Green Pepper Chicken

I have to say what I said in the earlier post, ( that I am  the only cook in my house )  is only partially true. These days I get not many chance to cook chicken, especially Kerala's very own chicken curry. Because Sterly has taken up the task of making  chicken curry. This practice all got started to pamper his pregnant wife...but don't misunderstand ..here pampering does not mean making dishes  which I was craving for but sympathetically sparing me from the toil of cooking something that I wouldn't eat.. He cooks chicken and only chicken because he is a die hard fan of chicken.Once upon a time  I  too had been but gave up eating poultry and meat many years back. So I haven't got a chance to taste his recipe ..yes..of course he had fried fishes n made omelets occasionally in the past ...but nowdays i don't get any. How ever if chicken has to take a form other than usual chicken curry I am sure to lay my hands on it.

Thus last week I decided to surprise my hubby by making something different than usual and pulled out the single boneless thigh of chicken that was left in the freezer. I had some green peppers also which i had to use somewhere . But I didn't want to go for Chinese since we have had enough of it the previous week. Hence this green pepper chicken recipe was cooked up in my mind instantly  and chicken was made accordingly. For this chicken is cooked and striped off in to long thin strands. When a small girl I loved to watch Amma tearing  off cooked chicken so as to add up with the mixed  fried rice and I used to even plead to do it myself. When ever she let me do  I simply felt so happy thinking I have made a significant contribution in the making of fried rice. 

My hubby loved my Green pepper chicken but I have no idea how other chicken lovers would count it.

please try this out and let me know how you liked it.

Ingredients 

1. onion- 1 small  thinly  sliced
2. green pepper - 1( medium) cut in to long thin slices
3. ginger chopped- 1 tb.sp 
4. garlic chopped- 1 tb.sp
5. black pepper powder- 1 tb.sp
6. green chilli- 2
7. coriander powder- 1.1/2 tb.sp
8. vinegar- 1 tb.sp
9. curry leaves- 10
10. salt- as required

11. boneless chicken  cooked and striped in to long strands - 2 cups. (if u are using chicken  with bones simply discard the bones)

oil- as required

Method

1. Heat a thick bottomed pan on the stove. pour some oil and when sufficiently hot  stir fry onions, ginger and garlic until they turn golden brown.

2.  Add  coriander powder, pepper powder, salt and vinegar one by one.

3. As the spices gets cooked up add green pepper and chicken. stir well. close the lid for 5 minutes.

4. Now add chillies and curry leaves....stir fry on high flame until the chicken is dry.

5. Garnish with tomatoes.

Green pepper chicken

note-  while cooking the chicken add some salt and pepper. if u have any gravy  left pour it in to the pan along with the green peppers n chicken strands, ie, during the 3rd step.

Tomato Aviyal and Chutney

Green Tomato Aviyal

A couple of weeks ago, got some fresh green tomatoes straight from a friend's garden. I was totally new to the idea of cooking green tomatoes. So it lay there in my fridge unattended for days. Finally I made up my mind to do something about it as it  would be unpardonable and even disgraceful to let those close to spotless garden fresh tomatoes to spoil. As I took them out of the refrigerator several ideas flashed in to my mind. Why not I add the raw tomatoes to fish curry instead of green mangoes? Making a "Thakkali Thiyyal" is also a good thought. But preparing  thiyyal demands a lot of time. It involves roasting and grinding of coconut scrapes..for which I was not ready, not that I was pressed for time but out of sheer laziness. After a long thought I decided upon Pachathakkali Aviyal, an aviyal with raw tomatoes.

Aviyal has always been my favorite except for a short span of time, that was when my mom decided to stick her ever sick child to naturopathic cure system . At  Balya hospital lunch was always the same, the unpalatable brown rice that almost looked like a pudding and an Aviyal which was always a cold  lump of vegetables devoid of all flavors. How could someone ever cook Aviyal that way?

All other Aviyals I have had, Amma's delicious Aviyal, and those unbelievably dry Aviyal served   during feasts , have satisfied my palate.

To my relief the raw tomato aviyal came out well. Unlike the real Aviyal this one is sour, hence adding up of yogurt or tamarind at the final stage is totally avoidable.

                                                          Ingredients

1. Green tomatoes- 3-4 (cut in to cubes)

2. onion  - 1/2 (sliced)
3. Green chillies- 4
4. ginger - 1 small piece
 5. grated coconut - 3\4 cup
6. cumin seeds- 1 teaspoon
6. curry leaves - 7-8
 7. turmeric powder- 1/2 teaspoon
8.coconut oil- 1 1/2 tb.sp
9. salt- as required

Method

1. In a cooking vessel mix tomatoes and onion with salt and turmeric powder. Add some water that is required to cook the vegetables. place on the stove covering with a lid.

2. Coarsely grind grated coconut, cumin seeds, green chillies and ginger using a grinder.

3. When tomatoes are cooked well add the ground coconut in to it. Mix well with a spatula. Again cover it with the lid for five minutes at medium heat.

4. Once the aviyal is cooked put off the flame and add coconut oil and curry leaves. close the lid for two minutes...and now you open to breath in the mouth watering aroma of Aviyal

Tomato Chutney

This Thakkali Chutney was introduced to our breakfast table by Valli many years back. Valli,our long time house maid  and now the house manager is from Madurai, Tamilnadu. Valli's real name is Saundravalli and for some reason she is ashamed of the fact and insists on calling her Valli. Years back when she came in to assist Amma with house hold chores she was almost ignorant of cooking still she had the recipe of this bewitching thakkali chutney in her pocket. The old story has changed remarkably. Valli is now popular as a wonderful cook and when I fly back on holidays to a mother-less home with the yearning to take a break from my cooking( if you are the sole member in your family who would cook you would be for certain craving to relax and eat what somebody else' cooks in spite of  how good you are at cooking) I can simply sit back enjoying valli's dishes all made according to our family's tradition.

Since Valli presented her tomato chutney it has been a must with dosa. I even loved it with steaming rice and hence Amma many a time put it in to my lunch box during  college days.


 Ingredients

1. Ripe Tomatoes - 2 large

2. Shallots- 4 small

3.Garlic - 4-5

4. Green chilli- 4 ( if not a fan of hot chutney reduce the quantity)

5.Corriander leaves chopped- 1/2 cup.

6. Chilly powder( preferably Kashmiri chilly powder to  give  it  the red hue)- 1 tb sp

7. Turmeric powder- 1/2 teaspoon.

8. Salt - as required

9.Fennel seeds- 1 tea spoon

10. Mustard seeds- I tea spoon

11. Dry red chilly- 2 cut in to halves

12. Curry leaves-  5-6

13. Oil - 2 tb.sp

Method

Pour 1 tb.sp of oil in to a heated pan. Put fennel seeds in to it.  When the fennel seeds pop up add  those ingredients from 1 to5 one by one and fry for a minute. Now add salt, turmeric powder and chilly powder. Close the pan with a lid until tomatoes and spices are cooked well.  Remove the pan from the stove and let it cool. When cooled grind it smoothly in to a paste.

set aside to cool

Place a small pan on the stove. Heat 1 tb.sp of oil. Add mustard seeds and as it splutters add dry chillies and curry leaves. Fry until they are crispy. Pour this on to the chutney.



Tomato Chutney