Goan Style Chicken Stew

Goan Style Chicken Stew - A tasty stew. Best with Rotis / appam / idiyappam (string hoppers) / brown bread / rice / pulao .. Basic recipe from ‘’The Essential Goa Cookbook ‘’ by Maria Teresa Menezes.

Serves: 3 – 4

Ingredients

For the chicken:

500g  chicken, cut into medium pieces

1/2  teaspoon salt

½  teaspoon turmeric powder

1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder

Wash and clean chicken pieces. Drain out water thoroughly. In a wide bowl, marinate chicken  pieces with turmeric powder, red chilli powder  and salt. Cover and keep aside for half an hour.

Other ingredients

1 tablespoon oil

2 big size onion, finely sliced

15 garlic cloves, sliced

1 – inch piece ginger, finely sliced

4 green chillis, slit lengthwise

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

½ teaspoon cumin powder (jeera powder)

1 teaspoon coriander powder

3 tablespoon tamarind juice (soak small lemon sized tamarind in ¼ cup warm or hot  water for half an hour and extract 3 tablespoon tamarind juice)

Marinated chicken pieces

1 cup / 200 ml water (Indian standard measuring cup of 200 ml / 8 oz capacity)

½ teaspoon salt (or to taste)

½ teaspoon pepper powder

½ teaspoon garam masala powder (or ¼ teaspoon clove powder + ¼ teaspoon nutmeg powder + ¼ teaspoon cinnamon powder)

Method

Dilute  turmeric powder, cumin powder and coriander powder in 2 tablespoon water and keep aside.

Heat oil in a wide karahi / pan on a medium heat. Add sliced onions and fry light golden in color (color change from pink to light golden). It may take 15 – 17  minutes.

Add sliced ginger, garlic and slit green chillies. Fry for 5 minutes on a medium to low heat.

Add diluted spice paste and stir well on  a low heat for 2 - 3 minutes until the water dries up and raw smell disappears.

Add marinated chicken pieces, tamarind juice, 1 cup water, salt to taste, pepper powder and garam masala powder. Mix all the ingredients well. Cover with a tight lid and cook on a medium to low heat for 30 – 35 minutes until chicken pieces well cooked. Serve with  rotis  / pulao  / brown bread  / appam ..

Dodol - A delicious Goan sweet

Dodol – A delicious sweet in Goan cuisine, made of raw rice paste, coconut milk, jaggery and cashew nuts.

Serves: 4 – 6

Ingredients

Please use same measuring cup to measure rice and coconut milk.

1 cup raw rice (soorai orovu / pachari) (Indian standard measuring cup of 200 ml / 8 oz capacity)

1 cup / 200 ml medium thick  coconut milk (or dilute 25 g Maggi instant coconut milk powder with 1 cup / 200 ml water)

5 – 6 tablespoon melted and sieved jaggery (or to taste)

1 tablespoon chopped cashew nuts (optional)

1 steel thali of 7 – inches in diameter

1 teaspoon ghee / oil

Method

Wash and soak raw rice in 2 cups of water for 6 hours or overnight. Drain out water and make a thick paste in a mixer. Sprinkle very little water (2 – 3 tablespoon water) when making the paste. Transfer rice paste in another container.

Heat  a wide karahi or pan on a medium heat. Gently pour coconut milk. Add rice paste slowly and  gently mix with coconut milk. Add 2 – 3 tablespoons  rice paste at a time. Then it won’t form lumps. Stir well continuously for 12 – 15 minutes until rice paste well combined with coconut milk / like a soft porridge.

At this stage, add 5 – 6 tablespoons jaggery and chopped cashew nuts. Stir well on a low heat for another 10 minutes until it leaves from the sides of the pan and slightly thickens / jaggery well combined with other ingredients / fragrant. Switch off the heat.

Grease a steel thali with 1/2 teaspoon oil or ghee.

Pour the mixture on a greased thali and sprinkle remaining 1/2 teaspoon ghee over it and spread it evenly with a flat spatula. Keep aside to cool for half an hour and later cut it into desired shape and sizes.

Aashirvaad Atta Whole wheat Puttu with Egg Curry / Egg Roast

Aashirvaad  Atta Gothambu Puttu with Mutta Curry / Egg Curry - Puttu is a popular breakfast dish in Kerala cuisine. Here's new combination with Egg curry.

Makes: 1 puttu

Serves: 2

Ingredients

1 cup / 200 g (Indian standard measuring cup of 200 ml / 8 oz capacity) Aashirvaad whole wheat atta ( do not dry roast whole wheat atta )

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup grated coconut ( you can reduce the quantity of grated coconut )

Puttu maker

Method

Take a big flat bowl. Add 1 cup whole wheat atta and salt. Sprinkle water and mix it with fingers. Mix it slowly so that it won't roll into small balls.

Break any whole wheat balls which forms during mixing. Spray water little by little. ( Please note that to mix a cup of whole wheat atta, one may not need more than 1/5th of a cup of water).

After mixing atta; the mixture should be just wet or moistened atta  - like soft breadcrumbs (un- like chapatti dough or batter for dosa). Whole wheat atta should not be dry but wet enough for steaming . Keep aside for half an hour.

Fill this whole wheat atta mixture in Puttu maker / gadget for making puttu. This puttu maker / gadget will essentially have a sieve at the bottom. Place a 5 mm layer of grated coconut at the bottom.

The filling should be in such a way that a 5 mm thick layer of grated coconut should be layered every 3 – 4 inch thickness ofwhole wheat mixture; while filling. Top it with liberal layer of coconut scraping.

Steam it on the pressure cooker on medium flame for 5-8 minutes till a consistent stream of steam emanates from the top of puttu maker. Please do not keep heat  on high. Push the puttu from the puttu maker with the help of a thin rod. Serve with Mutta  curry.

Important while filling: Do not apply pressure on the filling. The filling should be packed loosely inside the puttumaker. Else the puttu will come out like a missile (there will be a pressure built up beneath it and steam will not pass through it) and will end up as a big disaster.

Kerala Style Egg Roast or Naadan  Mutta  Roast - A thick egg curry, made of  boiled egg, tomato and Indian spices. Best with appam / idiyappam / chapati / pulao / ghee rice .. Easy method  !!

Serves: 2

Ingredients

2 tablespoon oil

1 onion (1 big size or 2 small size onion), very thinly sliced

8 cloves garlic, sliced

½ teaspoon ginger, finely chopped

6 curry leaves

1 well ripe tomato(1 big size or 2 small size), sliced or 3 tablespoons tomato puree

¾ teaspoon red chilli powder

½ teaspoon pepper powder

¼ teaspoon turmeric powder

1 teaspoon coriander powder

¾ teaspoon salt (or to taste)

2 Boiled eggs

½ teaspoon garam masala powder (or a mix of ¼ teaspoon clove powder+1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder + ¼ teaspoon clove powder +1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder – homemade spice mix)

Method

Dilute red chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and pepper powder in  2 tablespoon water (spice mix). Keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan. Add thinly sliced onion and fry on a low to medium heat until golden color.

Add sliced garlic, ginger and curry leaves. Fry on a medium heat until crisp and well combined with onions.

Add sliced tomato  or tomato puree and fry for 2 – 3 minutes until well mixed.

Add diluted spice mix and stir on a low heat for 2 – 3 minutes until raw smell goes and well combined with other ingredients.

Add boiled egg, salt to taste and garam masala powder or homemade spice mix. Mix all the ingredients well. Do not add water when cooking. It should be thick roast / curry.

Cover with a lid and cook on a low heat for 10 – 12 minutes until onion gravy well blended with boiled egg. Serve with  puttu (or with appam / idiyappam / pulao / ghee rice / brown bread  …)

Kulitha Sukke

Kulitha Sukke - There are many preparations with kulithu in Konkan cuisine. While Kulithu / Horse gram is known to have lots of medicinal properties (reduces cough, cold, good for body weight management etc. ), it is also said to increase body heat. Hence use in moderation.  Sukke is a a tasty side dish with rice /  Kanji (pejje / rice porridge ..

Serves:  4 - 6

Ingredients

For coconut mixture:

3 tablespoon (45 – 50 g) grated coconut (or 3 – 5 tablespoons)

6 garlic cloves, chopped and crushed

3/4 teaspoon red chilli powder

¼ teaspoon turmeric powder

Mix all the ingredients well and keep aside (Do not mix it with water)

For kulithu (horse gram):

1 cup (Indian standard measuring cup of 200 ml / 8 oz capacity) kulithu (horse gram)

Wash and soak kulithu  in 2 1/2 cups water ( 500 ml) ml water for 6 hours ( or overnight ). Transfer soaked  kulithu  (along with its soaked water) into a pressure cooker with 1/2 teaspoon salt (final water level after soaking of the kulithu  should be 1 - inch above  kulithu). Close the pressure cooker lid and cook on high heat for 5 whistles (or till done and soft or maximum 6 whistles) . Switch off the heat. Allow the cooker to cool naturally. Open the lid. Boiled kulithu will be thick in consistency or remove stock.

Other ingredients

2 teaspoon oil

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

½ teaspoon jeera (cumin seeds)

¼ teaspoon urad dal

Boiled kulithu

Grated coconut mixture

 Method

Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds. When they crackle, add jeera and urad dal. Saute on a low heat for 1 minute.

 Add boiled  kulithu, grated coconut mixture and adjust salt to taste. Do not add water when cooking. Cover with a tight lid and cook on a low heat for 10 – 12 minutes or until done / well combined with coconut mixture / fragrant. Serve as a side dish with rice / kanji  ..