Chilly Chicken For Fire Eaters

Sometimes I think the only reason people come to visit me when I go home, isn’t to go huggy kissy on me but to eat Latha’s food. Sigh!

But hey, who cares as long as I get to do the honors first :D

This is (she claims) her original recipe for chilly chicken. And I have to agree. I’ve never quite had the same taste elsewhere. But a note of warning: You might want to adjust the spice level, because her’s always leaves me gasping for water after the first few bites.

And since I like gasping I follow her proportions to a T :|

;)

Anyway, You’ll Need:

For The Marinade:

Boneless chicken cut into small cubes – 2 lb

Maida/All purpose flour – 3 tablespoons

Cornflour – 2 teaspoons

Chilly powder – 1 ½ teaspoon

Freshly ground pepper – ½ teaspoon

A small pinch of red food color – optional

A small pinch of ajinomoto – optional

Egg – 1 large

Ginger garlic paste – 1 tablespoon

Soy sauce – 1 tablespoon

Tomato sauce – 1 ½ tablespoon

Juice of one lime

Salt to taste – Add less than the quantity you normally use, because Soy Sauce is salty. You can add more later after you mix everything.

For The Butter Fry:

Unsalted butter - 1 ½ teaspoon

Green chillies slit lengthwise - 10

Curry leaves – 15 leaves

Method Of Preparation:

- Combine all the marinade ingredients together (except chicken)

- Check the salt and spice proportion

- Add chicken and mix well

- Refrigerate for 30 minutes

- Deep fry on low to medium heat – I burnt them this time :(

- Remove and keep aside

- Now in another pan, heat the butter

- Add the green chillies and curry leaves and fry for two minutes on medium heat

- Remove and empty the contents on to the fried chicken

- Toss well and serve

My Favourite Mallugirl's Microwave Kalakand

I’m a die-hard fan of microwave sweets! :D

Anything easy and tasty is welcome. ;)

And thanks to Mallugirl, my friends and I pigged out this weekend.

Love ya Mallugirl!

The only ‘customization’ I did was cook it for an extra minute or two, and add macadamia nuts instead of pistachio

:D

Check out her original recipe here.

Thakkali (Tomato) Chutney

Hostel food used to be unbearable!! Its only saving grace was the “gunpowder” and tomato chutney which we were doled out in less than generous rations. Sigh.

But the nuns didn’t know they were dealing with hooligans here :D not mere kids.
Every night, after ‘lights out’, we used to sneak into the kitchen.
Loka was the gang leader of sorts for our gastronomic expeditions (where are you now Lux ??! I still have the coin. Can’t believe we’ve lost touch ! )

Err, I digress.

So, *ahem* we’d raid the kitchen, find the preserved chutney and snack on it with raw carrots and bread.

Well, yeah… desperation has peculiar taste buds me friends :D

Anyway, here’s my recipe for Tomato Chutney. I clung to this one after many failed permutations and combinations. :D You can save this for a week or two - if it lasts that long. It goes well with Rice, Roti, Bread… err, ditch the carrots though ;)

P.S. Next time I’ll post the gunpowder recipe…

You Will Need:

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds

1 teaspoon asafoetida powder

3 dry red chillies

1 cup curry leaves

10 ripe tomatoes, chopped

20 pods of garlic, finely chopped

A small piece of ginger, minced

2 teaspoons chilly powder

1/2 cup oil

Salt to taste

Method Of Preparation:

- Heat the oil

- Temper with mustard seeds

- When they begin to sputter add the fenugreek seeds and sauté for a 30 seconds in medium flame

- Add the red chillies, garlic, ginger and curry leaves and sauté for 6-7 minutes

- Next add the tomatoes and salt

- Cover and cook on a low flame for 10 minutes, stirring once in between

- Open the lid and add the asafoetida powder

- Cook uncovered until the oil starts to separate and the mixture begins to thicken

- Add the chilly powder and stir for 5 minutes

- Cool and refrigerate in air tight containers.

Semiya Uppuma

Ingredients :

3 cups of vermicelli (semiya)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tomato, cubed
4 green chillies, finely chopped
3 tsp Ginger paste
2 tsp mustard
2 tsp cumin seeds
3 tsp Chana dal
Handful of Coriander
salt to taste
oil to saute
4 cups of water

Method:
1. Saute vermicelli in 4tsp of oil until light golden brown
2. Add 3 cups of water and let it boil.
3. Make sure semiya is cooked. If not add just minimal amount of water and let it cook. The cooked semiya should be dry and preferably loose.
4. Saute with oil: mustard, cumin seeds, once they splutter, add the ginger paste and the vegetables
5. Add the cooked semiya and keep sauteing.
6. Add salt to taste(add it along with minimal water , so that it mixes well)
7. Add the finely chopped Coriander.

Serves 2-3.