Spaghetti with Prawns

Donna Hay, is a renowned food editor from Australia and has several best-selling books to her credit. I first saw her in one of the episodes of Masterchef Australia 2 (I am an ardent fan of Masterchef Australia!). I liked her tips to make a simple dish look exotic! After the episode I Googled her (like most of us do!) and was then introduced to her world of fast, fresh and simple cooking!!! I have tried many of her recipes, she definitely does make her food look as good as it taste! her recipes beautifully translates her philosophy of combining fresh and store bought ingredients.

TLC India has recently started her Fast, Fresh and Simple series. In one of the episodes of the same series, I saw this recipe viz: Spaghetti with Prawns, but unfortunately I did not note it down. I did try to google but could not track the exact recipe. I have adapted today's recipe from Donna's recipe but this one is definitely not verbatim(courtesy my memory!!!), one or two ingredients here and then- it did taste fantastic though...this is a very quick recipe and has two of my favourite ingredients-prawns and garlic!!! and its undoubtedly fast, fresh and simple!!!! do give it a try!

Recipe for Spaghetti with Prawns

100 gms dry spaghetti
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp + 1 tsp olive oil
8 medium size prawns
1 tbsp chilli flakes
2 tbsp of fresh parsley
salt to taste.

Method

• Boil pasta in boiling water with salt for 8-10 mins or till al dente.
• Heat a pan and add butter and olive oil. Once the butter melts add the sliced gralic and saute till the garlic changes its colour.
• Once the garlic changes its colour add the prawns and saute them.
• Once the prawns are cooked season with salt and mix well. Sprinkle the chilli flakes and mix in the spaghetti.
• Drizzle with 1 tsp of extra virgin olive oil and fresh parsley and serve immediately.

Tips:

• Donna Hay always recommends 100gms of spaghetti per person and think it really works fantastically.
• You could also add mixed herbs or pepper powder. I keep trying with different herbs and most of the time, in any combination, this simple spaghetti just goes to a different level!
• The quantity of chilli flakes can be adjusted to suit your taste.
• Do not use crushed garlic, slice the garlic to get the perfect taste!

Roasted Tomato Chutney

Chutneys form an important condiment in Indian cuisine. As a child, we mostly had coconut based chutneys at home, which were served with dosa, idli, appe, vadas etc. Be it the green coriander chutney with sandwich or the same green chutney with tempering with dosa, the white chutney with idli or the dry coconut red chutney to name a few.  Gradually I was introduced to various other chutneys which not only work as a condiment but at times plays the role of a main. This roasted tomato chutney is one of my favourite!!! i really love the subtle roasted flavour this chutney imparts. It tastes fantastic with parathas!!! I hope to share many more recipes of chutney!!! Till then enjoy this one.

Recipe for Roasted Tomato Chutney

Ingredients:

1 tomato

1 green chilli

3 cloves of garlic

1/4 tsp jeera

3 tbsp fresh coriander leaves

salt to taste

Method:

• Turn on the gas burner, turn it on sim. Place tomato on direct flame. Roast the tomato till it the entire skin turns black in colour and is totally roasted.
• Remove the skin of roasted tomato.
• Cut the tomato and add garlic, green chilli, jeera, coriander leaves and salt.
• Blend all the ingredients.
• Serve this delicious chutney with roti!!!!!

Tips:

• This chutney tastes awesome when prepared with desi tomato, you can use normal tomato as an alternative.
• This chutney is ideally ground in a mortar and pestle, you can however grind it in a blender.
• You can vary the quantity of green chilli to suite your taste.
• Do not wash the tomato after it has been roasted it will lose the roasted flavour and thus nullify the exact reason it’s been roasted.
• to help remove the skin of the roasted tomato, after roasting the tomato, place it in an airtight box and leave it for sometime to sweat. This will help you to remove the skin with much ease.

Who can avoid

• Since garlic is added in this chutney in raw form, if you are averse to the raw garlic flavour, you can avoid this chutney.

Kadhai Murgh

Couple of months back I bought- J Inder Singh Kalra's (popularly known as Jiggs Kalra) first cookery book Prashad- cooking with Indian Masters. Jiggs Kalra, is the first Asian to be inducted in the International Gourmet Hall of Fame. He is considered to be pioneer in Indian cuisine. 

I'm a huge fan of Jiggs Kalra's restaurant the Punjab Grill. Here in Delhi, the Punjab Grill is located at Saket. I like everything about the Punjab Grill- the food, the ambience, the service, their portion size (its truely Punjabi!!!!!!), the onion lacchas and ofcourse the perfect end to fantabulous dining -their signature Paan shot !!! 

Prashad- is a very old book, first printed in 1986. Don't judge by its name- it has a lot to offer to non vegetarians!!! Everytime I try any recipe I fall in love with this book all over again. It has never failed me. 

If you pick up any Indian cookery book, you are bound to encounter the recipe of Kadhai Murgh.Unlike most of the recipes of Kadhai Murgh, the recipe in Prashad does not have capsicum as one of its ingredient.  However, the recipe of Kadhai murgh as mentioned in Prashad is quite simple and tastes delicious. Do try it.

Recipe for Kadhai Murg 

Adapted from: Prashad- Cooking with Indian Masters- Jiggs Kalra

Ingredients

1/2 kg chicken, cut into pieces of desired size

1/2 kg tomatoes, finely chopped

1 green chilli, deseeded and chopped

3 tbsp ginger, grated

2 tsp garlic paste

3 tbsp coriander leaves, finely chopped

4 whole red chillies

2 tsp of coriander seeds

1 tsp garam masala powder

1/2 tsp kashmiri mirch powder

1 tsp dried fenugreek leaves (kasoori methi)

3 tbsp ghee

salt to taste

Garnish

ginger julienne

finely chopped coriander leaves

Preparation

• Pound the red chillies and the coriander seeds.
• Heat ghee in a kadhai. Add the garlic paste and saute till the gralic changes its colour.
• Add the pounded red chillies and the coriander seeds and stir. Add the kashmiri mirch give it a quick stir and add the tomatoes. 
• Cook the tomatoes. Once the tomatoes come to a boil add the grated ginger, chopped green chilli and the coriander leaves and mix well. Turn the gas to sim and let it cook.
• Add the chicken and bring to a boil. Let the chicken cook till it is tender.
• Once the chicken is cooked add the garam massala powder and fenugreek leaves and stir for two minutes.
• Garnish the dish with ginger julienne and coriander leaves.

Tips

• Though freshly pound red chillies and coriander seeds give a fresh fragrance to the dish, at times, I add red chilli powder and ground coriander powder. In such a case, do not fry the ground spices too long or else they will burn.
• At times I reduce the quantity of red chillies and also add a bit of kasmiri mirch, this balances the spice to suite me and kashmiri mirch gives a nice colour.
• The tomatoes should be juicy.
• Though it’s advisable to cook the chicken in an open kadai, I do tend to cover it for the chicken to cook.
• If the masala dries up add a spoonful of warm water at a time.
• The gravy of this recipe is very thick so serve it with any Indian bread!!!!!

Chicken Cafreal

I was born and brought up in a beautiful place - Goa. A place known for its natural beauty, people and ofcourse cuisine!!!!!  I moved to Delhi a few years back. Delhi is extremely different from what Goa is but I  guess every city has its own charm. After the initial struggle of coping with climate and the life here, I now thoroughly enjoy this city. Though I like Delhi i terribly miss Goa. I have come to realize how important it is for me to have Goan cuisine as a regular in my menu coz probably that is the closest I can get to Goa being in Delhi!!!!

Chicken cafreal is a Goan delicacy. As history has it, its one of the Portuguese influence on Goan cuisine. Its a delicious preparation. Though its suppose to be a dry preparation, many prefer to have a bit thick gravy along with it....the joy of soaking the gravy up in torrad pav (goan bread)....its divine!!!!

I have tried various versions of this dish and have finally come up with this recipe. The cafreal masala ( the recipe given below) can be prepared and stored in an airtight jar in the refrigerator. It stays good for days.

Recipe of Chicken Cafreal

Ingredients:

1/2 kg chicken

2 tbsp oil

1 tbsp butter

1/2 tsp sugar

pinch of garam masala

salt to taste

To be ground into a paste

15 cloves of garlic

2" ginger

3/4 cup coriander leaves

8 peppercorns

1" cinnamon

1 tsp sugar

2 tbsp tamarind pulp

1 lemon(juice)

5 green chillies

5 cloves

1/2 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp khus khus

1/2 tsp jeera

1/4 tsp haldi

Method:

• Wash the chicken and pat dry.
• Make incisions on the chicken.
• Add all the ingredients of the ground masala in a mixie and grind to a fine paste.
• Apply the ground masala along with salt to the chicken and marinate for atleast 4-5 hours (preserve some of the marination).
• Heat a pan on medium flame. Add the oil and butter, once its heated add the marinated chicken along with the marination.
• Fry the chicken on a high flame for 2-3 mins. Then turn the flame to sim and cover the pan. Let the chicken cook on a low flame.
• Once the chicken is cooked, turn the flame to high and dry the entire marination. Once the marination has dried, fry all the chicken pieces on a high flame for 2-3 mins.
• Once the chicken is cooked, take another pan add a bit of butter and oil and on a high flame add the remaining marinate, 1/2 tsp of sugar and salt and a pinch of garam masala and add the chicken and see that the masala coats the chicken.
• serve with french fries and torrad pav !!!

Tips:

• You can marinate the chicken overnight. The more time it marinates the better will be the taste.
• You can also add vinegar esp. the Goan vinegar, that will give an authentic taste, however if you do not have it you can skip.....like i mostly do.
• This is a dry preparation. however you could have a bit of the thick gravy if you like!!!
• The amount of green chillies can be varied according to your taste.
• Squeeze lemon before serving it balances all the flavours.
• To make the tamarind pulp soak tamarind in hot water for sometime, squeeze well and sieve. Alternatively, add water to the tamarind and microwave covered for 1 minute. Keep aside for 2 mins, squeeze well and sieve.
• You can use the cafreal masala with any veggies too.
• This preparation can be served as a starter.
• The garam masala powder can be avoided.

Handi Chicken

Television for me is predominantly any lifestyle channel or any show on food. I just love watching cookery shows, which means, it really doesn't matter which channel it is, which language it is, which cuisine it is (the only exception probably being the yucky bizzare food shows) and actually what time of the day it is!!!!! My husband often finds me watching cookery shows in languages which are well beyond my comprehension on most occasions. But that is the beauty of food...it binds people beyond region, religion or culture. 

Well today's recipe is from one such encounter. I was watching a regional cookery show one day. Being born and brought up in a beautiful place called Goa, India, my mother tongue is konkani. And for those who do know konkani, if you have a bit of inclination towards learning languages then understanding Marathi (local language of people who live in Maharashtra,India)  is no challenge at all!!! There is this television channel called Zee TV Marathi and they have this daily cookery show called "Aami Saare Khavaye". I rarely get a chance to catch up with it, as it is telecast in the afternoon. I have a pen and a diary in my drawing room...just incase i want to pen down anything, its readily available....but its not always that I note down the recipes.... the joy of a food show is in watching (which is a such a stress buster) rather than in noting down the recipe!! At times, I get so engrossed just watching that later I wonder as to why I didn't note the exact recipe...I try to wreck my brain to recreate the dish..this at times leads to creation some different but interesting dishes!! This one, however, is more or less the accurate recipe!!

Okay, i had seen this recipe on one of the episodes of Aami Saare Khavaye and had also penned the recipe...but the recipe was just lying there for over a year... as I was going through my diary I was reminded how delicious this preparation looked..and decided to try it...it turned out to be better than what I had imagined it to be. I shared the recipe with my cousin and what I received was immense appreciation. This recipe has found a special place in her life. She says it's a time and energy saver, it comes very handy when the pantry is crying for groceries and she has not much time at hand (time is a real luxury for her ..she has a 10 month old daughter). The ingredients of this recipe are very basic and this recipe takes very little effort in the preparation and cooking. It's actually chicken in a jiffy!!! Try it for yourself.

This handi chicken preparation is actually the Nagpur (a place in Maharashtra) version of the Handi Chicken. As a preparation you need to roast the chana dal, rice and onion along with cardamom and cinnamon and then ground it to a paste. The chana dal and rice gives thickness to the gravy. Saute some ginger garlic and green chilli paste and then add the roasted paste and add few dry spices, just saute the chicken, add water and cook the chicken covered till done!!!

Recipe for the Handi Chicken

Adapted from: A participant on the marathi TV show Aami Saaree Khavaye

Ingredients

1/2 kg chicken

1tbsp coriander powder

2 tsp jeera powder(cumin powder)

1 tsp haldi (turmeric powder)

1tbsp kashmiri mirch powder

3 tbsp ginger garlic paste

1 green chilli- paste

1 tbsp coriander

2 tbsp oil

salt to taste

For the Masala

1 tbsp rice

1 tbsp chana dal

1 tsp dried coconut-grated

1 medium sized onion-sliced

2 sticks of dalchini (cinnamon)

1 black cardamom

1 tsp oil

Garnishing

1 tbsp freshly chopped coriander

Method:

For the Masala

• Heat a pan on a medium flame. Add oil. add chana dal , stir occasionally till the dal changes colour, add rice.
• Once the rice changes colour to light brown, add dry coconut and stir. Add the onion and wait till it tuns light brown in colour. Add dalchini and black cardamom. Stir for 3 minutes and switch off the flame.
• Cool the mixture and then run it in a mixie to get a fine paste.

For the Chicken

• Heat a vessel (preferably a Handi (earthenware)), add oil. Once the oil is heated add the ginger garlic paste and the green chilli paste and stir. once the aromas are released add the ground wet masala, stir well.
• To the above, add dry masalas viz; jeera powder, coriander powder, haldi, kashmiri mirch powder and stir well.
• Add chicken and stir fry on medium high flame for 3-5 mins.
• Add 3 cups of water and salt to taste. Add coriander and stir.
• Cover the vessel and let the chicken simmer for 30 mins.
• after 30 mins stir the chicken, check for seasoning.
• serve the chicken and garnish with freshly chopped coriander.

Tips

• This chicken tastes best when made in earthenware esp on chulha. However, it can also be made in an earthenware on gas burner. Normal metal vessel will also do.
• the quatity of green chillies can be varied. the green chillies available here in Delhi are very hot, so one green chilly is enough. However, in-case you are using green chillies which are not too hot the number can be increased to 3-5, depending on your taste.
• the green chilli paste can be made along with the ginger garlic paste for this recipe.
• the lovely red colour is due to kashmiri mirch powder, ensure that the kashmiri mirch you add has a lovely deep red colour.
• this recipe can be prepared with even 1/2 tsp of oil, I've tried it and it taste equally good!!!
• You can reduce the quantity of dry spices.
• The consistency of the gravy can be altered according to your taste. It can also be converted into a thick gravy, just reduce the water to 2 cups (or even less if desired).
• I've never tried it, but vegetarians can add veggies of your choice to the gravy. I feel it should taste good.
• This gravy is excellent with any preparation of roti as well as rice.

Who should try

• Anyone who loves chicken go ahead and try it out!! Its also quick so if in hurry and short of groceries...go ahead...!!!!!!!!!!! Diet conscious....reduce oil to 1/2 tsp and try it, it tastes fantastic!!!!!!!!!!