Sutta Kathirikaai Kootu aka Smoked Eggplant Stew

Sutta Kathirikaai Kootu which can also be called as Smoked Eggplant Stew (translating verbatim) was inspired by Chef Vijayan's Kaatu Kootu - roughly translated to rustic stew. This is apparently meant to be a minimalistic stew cooked by people working in forests. This can also be called a very close cousin to Baingan Bartha except for a few ingredients used and a slight twist to the taste compared to a traditional bartha. While it was not a huge hit with the kids (which kids like egg plants) my home minister did appreciate it. This goes well with either rice or chappati. Here it comes...

What goes in...

1. Eggplant / Brinjal the big ones - 2
2. Tomatoes - 2
3. Red onions (diced) - 1
4. Tamarind - 1 small lemon size
5. Red chillies - 4 or 5
6. Cumin seeds - 1 table spoon
7. Khus Khus (Poppy seeds) - 1 tea spoon
8. Curry leaves - 2 sticks
9. Mustard seeds - 1 tea spoon
10. Jaggery  (powdered) - 1 tablespoon
11. Vegetable oil

The way it's made..

1. Dry roast the dry ingredients (#5 - 7) and set it aside to cool.
2. Soak the tamarind in warm water.
3. Dab the egg plants with vegetable oil and pierce them around with a knife.
4. Smoke the egg plants one by one until the skin burns and shrinks and the flesh becomes squishy. It takes about 10 minutes for each egg plant.
5. Smoke the tomatoes until the skin burns.
6. Set aside the egg plant and tomatoes to cool for a few minutes.
7. Peel the skins of the egg plant and tomatoes and chop them up roughly.
8. Grind the dry roasted ingredients to a rough powder.
9. Take a large kadai and heat a few tablespoons of vegetable oil.
10. Temper the oil with mustard seeds and curry leaves.
11. Add the diced onions and saute until they turn translucent.
12. Add the chopped up eggplants and tomato.
13. Add the dry masala with salt to taste. (Watch out for the masala since it could turn out very spicy).
14. Saute the mixture for a few minutes and add the tamarind water from the soaked tamarind.
15. Add the jaggery powder and stir well.
16. Bring the mixture to a boil with a bit of water added to desired consistency.
17. Let this stew boil for about 5 - 10 minutes and Kootu is ready.

Serve hot with steamed rice or chappati.

Enjoy Cooking !!

C

Ennai Kathirikaai Kuzhambu - Fried Brinjal Curry

Kathirikaai or Eggplant or Brinjal as it is called in various parts of the world is one of those vegetables that renders itself to many different dishes. I still remember during my younger days avoiding this vegetable (technically a fruit) as much as I can. It has a very distinct taste - which I believe to be an acquired one. I don't remember eating Ennai Kathirikaai as a main dish ever. It usually comes in as part of a "south indian"" thaali meal.  As the name suggests there's going to be a lot of oil involved - beware. There were quite a few variations in the way this was prepared as described in the various Youtube videos and blogs. So here is mine a mix of a few versions. Hopefully you would like this one.

Ingredients

Main

1. Eggplant - preferably the small ones. In case you don't have the small one, you can dice it up in large pieces. (6-8 pieces)
2. Shallots - leave it whole if they are the small varieties. If they are the big ones as we get in regular grocery stores you can either quarter / halve it depending on the size. (5-6)
3. Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
4. Curry leaves - approximately 15-20 leaves
5. Dried Red Chillies - 4-5
6. Tamarind water - 1/2 cup
7. Jaggery  (can be substituted with brown sugar or just plain sugar) - 2 tablespoons

Marinade

1. Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon
2. Chilli powder - 2-3 teaspoons
3. Coriander powder - 2-3 tablespoons 
4. Salt - 1 teaspoons
5. Tamarind water - 2-3 tablespoons

Wet Masala

1. Onions - 2 large red onions
2. Tomatoes - 2
3. Turmeric powder - 2 teaspoons
4. Chilli powder - 1 tablespoon
5. Coriander powder - 2-3 tablespoons
6. Ginger garlic paste - 2 tablespoons
7. Cumin seeds - 1 tablespoon
8. Fennel seeds - 1 tablespoon

The Method

1. Wash and remove the stems of the brinjals leaving the crown intact. Take caution with the stems as it could be a bit spiky.
2. Create a fairly paste with the ingredients of the marinade (turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder, salt, tamarind water and bit of more water.
3. Slit the brinjals on the smooth side as a cross to open them up a bit.
4. Apply the marinade into the slits and also cover the skin and let it rest for about 10 minutes (or until you complete the next few steps - until #10).
5. In a large kadai / sauce pan heat a few tablespoons of vegetable oil.
6. Saute the onions until they are translucent.
7. Add the ginger garlic paste and saute for a few minutes.
8. Add turmeric powder, chilli powder and coriander powder and saute until the spices mix well.
9. Add the tomatoes and saute until the tomato becomes soft and mushy.
10. Add the fennel seeds and cumin seeds mix it well and take it off the stove.
11. Let this cool down to room temperature.
12. In the same pan add about half a cup of oil - enough to shallow fry all the brinjals.
13. Once the oil has heated up shallow fry the brinjals until the skin turns brownish c
    
    olour. Take caution to do this under medium to low heat to avoid the brinjals getting burnt.
14. Blend the ingredients of the sauteed wet masala into a smooth paste.
15. In the same sauce pan add the mustard seeds and let it splutter.
16. Add the curry leaves, dried red chillies and and shallots and saute for a few minutes.
17. Add the blended wet masala paste and saute until oil separates - which is usually about 10 minutes.
18. Add salt to taste.
19. Add a few table spoons of the tamarind water and about a tablespoon of Jaggery and bring it to boil. Ensure the jaggery is dissolved and mixed well.
20. Add the shallow fried brinjals and mix it well.
21. Add enough water to the level of preferred consistency and curry required.
22. Bring it to a boil and stop once the oil separates.
23. Serve hot with steamed rice.

Happy Cooking!!

Enjoy!!

C

Chettinadu Kozhi Varutha Curry - Chettinadu Chicken Curry with Roasted Spices

It was during the later part of my 20s when I was introduced to Chettinadu cuisine in restaurants like Anjappar, Karaikudi etc in Chennai. After I moved overseas I had missed it for quite some time until Anjappar started spreading its wings globally. Invariably these restaurants have this dish in their menu - "varutha curry". Recently we had been to a Chettinadu restaurant Grand Chettinad that was newly opened in our area. They had the same dish and it tickled my interest to try it out at home. I had to do a bit of research on this since there were quite a few variations from different chefs. Interestingly there was one North Indian chef who attempted this who pronounced Kozhi as Kozee and of course I ignored the rest of his recipe video. Chettinadu is famous for various chicken curry recipes. I have attempted a few myself - Milagu Kozhi - Pepper Chicken and my very first Chicken Chettinad (after which my nickname of Chicken Chetty came around). The main difference in varutha curry recipe is that you roast all the spices - wet and dry before you add it in the curry. So...long folks - now to the details.

Ingredients

Dry Masala (Spices) - pretty much your entire spice box

1. Dry Red Chillies (key for any Chettinadu recipe)
2. Star anise
3. Cinnamon sticks
4. Fennel seeds
5. Cumin seeds
6. Coriander seeds
7. Cloves

Wet Masala

1. Shallots or Red Onions 
2. Shredded Coconut
3. Cinnamon sticks
4. Green cardamom seeds
5. Poppy seeds
6. Curry leaves

Marinade

1. Chicken - chopped in 1-2 inch blocks with and without bones (drumsticks go as is)
2. Ginger garlic paste
3. Turmeric powder
4. Red chilli powder

Other

1. Tomatoes (pureed)
2. Curry leaves - for garnish
3. Mustard seeds
4. Gingelly Oil

The Method

1. Marinade the chicken in ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder and chilli powder. Set it aside for about 30 minutes. Pretty much until you complete the other masala steps.
2. Dry roast the ingredients under "Dry Spices" until you can hear a bit of crackle and smell the aroma of the ingredients. Set this aside to cool down to room temperature.
3. Grind these ingredients into a smooth powder.
4. In a pan heat a few tablespoons of gingelly oil and saute the wet ingredients. 
5. Start with the cinnamon sticks, poppy seeds, green cardamom and curry leaves. 
6. Add the onions and saute until they turn slightly golden. 
7. Add the grated coconuts finally and saute until coconut turns slightly brown. (Takes about 5 minutes in all)
8. Set the wet roasted spices aside to cool down to room temperature.
9. Blend the wet masala into a coarse to smooth paste.
10. Heat a large sauce pan and add a few tablespoons of gingelly oil.
11. Add mustard seeds and saute until they splatter.
12. Add the marinaded chicken and dry masala and saute until the chicken is half cooked. Usually about 10 minutes.
13. Add the wet masala and saute for about 5-10 minutes.
14. Add the tomato puree and salt and saute for about 5 minutes until the puree is blended well.
15. Add as much water as needed to get the amount of curry and consistency you are after. Remember it is not expected to be too thin.
16. Leave it to cook until chicken is cooked well and the oil separates.
17. Garnish with curry leaves and serve hot with rice or parotta.

Enjoy Cooking!!

C

Chettinadu Nandu Rasam a.k.a. Chettinadu Crab Soup

Nandu (Crab) Rasam (Soup), a delicacy we picked up from Anjappar the Chettinad restaurant during one of the many visits. It was a favourite for the 3 of us. Nandha is yet to get there yet, but it would be just a matter of time. With the onset of Autumn in Sydney and a coughing orchestra going on at home, decided to try this out as the Sunday special. There are enough blog posts that talk about the "medicinal" properties of crab soup so I will not bother to talk much about it. Just enough to say that it had a good effect on my cold even while preparing the soup. One of the interesting things I found about this recipe was that most of the ingredients had to be used both "as is" and also in a ground form. Whatever the reason behind, but the impact was awesome.

Ingredients
1) Crab - cut and cleaned. This time we used Blue Swimmer Crab - the male version. Apparently males are more meaty. ;-)
2) Cinnamon sticks
3) Poppy seeds (Khus khus)
4) Fennel Seeds
5) Cumin Seeds
6) Cloves
7) Cardamom

8) Black pepper seeds (I cheated with powder here)
9) Green chilies
10) Diced Onion - Shallots if you can get hold of them
11) Ginger
12) Curry leaves
13) Garlic
14) Diced Tomato
15) Dried Red chillies
16) Turmeric powder
17) Cashews
18) Coconut milk

Yes, it does seem like quite an handful of ingredients but am sure each one of them had a clear part to play. The easy way out would be to use garam masala powder just by itself.

The Method
1) Cut and clean the crab into reasonable sizes. Cleaning of course is a technique - not the most enjoyable one. You can look here for further cleaning tips.
2) Create a paste with half of the garlic, all of ginger, half of green chillies, poppy seeds, curry leaves and cashews.
3) In a large sauce pan saute all the dry ingredients in Gingelly Oil
4) Add the curry leave/green chilly paste and saute for a few minutes.
5) Add the remaining garlic (mashed up), green chillies, onions and tomatoes and saute until oil separates.
6) Add coconut milk and saute until the masala boils.
7) Add the crab and cook until the shell turns red - an indicator that the meat would be cooked. Normally takes about 10 minutes.
8) Add garam masala and black pepper powder to the level of "heat" required.
9) Add enough water to the level of consistency needed and let it boil.

Voila - Nandu Rasam Ready !!

This can be served directly as a soup or with steamed rice as you would normally eat rasam sadam (rice).

Enjoy Cooking !!

C

Chettinad Pepper Chicken Curry - Milagu Kozhi Kozhambu

So I had this sinus bothering me for the last few weeks travelling between winter and tropical weather back and forth almost every week. Decided to get it treated with some pepper chicken. It was a good treatment even while I was cooking. Just the aroma made the difference. Talking about pepper chicken curry, still the best in my opinion is from Parasakthi in Salem. Hopefully someday I will be able cook up something close to that. This was yet another attempt. The best parts of cooking a curry is roasting the masala. As I have mentioned in an earlier post each spice needs to be dry roasted separately to get the best effect. Of course it takes a little bit of time and patience - but worth every bit of it.

What goes in:

Dry Masala (starting from top left in the pic )

1. Star aniseed
2. Coriander seeds
3. Cloves
4. Fennel
5. Black Pepper
6. Poppy seeds (Khus Khus)
7. Cinnamon sticks
8. Cumin

"Wet Masala"

1. Onions
2. Garlic
3. Ginger
4. Tomato

Other Stuff

1. Chicken
2. Grated coconut
3. Gingelly oil
4. Turmeric
5. Salt
6. Black Pepper Powder
7. Mustard seeds

The Method

1) Blend the ingredients of the wet masala.
2) Roast the dry masala ingredients one by one and let it cool down.

3) Heat a sauce pan and once hot add few table spoons of gingelly oil.

4) Add mustard seeds once the oil is hot.

5) Add the blended wet masala paste, a teaspoon of salt and saute for a few minutes until the oil separates.
6) While the paste is being sauteed powder the dry masala.
7) Once the paste is sauteed enough add the chicken pieces, pinch of turmeric and saute until the chicken is mixed well with the paste.
8) Add the powdered masala, grated coconut, curry leaves and let it to cook for about 15-20 minutes until the chicken is cooked enough. Add required amount of water for the level of consistency needed.
9) Add some black pepper powder if you are not able to get the distinct peppery taste.
10) Garnish with coriander leaves.

Muzhagu Kozhi Kozhambu Ready!! Goes well with steamed rice or parotta.

Happy Cooking!!

C

Chicken Chetti(nad)

Hi,

Am back with a bang after a short break. It is probably easy to write as we cook, but hey someone has got to wash the vessels as well. ;-)

Chicken - wow...sooo many memories with this word. I still remember the very first time I tasted chicken (knowingly at least!!). Many might know that I was not "supposed" to eat chicken or non-vegetarian for that matter. There's enough stories for my clandestine efforts of eating chicken. Will save that for later.

Probably the very first time I've actually cooked a chicken dish was in Portland, OR. Once I saw a colleague of mine prepare this dish - Chicken Chettinad and I tried to replicate it after a few weeks. My friends then named the dish after me - Chicken Chetty or probably they named me after the Chicken. Damn...first name last name confusion. For a very long time "Chicken Chetty" was popular amongst the Pacificorp crowd in Portland and it tagged along for a long long time.

For a while it has become an interest of mine to prepare my own spice mix. Who needs the packet masalas!!

So this is what went in the masala:

Just in case you are not able to figure out everything from the picture, here's what went in:

• Dried Red Chilly 
• Fennel seeds 
• Poppy seeds
• Black pepper corn
• Bay leaves (careful not to overdo this)
• Cinnamon stick
• Coriander seeds
• Elaichi seeds
• Star aniseed 
• Channa dal  - in case you prefer to have a thicker gravy

Fry this mixture in a kadai on medium heat - no oil please. Fry them until you can smell the spices. Cool and grind it up in a blender. Try to sieve the ground mixture so you get a nice smooth powder.

Other Ingredients:

• Chicken (duh)
• Onions (preferrably red). Shallots are even better. However considering the cost, I stick to red onions.
• Tomatoes (roughly 1 or 2 less than the onions)
• Ginger-Garlic paste
• Mustard seeds
• Curry leaves
• Coriander leaves
• Turmeric powder
• Sesame oil

The method:

I prefer to blend the onions and tomatoes if I am looking for a nice gravy. You may skip this step if a consistent gravy is not on the cards.

1. Heat up the oil and sautee the mustard seeds and some curry leaves.
2. When mustard splutters add the onions (or the onion tomoato paste).
3. Continue sauteeing the mix until for about 2-3 minutes.
4. Add chicken, turmeric powder and ginger garlic paste.
5. After a few minutes add the masala mix along with salt and continue stirring.

Initially it looks like:

Add a good amount of water to this mix and cook for about 30 minutes with a lid on. Being chicken drumsticks, do need to allow extra time for it to cook. Uma prefers a pressure cooker, but me prefer to slow cook it. Continue cooking until the gravy becomes:

Garnish the dish with curry leaves and coriander leaves.

Best served with plain white rice.

Happy Cooking!!

C