Non Vegetarian

Methi Murgh Fenugreek Chicken


Methi Murgh Fenugreek Chicken

Methi Murgh

  • Servings: 8
  • Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 1 Kg. Chicken
  • 1 cup yogurt
  • Salt
  • 2 tbsp.ghee/oil
  • Whole garam masala
  • 5 Green cardamoms
  • 1 black cardamom
  • 5 cloves
  • 1″ cinnamon
  • 2 bay leaves
  • A pinch mace (optional)
  • 2 large onions
  • 6 cloves garlic
  • 2″ ginger
  • 1/2″ ginger juliennes
  • 4 green chillies
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp. coriander powder
  • 1 tsp. red chilli powder
  • 1 cup tomatoes
  • 2 tbsp. fenugreek (kasoori methi)
  • 1/4 cup coriander leaves

Method

  1. Clean, remove the skin and cut chicken into medium pieces or 8 large pieces if you wish.
  2. Whisk yogurt in a large bowl, add salt and leave the chicken in this marinade for at least 30 minutes.
  3. Peel, wash and chop onions.
  4. Peel and chop garlic and ginger.
  5. Remove stems and chop green chillies.
  6. Wash and chop tomatoes.
  7. Clean, wash and chop coriander.
  8. Heat ghee in a pan, add whole garam masala and saute over medium heat until it begins to crackle.
  9. Add onions and saute until golden brown.
  10. Then add chopped ginger, garlic and green chilles, stir for 2 minutes
  11. Dissolve turmeric, coriander powder and red chillies in 1/4 cup water and add.  Stir for 30 seconds.
  12. Now add tomatoes and fry until fat leaves the masala
  13. Add the marinated chicken alongwith the marinade and 3/4 cup water
  14. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer until chicken is almost cooked and fat leaves the masala once again.
  15. Adjust the seasoning.
  16. Sprinkle fenugreek, ginger juliennes and coriander.  Cover with a lid.
  17. Seal the pan if desired and keep on low heat for 15 mintues.
  18. Serve with an Indian bread of your choice.

P.S.: Kasoori methi may be replaced with fresh fenugreek.  If using fresh, clean, wash and immerse in salted water for 10 minutes to remove the bitterness.  Drain and add to the marinade.

Mince Jeere Meerem


Mince Jeere Meerem

Mince Jeere Meerem

  • Servings: 6-8
  • Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients

  • 1 Kg mince (Beef or Lamb)
  • 3 to 4 medium onions, chopped
  • 3 green chillies, chopped
  • 3 tbsp. ginger garlic paste
  • 3 tbsp. Jeere Meerem masala powder
  • 1 cup green peas (or Potatoes, cubed)
  • 1 small cup coriander leaves
  • 1 to 2 tbsp. vinegar
  • ½ tsp. sugar (optional)
  • 2 tbsp. ghee
  • 1½ tsp. Salt or to taste

Method

  1. Heat oil/ghee in a vessel
  2. Fry the chopped onions and green chillies till onions turn slightly brown. 
  3. Add the ginger garlic paste and fry for few minutes.
  4. Drain the mince completely and add to the pan with a tsp of salt.
  5. Saute till the mince turns brown and the water completely dries up.  Continue to brown the mince till fat begins to separate.  Do not hasten this step.  The browning of the mince brings out the flavor in the meat.  Should take 10 to 15 minutes.
  6. Once nicely browned, add the jeere merem powder, mix, add two cups of hot water and bring to a boil.
  7. Lower flame and cook on medium for 30 minutes.
  8. Open after 10 to 15 minutes and give it a good stir. 
  9. If water dries up, add some more hot water as per the consistency you desire. 
  10. Add the peas and cook further 10 minutes. 
  11. Add the vinegar and sugar and simmer 5 minutes.
  12. Garnish with coriander leaves.
  13. Serve with Pao or Parathas or Pooris or steamed rice or pulao.

A Typical Konkan Coastal Fish Curry Rice Meal for Four persons cooked in less than 30 minutes


A Typical Konkan Coastal Fish Curry Rice Meal for Four persons cooked in less than 30 minutes (excluding preparation)

To keep it real have used my daily regular utensils 😉 😉

A meal for four persons

  1. Raouns (Rawas, Indian Salmon) Fish Curry
  2. Cabbage Vegetable
  3. Lepo (Sole Tounge Fish) fry
  4. Steamed rice
  5. Mango pickle (homemade)
  1. Rawas/Raouns (Indian Salmon) Fish curry

Ingredients

  • 8 pieces Raouns fish
  • ½ medium onion
  • 2 green chillies
  • 1” pc ginger
  • 1 raw mango
  • 1 tsp. Salt or to taste

To grind to a paste

  • 4 Kashmiri chillies
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tbsp. coriander seeds
  • 6 peppercorns
  • ½ tsp cumin seeds
  • 3 tbsp. coconut powder
  • 2 flakes garlic
  • ½ medium onion

Method

  1. Clean and wash & cut fish.  Apply a little salt and set aside. 
  2. Grind the masala to a smooth paste. 
  3. Slice the onion, green chillies and ginger. 
  4. Wash and peel the raw mango and cut into wedges.
  5. Heat 1 to 2 tbsp. coconut oil and add the sliced onion, green chillies and ginger.  Saute till lightly brown. 
  6. Keep the flame low so the flavors of the onion, chillies and ginger release and give off a nice aroma. 
  7. Add the masala paste, the masala water, raw mango pieces and salt. 
  8. Stir and increase the flame and bring to a boil, simmer till oil appears on the edges. 
  9. Add the fish, stir and bring to a boil.  Reduce flame to medium low and cook for ten minutes. 
  10. When curry is done it will leave fat and appear glossy.
  11. Remove from flame.

P.S.: Same recipe may be used for Pomfret, Gole fish (Hammour), Mandeli (Golden Anchovies), Surmai (Kind Fish).  This curry is called sweet fish curry where chillies are less and coriander seeds are more. Other curries are the amotik (Spicy hot) usually made with Tarle (Sardines), Bangde (Mackerels), Bhing (Herring) Tato (Shark) etc., Green curry with fresh green masala for Pomfret, Fresh Bombay duck, etc. and the Kane  (Lady Fish) where curry to similar to above but Ajwain is added to the masala and onion and garlic are increased. 

2. Cabbage vegetable

Ingredients

  • 2 to 3 cups shredded cabbage
  • 1 medium onion
  • 2 green chillies
  • 1 small tomato (Optional)
  • 1 sprig curry leaves
  • 4 flaked garlic
  • ½ tsp mustard seeds
  • 1 tbsp. coconut oil
  • 2 tbsp. fresh grated coconut
  • 1 tsp. salt or to taste

Method

  1. Shred the cabbage and soak in salted water for few minutes. 
  2. Slice the onion and green chillies, chop the tomato.
  3. Crush the garlic cloves and wash the curry leaves.
  4. Heat the oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and allow to splutter. 
  5. Add the garlic and curry leaves, followed by the chillies and onion and saute for a minute. 
  6. Add the cabbage and salt, mix.
  7. Cover and cook for 5 to 10 minutes till done.  Do not add any water.
  8. Garnish with fresh coconut.

3. Lepo fry (Sole Tongue fish fry)

Ingredients

  • 8 to 10 Lepo
  • 3 tsp. red chilli powder (or to taste)
  • ½ to 1 tsp. salt (to taste)
  • 2 tbsp. vinegar
  • Rice flour or Rava to coat the fish

Method

  1. To clean the fish, cut the head and pull out the skin from both sides and the intestines.  Wash and leave aside to drain.
  2. Mix the red chilli powder, salt and vinegar to a paste and apply to the fish and marinate for half hour.
  3. Heat some oil to shallow fry the fish. 
  4. Take some rice flour or rava in a plate. 
  5. Roll the fish to coat evenly and fry on medium flame for 5 minutes on each side till crisp.

4. Steamed Rice

  • 1.5 cups basmati rice or boiled rice if you wish
  • 1 tsp. salt
  1. Wash the rice and soak in water for atleast 15 minutes.
  2. Bring water to a boil in a vessel. 
  3. Add the pre-soaked rice, salt and bring to a boil. 
  4. Reduce flame and simmer till rice is tender.  Strain the water. 

Tip: Cook the rice on low flame so the grains remain whole and separate and do not break.

Cooking with Spinach


Leafy green vegetables are high in nutrients, low in calories, important for skin, hair, bone and overall health, while providing the necessary protein, iron, vitamins and minerals.  It is advisable to incorporate a leafy vegetable daily into our diets for optimum health.  It is also affordable and easy to prepare.

Here are a few easy recipes using spinach:-

  1. Mutton Palak – A delicious non-vegetarian dish using spinach with the least amount of spice, yet full of flavour.
Mutton Palak

2. Hara Bara Kabab – Spinach, Green Peas and Potatoes combined to make the famous Tikkis. Serve as a starter, appetizer or a healthy snack!

Hara Bara Kabab

3. Kashmiri Saag – Spinach cooked with a exorbitant amount of garlic and red chillies, but does not overwhelm the dish, just makes it superbly but mildly spiced with the flavors of garlic.

Kashmiri Saag

4. Dahi Palak – A dish you can throw together in minutes yet turns out delicious. Serve with steamed rice, Khichidi, Pulao or with rotis or any Indian bread.

Dahi Palak

5. Tuna & Braised Onion Salad – A salad which doubles up also as a main course! Just enjoy it with some crusty bread or Pita bread or any Indian bread and your meal is done for the day!!

Tuna & Braised Onion Salad

More ways to cook with leafy vegetables –

Spinach and leafy vegetables can also be cooked using the simple mangalorean ‘Thel Piao” method using green chillies, onion, garlic, a little oil and water and cooking till done and then garnishing with fresh coconut.

Curries like spinach or Valchi Bhaji with prawns, or black-eyed beans are some of popular recipes using leafy vegetables. My recipe for Alun stem with Alasande can be used for these dishes.

The book “Mais Recipes” has the recipes for these dishes.

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Mutton Palak


Mutton Palak

Mutton Palak

  • Servings: 6
  • Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients

  • 1 kg. Mutton
  • 3 bunches fresh spinach or ½ kg. frozen (whole leaf) spinach
  • 1” pc. Ginger
  • 10 cloves garlic
  • Small bunch coriander leaves
  • 4 to 6 green chillies
  • 1 tsp. mustard seeds
  • ½ tsp. fenugreek seeds
  • 1 ½ tsp. salt or to taste
  • 1 tbsp. ghee
  • 2 medium sliced onions
  • 1 medium tomato chopped

Method

  1. Clean and wash mutton, cut into 2” cubes. 
  2. Wash spinach and soak in salted water for 10 minutes, rinse and chop finely.
  3. If using frozen spinach, step 2 is not required. I have used frozen spinach. 
  4. Grind all the ingredients from ginger to salt to a fine paste. 
  5. Heat ghee, fry onions for a couple of minutes till soft. 
  6. Add the paste and fry well for further 2 inutes. 
  7. Add the mutton and saute till it changes color and ghee begins to separate. 
  8. Add sufficient water to cook the mutton till almost done. 
  9. Add the tomato and spinach and continue cooking on low flame till mutton is tender.

P.S.: Same recipe may be made using Chicken.

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