One step chicken curry or Delicious Onion chicken curry (I cant decide on a name!)

Who doesn't love a good curry? Particularly in England's wet weather, there is nothing that can keep me quite warm inside like a good spicy curry can. Most of the people I know are game for dinner of curry yet they all shy away from making one. Why you ask? Because curries always involve a lot of frying, grinding, mixing and seasoning of masalas and one wrong step can frankly ruin the flavours. So, for all of you who fancy a curry but don't wanna spend time on it. Here is a recipe for you. Came across it by chance and loved it when I ate it and then swore by it when I got the recipe. It is literally a one step chicken curry.

Here is what you need,

• 1 kilo Chicken with bones (Don't really fancy boneless chicken unless the recipe absolutely calls for it)
• 1 kilo Onions coarsely chopped
• 1 bunch of curry leaves
• 3 tbsp oil
• 3 tbsp paprika
• 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp of garam masala

Method:

1. In a pot, add the chicken and all the other ingredients and mix it all together thoroughly.
2. Now put the pot on simmer and cook until the chicken is nice and tender
3. Serve!

Simple, innit? So no more excuses for curry truants. You have to try this. Lemme know how it worked out for you. 

** Instead of curry leaves, I've tried the recipe with coriander leaves and the result was still yummy. So feel free to try different herbs if you like

**I know, Its about time I got a new camera and stopped relying on my sad sad mobile phone. :(

Chicken spring rolls

Well..this one really is a no brainer..something which most of us already know to make, I presume but nonetheless this is my dish of the day. Whats wonderful about this dish is that its multifaceted. Combine it with a good salad and some yummy sauce and its main course. Serve it alongside a drink and it becomes a snack. Pack and send it to school with you and its a kids meal. You can always play with the filling and the protein that you choose to put inside it but what I have done today is a pretty much straightforward version of the dish.

Here is what you need,

Shredded Chicken - 2 cups
Onion - 1 finely diced
Garlic - 3-4 pods finely diced
Carrots - 2 thinly sliced
Beans - 1 cup thinly sliced
Soy sauce - 1 tbsp
Chilly sauce - 1/2 tsp
Eggs - 2
Corn flour- 1 cup
Flour- 2 cup
Bread crumbs - 1 cup
Salt- To taste

Saute the onions and garlic well and add the carrots and beans to it. Continue to cook until the vegetables are half cooked.

Now add shredded chicken and cook. Remember to keep all the vegetables and chicken soft

Now add the sauces and mix well.

Season it with salt. Keep aside.

Now mix the flour,cornflour, one egg and water together and make a batter like a pancake batter (not too think, not too runny)

Now spread it on an oiled pan thinly, in the size of a large pancake.

Spoon a bit of the filling to the center of the pancake and roll it. Take care to tuck in the sides as you fold the pancake to seal off the edges.

Now dip in the roll in a whisked egg and coat it with bread crumbs and fry in oil.

The dipped and crumbed spring rolls can be stored in your freezer for up to 2 weeks and can be fried as and when required.

Fried Prawn Patties

So, this recipe is finger licking good. The good thing about this  is that its versatile. So, while I've used prawns here, the recipe lends itself fabulously to chicken, meat and even vegetarian options. You surely must try it out now. No excuses!

Here are the things you need,

For the patties:

Rice flour - 1 cup

Fennel seeds - 1/4 tsp

Grated coconut - 1/2 cup

Water - 1 1/2 cups

Salt - 1 tsp

For the filling:

Cooked prawns - 250 grams

Onion - 1 (Finely diced)

Garlic - 3-4 cloves (Finely diced)

Chilly powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt - to taste

Oil  for deep frying

In a blender, mix together the grated coconut and fennel seeds thoroughly.

Bring the water to boil in a large bowl.

As it boils, add in the rice flour, the coconut-fennel mix, salt and mix well.

Remove from heat and knead the mix into a soft dough.

Make fist sized balls of dough and keep aside.

Heat a little oil in a pan and add the diced onion and garlic and allow it to saute.

Then add the salt, turmeric and chilly powder to it till the raw smell of the spices disappear.

Now, quickly add the prawns to the pan and mix well.

Since the prawn is already cooked, we only need to keep the pan on heat until all the spices and prawns are well mixed.

Heat oil in a deep bottomed dish. The oil must be really hot so that when we fry the patties, it does not soak up excess oil.

While the oil is heating up, spread a little oil in you hands and flatten out the dough balls into approximately a pancake size using your hands. 

Scoop a little of the prawn mix into the center of the dough and bring the edges of the dough together. Seal the edges well by pressing on it hard, so that no oil gets inside the patty as we fry it.

Now, drop the patty into the oil and fry it until it turns nice and golden brown.

Serve.

While, I've chosen to do a half moon kinda shape for the patty, you could mold them into balls, squares or basically any shape that you fancy. The key here however is that no matter what shape you choose, remember to seal the edges cause otherwise oil will enter the filling and your patties will become soggy.

Creamy coconutty wheat soup

A yummy, creamy coconut soup that is at once both rich yet extremely healthy. Its flavours are amazing and its so filling that a small serving can be a meal in itself. Sometimes combined with a curry, this soup is a staple during the month of Ramzan, specially in the southern part of India.

Here are the things you will need,

Broken wheat/ Whole wheat - 1/2 cup

Boneless Chicken - 2-4 bite sized pieces

Coconut Milk - 2 cups

Ginger - 1 small piece

Cinnamon stick - 1/2 a stick

Shallots - 3-4 finely diced

Butter - 4 tsp
Salt - to taste

Cook the wheat, chicken, stick of cinnamon and the piece of ginger together till the wheat is well cooked. If using a pressure cooker, the average time for cooking is about 15 minutes.

1/2 a cup of wheat usually requires about 2 cups of water to cook. So remember to add water according to your measure of wheat.

Once well cooked, remove the ginger and cinnamon from the mix and blend the remaining items. 

Pass it through a strainer.

Now, add the coconut milk to the mixture and mix well. Slightly simmer it for a minute. Season

On a separate pan, add the butter and saute the shallots till it becomes translucent.

Now sprinkle the butter sauteed shallots on to the soup and serve.

The soup is just perfect in itself but for those lovers of spicy, try adding a a few spoonfuls of your left over chicken/beef/mutton curry to the soup and lo behold its godsend..Really!