Chicken Ghee Roast

Ghee Roast is a dish that you can find in almost every restaurant at Mangalore, Udupi, Manipal and surrounding towns. Hotel Anupam [which I heard is now renamed to a name that I can't recall :( ], at Mangalore was our favorite restaurant for Ghee roast. I remember the pipping hot dish wrapped in banana leaf and then re-wrapped in newspaper. Most of the time, the newspaper would have blotches of ghee. I'm sure it was cooked with considerable amount of ghee. But it was heavenly!

Ingredients:

3 lbs chicken legs, skinned
15-20 Bydagi chilies, roasted
1/4 cup buttermilk
3 tsp cumin seeds
1 whole pod garlic, peeled
10-12 whole black pepper corns
1/2 tsp turmeric
3 tsp vinegar
salt to taste
2 tbsp ghee (clarified butter) or more

How it's made:

Soak, whole chilies in buttermilk for 2-3 hours. (You can remove the seeds to reduce spice level). Grind to a fine paste with cumin seeds, garlic, pepper corns, turmeric, vinegar and salt. Marinate chicken with ground masala and set aside for 5-6 hours or overnight.
In a iron skillet or deep frying wok, heat ghee and fry marinated chicken pieces on high heat for 5 mins until light brown. Then lower heat, cover and cook until chicken is well done. This is a dry dish.

If you have gravy left behind, remove lid once chicken is cooked and crank up the heat until masala is well coated to the chicken. Garnish with curry leaves (optional). Serve hot. This dish makes a great appetizer and pairs well with chilled beer :)

Note: 
*For this dish, I prefer cooking with chicken legs or thighs. Chicken breast can be substituted but tends to be a little dry. 
*The same rub can be used for fish and shrimp.

Chicken 65

Yesterday after I got back from work, kids were anticipating a day off from school as "Hercules" was expected to dump several inches of snow. On the days we have snow storms, all of us at home like to dig into something good to eat. For the first time during a snow storm, I was stuck indoors with non stop calls from work. The boys spent a few hours shoveling and they kept walking in and out of the house. With bitter cold temperature this was a perfect snack for them to refuel their energy.
My Mom's recipe for Chicken 65 called for deep frying the chicken. I am not a fan of deep fried food and try to find an alternative as much as possible. This recipe turns out equally good as deep fried chicken. I prefer using dark meat although boneless chicken breast can be substituted.

Ingredients:

4 chicken thighs, boneless and skinless
4-5 green chilies, chopped fine
1 tbsp ginger, chopped fine
1 tsp garlic, chopped
1 tbsp yogurt
few drops of red food coloring
oil

For the marinade:
2 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp rice flour
1 tbsp yogurt
salt to taste
4 curry leaves

How it's made:

Cut chicken into bite size pieces. Wash well and pat dry. Marinate with the above marinade ingredients for  6-8 hrs (Due to lack of time, I let it marinate in the refrigerator for an hour only).
In a shallow pan, heat a tbsp of oil, add curry leaves. Saute for a few seconds (cover pan if required as oil might splatter). Add marinated chicken and saute on high heat for 5 minutes. Cover and cook until chicken is well cooked and light brown. Do not add water.
In a separate pan, heat oil. Add green chilies, ginger and garlic. Fry for 3-4 minutes until light brown. Add yogurt along with food coloring. Mix well together. Add cooked chicken and combine with sauce until chicken is well coated with the sauce. Garnish with curry leaves. Serve hot.

Serves: 3-4

Pineapple Sheera

Happy New Year 2014

Ingredients:

1 cup coarse sooji (cream of wheat)
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 stick butter
1 - 20 oz can crushed pineapple
1 1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
4-5 strands of saffron
a handful of raisin

How it's made:

In a wide pan, melt 1 stick butter. Roast sooji for 5-10 mins on medium high heat, making sure it doesn't get burnt. Add sugar and stir until well incorporated.
In a saucepan, boil water. Add water and canned pineapple to sooji/sugar. Stir continuously making sure there are no lumps. Keep cooking for 5-10 mins. Then add 1/2 stick butter. Keep cooking on medium heat until the whole mixture comes together and it starts leaving the sides of the pan. Add cardamom and saffron. Decorate with raisins or almond slices.