Chicken Ghee Roast

A  sense of pride drapes over me on getting positive results from this visually pleasing, tastebud tantalizing hot chicken recipe that I was holding back, unsure of the authenticity. As a recent convert to flexitarianism,  meat wasnt someting that I truly enjoyed eating. My meat consumption is strictly dependant if there is no vegetarian option available to me.  This dish is an exception, though! I relished this for the first time at my latest trip back to homeland. I for one never order chicken dishes for myself at any restaurant but the perfect blend of heat & spices had me hooked on it.

The three ladies who have cooked this exclusively for me  after hearing me gloat about the ghee roast I  ate, made it with three different sets of ingredients, leaving me with more doubts than before. After playing around a few different times, experimenting with addition & omission of dhaniya jeera powder, having more freedom to tweak the measurements  in my own kitchen to the family's taste gave  rise to a perfect dish.
Happy, happy joy, joy!

 On a slightly different note:  A dearest cousin shared her precious 'ghee roast powder' too. Precious, I say since you realise the value only when you are outside India, that she graciously parted with. I believe her's was S.R.R brand which is awesome in itself. I attempted making my own powder coming close with comparison and was sort of pleased.  YAY! Win-win.
Recipe will be up soon.

Here's a keeper recipe that is going to be prepared more often due to the simplicity of the method & ratings given by the family.

Chicken,  1 lbs
 Red chillies about 30 ( mine was a mix of byadi for color & habenero for heat)

Tamarind paste 1/2 tsp
Cashew nuts 5, soaked in warm water
yogurt 1/2 cup
Garlic gloves 6
Lime  juice- 1 tbs
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Coriander Seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin Seeds - ½ tsp
Methi Seeds - ½ tsp
Ghee- 1/4 cup
 Garnish options; sliced onions, green chillies,Coriander leaves, lemon wedges

Method:

Marinate chicken with lime juice, yogurt, salt  & turmeric.

 Dry roast coriander seeds, cumin seeds & methi on low heat till aromatic. Grind it with red chillies,  cashew nuts, garlic & tamarind to a thick paste.

In the heavy bottomed pan, heat ghee and the ground masala.  Saute the masala stirring every few minutes till the masala separates from the ghee and the pungency from the garlic disappears .  Add chicken. Once the dish comes to a boil  simmer on low heat till the chicken is cooked thoroughly .

At this point the masala  has reduced  making the masal stick to the sides of the chicken leaving the ghee seperated from the dish. Perfect! Transfer to serving dish, garnish with sliced onion & green chilies.

Chicken Bhuna/ chicken roast

Khawan (store brought) is a perfect roti for this chicken roast

•  A very 'fine food critic, hard to please taste bud' of the family really approves that the justice has been done to this borrowed recipe. That says it all!

A quick chicken roast saves the gloomy sunday eve at the Rao household. I for one needed something 'desi', cooking at my stove top this evening. There is only so much take outs, food courts and frozen dinners one can eat all in one weekend.

 Picturing a rich spicy dish, loved by all (yeah, I want the kind I know for sure is a winner) that shouts 'eat me', on this cold cold winter eve, I set out to go to my staple bhuna/roast chicken.

 You know how Sunday eve sneaks up on us faster than we want it to arrive. I want it all to slow down, bring the family to the table for a favourite meal & conclude the leisure event-free weekend, happily.

Chicken bhuna is the name that is screaming loud, much louder than I can hear my thoughts. I shuffle through the papers of hand written recipes to find the one from years ago. I wish I remembered who I wrote it down from (ah, I miss my apartment friends), so I could giving her the right credit. I can't keep a good recipe down, so here I am sharing our family favourite.


Ingredients:
Chicken 2 lbs, cut into big pieces
Onions 1, diced
Tomatoes 4-5, finely chopped
Ginger -Garlic paste- 2tbs
Green chillies 4, slit
Red chilli powder 1 tsp
Coriander seeds - 2 tablespoons
Cumin seeds - 2 teaspoons
Blackpepper - 8
Garam Masala - 2 tablespoons
Kasuri methi - 1 teaspoon.
Oil -3tbs
Salt - to taste.
Fresh cilantro to garnish



Method:
Dry roast coriander seeds, cumin and black peppercorns and grind to a coarse powder.

Heat oil in a kadai over medium-high heat until very hot, add onion and saute till lightly browned. Add the ground spice powder,red chilli powder, ginger-garlic paste and green chillies and saute for a couple minutes.

Add tomatoes and salt and continue to saute till the tomatoes softens, add in chicken, lower the heat to simmer and continue to cook until the chicken are cooked through and the sauce has thickened coating the chicken (about 5 to 6 minutes).

Once the chicken is tender, add half a cup of water and cover the pan and simmer for 5 more minutes. At this point, chicken is cooked through and the gravy is thick and rich. Add in garam masala and kasuri methi (crush in your palms to wake up the aroma) and cook for 2 minutes .

Garnish with cilantro (I ran out justifying that kasuri methi was flavorful enough). Serve immediately with rice and roti.

Pepper chicken

Ingredients
Chicken 2 lbs (cut in to small pieces)
Onion 2 sliced
Green chillies 8 chopped
Curry leaves 1 sprig
Coriander powder -2 tsp
Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
Black Pepper Powder 3 tsp
Ginger garlic paste 2 tsp
Salt
Cashews 8-10, roasted
Oil - 4 tbsp

Method

In a heavy bottomed pan, heat oil and fry green chillies,curry leaves and onion till the onion browns the edges. Add ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell vanishes. Add turmeric, coriander powder and half of the black pepper powder. Saute for a few mins, add the chicken pieces and fry on high heat for a about 5 mins. Reduce the heat, cover and cook for 10 to 15 minutes. Once the chicken is cooked through, add the rest of the pepper, roasted cashews and serve hot.

Chicken Biryani

The long overdue recipe for G's Biryani recipe is finally here! Biryani lover's rejoice...this dish has been showered with lot of praises, pat on the back and a many many smiles from DH. All thanks to SG for a great masala base....Banne Nawab Hydrabadi chicken biryani

Ingredients for marinade:
Chicken 5 lbs, cut, cleaned, bone intact
yogurt- 1 cup
Biryani masala- Banne Nawab
chilli powder- 1 tsp
ginger paste- 1 tsp
garlic paste- 1tsp
lemon juice- 3 tbsp of juice of one lemon
salt

for layering
Rice, 4 cups, halfway cooked with whole garam masala, ghee and salt
Fried onions, 3 large onions, thinly sliced( I try to make a freshly batch but store brought will do if u r not as picky as me)
boiled eggs, about 8 ( cook in boiled water for exactly 5 mins), peel
cilantro and mint, chopped roughly
saffron- 2 tbsp soaked in 1/2 a cup of warm milk


Part 1, Mix up all spices and chicken, cover, refrigerate and let marination do the work overnight. If pressed for time, 4 hrs is minimum required time for good biryani, but I don't want it just good, I am after the best!

Part2, heat oil in a kadai, fry 3 large onions and set the onion aside to drain on a few paper towel. Remove excess oil from kadai, leaving abt 3 tbsp to roast the chicken. Brown the chiken, a few at a time without overcrowding the pan. The purpose here is to brown the surface to get a caramalised taste, at this point I am not worried about chicken not being cooked. Remove all the roasted chicken and set aside.To the kadai, add about cup of water to deglaze, stir constantly and gently add all the browned chiken. Cover, simmer and cook till done. Open and reduce any leftover liquid from the chicken on high heat.

Part 3, In a a heavy bottomed vessel, boil 6 cups of water, add whole garam masala ( 4 bay leaves,2 cloves, 4 cardamom pods, a couple pieces of cinnamon sticks,star anise, few peppercorns), 4 cups of rice, 4 tbsp ghee and salt. Cover and take off the heat to slow cook. In about 30 minutes all the water will have absorbed and the rice cooked halfway....just the way we want it.
Now, spread the rice on a large platter to cool off a little to prevent cooking further. Spoon the saffron milk at one tsp at a time, in about 6 places to color as well as flavor the rice. Do not mix further. A fork can be used to lightly rake the rice to get different shades of yellow from saffron.

Part 4, In a oven proof casserole/dish, layer in half the rice on the bottom, sprinkle 1/3 of cilantro and mint leaves, layer chicken, fried onion, boiled egg nestled between chicken and some more of cilantro mint leaves. Layer second half of rice, fried onions and cilantro mint leaves to completely cover the chicken. Cover the casserole with aluminium foil and bake.

Part 5 , Heat oven to 250F and place the biryani in the oven for about an hour. This final baking gives the 'DUM' effect, cooks the eggs and rice and the gets the chicken to flavor the dish to perfection.


*G's Note*: I let the chicken biryani sit in the oven for longer until it is time to serve since I do not recommend reheating the dish for obvious reasons while entertaining friends.

Tandoori chicken

Whenever I have my cousins visiting us over, tandoori is one of the chicken dish that is made for appetizer since my Bro-in-law's and hubby have an all nighter with Captain Morgan and Jack Daniel's.This has been a default chicken recipe whenever we have company over.


Since I was a fresher to meat cooking, I trust that the packaged spice mixes are best to go with as there are very few chances of messing up. I use Shaan masala to make the tandoori's since my hubby loves the way it turns out.

4 lbs of chicken (drumsticks,thighs and leg quarters)
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
1/2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp red chilli powder
2 tbsp yogurt
2 tbsp lemon juice
salt , very little since the masala's already have some salt in it.
Shaan---tandoori masala (1/2 packet)
Shaan ---tikka masala (1/2 packet).
Mix all the above ingredients and marinate overnight in the refrigerator.
Grill in a preheated oven @400F for 20 Min's. Broil on low for 5 Min's to get charred edges.
Serve it with onion slices and lemon wedges

Chettinad Chicken

2 lbs chicken, washed and cut into medium sized pieces
1 large onions, diced
1 tomato, diced
1/2 tsp turmeric pwd
1 sprig curry leaves
1 can coconut milk
fresh coriander leaves for garnish
salt to taste
1 tbsp oil

Make a paste:
2 green chillis
8 garlic flakes
1″ ginger
1 tsp poppy seeds, soak in warm water for 15 minutes

Roast and make a powder:
1/2 tsp pepper corns
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
3/4 tsp fennel seeds
1 1/2 tbsps coriander seeds
6-8 dry red chillies
2 cardamoms
1″ cinnamon
6-7 curry leaves
1/2 tsp oil

1.Heat a little oil and roast the cumin seeds, coriander seeds, peppercorns, fennel seeds, red chillis, cardamoms, cinnamon and curry leaves on medium heat . Cool and dry grind.
2 Make a paste of the ginger, garlic, green chillies and poppy seeds. Keep aside.
3 Heat oil in a khadai, add onions and curry leaves and saute till transparent.
4 Add the ground paste and cook for a minute before adding the chicken and cook on high heat for approx 4 mts and do stir the chicken once in a while.
5 Reduce to medium heat, add salt, turmeric pwd and tomatoes and combine well. Let the chicken cook in this for 4-5 mts, uncovered.
6 Now add the coconut milk and transfer the contents to a pressure cooker. Pressure cook for 4 mts or until one whistle. Open lid and combine well.
7 Finally add the ground spice pwd and cook for 5 minutes.
Turn off heat and garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves.

Chicken kabab

My Kabab/kebabs are all marinated and ready to go...just waiting for friends to come over so we can start grilling.....happy friday!