Prawn Chilli

This dish is all time favourite at my mom's place and always make it a point that my amma prepares this particular dish when we go vacation and enjoy every bit of it. My hubby and kiddo also like it to the core.

Ingredients:
prawns - 50 small prawns or 10 tiger prawns
onions - 3
ginger- 1"
garlic - 8 cloves
green chillies -2
red chilli powder - 1 tsp
coriander powder - 1 tsp
jeera powder - ½ tsp
Tomato - 2
Soya sauce - ¾tsp
tomato sauce - 1 tsp
coriander leaves - for garnish

Method:
Peel ginger and garlic and grind to a smooth paste.
Peel and chop onions finely. Slit green chillies
Wash and chop tomatoes into fine pieces.
Heat oil a heavy non stick kadai, add ginger-garlic paste, saute for 2 secs and add onions. Fry on medium flame till dark brown. Now add all the powders (coriander pd, jeera pd, red chilli pd) and saute for 30 secs. Add tomatoes and cook on slow flame with the lid on till nice and soft. Now add prawns cover and cook for 5 minutes. Do not add any water as prawns leave out moisture. Finally add soya sauce and tomato sauce and stir well till the prawns are cooked. Garnish with coriander leaves.

This semi-dry dish goes well with Vegetable Fried rice or noodles or simple rice and daal.
Use tiger prawns and dry up the gravy to use as a starter.

Tom n Jerry Chicken (Tangdi Kabab)

This kabab is usually made with chicken drumsticks(legs) and is a favourite among the kids. This recipe is from Sanjeev Kapoor's cookbook. Last time when I had been to Mangalore on vacation my sis and nephew Adi were also there to stay with us. Adi is 4-1/2 yrs just 5 months younger to Sakshi. He was down with viral fever and had totally lost his appetite. One night, for supper he asked his Mamama(grandma- my mom) to prepare Tom n Jerry Chicken for him. She was in confusion as to what is he talking about, later only we realised that he is a big fan of Tom and jerry cartoon and had seen Tom eating this chicken drumsticks. Hence the name Tom and Jerry Chicken!!!! Since then its Sakshi's favourite too.

Ingredients:
Chicken drumsticks - 8
lemon juice - 1 tbsp
ginger - 1"
garlic - 6 cloves
green chillies - 5
skimmed milk yogurt - 1 cup
gram flour - 2tbsp
haldi - 1 tsp
garam masala powder - 1 tsp
red chilli powder - 1 tsp
salt to taste
chaat masala powder - 1 tsp
lemon wedges for garnishing
Butter for basting

Method:
Clean and trim the excess fat and skin from drumsticks.
Dry them with a clean and absorbent kitchen towel. Make 3 to 4 long and deep incisions. Apply lemon juice and keep aside.
Hang yogurt in a muslin cloth for 15-20 minutes to drain off the excess water.
Dry Roast gram flour on low heat, stirring continously. Set aside to cool.
Grind ginger and garlic to a smooth paste.
Wash and mince green chillies coarsely
In a wide bowl, mix roasted and cooled gram flour, hung yogurt, ginger-garlic paste, haldi, red chilli powder, garam masala powder, salt and green chillies.

Marinate the chicken in the above marinade and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours.( I usually marinate overnight).

Final cooking
OVEN

Place the marinated chicken on a greased oven safe dish and roast in a preheated oven at 220 degree C for 5 minutes. Reduce oven to 180 degree C, baste the chicken with a tbsp of butter and further cook for 15-20 minutes. Turn drumsticks couple of times to ensure even cooking and colour.

MICROWAVE
Place the chicken drumsticks on a microwave safe plate with thicker side facing outwards.
Cover with a cling film and cook on HIGH for 5 minutes. turn over once.
Again cover and cook on HIGH for 3 minutes.
Finally uncover and cook on HIGH for 2 minutes. Leave it in the oven for 5 minutes, before taking it out.

PAN FRYING
Heat around 2 tbsp of oil in a pan and arrange chicken drumsticks neatly so that they are not conjusted while turning over. Cover and shallow fry for 5 minutes. Turn over, uncover and cook for another 5 minutes or till the chicken is well roasted on all sides.

Serve hot sprinkled with chaat masala powder and lemon wedges. (sakshi wanted it with tomato ketchup!!!)

King fish fry ( Visonu tava fry)

King fish called visonu in konkani is one of the favourites among amchis. King fish is shallow fried with very little oil and hence a healthy dish for the fish lovers.

Ingredients:
King fish - 5 thinly sliced steaks
ginger-garlic paste - 1 tbsp
salt to taste
red chilli powder - 2 tsp
pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
coriander powder - 1 tsp
jeera powder - 1/2 tsp
haldi powder - 1/2 tsp
lemon or vinegar - 2 tsp

Method:
Clean the fish and slice into thin steaks.
Prepare the marinade by mixing chilli powder, pepper pd, coriander-jeera pd, haldi pd, salt and ginger-garlic paste. Apply this marinade generously over the fish steaks and marinate for minimum 1 hour. Normally as soon as i buy fishes i clean them all, sort them accordingly as to prepare fry and curries. Marinate them and then refrigerate. This way I have to just defrost when i need to prepare the dish.

Heat a non stick pan, add 1 tbsp oil add the marinated fish and 4 tbsp water along the sides (not over the marinated fish since the marinade will not cover the fish) cover and cook on one side for 3 minutes or till the moisture is absorbed. Turn over and cook on medium flame without the lid till nice and brown. Serve hot with sliced onions and lemon if using as a starter or serve with rice just like that!!!

Pepper Chicken

The recipe to this dish was given by my little sister now working, experimenting on easy recipes to survive. It is one of the easiest dishes ever made. Try it out to believe it. This dish can be used as a starter as well as a side dish

Ingredients:
chicken - 1 kg
onions - 2 big, chopped
green chillies - 2 sliced
oil - 1tbsp
Marination
pepper corns- 3 tbsp
coriander seeds - 2 tbsp
jeera seeds - 1 tbsp
ginger - 2" piece
garlic - 10 cloves

Grind together the ingredients for the marination to a smooth paste. Keep aside 2 tsp of the marinade for later use, Add salt and apply marinade over the chicken and let marinate for about an hour in a refrigerator.

This can be done in advance and put in the freezer.
Again for the marination if in jiffy ready-made powders(pepper, jeera, coriander)and paste(ginger-garlic)can be used.
Cook the marinated chicken separately in a pan

Now Heat oil in a pan and fry sliced onions along with a pinch of sugar for the caramelized affect.
when almost done add green chillies and saute. Now add the 2tsp marinade which was left behind and mix well. Add the cooked chicken and saute on high flame for a minute till the gravy dries up. Mix well and let simmer for another 2 minutes. The dish is ready to serve.