CASHEW (KAJU) CHICKEN

The lunar cycle determines the Islamic calender and "Ramadan" is the ninth month of the Islamic calender. Fasting in Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam. Muslims all over the world abstain from eating, drinking, smoking, as well as participating from anything which is ill-natured or excessive; from dawn until sunset. They are developing characteristics of patience, self-restraint and God consciousness. Though, fasting is compulsory for adults alone, young children are exempt from fasting. Every Ramadan culminates with the festival of Eid-ul-Fitr. Ramadan highlights Muslim brotherhood and customs and brings about a special feeling of closeness. So, today I am offering you a tasty and healthy Ramadan recipe, "Cashew Chicken" that will surely add a variety, colour and nutrition to your 'Iftar Table'.

INGREDIENTS:
800 gm Regular Chicken, Cut into Medium Sized Pieces
3/4" Ginger (paste)
6-7 Pods of Garlic (paste)
200 gm Onion, Cut in Thin Slices
100 gm Cashew nut
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
A Bunch of Coriander Leaves (paste)
1 tsp Sugar (not for sweetness, but for flavor)
1 tsp Freshly Pounded Garam Masala
1/4 Cup Fresh Lemon Juice
1/4 Cup Oil
Salt to taste

METHOD:

Clean and wash the chicken pieces nicely. Make those pat dry. Marinate chicken with turmeric powder, red chili powder, lemon juice and little salt. Keep it aside.

Take out handful of whole cashew nuts separately for frying. Soak remaining part in warm water for 5 minutes.

Grind cashew nuts to make a smooth paste. Set it aside.

Heat oil in a wok or pan. Add whole cashew nut, fry for 2 minutes till it turns golden in colour. Remove fried cashew nuts from oil and keep aside.

Add sliced onions in the same oil. Fry till onion turns into light brown.

Now add ginger-garlic-coriander leaves paste in it. Fry for 2-3 minutes till spice leaves oil from the sides of the wok.

Add chicken now. Fold nicely. Cover and cook chicken on medium low flame for 10 minutes.

Open the lid now, add cashew nut paste, garam masala, sugar and salt in it. Mix well. Pour 1 Cup of warm water in it. Again cover and cook for 15-20 minutes on medium low heat, till chicken is well cooked and gravy thickens. Stir occassionally. 

Spread additional fried cashewnuts on the top and fold very nicely. Turn off the heat now.

Serve hot with any rice dish, roti, paratha, naan, anything you like. It is always yummilicious!!!

Recipe Source & Acknowledgement: "MONER MOTO RANNA" (Sananda Publication)
Sending to:  Virtual Eid Potluck Party 2013

MIXED HAKKA NOODLES

This is actually my favorite chinese noodle dish, a perfect recipe for a lazy day in kitchen. Definitely very simple recipe, packed with vegetables, eggs, chicken and shrimp - one pot meal. You can stir fry it with different ingredients as per your taste. I put which are available with me. You may add shredded carrot and bell peppers that also goes very well. Soya sauce and ajinomoto both are salty, so add little salt and which works nicely. A healthy and luscious fast food, can be made anytime at home.

INGREDIENTS:
4 OZ Egg Noodles
3 tbsps Sesame Oil
1/2 medium sized Onion (thinly sliced)
1 pod of Garlic (minced)
1/2 cup thinly shredded Cabbage
1 Scrambled Egg
8 small sized cooked Shrimp
3/4 cup shredded cooked Chicken
2 tbsps Light Soya Sauce
1 tbsp Oyster Sauce
1/3 tsp Garlic Pepper
1/3 tsp coarsely pounded Black Pepper powder
3-4 sprigs of green onion (finely chopped)
A pinch of Ajinomoto
Salt to taste

METHOD:

Heat water in a sauce pan. Bring water to boil. Add egg noodles in it. Cook till noodles are tender. Drain and rinse noodle on cold water. Lay down on a flat tray. Sprinkle 1 tbsp sesame oil on it and toss noodles nicely, this is for prevention of stickiness of noodles. Keep aside.

Heat remaining oil in a pan. Add chicken and shrimp in it. Fry for 2 minutes, remove from pan and set aside.

Add minced garlic in the same oil, followed by onions. When onion get translucent, add cabbage, fry for 3 minutes on medium high heat. Now add scrambled egg, shrimps, chicken, ajinomoto, garlic pepper, black pepper in it. Fry for another 2 minutes.

Now add egg noodles, soya sauce, oyster sauce and little salt in it. Toss everything on high flame for 2-3 minutes. Fold nicely. Remove from heat.

Serve hot. Garnish with chopped green onions on the top.

Linking to: Guru’s Cooking Giveaway Kids Special ’13

CHICKEN BHARTA

I had this delicious dish on road side 'Dhaba' for several times, and tried to make it like restaurant style. A very popular side dish, chicken bharta served with rotis, naan or any kind of rice dish. It requires onion-tomato gravy with all Indian spices, cashewnut paste makes the gravy more flavourful and at the end using of kewra essence, butter, cream and whisked egg gives a royal texture of mughlai cuisine. It's yummilicious and worth the effort it requires.

INGREDIENTS:
250 gms Ground Chicken (keema)
200 gms Onions (finely chopped)
2 Tomatoes (paste)
2 tbsps Ginger Garlic Paste
1/4 Cup Whisked Curd / Plain Yogurt
1 Bay Leaf
1/2" Cinnamon
3-4 Cloves
1-2 Green Cardamoms
1&1/2 tsps Turmeric Powder
1 tbsp Cumin Powder
1/2 tbsps Red Chilli Powder (as per taste)
1 tbsp Coriander Powder
1 tbsp Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder
1/3 Cup Fresh Cream
1 tbsp Butter
50 gms Cashewnut (soak in warm water and paste)
1/2 tsp Garam Masala Powder
1 Egg (whisked)
1 tsp Sugar
Salt to taste
2 Drops of Kewra Essence
2 tbsps Finely Chopped Coriander Leaves / Cilantro
2 tbsps Oil

METHOD:

Heat oil in a pan or kadhai. Add bay leaf, cloves, cinnamon and green cardamom in it. Saute for 20-30 seconds. 

Add chopped onions in it. Fry till onion turns into golden brown.

Add ginger garlic paste and tomato paste in it. Cook for 3-4 minutes on medium heat, till tomatoes leave oil from the sides.

Add all dry spices one by one (except garam masala powder). Saute for a minute, pour whished curd and salt in it. Fry for another 2-3 minutes, till spices are well cooked.

Add ground chicken in it. Keep stirring for 3-4 minutes, so that chicken mixes with the spices well.

At this time add cashew paste, sugar and 3/4 cup warm water in it. Fold well. Cover and cook for 10 minutes on low heat. Open the lid now. Pour cream, kewra essence, butter, whished egg in it. Saute for a minute. Add garam masala powder and coriander leaves on it. 

Serve immediately with phulkas, parathas, naan or and rice dishes. Hope you and your family will surely relish this luscious non-veg treat!

NOTE: The amount of spices is upto you, whether you want a lot spicy or just a little. After finishing this dish, you can put a burnt charcoal on it and cover the bharta for 4-5 minutes for getting smokey flavour. Though I didn't do it, this dish itself very luscious like restaurant style.

Sending to: "Flavours of Cuisine - Mughlai" to Shruti & Julie

DUM KA MURGH & AWARD

A famous delightful chicken preparation from Hydearabadi cuisine, a royal dish indeed, rich in lots of dry spices, fresh cream, saffron and almonds. A real mouthwatering chicken dish, if you try once, this lipsmacking taste will be with you forever. I didn't make it too hot, if you like more spicy, add more green chillies in it. The gravy of this chicken is absolutely yummilicious and fingerlicking good.

INGREDIENTS:
1 kg Chicken With Bones, cut in medium sized pieces
3 tbsps Ginger Paste
3 tbsps Garlic Paste
2 tbsps Green Chilli Paste
1 tsp Freshly pounded Black Pepper powder
25 nos Almonds
300 gm Onions
3 tbsps Oil
3 tbsps Clarified Butter (ghee)
200 gm Sour Curd (plain yogurt)
2 Bay Leaves
1&1/2 tsps Cumin powder
1&1/2 tbsps Coriander powder
2 Strands of Mace
3 nos Green Cardamoms
3 nos Black Cardamoms
1/2" Cinnamon
1/2 Cup Fresh Cream
Few Strands of Saffron
Salt to taste

METHOD:

Clean and wash the chicken nicely. Drain water completely. Marinate chicken with sour curd/yogurt, ginger-garlic paste, green chilli paste and salt.

Mix thoroughly. Keep marination in refrigerator for overnight (or atleast 2 hours).

Soak almond in warm water for 30 minutes.

Remove peels of almonds.

Ground almonds with little water to make a coarse paste. Keep it aside.

Dry roast black cardamoms, green cardamoms, mace and cinnamons. Pound altogether. Set it aside.

Cut onions in slices. Deep fry it till it turns brown. Drain oil, remove onions from pan by using a slotted spoon.

Now grind fried onions and keep it aside.

Heat oil and clarified butter in a wok. Add bay leaves in it. Saute for few seconds. Now add marinated chicken directly in it.

Saute chicken nicely. Water comes out and it starts to boil after few minutes. Cover and cook 10 minutes on medium heat. Add cumin powder, coriander powder, black pepper powder, onion paste in it. Fold well.

Add pounded almond and 3/4 cup warm water in it. Mix nicely.

Cover and cook 15-20 minutes on low heat like the dum process. Open lid now, add few strands of saffron, pounded dry spices and fresh cream. Fold well. Remove from heat now. May garnish with few chopped almonds on the top.

Serve immediately. Relish it with any Indian flat bread or any rice dish, its really scrumptious!!!

Now it is Award Time!!!

Hi Friends,

I am really very happy to recieve this lovely award within the same week from four of my co-blogger friends. Tons of thanks to Meena Selvakumaran from 'Encourage Spice', Rita Bose from 'Letz Get Cookin’, Rani from 'rani’s gourmet' and Nithya Naveen from Nithya’s Nalabagam. They all have very lovely spaces with delicious recipes. Friends please do visit their spaces for searching yummy dishes.

once again......

I want to share this award with all of my co-blogger friends, readers and visitors. So friends, Cheers!
Sending to: "Spotlight: Show Your Best Creation" @ Cuisine Delights

PICNIC CHICKEN CURRY

Last month we went for a picnic and there we all enjoyed this luscious chicken curry. So, I adopted this toothsome recipe from our last picnic. With the use of very nominal spices, tastes truelly awesome! It takes only 25 minutes to cook on slow heat, a semi dry gravy, rich with tomato-onion. A stimulating chicken curry which will be ever memorable!!!

INGREDIENTS:
1 kg Chicken, cut into medium sized pieces
4 Medium Potatoes, peeled and cut each into halves
400 gm Onion (chopped)
1 Whole Garlic
4 Medium Tomatoes (chopped)
75 gm Ginger
1 tbsp Coriander powder
1 tsp Cumin powder
1 tsp Turmeric powder
1&1/2" Cinnamon
2-3 Green Cardamoms
3-4 Cloves
2 Bay leaves
1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
10-12 Green Chillies (as per taste), cut in slits
1/2 Cup Finely Chopped Coriander Leaves (cilantro)
1/2 Cup Oil (Preferably Mustard Oil)
Salt to taste

METHOD:
Wash chicken with luke warm water nicely. Drain water and set aside.

Grind garlic and ginger together to make a smooth paste. Keep it aside.

Marinate potato pieces with little turmeric and salt. Heat oil in a wok, add potatoes in it. Fry till potatoes turn golden. Drain oil and remove potatoes from the wok, set aside.

 

Temper with bay leaves, cumin seeds, cardamoms, cinnamon and cloves in the same oil. When a nice aroma comes out, add chopped onions in it.

Fry till it gets translucent.

Add ginger-garlic paste now. Fry for another a minute or two on medium heat.

 

Now add tomatoes, green chillies, turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and salt in it. Fry for 4-5 minutes, till spices leave oil.

Add chicken now.

Mix up nicely.

Cover and cook for 12-15 minutes. Keep stirring occassionally.

Add fried potatoes now.

 

Fold thoroughly. Again cover and cook for another 10-12 minutes, till chicken and potato tender. Stir occassionally.

Add chopped coriander leaves now. Fold well. Remove from heat now.

Serve hot with roti, paratha, naan or plain rice. Enjoy this luscious chicken with full of flavour!