Chicken in coriander leaves gravy

Bengali’s are known for their love for fish, but that doesn’t mean that they have any less love for chicken. There are thousands of variations of chicken curry found in different parts of Bengal. Every household has a different formula for their perfect chicken curry. Today I am going to tell you about a not so common chicken recipe, the “Dhone-Pata-Chicken” (Chicken curry in coriander leaves gravy). This extremely tasty chicken curry has a distinctive green color. Although it may seem that this green colors comes from the coriander leaves, but it actually comes from the secret ingredient spinach. Lets get started.

Ingredients:
1. Chicken (500 grams, cut into small or medium pieces)
2. Coriander leaves (100 grams, roughly chopped)
3. Garlic (1 tsp paste and 4 whole cloves)
4. Onion (1 medium size, sliced)
5. Green chilies (2 whole green chili and 2 sliced)
6. Red dry chili (1)
7. Spinach (Boiled for 1 minute, 400 grams)
8. Turmeric  powder (1 teaspoon)
9. Coriander powder (1.5 tablespoon)
10. Red chili Powder (1 teaspoon)
11. Oil (3 tablespoon)
12. Salt to taste
13. Panch phoron (1 tsp)
14. Ginger  paste (1 tsp)

Method:
1. Before we start cooking, we need to marinade the chicken, for marination add 1 tsp oil, ginger and garlic paste, salt, turmeric powder, coriander powder and red chili powder. Mix them well and keep aside for 30 minutes at least.
2. In a blender, add the coriander leaves, boiled spinach, 2 green chilies and 4 garlic cloves; make a smooth paste.
3. Take a heated pan add 2 tbsp of oil, let the oil heat up.
4. Add the dry red chili and panch phoron mix. Let them splutter.
5. Add the onions, fry them till they become translucent
6. Add salt to taste
7. Add the marinated chicken and give it a good mix. Cook it for 7 minutes in high flame
8. Add water; mix the water and put the lid on; cook it until the chicken becomes soft
9. Add the sliced green chilies
10. As soon as the chicken pieces become soft, add the coriander and spinach paste. If it becomes too thick, add water as per your preference
11. Cook it for another 6-7 minutes
12. Before switching off the flame check the salt

Note: 
1. Do not put the lid when you are boiling the spinach
2. For this recipe you can use any type of cooking oil
3. Coriander leaves and spinach are the most important ingredients. Make sure they are fresh.
4. You can cook this recipe less then 3 tbsp of oil, if required
5. You can add little bit of vinegar during marination in case you want to remove the raw smell of chicken

*Panch-Phoron is an authentic Bengali spice mix used in most of the Bengali vegetarian dishes. It includes Cumin seeds, nigella seeds, fenugreek seeds, fennel Seeds, mustard seeds. All of these are mixed together together to make panch-phoron mix.

You can pair this healthy chicken recipe with steamed rice, chapati, naan-bread or paratha.

Enjoy
Mo.

Fried potatoes and more…

There are very few who don’t like potatoes; I love potatoes. Today i m going to share a simple recipe with you guys. I will be truthful here. My intention was to fry potatoes with some spices, but a little bit of improvisation turned it into something else. It turned up absolutely fantastic.

Ingredients:
1. Potatoes (2,big size)
2. Curry leaves (2-3 springs)
3. Salt to taste
4. Dry mango powder or Aamchur powder (1 teaspoon)
5. Turmeric (1 teaspoon)
6. Dry red chili (2 pieces)
7. Mustard seeds (1/2 teaspoon)
8. Cumin seeds (1/2 teaspoon)
9. Tomato (1, medium size)
10. Cumin powder (1/2 teaspoon)
11. Pinch of Asafoetida
12. Oil (2 tablespoon)

Method:
Cut the potatoes in to cubes, put in water for  1-2 hour.

In a heated pan add the oil, let the oil heat up. Add dry red chilies, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves and asafoetida and let them splutter. Add the potato cubes and mix well. One by one add turmeric powder, cumin powder, dry mango powder. Add salt to taste. Mix everything properly. Add the chopped tomatoes and mix it well. Add a little bit of water, lower the flame and let it cover for sometime until the potatoes get cooked properly. Serve it with chapati.

Enjoy.

Mo

 

 

Spring Roll

Hello folks. Spring Rolls are as Chinese as it gets. You find them in many countries all over the world, they may taste different but they all look same. These rolls are traditionally made and eaten during the Spring Festival, and from this it has got it’s name. It’s easy to cook and you won’t realize when you have eaten them all. A hot favorite with kids and adults alike, Spring roll is pocket rocket for your party. All you need is spring roll wrappers easily available in stores and whatever you have in your kitchen. Let’s get started.

Ingredients:
1. Boiled Noddles
2. Salt to taste
3. Cabbage (200 g, julienne)
4. Carrots (1, sliced)
5. Onions (1, sliced)
6. Ginger/Garlic/Green chili
7. Soy sauce as per your preference
8. Tomato sauce as per your preference
9. Green chili sauce as per your preference
10. Olive oil (2 tablespoon)
11. Vegetable oil for deep frying.

Method:
This is a two step recipe. First step is preparing the stuffing. Second part is making rolls and frying them.

For the stuffing: Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a pan. Add chopped ginger,garlic, green chili ,onions and rest of the vegetables. Shallow fry the vegetables. Add all the sauces and salt as per your preference. I like the natural mild taste coming out of the vegetables more, hence I use very little sauce. While adding salt, be careful if you have added soy sauce already since it is also salty. Give the mix a good Stir. Lower the flame then add the cooked noodles, mix everything well. Do’t let the noodle or vegetables burn. Switch of the flame and let it cool down.

I have used only two types of vegetables, you can use whatever you want.

Making the roll: Take ready made spring roll wrapper. Take a bit of stuffing and roll the stuffing with the wrapper. After you have made the roll, fold the sides and seal the rolls from both ends. Repeat the process for all the rolls. Once the rolls are ready, shallow fry them and make sure that the outer cover of the rolls fried from all the sides. Instead of shallow frying, you can also deep fry them.

Serve with hot sauce.

Enjoy.

Mo