Unakka Chemmeen Chammanthi Podi | Kerala Style Chemmeen Chammanthi Podi | Dry Shrimp Chutney powder

You know, I have been making this condiment on and off for the past 5 years.. On and off in the sense, whenever I get my hands on a pack of dried shrimps, I for sure make them ! I learnt to make them from a very dear blogger friend Meena's space 'Elephants and Coconut trees'. It was a saviour during our days at Norway. Deeps is a great fan of dried fish and getting them was close to impossible there. Once in a while we get the dried shrimps packet in the Asian stores. Whenever we spot one, we buy them and get it roasted and ground :D 

And the taste is so awesome that even after getting back to India and having pretty good access to fresh and dried fish, we still crave for this :D And this time when we went to Kerala, Deeps found this at our local super market and got 2 packets :) So I made this podi with one packet and some other dishes with the other one. Stay tuned to see what they are :) Meena keeps her podi pretty simple but I, when I made it the first time itself used all those extras that she mentioned in her notes.. So I have been making it like that ever since ! They are sooper easy to make. A little time consuming only to roast the ingredients and that is so important coz your shelf life depends on how well they are roasted and how moisture free they are.. And we like to pair it up with kanji (rice gruel) for our dinner. Little of this podi, choodu kanji, mutta scramble (egg scrambled) and achar (pickle) is all that we need to have a mind filling dinner :) So do try this out if you get your hands on one and let me know how you liked it :)

Other recipes with Dried Shrimps:

Unakka Chemmeen Roast | Dried Shrimp Fry

Unakka Chemmeen Curry | Dried Shrimp Curry

Unakka Chemmeen Maanga Curry | Kerala Style Dried Shrimp Raw Mango Curry

Recipe Source: Adapted from Here

Preparation Time : 10 minutes

Cooking Time : 45 minutes

Makes : 1.5cups

I Used:

Dried Shrimp	-	One 50 gm packet
Grated Coconut	-	1 cup
Shallots	-	8 nos
Garlic	-	5 pods
Curry leaves	-	2 sprigs
Pepper	-	1 tsp
Red Chilly powder	-	2 tsp
Asafoetida	-	½ tsp
Tamarind	-	1 tsp (tightly packed)
Salt	-	As Needed

The Way:

1. Rinse and wash the shrimp thoroughly 3-4 times to remove any dirt or dust particles in them. They tend to absorb water, so be quick to rinse and once done, drain them and take them in a plate and spread them out. Leave them for 30-60 minutes to dry

2. If you are hard pressed for time, do not bother to dry them. Take them in a kadai/pan and dry roast them in low flame. For a better and longer shelf time, there shouldn't be any moisture content in the powder we are going to make. Hence make sure you roast the shrimps in low flame till they are crisp and dry. Also make sure that you keep stirring occasionally so that they don't get burnt

3. Once they are crisp and starts to crack and splutter, take them in a plate and keep aside

4. In the same pan, add the grated coconut, shallots, garlic, curry leaves and pepper. Saute on a low flame till the coconut turns deep brown in colour. Keep sauteeing continuously and take care not to burn them

5. Now add red chilly powder, salt and asafoetida. Give a quick stir

6. Then add the roasted shrimp and give a nice stir. Keep stirring for another 3-4 minutes. Then add the tamarind and saute for a minute. Switch off the flame

7. Allow it to cool down. Then grind it coarsely and store in an air tight container

Notes: 

• Store in an air tight container for a longer shelf life. Use a clean and dry spoon to take out the podi
• Dry shrimps comes with added salt. Hence add salt accordingly while making the podi
• If your shrimps are a bit larger and you want to remove the head and tail then you can do the same. I use small variety for making this podi and don't remove the heads or tails
• Roast the ingredients really well and keep them away from moisture for a better shelf life

Cheers,

Chitz

Nadan Chicken Curry - Kerala Style without coconut - Type 1

Chicken cooked in onion, tomatoes & dry roasted Indian spices

All those regular readers of mine would know my love for chicken & how I love to prepare chicken dishes ! So here I am back with a basic & simple chicken recipe. This one is very easy to prepare, do not be taken aback with the number of steps, it's just a pinch of this & a handful of that from your masala dabbas/pantry & voila, you are left with a very flavorful & aromatic side dish that will definitely elevate your mild flavored rice or simple phulkas & leave you contented :) 

This is a personal favorite at home & Deeps loves to prepare this by himself, so as usual, I'm the happy apprentice then. This time we paired it up with 'Nei Choru' & we lost count of how many helpings we took while having lunch with one of our favorite 'House' series on ;) This is just one of the types in which Nadan chicken curry is made at our place. There are many variations to this which I will post in the future. So this time, try this out & let me know how you liked it :)

Other Chicken recipes:

Chettinadu Kozhi Kulambu
Chicken Masaledar | Spicy Chicken Masala

Coorgi Style Chicken Curry

Mughlai Chicken

Baked Chicken Pasta

Spring Roll

Recipe Source: Deeps

 

I Took:

Marination: 30 minutes

Preparation: 40 minutes

 

Serves : 3-4 persons

I Used:

 

For Marination:

Chicken	-	500 gm
Turmeric powder	-	½ tsp
Salt	-	As needed
Lemon juice	-	½ of a small sized lemon

To Roast & Grind:

Red Chilly	-	4 nos
Coriander Seeds	-	1 tsp
Mustard	-	¼ tsp
Cumin seeds	-	½ tsp
Pepper	-	½ tsp
Cinnamon	-	1 inch piece
Cloves	-	2 nos
Cardamom	-	1 no
Star Anise	-	1 no
Bay leaf	-	1 no

For Gravy:

Onion - 4-5 medium sized (sliced) Tomato - 2 medium sized (sliced) Green Chilly - 2 nos Ginger Garlic paste - 2 tbsp Red Chilly powder - 1 tsp Coriander powder - 1 tsp Turmeric powder - ½ tsp Curd - 2 tbsp (optional) Coriander leaves - 2 sprig Curry leaves - 2 sprig Salt - As needed Oil - As needed Water - As needed

To Temper: (optional)

Oil  - 2 tbsp Garlic - 1 pod Pepper - 1 tsp

The Way:

1. Dry roast the ingredients under 'To roast & grind' in a pan. Add little water to it & grind  it to a fine paste

2. Marinate the cleaned & cut chicken pieces with the ingredients under 'For Marination' &  keep aside for 30 minutes

3. In a kadai, heat oil. Add the sliced onions & salt & saute well. The taste of this dish depends on how well you saute the onions. This is the key step & it may take you around 10-12 minutes. Keep sauteing occasionally till it reduces to half & becomes mushy. You can cover & cook as well in between

4. Once the the onions are nicely sauteed, add the sliced tomatoes & slit green chillies & saute well till the tomatoes becomes mushy

5. Now add the ginger-garlic paste & saute till the raw smell goes off. This may take around 2-3 minutes

6. Now add turmeric powder, red chilly powder, coriander powder & saute well for about a minute or two

7. Dunk in the marinated chicken pieces & give a nice stir. Close the kadai & cook in a medium/low flame till the chicken pieces become soft & are half-cooked. This takes about another 10 minutes

8. Now uncover the kadai & you can see that the chicken has let out some water. At this stage add the ground paste & sufficient water (if required) to bring it to the consistency for the gravy that you require. Close the kadai & cook again till the chicken is done

9. Now add in curd & give a stir. This step is totally optional. We like to add curd as it brings a tangy zing to the gravy which enhances the flavour of the dish

10. Add in the chopped coriander leaves & curry leaves & give a stir. Leave it in medium flame for another 30-60 seconds for the flavour of the leaves to sink in

11. Now for the tempering, heat oil in a kadai & fry the garlic pods & pepper separately

12. The garlic pods should slightly change colour & the pepper should just start to crackle. This tempering is also totally optional. We add it as Deeps like the crunch that the tempering adds to the gravy

You can serve hot with Nei Choru / Coconut Milk Rice / Roti / Idiyappam / Appam / Porotta / Chiratta Puttu / Puttu or any mild flavoured rice !

Cheers,

Chitz

Coorgi Chicken Curry with homemade Coorgi Masala Powder | Coorg Style Chicken Curry

Chicken prepared in Coorgi style with freshly ground Masala & sauteed onions

Each of us have our own unique ways of celebrating our special days. Some do it with sweet, some with wine & yet others would be out in the wild :D We do it with chicken, but now you guys would not be surprised as I have already mentioned many a times of our undying & dedicated love for this lovely ingredient. And for those of who are asking what's special today, it's Deeps' birthday. Though he did not want any celebration a.k.a indication that he is older by a year, I wanted to do prepare something simple yet not the regular kind of food for our lunch today. He is not a great fan of sweets nor cakes. so I resorted to our all time favorite, chicken. I did not want to try something very new for the fear of something going wrong somewhere, hence decided on this simple & flavorful Coorgi style chicken curry. 

I had already prepared this awesome gravy (adapted from Sinful Curry) 2-3 times before & every time it received a good review, by Deeps as well as some guests to whom we served this :) So I paired it up with the subtle yet lovely Peas pulav & wrapped it up with a rich creamy custard fruit salad with ice cream. Both mind & tummy full & satisfied :D And coming to the recipe it was originally for pork, but since the strong flavors & the simplicity of the recipe pulled me towards it, I had to replace it with chicken. And also this authentic recipe requires Kanchampuli, the Coorg special vinegar prepared from Gambooge, but since I did not have neither the extract nor the whole Gambooge I used our normal tamarind & extracted the pulp & used it. So nothing else would stop you now from trying out this. Enjoy :)

Recipe Source: Sinful Curry

I Took: 40 minutes + 2 hour(marination)

Serves: 2-3 persons

I Used:

For Coorgi Masala powder:

Coriander seeds  - 3 tbsp Pepper  - 1 tsp Cumin seeds  - ½ tsp Mustard - ¼ tsp Cinnamon  - An inch piece Cloves  - 4 no Green cardamom  - 2 no

To Marinate:

Chicken  - ½ kg Coorgi Masala powder  - 2 tbsp Red chili powder  - 1 ½ tsp Turmeric powder  - ¼ tsp Tamarind Extract - 1 tbsp (Refer notes) Salt - As Needed

To Saute:

Onions	-	1 medium sized - sliced
Shallots	-	5 nos - sliced
Ginger-Garlic Paste	-	1 tbsp
Coorgi Masala powder	-	2 tsp
Mustard seeds	-	¼ tsp
Curry leaves	-	A sprig
Coriander leaves	-	To Garnish
Oil	-	2 tbsp

The Way:

1. In a pan dry roast (without oil) the spices under 'For Coorgi Masala powder' until they turn brown & the aroma of the spices come out. Allow it to cool & then grind it to a fine powder in a mixie. Keep aside
2. Clean & cut the chicken into small or desirable sized pieces. Marinate it with the ingredients under 'To Marinate' & refrigerate them for 1-2 hours
3. Cook the marinated chicken with ¼ cup of water until done. Alternately you can pressure cook the chicken for a whistle or two as well
4. In a pan, heat oil. Splutter mustards & curry leaves. Add shallots & onions and saute them nicely till they turn deep brown. Take care not to burn
5. Add ginger-garlic paste & fry till the raw smell goes off. Now add coorgi masala powder & give a stir
6. Now add the cooked chicken pieces & cook on low flame until they are mixed well & the gravy thickens to your desired consistency. You can also let it dry completely if preferred
7. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves

Serve with Jeera Rice/Peas Pulav/Coconut Milk Rice or Roti/Appam/Idiyappam !

Notes:

• The original recipe calls for Kanchampuli (the Coorg vinegar extracted from kachampuli or gambooge), but since I did not have it I used normal Tamarind
• The original recipe is for Pork, since I do not eat it I used chicken instead

Cheers,

Chitz

Pavakkai Puli Kuzhambu | Pavakkai Kara Kuzhambu | Tangy Bitter Gourd Gravy - with coconut

Bitter Gourd cooked in tamarind with coconut sauce

Can we say anytime that we are preparing an authentic dish?? Actually speaking, no right? Coz we may not have some ingredients at hand or we may substitute some costly or high fat content ingredient with some healthy or that which is readily available ones, na? Most of the times, we give consideration to our taste buds & tweak the recipe accordingly. And other times, it is the comfort factor involved in preparation. Mixie & grinders have replaced our traditional mortar & pestle, fresh ingredients are replaced with dry & dessicated & packaged & tinned & bottled !! We neither have the time nor the patience to try something the authentic traditional way ;)

You may be wondering what's the point I am trying to make here?? Actually nothing :D In simple words, I forgot the way that my friend makes this dish & ended up inventing my own one, but which still tastes great !! Too much talk for that right? ;) My friend K used to prepare some awesome dishes for us at our PG. Mostly we wud be her helpers, assisting her in chopping & cleaning :) The beauty is that, all her dishes would require minimal & simple preparation & would taste heavenly !! That inspired me to make some bitter gourd puli kuzhambu one day, but I could vaguely recollect how she did it.. U see, I was busy chopping & grinding then ;) But could remember the ingredients, so went ahead & made this kuzhambu. The highlight of the story is that Deeps liked the gravy & I was showered with all praises. So this time, I learnt from my mistake & I jotted down the way I did it. After that I have been preparing this gravy quite often & every time we relished it !! So this time, I decided that this should feature here.. It is a tangy gravy with maximum effort concentrated on reducing the bitterness of the bitter gourd.. So someone who is on the look out of such a recipe, here it is !! Some other recipes with bitter gourd that are there in the blog are Pitla, Pavakya Pulin Curry, Bitter Gourd Fry & Khatta Meeta Karela..

Serves: 2-3 persons

I Took: 40 minutes

I Used:

Bitter Gourd	-	250 gm / 3 medium sized ones
Onion	-	1 - medium sized - Chopped
Tomato	-	1 - medium sized -Cut into 8
Grated Coconut	-	¼ cup
Tamarind	-	A small goosberry sized piece
Jaggery	-	2 tbsp
Red Chilly powder	-	1 tsp
Coriander powder	-	2 tsp
Turmeric powder	-	½ tsp
Green Chilly	-	2 nos
Cumin Seeds	-	½ tsp
Mustard	-	½ tsp
Curry leaves	-	A sprig
Oil	-	2 tbsp
Salt	-	As Needed

The Way:

1. Heat 2 tsp oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds. When it splutters, add tomato & saute till the raw smell goes off & it becomes a little mushy
2. Lower the flame to minimum & add red chilly powder & coriander powder & saute well. Switch off the flame once it is mixed well. Take care not to burn
3. Add grated coconut to this sauteed tomatoes. Add 3-4 tbsp water & grind to a smooth paste
4. Soak the tamarind in ¼ cup of water for 15-20 minutes. Extract the pulp from the tamarind & keep aside
5. Wash the bitter gourd & scrape off the small thorns on it. Cut the bitter gourd into half and de-seed (remove the soft mushy part as well) them. Slice the bitter gourd into ½ inch pieces
6. In the pan, heat 2 tbsp oil. Splutter mustard. Add onions & saute
7. When the onions become translucent, add the bitter gourd pieces and saute well for around 4-5 minutes
8. Now add turmeric powder, salt & the ground paste. Mix well. Add ¼ cup of water,  cover & cook till done which should take around 8-10 minutes
9. Finally add the tamarind pulp & jaggery (Refer Notes) and allow it to come to a boil

Serve hot with steamed rice & a kootu of your choice :)

Notes:

Addition of jaggery is to reduce the bitterness of the bitter gourd. For the dark green bitter gourd, you may require a little more. Adjust according to your taste

Cheers,

Chitz

Unakka Chemmeen Curry | Dried Shrimp Curry | Dried Prawn Curry

Dried Shrimps/Prawns cooked in tamarind extract & coconut sauce

It's been a while since I posted some non-veg recipes. So when I was going through the draft pics, this one grabbed my attention. What else can be termed as the comfort food of Indians living abroad. It's none other than the dried fish. The fresh or processed fish that you get in many of the countries will not have the taste of the fish that we get or eat in India. No complaints here, as each place has it's own unique cuisine coz of the taste & type of the ingredients that it owns !! And hence the Indian curry or gravy that we prepare here, will also differ in taste to a small extent. 

And that's where the dried fish becomes the hero. On your way back from vacation, neatly pack up some dried fish and it becomes the savior :) It definitely guarantees you the authentic flavor & aroma that you always enjoy back at home !! So without any further pep talk, let's dive into the recipe..

Other recipes with Dried Shrimps:

Unakka Chemmeen Chammanthi Podi | Dried Shrimp Chutney powder
Unakka Chemmeen Roast | Dried Shrimp Fry

Unakka Chemmeen Maanga Curry | Kerala Style Dried Shrimp Raw Mango Curry

Recipe Source: Mil

Serves: 2 persons

I Took: 40 minutes

I Used:

Unakka Chemmen/Dry Shrimps	-	¼ cup
Tomato	-	1 no - medium sized
Tamarind	-	A big goosebery size
Green Chilly	-	2 nos
Turmeric powder	-	½ tsp
Salt	-	As Needed

To Roast & Grind:

Oil	-	1 tsp
Grated Coconut	-	¼ cup
Shallots	-	5-6 nos
Red Chilly powder	-	1 tsp
Coriander powder	-	2 tsp

To Temper:

Oil	-	1 tsp
Mustard	-	½ tsp
Shallots	-	3-4 nos
Curry leaves	-	A sprig

The Way:

1. Wash & clean the dried shrimps with a little turmeric powder & keep aside
2. Soak tamarind in warm water for 20 minutes & extract the pulp out of it
3. In a pan heat 1 tsp of oil. Add the ingredients under 'To Roast & Grind' & saute on medium fire until it turns slight brown in color
4. Allow it to cool. Add 2-3 tbsp water & grind them to a paste
5. In another pan add the tamarind extract, chopped tomatoes, slit green chilly,  turmeric powder, cleaned shrimp & salt and cook for 10-15 minutes or until it's done
6. Adjust salt as the dried shrimp will already have some in it
7. Add the ground paste to the gravy and mix well. Cook in low flame for 5 minutes
8. Meanwhile heat 1 tsp of oil in the first pan. Splutter mustard. Add shallots & curry leaves and saute till the shallots turn golden brown. Take care not to burn
9. Add this tempering to the gravy, when done
10. Remove from flame and serve with steamed rice

Cheers,

Chitz