Chicken curry with coconut milk

Ingredients:

• Chicken- 1Kg
• Onion-2, finely sliced
• Tomato-2,sliced
• Potato-2, diced
• Pearl onion-12, sliced
• Ginger-1.5" piece, sliced lengthwise
• Garlic-5-6, sliced lengthwise
• Green chilly-10-12, sliced lengthwise
• Whole garam masala-(Cardamom-6, Cloves-8, Cinnamon-1" piece, Star anise-1), lightly crushed
• Thin coconut milk-3 cups
• Thick coconut milk-1 cup
• Coconut Oil-2 tbsp
• Salt

Masala powders: (make a thick paste with water)

• Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp
• Coriander powder-2 tsp
• Fennel powder(perumjeerakam)-1 tsp
• Chicken masala-1 tsp
• Black pepper powder-1 tsp

For garnishing:

• Curry leaves-2 sprigs
• Cardamom- 4, finely crushed
• Black pepper powder-1/2 tsp

 Method:

1. Clean chicken and cut into medium sized pieces.
2. Heat oil in a pan and add whole garam masala, saute for a while and add pearl onion, ginger, garlic and green chillies followed by onion. Stir until the onions are transparent. Add tomatoes and stir for 5 more minutes. Now add the thick paste of all masala powders ans saute till the raw smell is gone. Add thin coconut milk, bring it to boil, add potatoes, chicken  pieces, salt and cook covered in medium heat until chicken is done.
3. Set the heat/flame to low and add thick coconut milk and mix. (Take care not to boil it once you added thick coconut milk). Remove from heat and garnish with the ingredients listed.
4. This goes well with palappam, appam, puttu, bread or chappathi.

Palappam

Ingredients: (for ~20 appams)

• Idlee rice-3 cups
• Cooked red rice-2 cups
• Grated coconut -1 cup
• Cumin seeds-1/4 tsp
• Cardamom-1
• Yeast-1 tsp
• Sugar-1 tsp

Method:

1. Soak idlee rice in water for ~6-8 hours. Drain and grind it with cooked red rice, grated coconut, cumin seeds, cardamom and water to get batter of loose consistency.
2. Add sugar and yeast to warm water and keep until both dissolves completely. Add this to the appam batter and mix well. Keep it covered in a warm place for 6-8 hours to ferment.(You can turn on the oven for 15 min and ~250F, turn off and keep the batter if the room temperature is low)
3. Once it's fermented, add salt. (Dilute it with coconut milk if the batter is too thick)
4. Heat appachatti, stir the batter and add one ladle full(~1/3 cup) of batter, swirl to make thin lacy sides. Then cook covered for two minutes. Serve with chicken curry, egg roast or any spicy curry.

 

Tomato rice (Thakkali choru)

Ingredients: (Serves-4-5)

• Basmati rice- 3 cups
• Tomato-3 
• Onion-1, thinly sliced
• Green chilly-3-4
• Ginger-1 inch piece,
• Garlic- 3-4,
• Curry leaves- few
• Cilantro-10 sprigs, chopped
• Thick coconut milk- 1 cup
• Whole garam masala- (Cloves-5, Cardamom-5,Cinnamon- 1 inch piece)
• Cashew nut and raisins-1/4 cup
• Butter/veg oil-2 tbsp   
• Salt

Method:

1. Wash rice in plenty of water and drain.
2. Crush together ginger, garlic and green chillies.
3. Dilute thick coconut milk by adding 3.5-4 cups of water.
4. Fry cashews and raisins in butter and keep aside.
5. Thinly slice tomatoes and cook with 1 cup of water. Mash the tomatoes well or strain to get ~1/2-1 cup of puree. Heat oil/ butter in a pan, add cloves, cardamom and cinnamon. Saute for a while and add crushed ginger, garlic, green chilly and curry leaves followed by onion.Stir until the onions are transparent. Add tomato puree and stir until the preparation is thick. Add this into rice along with half of the cilantro, salt and cook the rice in diluted coconut milk (You can use 1.5-2 cups of coconut milk for 1 cup of rice). Garnish with the remaining cilantro, fried cashew nuts and raisins and serve hot with any spicy curry.

Pacha thakkali thoran/ raw tomatoes in coconut

Ingredients:

1. Raw tomato/ pacha thakkali-2 medium
2. Grated coconut-1/2 cup
3. Shallots-6
4. Green chilly-1-2
5. Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
6. Mustard seeds-1/2 tsp
7. Curry leaves- few
8. Dry red chilly-1
9. Salt
10. Coconut oil or any veg oil-1-2 tsp

Method:

• Finely chop tomatoes, green chillies and shallots. 
• Mix together grated coconut, turmeric powder, chopped tomatoes, green chilly, shallots and salt.
• Heat oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds.Add curry leaves and dry red chilly. Then add the above tomato coconut mixture and cook covered in medium heat until tomatoes are done. Finally open the lid and dry it well. Serve with rice