Kayi curry, raw plantain slices cooked in coconut milk gravy

I've always wanted to be a vegetarian, if not for anything else, at least to help me lose some weight. But who am I fooling.. the minute I set eyes on some delicious fish curry or chicken fry, I lose all control. I've decided not to give up so easily though.. am on a path of research now, discovering new recipes with vegetables that resemble their non-vegetarian counterparts. And hopefully, I'd be able to cut down on the meat and fish gradually, at least, that's the plan. This is one such discovery, not my invention though.. this one is a specialty of our cook. Upon first look, it can fool you into believing that it's fish curry and tastes equally good too.

For this curry you'll need,

Raw banana, preferably plantain 1, sliced thinly, diagonally
Tamarind juice 1 cup
Shallots 10, sliced thinly (can be supplemented with 1 onion)
Tomato 1, sliced
Ginger 1" piece, chopped
Green chillis 2-3, slit in half
Turmeric 1tsp.
Red chilli powder 1/2 tsp.
Salt to taste

Boil all the above together, till the plantain is cooked. This shouldn't be over-cooked, b'coz the plantain slices should be intact and not mashed up.

Coconut milk, 1 1/2 cups
Coconut oil 1 tbsp
Garlic 3 cloves, crushed
Curry leaves 1 sprig

Pour the coconut milk in and when the gravy starts to boil and thicken, add the coconut oil, garlic and curry leaves. Serve hot with rice.

Pazhampori/Banana Fritters. One of the many popular evening snacks in Kerala

Nice and ripe plantain slices coated with lightly sweetened white flour batter and deep fried, it just melts in your mouth after each bite… My love for Pazhampori started since the time I could trace back my memory, we had a neighbor, who made Pazhampori every single day, and she would get me a few... every single day. There came a point when I kind of got addicted to it, then mom stepped in and told me I couldn't have em regularly, with the promise that she would make it for me once in a while, she kept her promise, but still, I wasn't too happy about foregoing my daily share of Pazhampori, and was quite sour at that point... it took me a few years from there to put together things like hogging on fried items, putting on weight, the troubles of losing that weight, the health issues and so on and on. I got over the craze gradually, and settled down to rejoicing at the occasions when  Mom made em at home. Later on, when I was on a train journey once, I happened to pass through Palakkad railway station, amongst many other noises around the station, one in particular caught my attention, the monotonous calls of one food vendor, it was none other than the one selling Pazhamporis. Not that you don’t get Pazhampori elsewhere, but I had heard from many that the ones you get at Palakkad railway station are yumm. I had my hubby running for the Pazhampori guy... It is quite good for the store bought standards, but definitely nowhere close to the homemade ones, but I still loved it nevertheless. 

For homemade Pazhampori 

You’ll need…

Ripe plantains – 2; sliced slanted or lengthwise into ½” thick, and about 2-3” long pieces

Maida/All-purpose flour – 1 cup

Rice flour – 2 tbsp.

Sugar – ¼ cup

Cardamom – 1; powdered

Salt - 1 pinch

Egg – 1 (optional)

Baking powder – 1 pinch (Optional)

Water – 1 cup (just enough to make a thick batter)

Oil – for deep frying

Heat the oil in a deep bottomed pan, on a medium flame. While that is getting heated, you can prepare the batter.

In a bowl, mix all the ingredients, except the plantains. Add the water gradually; the batter should be of thick but pourable consistency.

Dip the plantain slices into the batter to coat it well, and immediately drop it into the hot oil, you could fry 4 or 5 at one time, turn them around to fry both the sides, till they turn to a golden color.

Strain out of the oil onto a tissue paper to remove excess oil.  

Serve hot!

Prawn Roast

A worldwide favorite and definitely the most versatile seafood.... the vote would most certainly go to Shrimp/Prawn. Shellfish usually are more popular than other kinds of seafood, for most people mainly due to the ease of cooking, versatility, the ease of eating, since there's no bones to worry about (with the exception of crab of course!) and more than anything, the taste! 
I don't really wanna go on to the part where I'd have to admit to prawn being high in cholesterol... for now we'll jus skip that and get to the interesting part...

For the Prawn roast, we'll need

Prawn or shrimp - 1/2 kg
{Marinated for 30 minutes in 1/2 tsp chilli powder, a pinch of turmeric powder, a tsp of lemon juice and 1/2 tsp salt}
Onion - 1 big, chopped
Tomato - 1 big, chopped
Green chillis - 1, chopped
Garlic - 5-6 cloves, crushed and chopped
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Hot red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Kashmiri chilli powder (for color) - 1 tsp
Pepper - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Coriander leaves, chopped - 2 tbsp
Coconut oil - 3 tbsp
Salt to taste

Heat the oil in a shallow pan and fry the prawns just until they turn white. Remove and keep aside. 
In the remaining oil, add the onions and sauté till they turn pink. Add the tomatoes, green chilli and garlic, sauté till the tomatoes are softened and the oil starts to rise through. Add salt, turmeric and both the chilli powders. Fry for a minute, just enough to get rid of the raw smell of the powders. Add the prawns and mix it in well, so that the masala is well coated on the prawn. Throw in the curry leaves and the coriander leaves. Prawn roast ready to serve!!

Arabian pulpy grape juice

Purple or red grapes ½ kg, preferably seedless

Sugar  ¼ kg

Water 1 liter

· Boil all the ingredients till it starts to thicken slightly. Remove from heat. Keep it aside.

· After about 4-5 hours, squish the grapes well with a masher or with hands. The pulpy part of the grape should be left in. Remove the skin, which will be floating above and blend it with a little water, strain and add it to the juice.

· Chill in the refrigerator. Serve chilled. 

Chicken Piralen, Malabar style

Chicken is definitely the most versatile meat. And this preparation is one of the most common one all around Kerala. Almost every blog has a version of this recipe. This is the way my Mom makes it: 

Chicken 1kg, medium to small pieces

Coriander powder 3 tbsp

Chilli powder 1 tsp

Turmeric ½ tsp

Pepper-Saunf powder* 1 tsp

Cumin powder ½ tsp

Cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, a little of each

*'Pepper-Saunf powder' :

Take pepper and saunf in equal proportions and grind and store in an airtight jar. This masala can be added to almost any non-vegetarian preparation.  It improves the taste a lot. 

Grind all the masala ingredients together with a few drops of water and marinate the chicken in it for an hour.

Ginger 2” piece, chopped

Garlic 10-12 cloves, crushed

Shallots, 10-15, sliced

Apple cedar vinegar 1 tbsp (You can substitute with normal vinegar if you don’t get this one)

Water 3 cups

Salt 1 tsp

Cook all the ingredients together with the marinated chicken, until the chicken becomes tender. Then take the chicken pieces from the gravy and keep both aside.

Coconut oil 4-5 tbsp

Onion 1, sliced thinly

Chilli powder 1 tsp

Curry leaves, a few

Heat the oil in a deep skillet and fry the onion and curry leaves in it. When the onion turns golden brown in color, add the chilli powder and sauté for a minute. Now add the chicken pieces and fry well for about 10 minutes on a medium heat. The chicken shouldn’t get scrambled. Now add the gravy which was kept aside and mix well into the fried chicken. Keep cooking on a medium to low flame till the gravy becomes thick.

Goes well with Rice, Chapatti, Vellayappam etc. 

Koorkka fry

I love this preparation. It’s not a complicated one, but the complication comes in the preparation part, it needs to be fried and fried and fried… for at least 20-30 minutes.. that’s a lot of work for a simple vegetable fry if you ask me.. but the final result is definitely worth the effort though, no doubt..

Koorkka, peeled and cut into small pieces (The small ones taste better than the larger ones)

Onion, 1 big, chopped

Green chillis 3-4 chopped

Turmeric powder ½ tsp

Salt to taste

Mustard ½ tsp

Urad dal ½ tsp

Coconut oil 2-3 tbsp

Curry leaves, a few

Heat the oil, add the mustard, when it sputters, add the urad dal, curry leaves, onion and green chillis. When the onion starts to turn pinkish, add some salt. Now add the Koorkka and the turmeric. Keep frying till the Koorkka is well cooked. Close the lid and let it cook for about 3 minutes, sprinkle a little water if necessary.  But Rosh never adds water, he says adding water spoils the taste and texture of the vegetable. It’ll need to be cooked for at least 20 to 30 minutes, altering between closing the lid and stirring every few minutes.

Vellarikka unakkachemmeen curry

Vellarikka 1 small, cubed

Toor dal ½ cup

Turmeric ½ tsp

Chilli powder 1 tsp

Garlic 3 cloves

Curry leaves, a few

Cook all the above in a pressure cooker till the dal is well cook. The Vellarikka shouldn’t get over cooked.

Coconut grated, ½ cup

Jeera, ½ tsp

Turmeric ½ tsp

A small piece of onion

Water ¼ cup

Grind all these into a smooth paste and add it to the cooked dal mixture. Add some salt. Let it boil for about 5 minutes.

For the garnish:

Coconut oil 1 tbsp

Mustard ½ tsp

Dry red chilli, 2

Curry leaves, a few

Heat oil, add the ingredients for garnish in the given order. Add to the curry, close the lid and serve after 10 minutes.

The curry goes well with rice, curd and your choice of side dish.

Vellayappam or Lace rimmed rice pancakes

In Kerala, Vellayappam is one of the most popular breakfasts. Almost every household has Vellayappam for breakfast atleast once a week. But they can pass really well for lunch or dinner as well.
The lore is that this delicacy is a foreigner to the Mallu-land. It's said the Dutch got the Appam into our land ages ago.  I’m really not sure about the authenticity of that tale, but if it’s true, I’m so thankful to the Dutch!!  

Traditionally this recipe uses ‘toddy’ instead of yeast, but I really have no way of getting toddy here! So the next best alternative is active dry yeast. I’ve heard that people collect water from the coconuts they use for regular cooking for about a week  or so and store it up in the refrigerator, (We Mallus use quite an amount of coconut in our cooking, I’m sure that isn’t news for most people). The stored up coconut water is supposed to be a good enough supplement for the toddy, but I haven’t tried it yet, so no guarantees on that one. I’ve come to trust the good ol’ yeast by now.

  

Raw rice 3 cups (Soak for 5-8 hours)

Coconut, grated 1 cup

Cooked rice ¾ cup

Yeast mixture ¼ cup*

Sugar 2 tbsp

Salt 1 tsp or as per taste

Baking soda ¼ tsp (Optional)

*For the yeast mixture:

   Warm milk or water ¼ cup

   Sugar 1 tsp

   Dry yeast ¼ tsp

·        Add 1 tsp sugar to the warm milk or water. To this mixture add the yeast. The milk should just be lukewarm. Leave the mixture aside for a few minutes to let the yeast develop.

For the batter:

·        Grind the raw rice, cooked rice and coconut to make a fine batter (slightly thicker in consistency than Dosa batter)

·        Add the yeast mixture and salt to the batter. Use a bowl in which the batter will only be half full. This is because the batter will rise up in a few hours and there should be space for it to come up, if not it’ll spill out of the bowl and that’ll be lotsa mess to cleanup, and lotsa batter wasted

·        Keep it aside in a warm place overnight or for atleast 6-7 hours

·        Next morning, add the baking soda and sugar (2 tbsp) and mix it in very slowly, so as not to disturb the batter too much. DO NOT mix vigorously, as that will affect the quality of the appam

To make the Appam: 

·        Lightly grease an appam chatti or wok, and heat it on a high flame. Once it’s heated, lower the flame and pour one ladle, or ½ cup, of the batter in and swirl the chatti or wok around so that the batter coats the wok to make a thin crust around the rest of the batter which settles into the center. Close with the lid and cook on low flame for about 2-3 minutes, or till the appam is cooked in the middle (slowly poke with a skewer in the middle part and if the batter doesn’t stick, then the appam is ready) and lacy part around the middle would have turned into a light brown color.

·        Gently remove the appam onto a plate or tray and repeat this process to make the number of appams you need. If there is any batter left, you can store it for about 3-4 days in the refrigerator

·        Appam is best served hot, with a variety of side dishes like stew, chicken curry, pork curry, fish curry, vegetable korma, kadala curry, egg curry and the list goes on and on… in short, appam tastes good with almost any side dish, but i suppose the winning combo is Appam with sweetened coconut milk.

Malabar Chicken Biriyani

Malabar chicken biryani is a standard choice for most Malabari functions.


For the rice:

1. Jeerakashala OR kaima rice - 4cups
2. Ghee – 4tbsp (to fry the rice) + 2 tbsp (to fry onions for garnishing)
3. Lime – 2tsp
4. Salt – To taste
5. Water – 8cups
6. Spice-pouch
7. Rose water – ¼ cup
8. Saffron – 5-6 strands (soaked in 4tbsp warm milk)

9. Cashwes and kismis - 6-8 each

For the Spice-pouch:

    Fennel seeds – 1tbsp
    Cardamom – 3
    Cinnamon sticks – 2 pieces
    Cloves – 8
    Star anise – 3
    Shajeera/Caraway seeds – 1tsp
    Bay leaf – 2 leaves

   Crush all these spices lightly and put them into a small pouch, made from a soft muslin cloth, and tie it up.

For the chicken masala:

1. Chicken - 1kg, cut into medium pieces
2. Onion - 4 (for the chicken masala), 1 (for garnishing) - sliced thinly
3. Tomato – 1, cubed
4. Green chillies - 5-8 (as per your spiciness levels)
5. Ginger - 1 big piece
6. Garlic – 1 pod
7. Mint leaves – 1 small bunch
8. Coriander leaves – 1 small bunch
9. Fennel seeds – 2tbsp
10. Pepper – 1tsp
11. Lime juice – 2tsp
12. Curd – ½ cup
13. Turmeric – ½ tsp
14. Salt – 1tsp
15. Ghee – 1tbsp


Preparation:

·        Wash and soak the rice for about an hour. Drain out all the water, you can move the rice onto a soft muslin cloth, tie it up and hang it somewhere so that all the water it drained out.

·        After you have soaked the rice, you can start work on marinating the chicken. Roughly crush together ingredients 4 to 9 (listed under chicken masala). You can do this in the chopper in the food processor or use the pulse option on the mixer. Mix this with the chicken, along with ingredients 10 to 14 and keep aside for at least 2-3 hours so that the masala seeps well into the meat.

·        Heat a skillet and add 2tbsp ghee to it and fry the onion for the garnish, add some sugar to it so that it gets slightly caramelized. Keep frying on a medium flame till the onion become light brown in color. Strain out of the ghee and keep aside. Keep the ghee aside too for garnishing the rice at the end. Fry the cashews and kismis, set those aside too. 

·        To the same skillet add the remaining 4tbsp ghee and fry the rice, on a medium flame for about 10-15 minutes. Keep stirring gently, ensuring that the rice doesn’t break. While the rice is getting fried, in a separate vessel, boil 8 cups water along with the spice-pouch, lime juice and salt. Once the rice is fried, add the boiled water, close lid and cook on a medium to low flame for about 15 to 20 minutes. Turn off heat and leave it for another 10 minutes, without opening the lid. Remember the rice need to cook only about 80% at this stage, since it will get cooked a little more when we set it for dum. 

·        While the rice is getting done, in a pan, heat a 1-2 tbsp of ghee. Add the sliced onions and sauté till it turns pink. Now add the tomato pieces and sauté for 5 mins. To this add the marinated chicken. Mix well. Cook for about 20-30 mins on a medium to low flame. Do not add any extra water. Ensure that the chicken doesn’t get over cooked because when we set this for dum later, the chicken gets cooked further. Once you open the lid, there will be some gravy. Cook on a low flame till the gravy thickens a little.

·        Open the lid on the rice and remove the spice-pouch. Loosen up the rice with a fork and close lid for another 10 minutes.

·        Now for layering the biriyani. Take a skillet in which you plan to set the biriyani, add half of the chicken masala, then add half of the rice, repeat this procedure to make 2  layers. Garnish with the fried onions, cashews & kismis. Spill around on top, the rose water, saffron milk and the ghee that was kept aside for garnishing. Cover with a well fitting lid.

·        Heat an iron tawa on high flame and keep the biriyani’s skillet on top of it for about 15 minutes. Turn off heat, and leave it for another 15 minutes. This is for the dum and helps all the flavors blend well with the rice and the meat.

·        Biriyani is ready to be served!!!

·        Serve with Pappadam, Biriyani chutney and Salad/Raita.

Vendakka Pachadi

Lady's finger gives a variety of options.. this one is quite popular around Malabar.

Ingredients:

Lady’s finger (Vendakka)  250gms

Thick curd   ½ litre

Grated coconut   ½ cup

Green chillies  4-5

Salt to taste

Mustard  1tbsp

For seasoning:

Coconut oil  1tbsp

Mustard ½ tsp

Dry red chillies  2, broken into pieces

Curry leaves 2 sprigs

Method:

• Cut the lady’s finger into ½ inch pieces. Deep fry it in oil. Move it on to a tissue paper to remove excess oil
• Grind the coconut and green chillis coarsely (couple of spins in the mixer would do), add the mustard and spin some more (the mustard shouldn’t get ground – just crush it lightly)
• Pour the mix into a bowl, add required amount of salt
• Add the fried lady’s finger to it
• Heat the oil for seasoning, add the seasoning ingredients one by one – mustard, red chillis and curry leaves
• Pour this on top of the pachadi
• Serve with rice and dhal

Malabar Crab Curry

This is a typical Mallu preparation, and especially a Malabarie one.

1.  Crab 500gms, cleaned and cut in half
2. Onion 1 big, sliced
3. Tomatoes 2, sliced
4. Ginger 2” piece, chopped
5. Turmeric powder ½ tsp
6. Salt to taste
7. Coconut oil 1 tbsp
8. Curry leaves 1 sprig

For the masala:

1. Coriander powder 2-3 tbsp
2. Chilly powder 1 tbsp
3. Black Peppercorns 1tsp
4. Jeera  ½ tsp
5. Cinnamon ½” piece
6. Cloves 2
7. Garlic 3-4 cloves
8. Curry leaves 2 sprigs

Preparation:

• Heat a pan and dry roast the masala ingredients together till it turns into a dark brown color. Keep aside and let it cool.
• Once it’s cool, grind into a smooth thick paste with some water. Keep aside.
• Now, heat a fish-chatti or a skillet and add the oil. Fry the onion and ginger together, (you can add a green chilly too if you want to, but I wouldn’t recommend that coz that might make the curry too hot as it already contains black pepper as well as red chilly powder) when the onion stats to become transparent, add some salt and turmeric powder. Keep frying for couple of minutes, then add the tomatoes and curry leaves. Fry till the tomatoes are soft.
• Add the crab pieces, and half a cup of water. Close lid and simmer for about 10 minutes.
• Open the lid and cook for a couple of minutes, now add the ground masala. Add half a cup of water.
• Close lid, leaving a small gap to let it evaporate and cook on a slow flame for another 15 minutes.
• Now open the lid and increase the heat a bit and cook for 5 more minutes.
• And the crab curry’s ready to be served.
• Can be served with rice or any other Mallu main course like appam, kallappam etc. 

NOTE: 

It’ll be tastier if you could cook it a day before and reheat the curry a couple of times, the gravy would then become a thick blackish brown color.

Kallu shaap meen curry... Toddy shop fish curry

Now, let me give you the recipe which is cherished by all the (non-vegetarian) coastal residents of Kerala, but mainly by the visitors of "kallu-shaaps"(toddy shop). This is always served with toddy, as a side-dish at the local toddy shops.

Its a spicy red gravy, which isn't too thick nor too thin in consistency.. It may look a little scary to the weak-hearted folks. You might think that it'll claim your tongue, but trust me its not so bad, you'll agree with me once u try it. My dad for one hates any food that's even close to spicy (or so he claims). Everytime and every meal that mom makes this curry (any given meal is incomplete in our house without it) dad has to crib that it's so hot that he gets hiccups (he says so for everything which has more than a pinch of chilly in it, but still licks his plate, when we're not watching!) but he won't let a day pass when he would not help himself to a handsome serving of the 'notorious curry'.

Its usually eaten only the next day after preparation, after its been simmered and simmered and simmered for about 3 to 4 times, by when it would have turned into a deep red shade and definitely irresistible! It'll most definitely not come out anywhere close to its authentic taste if prepared in any other form of utensil other than a meen-chatti.

So here goes...

Things you'll need:

• Fish 1/2 kg cut and cleaned
• Onion 1 sliced
• Tomato 1 sliced
• Green chillies 1 or 2 slit in half
• Ginger 1 big piece chopped
• Kashmiri chilly powder 4-5 tbsp (Use the non-spicy one which is just for color and texture, DON'T USE THE SPICY ONE IN THE ABOVE MENTIONED QUANTITY!! If u do, i will not be responsible for any casualties arising from its consumption... & I mean it!!)
• Hot chilly powder 1 tsp ONLY, coz the kashmiri chilly will have a bit of spiciness in itself, and we're also adding green chillies
• Tamarind almost half a handful soaked in hot water and about 1 tea-cup thick juice extracted (its not a a typing mistake, you'll actually need so much)
• Turmeric powder 1 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Sugar 1 tsp (to balance all the flavors)

The fish, it's called 'Uluva-meen' or 'Kadambe' in Malayalam, no idea what its called in English.. you can use any other fish of your choice

For seasoning:

• Coconut oil 4-5 tbsp
• Garlic 8-9 cloves, crushed
• Curry leaves 3 sprigs

Preparation:

• All the ingredients together (except the fish), crush it well with your hands.
  
• Then add the fish. Add about 2 cups of water.
  
• Simmer for about 1/2 an hour. By then it would be almost a dark red to orange color, and quite thick in consistency.
• Add the seasoning ingredients directly to the curry. Close lid immediately.
• Keep aside. Reheat after about 5-6 hours, repeat again in another 5-6 hours.
  
• Serve with rice and a couple of 'kaandari mulagu' (bird's eye chilly) . Mash the chillies into the gravy and there you go!! The kallu shop fish curry.. Enjoy!!

Malabar Mutton Stew

•   
  My mom is very popular for her great culinary skills. I know a lot of moms are, but there are few of my mom's recipes which are so yummy that I feel, no mom can beat her. If you tried out this recipe, you'll agree with me. Here's the recipe for her famous Mutton Stew.
  
  You'll need:
  Mutton 1kg, with bone; medium pieces
  Onion 3; sliced
  Green chilies 4-5; slit in half
  Potatoes 3-4; cubes
  Ginger - about 2"; julienne slices
  Coconut milk:
  1^st milk or thick milk 2 cups
  2^nd milk or thin milk 2-3 cups (We would be cooking the meat in this, so take as per the gravy as u require for the stew, but don't make it too loose either, coz that'll end up giving you a very watery stew, which would not be good.)
  Curry leaves 2 sprigs
  Cinnamon 2" piece; crushed, but not powdered
  Cloves 2 pieces; crushed, but again not powdered
  Star anise - 1; broken into pieces
  Coconut oil 2 tbsp.
  Peppercorns 2 tbsp.; crushed coarsely
  Curry leaves - 1 sprig
  Salt to taste
  
  
  For garnish:
  Coconut oil - 1 tbsp.
  Shallots - 2-3; sliced
  Curry leaves - 1 sprig
  
  
  
  
  
  Method:
  • In a heated pan add coconut oil; then the cloves, cinnamon, star anise, green chilies, onion and ginger,  sauté till the onion starts to turn golden. Add 1 sprig of the curry leaves.
  • Add the thin coconut milk (2^nd); then the meat, potatoes, crushed peppercorns and salt. Pressure cook these for about 6 whistles or till the mutton and potatoes are cooked.
  • Once this is done, do a taste test for salt and spice, do any adjustments if required as per your taste. Do not add more salt after this stage, as you'd be adding the thick coconut milk after this, and ideally salt should be added before thick coconut milk is added to any gravy, else it tends to spoil the texture of the gravy.
  • Let it simmer for a while till the gravy starts to thicken. Now add the thick coconut milk (1^st ). Cook for 5 more minutes and remove from heat.
  • Garnish with sliced shallots and some curry leaves fried well in the coconut oil.
  • Stew's ready. Serve hot!
  • This stew tastes the best with freshly baked Bread, Vellayappam, Kallappam, Vattayappam and Ghee rice. 

Malabar Chicken Curry

This mouth watering & spicy curry is a very common one in the Malabar area. It's a very simple yet yummy preparation.

Chicken - 1kg [medium sized pieces]
Onion - 5 medium sized [sliced thin & long]
Tomato - 5 [ puree]
Green chillies - 3 [slit]
Ginger - 2" piece [peeled & chopped]
Garlic - 1 pod [peeled & chopped]
Curry leaves - 2 strips
Corriander and pudina leaves - 1 handful [chopped]
Chilli powder - 3 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon
Dhaniya powder - 4 teaspoon
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Oil - 3 tablespoon

Garam masala:
Cloves - 3
Cinnammon - 2 pieces
Cardamom - 3
Star anise - 2
Black peppercorns - 1 tablespoon
Fennels seeds - 1 tablespoon
Bayleaf - 1 leaf

Heat all these together. Powder and keep aside.

To marinate:
Chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Turmeric - 1 teaspoon
Black pepper powder - 1 teaspoon
Salt - 1 teaspoon
Lime juice - Juice from 1 medium lime

Preparation:

Step 1: Marinate the chicken pieces. Keep aside for atleast

half an hour.

Step 2: Heat the oil in the preassure cooker in which you

want to make the chicken. Add the mustard seeds, when

they finish bursting add the onion and green chillies. Fry till

the onion starts turning golden brown.

Step 3: Add ginger and garlic. Add the tomato puree. Keep

stirring till the raw smell of the tomato goes.

Step 4: When the oil starts coming out, add chilli powder,

turmeric, corriander powder. Fry for 2-3 minutes.

Step 5: Add the chicken pieces. Mix the pieces well into the

masala.

Step 6: Add the garam masala and mix well into the chicken.

Step 7: Add a glass of water. Cook for 3 or 4 whistles.

Step 8: After opening add corriander leaves.

Serve hot with rice or idlis.