Chicken curry with Zucchini

I have said this multiple times but yet again I will write it again...I have been trying to incorporate more vegetables in my meals, so the chicken curry which is actually an impersonation of chicken karahi dish is with Zucchini's in it and it was super delicious.

Chicken curry with Zucchini (Chicken and zucchini Indian style)

Ingredients:

1. 1lb chicken breast cut into bite size pieces
2. 3/4 teaspoon salt
3. 1/2 teaspoon each of turmeric, chilli powder, cumin seeds
4. 1 medium onion chopped fine
5. 1 heaped teaspoon ginger garlic paste
6. 1 bay leaf
7. 2 large tomatoes chopped fine
8. 1 large or 2 medium zucchini quartered and sliced
9. 1 tablespoon oil

Marinate the chicken with salt, turmeric and chilli powder. Heat the oil in a pan and add the cumin and bay leaf and let the cumin splutter. Add the onions and fry for 5 minutes. Add ginger garlic paste and fry for a minute. Add the marinated chicken and stir to combine. Cook for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and cover and cook for 15 minutes on medium low heat. Add zucchini and cook for 7-8 minutes. Garnish with cilantro and serve with brown rice or like me serve with rice and quinoa

Chicken Quinoa Rice

All kinds of grains are getting popular these days. Quinoa is one of them. But you need to know how to cook it else it will taste bitter. The quinoa and rice is one of the sachet foods you can get at Costco these days.
It is so easy to make, that you do not need to buy a prepared packet. You can make it hot and fresh in less than 30 minutes.

Chicken Quinoa Rice

Chicken Quinoa Rice

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup each of quinoa, white rice rinsed under cold running water
2. 2-3 cups rotisserie chicken shredded or 2 cans chicken breasts
3. 1 chicken bouillion

Check how long your rice and quinoa will cook. My rice takes 20 minutes and quinoa 15 minutes to cook. So I made them in the same pot.

In a pan add the rice and 2 cups water and cook for 5 minutes. Add 2 more cups of water and quinoa and cook for 15 more minutes along with the chicken bouillon. Add the chicken and stir to combine. Cover and simmer on very low flame for 5 more minutes. Enjoy

You can add any veggies you want to this pot in the last 10 minutes.

Chicken Kubera

The name itself is intriguing. "Kuberah" means the king of wealth...in essence a very wealthy king. So this dish loosely translates to "king of Chicken dishes " LOL

Whatever it may be called...its super delicious and mighty spicy...but you can reduce the heat level to your liking

Chicken Kubera (Dry spicy sour-sweet chicken dish)

Chicken Kuberah

Ingredients to Marinate:

1. 1 lb chicken breast cut into small pieces (I bet it will be doubly Delicious with whole chicken cut into 12 pieces)
2. 1 teaspoon each of  salt, chilli powder, ginger garlic paste, cumin powder, coriander powder, garam masala, sugar, fennel seeds (lightly pounded), turmeric
3. 1 tablespoon kasuri methi
4. 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
5. 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
6. 1/2 cup plain yogurt

Ingredients for curry:

1. 2 tablespoons oil
2. 1 medium onion chopped fine
3. 2 garlic pods sliced
4. 1 inch ginger cut into thin strips
5. 1 teaspoon each of soya sauce, garlic chilli paste, sugar
6. 1/2 cup thick juice from a small lime sized tamarind
7. 1 heaped teaspoon corn starch
8. 1 tablespoon each of tomato ketchup, cashew pieces

Marinate the chicken with salt and chilli powder and turmeric for 20 minutes. Mix all the other ingredients to the chicken and set aside for atleast 30 minutes.

Heat the oil in a pan and on medium high heat fry the chicken for about 10 minutes. Drain and set aside. In the same pan add some more oil if needed and fry the onions till they start getting dark brown. Add sliced garlic and ginger and cashew and fry for a couple of minutes.

Mean while in the tamarind juice mix the soya sauce, corn starch, tomato ketchup and sugar. Add this to chicken and lower the heat to minimum. Cover ad cook for 10 minutes stirring occasionally.  Garnish with cilantro and serve with rice or roti

Sukha murgh masala

Back in the G-olden days my mom used to make the most amazing dry chicken fry. So I went searching for the recipe as I was feeling nostalgic...but I did not find it .

So, I kept looking and I found another recipes and made it and it was dddddlicious. But fair warning...it takes some time to make this but rest assured, the results are finger locking good

Sukha Murgh Masala (Spicy Dry chicken fry) (SAY THAT 3 TIMES) 

Dry Chicken fry                                             

Ingredients:

1. 2 lbs or so whole chicken cut into 12 or more pieces
2. 1 medium onion crushed (not a smooth paste but a coarse paste)
3. 2 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
4. 2 tablespoons plain yogurt
5. 1 teaspoon each of salt, turmeric, chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, garam masala
6. 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
7. few curry leaves
8. 2 tablespoons oil

Marinate the chicken pieces with all the spices except garam masala and salt for 15 minutes. Add yogurt, crushed onions and ginger-garlic paste. Marinate in the fridge for 20 minutes atleast.

Leave it on the counter.

Heat oil in a non stick pan and add the mustard seeds and curry leave to it. Cover and let fry for a couple of minutes or until the mustard seeds start popping.

Add the chicken pieces with all the marinade and cover and fry on medium-medium low flame for 30-40 minutes or until the fry turns brown. Add the garam masala in the last 5 minutes and stir to combine. Serve with white rice and dal

Chana Dal Murgh

Chana Dal or Bengal Gram goes very well with meat but I never used to like it when I was a kid. But I have grown over it and now I really really like it. I wanted to see if it goes well with Chicken as well and let me tell you, this is one of the most delicious currys' I served with roti. Try it to believe it.

The creamier you want your dal to be the more you cook it. And my dal got totally mashed up and super creamy-the way I like it. And I used Chicken thighs but you can use any part of chicken you like. Enjoy

Chana Dal Murgh (Chicken with Split Bengal Gram)

Chicken with Chana Dal Gravy

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup chana dal soaked in water for 30 minutes
2. 1-1/2 chicken 
3. 1 cup chopped onions
4. 2 medium tomatoes chopped
5. 1 teaspoon salt
6. 1/2 teaspoon each of turmeric, chilly powder, ginger-garlic paste, garam masala
7. 1 tablespoon oil
8. 1 inch cinnamon stick broken
9. 2 cloves

Marinate the chicken with salt, turmeric, chilly powder and garam masala for30-60 minutes. In a pressure cooker heat the oil and fry the onions till golden brown. Add ginger-garlic paste and fry for a minute along with the cinnamon and cloves. Add tomatoes and fry for a couple of minutes. Add dal with a cup of water and cook for 2 whistles. Let all the steam escape, open the cooker and add the chicken and cook further for 2 more minutes. Simmer till the gravy thickens to your liking. garnish with a handful of cilantro and serve with your favorite Roti

Other chana dal recipes 

Purple Cabbage with Chana Dal

Chana Dal Mango

Pan fried chicken thighs with Silky Carrot Masoor dal

My mom used to make the most amazing chicken fry. In India, atleast in the olden days i.e before the giant super and hyper markets invaded , we could go to the butcher and get fresh chicken and ask him to cut it the way we want it. So we would get the whole chicken cut up into pieces and she would pan fry it in a very easy and amazing chicken fry. This fry is great with boneless, skinless pieces too, but today I made it with chicken thighs and they were thick so I had to finish them off in the oven

                     To go with it I made a silky carrot masoor dal which turned out amazing. I served it as soup to my li'l boy and as a side dish with the chicken and rice for others.

Pan fried Chicken thighs (Marinated chicken thighs fried with Onions)

Pan fried chicken thighs





Ingredients:

1. 6 chicken thighs or drumsticks or 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into medium chunks
2. 1 big onion or 2 medium onions sliced thin
3. 2 tablespoons cashew pieces
4. 3-4 tablespoons oil
5. 3 cloves, 1 inch cinamon stick, 1 cardamom pounded roughly

Ingredients for marinade:

1. 1 teaspoon each of salt, chilly powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, ginger-garlic paste
2. 1/2 teaspoon turmeric

Marinade the chicken with the ingredients for atleast 2 hours.

Heat oil in a non-stick pan till it gets very hot. Carefully place the chicken pieces into it and fry till the pieces get a nice golden crust. Drain and set aside. Add the onions to the same pan and fry till they start changing color. Add cashew and pounded garam masala and fry for a few more minutes. Add the chicken back to the pan, reduce heat and cover and cook for 10-15 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked*.

*If you have thick pieces like I did today, place them in a oven safe sheet and bake further at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Top it with the fried onions and serve

Silky Carrot Masoor Dal (Red lentils with carrot and spices)

Silky carrot masoor dal

Ingredients:

1. 1 large carrot
2. 1 cup masoor dal
3. 2 heaped teaspoons dried mango powder (amchur powder)
4. 3/4 teaspoon each of salt, coriander powder
5. 1/2 teaspoon each of turmeric, cumin, grated garlic,
6. 1/4 cup finely chopped onions
7. 1 green chilly chopped
8. 1 table spoon oil or ghee
9. 2 bay leaves
10. Coriander for garnishing

Pressure cook the masoor dal with carrot and grind them to a smooth paste.

In a pan heat the ghee or oil and fry the cumin and bay leaves till they start to splutter. Add onions and green chillies and garlic and fry till the onions become soft. Take the bay leaves out and add all the spices and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the ground dal paste and 3 cups of water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes. Garnish with cilantro and serve as soup or as a side dish with rice or roti