Chicken makkhan..... and an Award!

Chicken, as many of you might know, I make quite often. So, this time I started with a whim, I felt like using fenugreek and then slowly the dish took its form in my mind until I knew I was going to make chicken makkhan, also called butter chicken in English.
Since I have made this dish a couple of times I really don't need a recipe book, but still I went through many different versions online, to make sure I was going to make it as true to its name, but at the end it has to be MY recipe, isn't it?
Since I was in the mood of fenugreek leaves, I didn't hesitate to add a nice portion of it into the dish, and it tasted delicious. Usually I also add some heavy cream, but this time I didn't have any (purposefully! need I explain why? the name itself says it all: HEAVY cream). I have found that even though I plan to add a little bit of butter and only a little bit of cream, ultimately things get out of hand, and though the dish turns our good, but you are worried about those calories. But then to do justice to this dish , the name of this dish, I had to make sure to add enough butter, not that i wouldn't have done it otherwise. And as you see I just couldn't resist adding some chopped carrots either. It does the dish full justice.

For the recipe, read on...

Ingredients:

400 g chicken fillet (boneless and skin less), washed, pat dried and cubed

Marinade:
mix together
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp red chili powder
2 tsp coriander seeds, ground

1 tsp salt, or to taste
1 tsp oil

Onion paste:
1 inch ginger, peeled and chopped coarsely
1 garlic, chopped coarsely
1 onion, chopped coarsely

whole spices:
1 tsp cumin
10 peppercorns
2 bay leaves
2 star anis
1 two inch piece of cinnamon

3 tomatoes, pureed
2 tbsp dried fenugreek leaves
1 large carrot, chopped
2 heaped tablespoons, ground almonds
2 heaped tbsp cold butter
1 tbsp oil
salt, to taste

Method:

• Marinate chicken pieces for 15 to 30 minutes with the spices in the refrigerator covered, or until required
  
• Prepare the onion paste by grinding the ingredients together in a blender
• heat oil in a saute pan, fry the chicken on medium to high heat and take out and set aside
• roast the whole spices in 1 tbsp butter
• add the onion paste and 1 more tbsp butter and fry on medium heat till golden brown
• add carrots fry for short and then add the tomato puree and some salt, cook till it thickens
• add the ground almonds and fenugreek leaves
• return the chicken into the sauce
  
• cook further till done, adjust salt to taste
• take out the whole cinnamon, bay leaves and star anise, if desired
  
• serve warm with plain basmati rice or rotis (indian bread)

This was a total pleasure to have made this dish, which we all enjoyed eating equally well. The flavours of the wonderful spices each of which blended together in this dish to give it a wonderful, harmonious and rich taste. The best way to eat it is either with hot Indian rotis or simply with plain basmati rice which compliment its flavours wonderfully.

This recipe goes to the Event Think Spice, think Fenugreek at Kittens in the Kitchen.

And, it also goes to Srilekha's Event "Chicken" taking place this month and the following month of Oktober.

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Now, about something very very special. Something which has made me so very happy. I have got this award from the lovely and smart Aparna Inguva of Three Mangoes. This is my very first at this blog, which has grown from a my simple effort to just collect my tried and tested recipes to a new passion. Thank you so much Aparna!
I would like to pass on this award to :

Aparna of Sumi's weblog
Ivy of Kopiaste
Sunshine mom of Tongueticklers
RC of Redchillies
Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen

If I could I would make an "Excellent " out of it.
Gals, you deserve it!

Chard Bhujia

Chard, or mangold - as it is called here, is a vegetable which grows in Germany too. And it being summers we are getting it at local markets everywhere. Otherwise half of the things that you find in the markets are not grown here, as the climate does not allow it.
On seeing fresh and crispy mangold in the market, I quickly bought 1 kg of it and used it on two consequtive days making two different recipes, both of which turned out good.
One very easy but lovely recipe is the simple Indian Bhaji. Last year was the first time that I made chard in an Indian style, otherwise I always made it with spaghetti, which was delicious too. But last year I had bought this variety from someone selling organic demeter vegetables and very spontaneously decided to make it like a bhujia as we call it at home, or as I remember it from my childhood days in Calcutta - Bhaji, fried shortly in rapeseed oil, and it had turned out so good.
Making and above all eating it gave me one of the feelings I get from some Indian dishes which make me feel so close to home, or should I say, to my childhood! This was a very good compensation for "muli ki bhujiya", both my mom and my grandmother used to make and I just loved it, and which I cannot make here as it is very difficult to get radishes with leaves.


While making chard bhaji this time, impulsive as I am, I did a small experiment, which was only half an experiment, as I felt good about it turning out right. Although, I had become doubtfull, after tasting it in the beginning. Read on to see what happened...


Ingredients:

3 Mangold / Chard (roughly 500 - 700 g, more than a pound)
1-2 tbsp Rapeseed oil (canola oil)
1 pinch asafpetida
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp coriander seeds, ground
1 tsp freshly ground fenugreek seeds (the spontaneous experiment!)
1 middle sized onion, cut into thin stripes
1 small clove garlic (optional)
1/4 th tsp chilli powder
1 medium tomato
1/3 rd tsp Amchur /Mango powder( optionally lemon juice)
salt to taste
(be careful with its use, as just like spinach, the volume of chard reduces a lot at the end)


Method:

• Clean the chard thoroughly of sand and gritt and chop into thin stripes, including the stem
• Heat oil in a sautè pan or a wok (Kadhai) and let the cumin seeds splutter, add hing and ground fenugreek seeds and turmeric and stir once*
• Immediately add onion, garlic and coriander powder, stir further till onion is golden brown
• add the chard to it and chilli powder and reduce heat towards low
• cook covered, stirring in between
• Add the chopped tomatoe and Amchur and salt as per requirement. Cook till done
• Serve warm with daal and rice or roti (Indian flatbread)
  

*add the spices along with the onion garlic and ginger, if cooking this type of Indian dish for the first time, as one needs to be careful not to burn the spices.

We ate it with Arhar daal and chawal (rice) for dinner and it was throughly enjoyable. Rishab, my son, finished off his plate and left behind only the tomatoes and some pieces of onion (as expected!). That made me especially happy.
Now coming back to the experiment, just when I had added some oil into the pan, I opened the cupboard to take out something and saw this bottle of fenugreek seeds and felt like adding it to the bhaji I was preparing. So, I quickly ground some seeds in the cofee mill - my spice mill, and used it for the recipe. Initially, when I had just started cooking the chard I tasted it and was a bit surprised at the bitter taste of fenugreek seeds which I could taste distinctly. But, then I felt that it just needed some time to cook and absorb some moisture and I was right, thankfully!
The bhujiya was very pleasant and enjoyable just because of the flavours of fenugreek and the nutty flavour of rapeseed oil, which reminds me distinctly of mustard oil, both being quite similar in taste.

Now, I am aware of all the controversies which surround rape seed oil or canola oil or for that matter mustard oil in India because of their erusic acid content and its harmful effects. But, I see the matter a bit differently. Mustard oil, which is quite similar to Rapeseed oil in its constituents, the proportions may be different, and flavour, is being used since ages in India and in my opinion these are one of the healthiest plant oils for cooking purposes, next only to olive oil. A ver interesting article on this is here.
What makes cold pressed virgin rape seed oil so good is that it by nature contains omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids, in very good proportions just like mustard oil and is one of very good plant sources of Omega 3 fatty acids as it can be used regularly for cookig food. One needs to store it in airtight containers in a dark and cool spot, just like olive oil and if possible in dark bottles. That prevents the oil to loose its goodness, i.e., prevent damage caused otherwise by sunlight or heat and oxygen, which all lead to rancidity.
If you want to cook or shallow fry or sauté with the oil, it is very good, but for deep frying one should use oils with a high smoke point, like sunflower oil or peanut oil, as these do not degrade so easily into toxins at higher temperatures, which are produced while heating oil, which in turn depends on the the degree of saturation in the fatty acids in the respective oils.
To put it in short, I consider a good quality virgin (cold pressed) rape seed or mustard oil a very good cooking medium for ones health, if used appropriately and in moderation.

Fenugreek Puris

This is another creation of mine which is a result of my fenugreeek fever! - Thanks to Redchillies event! ;)
After making puris the last time (fenugreeek fever) successfully, I felt like making them again and my family agreed readily too. As, this might be the last time that I make puris this year. So, this time i trie the idea i had in my mind of adding kasuri methi, dried fenugreek leaves, into the dough. This is something I have tried a number of times with paranthas, but never with puris. Well, I make them only once a year, if at all.

This time I had made the dough a bit softer, which made it more difficult to roll them out as easily like the last time. Typically the puri dough contains some oil and is stiffer than a roti dough, both were not the case this time. But, these were no less delicious than we made the last time, and we relished them to the full. Rishab was munching on them just like that.

Methi Puri

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour or whole wheat atta ( I used whole wheat flour and whole grain missa atta* in the ratio 2/3 and 1/3)
1/5 tsp turmeric
2-3 tbsp kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
1 tsp ajwain
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp rapeseed oil (I left it out)
1 pinch red chilli powder
water
* whole grain Missa Atta: whole channa (with skin) and whole barley in rougly 2:1 proportions.

Method:
see my last post on Urd daal puris for details

• mix all the ingredients for puri thoroughly
• add water slowly and knead into a stiff dough and keep aside for 20 to 30 minutes
  
• heat about 600 ml of oil in a wok or deep frying pan for frying the puris on high heat, reduce to about medium-high later, if required
  
• In the meantime make small round balls out of the dough
• flatten them with your fingertips using some oil and roll out round, uniform and thin puris with a rolling pin and using drops of oil when required on a clean and smooth surface
  
• deep fry in hot oil and take out with a skimmer and let drip on two layers of kitchen roll before serving

Aloo subzi

Ingredients:
4 large potatoes, boiled with skin from the day before, peeled and cut into small pieces or as per taste
1 large onion, chopped
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and finely grated
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 large pinch crushed asafoetida
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp coriander seeds, ground
1 pinch red chilli powder
1-2 tbsp rapeseed oil
salt to taste

Method:

• heat oil in a fry pan and add cumin and asafoestida, sothat they splutter, stir once
  
• Immidiately add the chopped onion and ginger, stir
  
• add turmeric and coriander seeds powder and sautè everything till onion are golden brown in colour
• Add the potatoes and stir fry, adding the chilli powder and salt after a while as well, till done
• serve with rotis, paranthas or puris
  

Guten Appetit! As you would say it here, or to put it simply: ENJOY!

This is my second entry to Redchillies' Herb mania- Fenugreek!