Rajma pakode (Red Kidney bean fritters)

What you would need:

For the fritters:
Rajma (red kidney beans), soaked overnight- 2 cups
Onion - 3 large
Green chillies - 2 to 3 big sized
Ginger - 1 inch
Almonds - 10
salt to taste
Coriander leaves - 1 small bunch
Vegetable oil for deep frying the fritters (You can use Olive oil as well)

For the dip:
Yogurt - 1 cup
Processed cheese - 2 tbsp
Capsicum (finely diced) -for garnish

Prep:
For the fritters:
Coarsely grind the soaked kidney beans, mix in finely chopped onions, fresh chopped coriander leaves, ground chillies, ginger, salt and coarsely ground almond.

Heat the oil in a deep pan, and deep fry the fist sized flat fritters made of the above batter.

For the dip:
Heat the cheese in a microwave oven for 20 seconds till melted, quickly blend in the yogurt, whisking to avoid cheese lumps. Garnish with chopped capsicum.

Serve the fritters hot with the dip.

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Quick and easy, this snack is a welcome break from the traditional chilly/onion fritters.

Nutty Chicken

What you would need:
A mix of Walnuts, Almonds, Cashew nuts - 1/2 cup (Blanched, skin removed and ground coarsely, you can use a single variety as well)
Chicken - 400 grams
Ginger paste - 1 tbsp
Garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Cumin - 1 tsp
Yogurt - 1/4 cup
Onion - 1 medium sized ( finely chopped)
Tomato puree - 4 tbsp
Chilly powder - 1 tsp ( only if you like the curry hot, else skip this)
Green chillies - 4 no's
Garam masala - 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Fresh cream - 2
Salt to taste
Vegetable oil for tempering (You can use Olive oil as well)

Prep:
Marinate the chicken for about half and hour in yogurt along with salt, cumin powder and half the garlic and ginger paste.

Heat oil, saute the onions till translucent, add the tomato puree, green chillies, coriander powder and cook till aromatic and lightly brown. Blend in the chilly powder.

Add the chicken and allow to cook on medium flam for 10 minutes. Add the nuts and about 1 cup of water (if you have stock, that works great too). Cook for another 10 minutes with occasional stirring. When the chicken is almost done, stir in the fresh cream and garam masala, then cook for 2 minutes with a lid on the pan.

Garnish with blanched and peeled nuts. Serve hot with rice or roti (bread).

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Cream, yogurt and nuts make this dish rich and extremely delicious. :) .

Sunday lunch recipe - Tomato chicken

I am always looking for ways to incorporate vegetables and fruits in the food that I cook.

Tomatoes are one of the most versatile of vegetables ..... oops fruit ;) .
If used right they can give a instant face lift and flavour boost to any dish.

The many , many varieties of tomatoes available only adds to the possibilities of using them to complement any meal in endless and fun ways :D.

Here is a super quick and simple recipe of chicken with fresh ripe plum tomatoes .


What you would need :

Ingredient Quantity
Chicken - 1/2 kg
Coriander seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin - 1 tsp
Whole black peppercorns- 3 nos.
Whole dry red chilli - 3 nos.
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Garlic - 7 to 8 cloves
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Onion - 1 medium
Plum tomatoes - 2 large
Salt As required
Fresh coriander leaves - 1 tbsp
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp (optional)

Prep:

Dry roast coriander and cumin seeds along with the peppercorns and grind. Keep aside.
Grind the red chillies, ginger and garlic to make a fine paste.Keep aside.
Heat oil and ghee in the pan that you will use to cook the chicken. Add onion and saute till translucent, now add half of the dry ground powder and half of the paste.

Stir and saute till aromatic, now add the chopped tomatoes and cook till they soften. Add the chicken (thoroughly washed and chopped evenly) along with salt and give a quick stir. Add the coriander leaves** and the remaining spices and let the dish simmer away till the chicken is well done. You can add 1/2 a cup of water, if you like to have a little bit of gravy.

**You can also optionally add the red chilli powder at this point.

Garnish with tomato slivers and enjoy with rice or roti/bread!!! :)