SPICY PRAWN CURRY

A recipe from my kitchen for that yummy prawn curry. Tastes good with rice, aapam, roti and dosa. You can even sandwich it between 2 bread slices and toast it on tava for a delicious prawn curry sandwich.

I have used only 2 whole spices in this prawn dish unlike other non vegetarian dishes. What makes this prawn curry different is that, it does not have ginger garlic paste and garam masala, which is a usual in most non vegetarian recipes. The spicy taste comes mainly from the chili for this dish. Please adjust the spice level as per your taste. If you prefer something mild spicy, please reduce the quantity of chili powder by half. Some of you might like it very spicy, in that case, you can add another slit green chili to the dish.

The ingredients below makes it a medium spicy gravy, nevertheless you can follow the above suggestions to suit your palate. I have marinated the prawns before cooking it in the gravy, this is done to infuse flavour into the prawn. It is sufficient if you marinate the prawns for a few mins. Overnight marination is not required. Easy to cook and tastes great as an accompaniment. Serve hot on a bed of hot steaming rice.

 

INGREDIENTS

Gravy

Prawns - 750 gms

Onion - 2 finely chopped

Tomatoes - 2 finely chopped

Garlic - 5-6 cloves finely chopped

Green chili - 1 slit

Fennel seeds - 1 tsp

Cinnamon - 1/2 inch piece

Chili powder - 1 tbsp  (Kashmiri chili powder) OR 

                        2 tsp if you're using ordinary chili powder

Coriander powder - 1 tbsp

Salt as per taste

Water - 1 cup

Coriander leaves chopped for garnish

Marination

Chili powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Salt
Juice of half lemon

METHOD

Clean and devein prawns. Add all the ingredients for marination and marinate for 10-15 mins. In a pan, heat oil, add fennel and cinnamon. Once fragrant, add the garlic and onion, saute till they turn light golden. Add the chopped tomatoes, green chili, masala powders and cook till it gets mushy. Now add the marinated prawns, 1 cup water and cook for 15-20 mins or till done. Check for salt and spice level. Add more water if you want a gravy. Once done, garnish with fresh coriander leaves. 

Isn't this easy? Do try it and send in your feedback. 

HYDERABADI DUM BIRYANI

Here's the much awaited and most requested recipe! My Hyderabadi Dum Biryani! We all love biryani for its lovely aroma and taste. The taste and flavour of a good biryani comes from the use of spice, marination and also by the method of cooking. The traditional and popular way of cooking a biryani is called - dum method. This certainly gives it the excellent aroma. 

The original recipe (Taken from Times of India) calls for mutton but I have been doing this only with chicken with a little variation. All the mentioned ingredients should be added to get the authentic flavour and taste. It tastes great with any raitha.

INGREDIENTS

Chicken - 1/2 kg

Indian Basmati rice - 3 cups

Bay leaves - 2

Green cardamoms - 6

Black peppercorns - 23

Cinnamon sticks - 3

Onions (sliced) - 5

Caraway seeds/Shahi jeera - 1/2 tsp

Cloves - 9

Ginger paste - 2 tbsp
Garlic paste - 2 tbsp

Red chili powder - 1 tbsp

Yoghurt - one cup

Fresh coriander leaves (torn) - 1 cup

Fresh mint leaves (torn) - 1 cup

Black cardamoms - 2 

Saffron (kesar) mix in 1/4 cup lukewarm milk

Ghee

Chopped coriander for garnish.

METHOD
Spice powder

Grind 1/2 tsp caraway seeds/shahi jeera, one cinnamon stick, 15 black peppercorns, 9 cloves and 1 green cardamoms to a fine powder and set aside.

Marination

Take chicken pieces in a bowl. Add ginger paste, garlic paste, salt, and mix. Add the spice powder, red chili powder, sliced and  fried onions (crushed), yoghurt, and coriander leaves, half of the mint leaves and one tbsp oil and mix.  

Let it marinate for about two hours or longer in the refrigerator. I usually marinate it overnight. 

Rice

Heat five to six cups of water in a deep pan. Add drained rice, salt, bay leaves, 5 green cardamoms about 8 black peppercorns, one cinnamon stick and cook until 3/4th done. Drain and set aside.  

Gravy

Heat sufficient oil in a kadai and deep-fry half the onion slices until golden brown. Drain and place on an absorbent paper. Heat 2 tbsp ghee in a pan, add one cinnamon stick and black cardamoms and saute till fragrant. Add the remaining sliced onion and sauté until light golden. Add marinated chicken, stir and cook on high heat for 3-4 minutes. Cover, reduce heat and cook until almost done.

Preparing the dum

Heat about a tbsp of ghee in a thick-bottomed pan. Spread half the rice in a layer and chicken over the rice. Sprinkle remaining torn mint leaves. Spread the remaining rice.  Sprinkle saffron milk. Cover and cook under dum (very low flame) until done. Garnish the biryani with fried onion.

CHICKEN KORMA

This Chicken Korma recipe is my style and goes very well with idli and dosa. I wanted to try out something different with the marinated chicken I had. Since it was idli for dinner that day I wanted something not very spicy at the same time something that would go very well with idlis. I used the marinated chicken I had to make a korma my style. The ingredients required for marination is also given below. Here's my recipe to a tasty chicken korma/ chicken in a nutty gravy/ vellai (white) korma or however you want to call it. 

INGREDIENTS

Chicken - 250 gms

Onion (chopped) - 2

Tomato (chopped) - 2

Green chili (slit) - 2 [make it 3 if you prefer it spicy]

Ginger & Garlic paste - 1/2 tbsp

Turmeric pwd - a pinch

Coriander pwd - 1 tbsp

Chili pwd - 1 tsp

Garam masala - 1/2 tsp

Cardamom, Clove - 1 each

Cinnamon -  1/2 a stick

Coconut milk - 1/2 cup

Salt to taste 

Coriander leaves for garnish

To marinate 

Turmeric pwd - 1/2 tsp

Chili pwd - 1 tsp

Ginger & Garlic paste - 1 tsp

Lemon juice - 1 tbsp

Salt - 1 tsp

To grind 

Poppy seeds - 1 tsp

Cashews - 6

Add water when grinding to make it a paste. 

METHOD

Marinate the chicken pieces in the above marinade mixture for 30 mins.

In a cooker pan add little oil and add cardamom, cinnamon and clove. Immediately add the chopped onion and slit green chilies. After 2 mins add the ginger garlic paste and saute for about 5 mins. Now add the chopped tomatoes, chicken and all the masalas. Give it a good mix. Add very little water and close the cooker lid. Cook for 4 whistles and switch off. When the pressure releases add the prepared cashew paste. Keep it on medium flame and let it boil. Now add coconut milk, give it a stir and finish it off with chopped coriander leaves. It's a tasty chicken kurma made in a South Indian style- a good side dish for appam(hoppers), idiyappam(string hoppers), idli and dosa. 

PEPPER CHICKEN FRY

This pepper chicken is my mother’s recipe to which I have added a few changes. It tastes good with rasam, curd rice and even with chapati. 

INGREDIENTS

Chicken – 500 gms boneless cut into small pieces

Onion (chopped) – 2  

Ginger and garlic (grated) – 2 tbsp each  OR  Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp

Green chilly (slit) – 1

Black pepper (crushed) – 1¼ tbsp

Garam masala – 1 tsp

Fennel powder – 1 tsp

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

Juice of half a lemon

Salt

Tomato puree – 2 tsp

Curry leaves

Coconut oil

Chopped coriander leaves for garnish

METHOD

Wash the chicken pieces by adding a tsp of turmeric and little salt. Heat oil in a pan and add chopped onions and little salt and let it brown. Add grated ginger and garlic OR ginger garlic paste, slit green chili and curry leaves. Let it cook until the raw smell goes. Add crushed pepper, turmeric powder, garam masala, fennel powder and cook for about 3 mins. Add tomato puree and mix well. I have used tomato puree for this recipe but my mother adds chopped tomatoes. If you prefer tomatoes then use one small sized tomato and chop it into small cubes. Add the chicken pieces and squeeze in the lemon and add the required salt. Combine everything well. Add about half a cup of water and let it boil. Reduce the heat once it starts boiling, cover and cook the chicken for about ten minutes or  until done stirring in occasionally in between if needed and add little water if the masala sticks to the pan. Once the chicken is done, heat coconut oil in a tadka pan, add curry leaves, switch off the heat and pour this on the chicken. Serve hot.