Chicken Pepper Fry

Chicken Pepper Fry

A delicious dry chicken dish, goes well as side dish with Rotis / Rice / Parattas / Brown bread or serve as a starter.

Serves: 2

Ingredients

1 tablespoon oil

15 shallots (50 g) shallots (chuvannulli / small onion / saanu piyyavu), finely sliced

6 curry leaves

¾ teaspoon pepper powder (1/2 teaspoon for less spicy)

¼ teaspoon red chilli powder

6 cooked chicken pieces (without gravy) from the chicken curry (any curry of your choice – Kerala chicken curry / Chicken Chettinad / Mangalore chicken curry/ Punjabi chicken curry …)

½ teaspoon salt (or to taste)

Method

Dilute pepper powder and red chilli powder in 2 teaspoons of water. Keep aside.

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

Add curry leaves and fry until crisp.

Add diluted pepper powder – red chilli powder mix. Stir on a low heat for 2 minutes or until well mixed with onions, curry leaves and brown in color.

Add cooked chicken pieces, adjust salt to taste and fry on a low heat for 10 minutes / until spices well coated on chicken pieces and brown in color. Serve hot.

Bengali style Masoor Dal

Bengali Style Simple Masoor Dal

A tasty dal, made of masoor dal (pink color dal), green chilli and onion (also without tadka (seasoning)). Best with rice / rotis / luchi(Bengali style puris).

Serves: 3 – 4

Ingredients

For dal:

1 cup (100 g) masoor dal (pink color dal)

3 cups (300 ml) water

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

½ teaspoon oil

Method

Wash and clean dal. Soak in 3 cups of water for 15 minutes and boil in pressure cooker with its soaking water, turmeric powder and oil until done and soft (Switch off the heat on high after 3 rd whistle and allow the cooker to cool naturally). Open the lid.

Final preparation:

Ingredients

1 tablespoon oil

1 onion. Finely sliced

3 green chilli, slit lengthwise

½ teaspoon salt (or to taste)

Method

Heat oil in a kadai / pan. Add finely sliced onions and fry till golden color on a medium to low heat.

Add boiled dal along with 3 slit green chillies and salt. Mix all the ingredients well. Cover with a tight lid and cook on a medium to low heat for 10 – 12 minutes or until done and dal slightly thickens. Serve with Rice / Rotis / Luchi ..

Photo of Mortar & Pestle from Mamallapuram / Mahabalipuram

Stoneware mortar & pestle available @ Mamallapuram, near Shore Temple

Photos of Shore Temple, Mamallapuram / Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu

Shore Temple

The Shore Temple (700-728 AD) is so named because it overlooks the Bay of Bengal. It is a structural temple, built with blocks of granite, dating from the 8th century AD. It was built on a promontory sticking out into the Bay of Bengal at Mahabalipuram / Mamallapuram, a village south of Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The village was a busy port during the 7th and 8th century reign of the Pallava dynasty during the reign of Narasimhavarman II.

As one of the Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram, it has been classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is one of the oldest structural (versus rock-cut) stone temples of South India. Information adapted from Wikipedia.