to prepare
Cut the boneless chicken into cubes. Mix the lemon juice with red chilli powder, salt, ginger garlic paste and yogurt and rub it to the chicken pieces and leave it to marinate for atleast 2 hours.
The longer you marinate, the better the flavor of the chicken. I sometimes marinate it and leave it overnight in the refrigerator.
Heat oil in a pan. Add curry leaves. Now add the chicken pieces and the pepper powder. Cover and cook. Make sure the chicken does not stick to the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle a little water if required. Cook until the chicken is cooked.
Sprinkle some pepper powder on top and serve hot.

Donne mirsang bajo / Capsicum bajji (Green pepper fritters)

What you will need:
1 capsicum (green pepper) - cut into 1" cubes
Besan / gram flour - 1/2 cup
Asafoetida - 1 small piece
Red chilli powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Oil for deep frying
Salt to taste

How to prepare
Soak the asafoetida in water until it dissolves completely.
In a bowl, mix the besan, red chilli powder, cumin powder and salt.
Add asafoetida dissolved in water. Add more water if required to make a thick paste. The consistency should be such that when you dip a capsicum piece in the paste, it should be well coated. Now dip the capsicum in the paste and deep fry until golden brown. Serve hot.

Rava dosa

What you will need:

Riceflour-1 cup
Rava or sooji- 1/2 cup ( or 3/4 cup for more crispy dosas)
Maida- 1/4 cup
Salt to taste

For seasoning

Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Green chillie-1 chopped finely
Curry leaves- a few
Ginger- a small piece finely chopped
Coriander leaves- a few finely chopped
Onion- 1 cup finely chopped
Oil / ghee - 2 tsp
Butter - 2 tsp

How to prepare:

Mix the rice flour, maida and rava. Add salt, chopped green chillies, chopped ginger and coriander leaves. Add water or buttermilk and make sure that the batter is of a very watery consistency . Heat 1 tsp of oil in a pan and add cumin seeds and mustard seeds, when it splutters add curry leaves and then the onion.Fry the onion until it turns transparent. Allow it to cool for a couple of minutes and then pour it over the batter.
Heat the griddle and grease it with oil/ghee. Take one ladleful of batter and pour it on the tawa. This dosa cannot be spread like normal dosas. Put some butter on top. Cover and cook. After the first side is cooked and is golden brown in color, fold the dosa and remove it from the griddle. This dosa is only fried on one side.
Serve hot with coriander chutney or hing chutney.

Poori / Puri (Fried South Asian unleavened bread)

Poori is deep fried Indian bread made with wheat flour. I have always loved poori bhaji for breakfast. My brother and I always used to compete against each other on who can eat more pooris. Even to this day I can eat 10-15 pooris easily. When I started making puris, they would never puff up. But with a little practice I can say that I can make pretty good puris. In the picture I have served poori with aloo bhaji and vegetable korma. I will post the recipe for vegetable korma soon.


What you will need:
1 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp oil/ghee
2 cups wheat flour

How to prepare:
In a bowl add the salt and ghee. To this add 1 cup of warm water. Now add the wheat flour. Mix everything and knead the dough.
Add a little more wheat flour if the dough is too soft. The dough should be a little harder than the chapati/roti dough.
Make lemon sized balls with the dough. Flatten each ball in your palms and dust with some wheat flour so that it does not stick when rolling. Roll the puris and keep them covered.

Heat oil in a pan. Deep fry one poori at a time. Slightly press the pooris and they will puff up.

Serve hot with vegetable korma or aloo(potato) bhaji.