Chicken kasha..Sunday dinner delicacy

Kasha Mangsho and Roti... my ideal sunday dinner. And if there is a little "Aam er achaar" and onion... Ohh!! I can't write, I'm drolling.. :P 

As I like chicken over mutton my Kasha mangsho is Chicken Kasha. If I look back to my childhood sundays, I can see, Rangoli in DD National, a "Feluda" book (Bengali detective stories by Satyajit Ray) to read whole day, and my mom's Chicken kasha at night. Those fond memories. :)

I can't bring back the 'Rangoli' and I have finished all those Feluda books several times, so I try to bring back those nostalgia at-least with the Chicken curry. 

Here goes the recipe for this, I will give the amount of the ingredients, but you can tweak it easily according to you. 

Ingredients:

Chicken : 1 lb, cut into medium pieces

Potato : 1 medium, cut into big cubes

Onion : 2 medium, 1 for paste, another finely chopped

Ginger : 1" root

Garlic : 3- 4 fat cloves

Green chili : 4- 5 

Salt : as per taste

Turmeric powder : 1 and 1/2 tsp

Cumin powder : 2 tsp

Coriander Powder : 2tsp

Red chili powder : 2 tsp

Mustard Oil : 4 tbsp, 1/2 of that is for marinade, 

Dried red chili : 2

Black pepper corn : 1tbsp

Cloves : 2- 3

Cardamom pods : 2-3

Cinnamon stick : 1 medium

Method:

Wash the chicken throughly and get rid of the excess water as much as you can. 

Make a smooth paste of 1 onion, ginger, garlic and 2- 3 green chilis. 

Now marinate the chicken and the potato pieces with the onion-ginger-garlic paste, salt, turmeric, cumin powder, coriander powder, red chili powder and mustard oil. Let it marinate for at least an hour.

Put the kadhai into the heat and add oil into the kadhai. 

Once the oil is throughly heated add the dried red chilis, black pepper corns, cardamom pods, cinnamon sticks and cloves one by one to the oil. 

Once the nice aroma comes from frying the whole spices, add the chopped onion to the oil and fry till golden brown.

 When the onions are nicely golden add the marinated chicken and potatoes into the kadhai. Turn on the heat to medium high and stir continuously. This takes a little effort. As you continuously stir the chicken in high flame, the masalas start to fry. 

And once they start to fry reduce the heat to medium again, and cover the kadhai with a lid, let it cook. You will see the oil separation from the masalas, and that moment you know everything is fried properly. At this point you can add some water and cover the lid again. I din't have to add much water as the chicken got cooked while sauteing. 

After adding the chicken into the pan it takes almost 30 to 35 mins for me to cook the chicken properly.  Check it for the seasoning and add salt or remaining green chilis if you want. I added few more green chilis as I like it only the hotter side. Now you can switch off the flame and Serve... with roti or with rice, paratha..which ever you like. 

Bon Appetit.

Mom's recipe for Keema curry

Hmm... Mutton, that's new to me. I usually don't like mutton, because of its smell or you can say aroma.. if you like it. Last year when we were visiting India my Mom made a Keema curry which my husband lovvvvved and I liked :P.

This sunday, our usual grocery shopping day, we went to our Bengali grocery shop and seeing the mutton keema there my husband remembered that curry. I almost begged him not to buy it, but he didn't listen (now I am happy that he didn't).

So, what else, I called my Mom to get the recipe and made Keema curry for the very first time in my life. In fact I cooked mutton for the first time in my life. And guess what, I was really really surprised by the final outcome. I loved it. And my husband too. Yay!!!! Success!!!

So, here goes my mom's recipe for the keema curry.

Ingredients:

Mutton keema : 1/2 lb
Potato : 1 medium, cut into cubes.

Onion : 2 medium. 1 finely chopped and 1 for paste.
Tomato : 1 medium
Ginger : 1" root
Garlic : 3-4 cloves
Green chili : 3 (You can add even more if you like)
Dried red chili : 1
Tej patta : 1
Salt : as per taste
Turmeric powder : 2 tsp
Cumin powder : 1 tsp
Coriander powder : 2 tsp
Red chili powder : 2 tsp
Musturd oil : 4 tbsp (1 for marinating the keema, 1 while frying aloo and 2 for the masala.)
Cinnamon sticks : 1 medum stick (divided into 2)
Cardamom : 4 pods (divided into 2)
Cloves : 4 (divided into 2)

Method:

Marinate the keema with salt, turmeric and mustard oil and keep it aside for 1/2 hr.

Marinated keema

Make a paste of ginger, garlic, 1 onion, tomato and green chilis.

Next, put the kadhai into the heat and pour 1 tbsp mustard oil. When the oil is hot enough add the potato cubes, and adding some salt and turmeric fry them till golden. Set them aside.

Aloo fried

Again put 2tbsp oil into the kadhai and when the oil is hot put the dried red chili, tej patta and crushed cardamom, cinnamon and cloves (1/2 of them) into the oil. When the aroma comes out add the chopped onion and saute for few mins.

Now when the onions are golden brown add the previously make paste into it. Add red chili powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and turmeric powder. Fry the masala for few minutes occasionally sprinkled with water if needed.

Once the masala is fried properly and the oil oozes out, add the keema mixture into it and stir continuously otherwise lumps will form of the meat. Add the potatoes back into the kadhai. Cook for 5 mins. Then add some water and cover it with a lid. Bring the curry to boil and let it cook for 10 mins. 

Now open the lid, check for the seasoning and adjust. Check if the keema is cooked. If not add a little more water to it and cook for 5 more minutes. 

Once one curry is cooked, turn off the heat and add some coarsely ground cardamom, cinnamon sticks and cloves. 

And Finally..

Serve it with rice. :)


P.S : Now if you are using machine processed keema which is very smooth, like a paste (which I am using); then it will take only 10 to 15 mins to cook the meat. But if you are using keema which has a little pieces in it, or bones then you might want to do this whole recipe in a pressure cooker. Just after adding the potatoes back add some water and put the lid on. Bring it to one whistle or two depending on how big your pieces are.

I hope to make it again this long weekend. :)

Dim er Jhol (Egg curry)

Dim or egg is almost everyone's favorite, specially kids even the grown ups. And "patla dimer jhol" is a very common item in bengali cooking. It is very easy to cook and loved by everyone.

Ingredients:


Eggs (dim): 4 (medium)
Potatoes (aloo): 1 (medium)
Onion (peyaj): 1(large)
Ginger (ada): 1 inch root
Garlic (rasoon): 2-3 cloves
Ripe Tomato: 1 (medium)
Green Chilli (kacha lanka): 2-3
Turmeric Powder (halud guro): 1tsp
Red Chilli Powder (lanka guro): 1½tbsp
Cumin Powder (jeera guro): ½tsp
Coriander Powder (dhone guro): ½tsp
Cardamom (elachi): 3
Cloves (labanga): 3
Cinnamon (dalchini): 1inch 
Sugar – 1/4 tsp
Oil (sada tel): 5 tbsp
Salt to taste


Method:


Hard boil the eggs for 10mins and place under cold water. Peel them and make 2-3 small slits in each of the eggs. 

Now coat the eggs with half of the turmeric powder, salt, red chili powder and suger. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a frying pan and fry the eggs until slightly browned. Continuously turn the eggs. When these are done set them aside.

Now peel and cut the potatoes in long thin pieces. Add 1tbsp oil in the pan and fry them for 4-5 mins adding little turmeric. Then keep the fried potatoes aside.

 Chop half of the onion length wise. Add 1tbsp oil in the frying pan and fry the chopped onions till they become translucent.

Now make a paste of the remaining half onion, ginger, garlic and green chili. Add the paste to the frying onion and fry for one minute (medium heat). Add cumin powder, coriander powder, red chili powder and the remaining turmeric and fry until the whole masala is fried. Add a little more oil if needed. Now cut the tomatoes in small pieces and fry. When done, add water, salt and the fried potatoes and bring it boil. Then cover it with a lid cook for 5 mins (check if the potatoes are not cooked properly keep it for 5 more mins).

 Add the eggs and simmer for another 5 minutes. Grind the cardamom, cloves and cinnamon together and add the powder in the curry. Serve hot with rice.