Capsicum Chicken

Capsicum Chicken is my experiment which turned out good. Easy and creamy dish without heavy cream. Goes well with chapathi, paratha and rice.

Ingredients:

• Boneless chicken breasts – 250 grams, cut into small pieces
• Oil – 2 tbsps
• Onion – 1 cup+ 1/2 cup, chopped
• Tomato – 1 and a half tomato
• Ginger – 1 inch, chopped into small pieces
• Garlic – 2 , sliced
• Whole cashews – 6
• Capsicum – 1 , diced
• Chilli powder -1 tsp + 1/2 tsp, adjust according to taste
• Turmeric powder – 1/8 tsp
• Salt – according to taste
• Cilantro – for garnishing

Method:

• Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan.
• Add the chopped onion, tomatoes, ginger, garlic and cashews.
• Add salt to taste.
• Saute until the onion and tomato is well cooked.
• Let it cool.
• Grind it to a fine paste without using water.
• In the same pan, saute diced capsicums in 1 tbsp of oil.
• When the capsicum is cooked, add the ground tomato-onion paste, chilli powder and turmeric powder.
• Immediately add the chicken pieces and let the mixture cook in low heat until the chicken is cooked.
• Add salt if required.
• Remove from heat and garnish with cilantro.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe from Martha Stewart cooking show. These cookies are crisp. I made a huge batch of these cookies for family and cousins in India and they all loved it.

The recipe below makes 22 cookies.

Ingredients:

• Semi-sweet chocolate chips – 1/2 cup
• Egg – half an egg, beaten
• Vanilla extract – 1/2 tsp
• Salt – 1/4 tsp
• Light brown sugar – 2 tbsps + 1 tsp
• Granulated sugar – 1/4 cup +1 tbsp
• Unsalted butter – 5 tbsps, at room temperature
• Baking soda – 1/8 tsp
• All purpose flour – 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp
• Water – 1 tbsp

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350 F.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Whisk the flour and baking soda together in a small bowl.
• In a large bowl combine butter, sugar and light brown sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add salt, water, vanilla and egg.
• Beat until well mixed.
• Add the flour and mix until just combined.
• Stir in the chocolate chips.
• Place a tbsp of dough on the parchment paper, 2 inches apart.
• Bake until the cookies are golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes.
• Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the cookie cool on the baking sheet for 1 minutes.
• Transfer the cookies to a wire rack until it cools completely.

Pongal

I would like to wish everyone a happy and prosperous Pongal.

Below is the recipe for sweet pongal, ven pongal and Kathirikkai Kosthu.

Sweet Pongal / Sakarai Pongal

Here is the recipe for sweet pongal / Sakarai pongal. Pongal is prepared in all Tamil peoples home to denote the beginning of the Tamil month Thai. Here is my mom’s recipe.

The pongal is left to spill out of the pot as it cooks. If you do not want the pongal to boil over as it cooks, add a few drops of oil to the rice and dal as it cooks.

I always use dark brown jaggery. It gives a dark colour and tastes better than the light brown jaggery.

In the US, dark brown jaggery is packaged as South Indian Jaggery.

Ingredients:

• Water – 6 cups
• Raw Sona Masoori Rice / Pacha Arisi – 2/3 cup
• Yellow moong dal / Pacha Parippu – 1/3 cup
• Dark brown Powdered Jaggery – 1 cup +1/2 cup (
• Ghee – 3 + 1/2 tbsps
• Whole Cashews – 12, broken
• Dried Raisins – 1 + 1/2 tbsp
• Cardamom powder – 1/8 tsp
• Oil – few drops (optional)

Method:

• Wash the rice and dal and let it soak in water.
• Boil 6 cups of water in a heavy bottom vessel.
• Add the soaked rice and dal to the water and let it cook.
• Add few drops of oil if required.
• Keep an eye on, it might boil over as it cooks.
• When the water dries up, switch to low heat and keep stirring often to prevent the pongal from burning.
• Smash the pongal as you stir.
• The pongal is ready when the dal is well-cooked.
• Add the powdered jaggery and mix well until the jaggery melts.
• Turn off the stove.
• Heat ghee in a small pan.
• Roast the cashews till they turn golden.
• Turn off the stove and add the raisins.
• When the raisins puff up, add the cardamom powder.
• Pour the ghee and dried fruits into the pongal and mix well.
• The pongal will absorb the ghee as you mix.

Notes:

• Use more ghee and dried fruits for a rich pongal.

Ven Pongal

I love Ven pongal. Can be had with sambar and chutney. But the best side dish for ven pongal is Kathirikkai Kosthu. This recipe is my mom’s version of Ven pongal.Ven pongal is simple to prepare. It gets its taste from the seasoning.

Ingredients:

• Sona Masoori / Pacha Arisi – 2 cups
• Yellow moong dal / pacha parippu – 1 cup
• Water – 10 cups
• Ghee – 4 tbsps
• Cumin seeds – 3/4 tsp
• Whole black pepper – 15
• Curry leaves – 6
• Green Chilli – 1 or 2, make a cut in it
• Minced ginger pieces – 2 tsps
• Cashews – 6, broken into small pieces
• Salt – to taste

Method:

• Wash the rice and dal and let it soak in water.
• Boil 10 cups of water in a heavy bottom vessel.
• Add the soaked rice and dal to the water and let it cook.
• Keep an eye on, it might boil over as it cooks.
• When the water dries up, switch to low heat and keep stirring often to prevent the pongal from burning.
• Smash the pongal as you stir.
• The pongal is ready when the dal is well-cooked.
• Add salt to taste.
• Turn off the stove.
• Heat ghee in a small pan.
• Add the cumin seeds, pepper ,curry leaves,chilli, ginger pieces and cashews and saute till the cashews turn golden.
• Discard the green chillis(optional) and transfer the seasoning to the pongal and mix well.
• Serve hot.