Simple Chicken Gravy

This is something I make when I have to it very quick and in short amount of time. Most of the time I do pooris for this gravy as everybody likes it with this. This is the recipe.. Ingredients: Chicken – 1 pound Onion - 1 big Tomato – 2 big Ginger paste – 1 Tb spoon Garlic paste – 1 Tb spoon Yogurt – ¼ cup Chili Powder - 1 Tb spoon Coriander Powder – 1 tsp Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp Chicken Masala Powder – 1 tsp Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp Dry methi leaves – 1 Tb spoon Cinnamon stick – ½ inch Coriander leaves – 2 Tb spoon

Oil – 2 Tb spoon Salt Method:

• In a hot pan, add oil and fry the onions until golden brown.
• Chop the tomatoes into small pieces and fry them with onions till they become soft.
• Add the ginger and garlic paste to it and fry till oil leaves.
• Add the dry methi leaves, and all the powders to it and fry for a minute.
• Then add the chicken and add salt to it and mix everything together and let it cook of low flame for 5 minutes.
• Then add yogurt to it and allow it to cook till the chicken is tender.
• Sprinkle coriander leaves on top and serve it with chapatti or poori or rice.

Happy Sankranti / Pongal

Wish you all a very Happy Makar Sankranti / Pongal

Here is the Till mixture from our house to yours.

In Karnataka, the festival is called 'Sankranti'. Special prayers are offered in the temples and houses. After the pujas, white sesame (ellu) mixed with pieces of jaggery, peanuts, dry coconut and sugar blocks (shakkare achchu) are exchanged. The significance of this exchange is that sweetness should prevail in all the dealings.

All cows and bullocks are bathed, their horns polished and painted in bright colors, and garlands of flowers placed around their necks. The Pongal that has been offered to the Gods is then given to cattle and birds to eat. In the evening, the cattle are led out in procession to the beat of drums and music. In the night a bonfire is lit and the animals are made to jump over the fire. Nowadays all these are done in Villages. When we were kids, they used to do this in Malleshwaram. People used to gather to watch this.

At Gavi Gangadhareshwara (Siva) temple in Bangalore's Gavipuram, a rare phenomenon is witnessed in the evening. The Sun's rays pass through the horns of the Nandi briefly to fall on the Lingam in the sanctum. It is an architectural marvel. The temple will be crowded during this time.

We used to enjoy doing every bit of the preparation for this festival. My mom, my sister and myself used to sit and do the sakkare achchu together but for the ellu preparation, my mom used to do it alone as it was only cutting the jaggery and coconut. In the evening we used to go to distribute(ellu beerodu) to all the houses in our colony. I am really grateful to my mom for teaching us all these cultures and traditions.. I would like to teach all these to my daughter. So, hoping she will learn all these things and have fun..

I used to do only the till mixture as I did not have the mould for the achchu. When I went to India, I got one mould from my mom. So, have prepared the till (ellu) mixture and also sakkare achchu (sugar blocks) .

Till Mixture:

ಎಳ್ಳು / Till - 1/2 cup

ಬೆಲ್ಲ / Jaggery - 2 cups

ಒಣಕೊಬ್ಬರಿ / Dry coconut - 1 cup

ಕಡಲೆಕಾಯಿ ಬೀಜ / Ground nut- 1 cup

ಕಡಲೆ ಪಪ್ಪು /Dhalia - 3/4 cup

Method:

• Dry jaggery and coconut in sun so that it will be easier to cut them later.
• When it has dried, cut them to small pieces.
• Grate the skin of the coconut and then cut them to small pieces.
• Fry ground nuts on medium heat till brown.
• Then remove the skin and split them to half.
• Keep dhalia also in sun till they become crisp.
• Fry Till also till they are brown.
• Then mix all of them together.

In the evening, myself and my daughter will go to friends house to distribute the till mixture(ellu beerodu). She is exited about it...So, once again wish you all Happy Sankranti and enjoy the till mixture..

I would like to send this to Festive Food hosted by Indian Khanna Thank you Preethi for hosting the event.

Egg Puffs

Puffs is one of the favourite evening snack for every body. I remember, whenever we felt like eating one, our dad used to bring us hot puffs from a local bakery. I miss that especially during winter season.. So, whenever we crave for them I make veggie puffs, using different vegetables all the time. My hubby dear was having a flash back of old days... He was remembering how he and his friend, on their pay day, after finishing work, both used to have hot egg puffs near Domlur bus stand and then part their ways to their homes. This was the reason for making the egg puffs. I have included methi leaves and green pepper to it. It came out wonderful and hubby loved it told me that it tasted like the one he used to eat. Nothing is better than hot puffs for winter..

Egg Puffs are off to the Bookmarked Recipe Event hosted by Ruth. This tempting snack is also off to Winter Treat Event hosted by Trupti.

Ingredients: Puff Pastry Eggs - 2 Onions - 1 Tomato - 1 Ginger Paste - 1/2 tsp Garlic Paste - 1/2 tsp Methi Leaves - 1/4 cup (Optional) Green Bell Pepper - 1 Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp Coriander Powder - 1/4 tsp Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp Salt Oil - 1 Tb spoon Method:

• Preheat oven to 400 degree.
• Boil eggs, cut them into halves and keep aside.
• Heat oil in a non stick pan, add onions and fry till golden brown.
• Then add methi leaves, fry for a min and then add tomatoes pieces.
• Add ginger and garlic paste and fry till oil leaves.
• Then add all powders to it and at last add green pepper, salt and fry till soft.
• Add egg halves into the masala and cover the eggs with it so that the eggs will soak the masala.
• Allow the masala to cool.
• Take one pastry sheet and cut them into 4 equal parts.
• Take one part of pastry sheet, put one spoon of the masala at the bottom and then place one half of the egg along with some masala on top.
• Then apply water on four sides of the pastry sheet so that it will hold together.
• Fold all four corners together as shown below.

• Repeat the procedures for the other halves of the eggs.
• Bake them in the oven for 20 minutes or till golden brown.

• Serve hot along with a cup of hot tea.

PS: Methi and green pepper is optional for this egg puff. If you are doing a veggi puff, you can follow the same procedure, just add vegetables of your choice.

Masala Sandwich

After two long weeks of vacation, our daughter went to school this week. When she is at home, the house will be full of life and chaotic. She wont stop talking, pulling, jumping, running around and making a mess of the house. When she went to school, the house was so silent and it felt like I was all alone in the whole world..Sometimes I feel it is good as I can get my work done but sometimes I get bored.

So, when she went to school on first day, I was not feeling like cooking, but you can't tell that to the stomach right.. My husband teases me saying that it is just a reason for not cooking:-).

I wanted to make something quick as it was already lunch time and saw all the veggies. Added soy for proteins.. My husband liked it a lot as it was a simple, light and healthy lunch..

Ingredients:

Onion -1 Tomato – 1

Zuchini – 1

Green pepper – 1 Red Pepper – 1

Turnip - 1 Soy chunks – ½ cup Ginger paste – ½ tsp Garlic Paste – ½ tsp Chili powder – ½ tsp Garam masala powder – ½ tsp Turmeric – ¼ tsp Oil – 1 Tb spoon Fresh Basil Leaves – 1 Tb spoon Salt

Method:

• In a pan, add oil and fry onions till golden brown.
• Add tomatoes and ginger and garlic paste and fry till they soften.
• Then add chili powder, garam masala and turmeric powder and fry till oil leaves on top.
• Add all the veggies and salt and cook on medium heat until all veggies are soft (Do not add water).
• Take the hot dog bun and stuff the veggies and sprinkle fresh basil on top.
• Serve with little salad and some hot peppers.

PS: For the Soy, I first soaked them for few minutes till they are soft, then squeezed all the water out of it and added them directly to the veggies and cooked on low flame. You can use the masala as a side dish for chapati or rice. You can use any veggies that you have. If you are a non-veg lover, you can add chicken or fish also to it.