Kerala style varutharacha chicken curry

Can’t believe how time is flying. It’s already spring and the clock has changed here which means we get one hour extra sunlight in the evening! 

Last few weeks has been very hectic for me. We moved house last month and with 40 plus boxes to unpack, settling in took a while. This move has been eye opener for me to realise how much junk I have accumulated in the name of blogging. S was shocked to see all the things that came out of boxes and was getting into fight with me for that. So I am trying to prove to him that I will be using all of that and will be getting back to blogging soon. I get plenty of daylight in this house so I am hoping that inspires me to blog and take pictures for my blog.

Today’s recipe is a Kerala special varutharacha chicken curry which I made long time back. I am not a big fan of varutharacha curry/ roasted coconut based gravy but once in a while I enjoy  this and love to pair it with ghee rice.

Ingredients

To marinate

Chicken – 1 kilo

Red chilli powder – 1 tsp

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

Ginger garlic paste – 2 tsp

Salt

To roast and grind

Grated coconut – ¾ cup

Cinnamon – 1 stick

Cloves – 5

Cardamom – 4 number

Fennel seeds – 1 tbs

Star anise – 1

Peppercorns – 1 tbs

Coriander seeds – 2  tbs

Poppy seeds – 1 tbs

Whole red chilli – 4 number

Curry leaves – 2 sprigs

Other ingredients

Onion – 4 number

Tomato small – 2

Green chilli – 3 number

Coriander leaves

Mint leaves

Water – ¼ cup or as required

Method

•   Marinate the chicken with ingredients mentioned for 30 minutes.
•  In a non- stick pan add a tbs oil and roast grated coconut for  few  minutes, when it starts to change colour add the rest of ingredients  mentioned and roast until the coconut is brown in colour and nice  aroma come out.
•    Let it cool down and then grind it to a smooth paste adding little water.
•   In a saucepan add coconut oil and saute the chopped onions until soft  and light brown in colour.
•   Add tomato and let it cook for 2-3 minutes.
•    Add marinated chicken and stir for a few minutes.
•    Add the ground  paste and water let eh chicken cook in the gravy until  its done.
•   Finally add chopped coriander leaves and mint leaves and remove from fire.

Paalak dal /spinach dal/ parippum cheerayum

Dal/Parippu is an absolute comfort food for all of us here. Even when we go on holiday the first thing I want to eat when we get back is some steaming hot rice with some dal. It’s pure bliss.

Many years ago when we set out to Switzerland for  our first holiday together I was so excited to see the places and to try new food. I enjoyed the food the first two days, trying out new food was really great but after that it became a bit less enjoyable and  I was desperate to eat some rice.So out we went for an indian  restaurant hunt but couldn’t find any restaurant nearby but instead found a Chinese. I didn’t even want to look at the menu , all I wanted was some rice. I can never forget the pleasure I got from eating that bowl of rice. Rest of the days we were automatically drawn towards that restaurant . After our holiday we came back hungry and tired, still I didn’t want to order a take away or eat out. I dragged myself to the kitchen and cooked some dal and rice. The taste of that dal and rice is still in my mouth, it was a pure comfort meal and we ate as if we haven’t seen food in many days J

Ingredients

Green gram lentil/ Mung dal – ¾ cup

Onion – 3 medium

Tomato – 2

Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp

Green chillies – 4

Cumin seeds – 1 heaped tsp

Turmeric powder – ¼ stp

Spinach – 100 gm

Coriander leaves – few (finely chopped)

Oil

Salt

For tempering/ tadka ( optional)

Oil/ghee

Mustard seeds

Whole red chilli - 2

Garlic minced – 1 1/2tsp

Curry leaves

Method

• Pressure cook the dal adding enough water.
• In a pan add oil and sputter cumin seeds.
• Add chopped onions and saute until light brown.
• Add ginger garlic paste and saute until raw smell goes.
• Add chopped tomatoes, green chillies and cook for few minutes until tomatoes are mushy.
• Add turmeric and saute until raw smell goes.
• Finally add cooked dal, chopped spinach , add enough water and cook for 5-10 minutes.
• Remove from fire and add chopped coriander leaves.

Tempering/tadka

• Take oil in a small pan and sputter mustard seeds.
•  Add minced garlic and fry till  it’s brown.
• Finally add split whole red chillies and fry until dark. Add in curry leaves and to tadka and remove from fire.
• Add the tadka to the curry

Malabar mutton curry/ Varutharacha mutton curry

We don’t buy Mutton/ lamb at home often, even when we buy it’s usually for biriyani so if you check my blog I don’t have much mutton recipes, but during this holiday time we have been entertaining a lot and I  have been cooking with mutton too. For my last party I promised my friends Keralan food so when I bought mutton, the first thing which came to my mind was this varutharacha mutton curry which my amma used to make a lot. To be honest I was never a fan of varutharacha curry back then so I rarely made it myself.

My hubby did ask me whether I am sure I want to experiment  as this is not something I cook often, usually when he say something like that I lose my confidence and give up on that dish and go for my tried and tested recipes but this time I was determined. I am glad that I didn't listen to him  as this curry turned out  super delicious. My friends loved  it too !

In this recipe I have added a leaf ( ramba leaf ) which was very new to me until my friend who is from Srilanka introduced this to me, something which they add a lot in Srilankan cooking usually to flavour rice. It’s readily available in Indian/Asian groceries here.You can read more about the leaf here. It's an optional ingredient so please don't bother if you don't have it. 

Recipe source – Amma and my own

Ingredients

Mutton/Lamb – 1 kilo
To marinate

Chilli powder -1 tbsp

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

salt
Ginger garlic paste – 1  tbs

Onion - 6 medium

Tomato -3 small

Ginger garlic paste – 1 tbs

To roast

Grated coconut/ ചിരണ്ടിയ തേങ്ങ – 1 ½ cup

Shallot/ചെറിയ ഉള്ളി – handful

Coriander seeds/ മല്ലി – 2 tbs

 Cinnamon /പട്ട– 1 stick

Cloves/ഗ്രാമ്പു– 4-5

Cardamom/ഏലക്ക -5

Star anise/തകോളം

Fennel/പെരുംജീരകം – 1 tbsp

Peppercorns/കുരുമുളക് – 1 tsp

Whole Red chilli/ വറ്റല്‍ മുളക് – 3

Curry leaves/കറിവേപ്പില – 5-6 sprigs

Poppy seeds/cuscous/കസ്കുസ് – 1 tbs

Ramba leaf/ രംഭ ഇല /  ( optional) – 1 small piece

Coriander leaves/ മല്ലി ഇല

To temper

Coconut pieces/തേങ്ങാ കൊത്തു – 1 tbs

Shallots/ ചെറിയ ഉള്ളി  -4 thinly sliced

Curry leaves/ കറിവേപ്പില– few

 Method

• Marinate the mutton with red chilli, turmeric, salt and 1 tbs ginger garlic paste for about 30 minutes to 1 hour.
• In a pan add some coconut oil and add the whole garam masala (cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, fennel,star anise) and when nice aroma comes out add grated coconut, coriander seeds, whole red chillies, curry leaves and roast for few minutes. When it start to turn change colour, add poppy seeds and carry on roasting until golden brown. DONOT roast beyond this point.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Once it’s cool grind it adding very little water into a smooth paste and keep it aside.
• In a pressure add coconut oil and add chopped onion and saute until light brown.
• Add in the rest of the ginger garlic paste and saute until raw smell goes.
• Add chopped tomatoes, few curry leaves and cook for few minutes.
• Add in the marinated mutton, 2 cups of water and pressure cook for 4 -5 whistles or until mutton is cooked.
• Once the pressure releases open the pressure cooker and add the ground masala paste, curry leaves, ramba leaf and boil everything for 5-10 minutes. 
• In a small pan add coconut oil and fry the sliced shallots, coconut pieces separately until brown, throw in some curry leaves along with them before you remove them fire and add it to the gravy.
• Add chopped coriander leaves and garnish. 

Butter chicken

Ingredients

To marinate

Bonesless chicken ( diced)   - 600 gm

Kashmiri redchilli powder - 1 tbs
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tbs
Garam masala( preferably home made) - 1 tsp
Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Cumin Powder- 3/4 tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1 1/2 tsp
Yogurt - 2 tbs
Lime juice - 1 tbs
kasoori methi powder - 1 tsp
Salt
Oil - 2 tbs

For gravy

Shahi jeera - 1/2 tsp

Onion - 3

 2 ripe tomatoes on vine 

Ginger - garlic paste - 1 tsp

Redchilly powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 tsp

Kasoorimethi - 1 tsp

Garam masala - 1/2 tsp

Sugar - 1 tsp

CashEwnut - one fistful ( soaked and made into a paste with some water)

Fresh cream ( optional) I didn't use

Butter – 1 tbs

Preparation 

·       Marinate the chicken with ingredients mentioned and set aside for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 180 degree centigrade and cook the chicken for 15  minutes.

·       In a  saucepan add some oil and sputter shahi jeera. Add chopped onions and saute onions till light brown in colour.

·       Add  ginger garlic paste and  saute for few minutes until raw smell goes.

·       Add all the powders except kasoorimethi and saute till raw smell goes off . Add chopped tomatoes and cook until mushy.  Allow it cool down and blend it to a smooth paste.

·       Add butter to a saucepan and pour the blended  gravy to the saucepan. Boil it for 2-3 minutes.

·       Add cooked chicken with the juices and let it cook for 5-10 minutes.

·       Add kasoorimethi powder , sugar and cashewnut paste. Let it boil for few minutes .

·       Finally add fresh cream  ( if using) and when it is starts  to boil turn off the flame and garnish with coriander leaves.

Chicken Dopiaza

Summer has finally arrived in its full glory in London. Everybody is out enjoying this lovely warm weather outside. Finally we can go out without sweaters and coats. Hope all my friends are enjoying the summer too.

I think it was an year ago when we were back home ,I saw a cookery show in Kairali TV(Malayalam channel) and the hostess Laksmi nair prepared this dish.I scribbled the recipe in a book.I tried this recipe last week and it was delicious.Those who can follow malayalam please find the recipe video here. For others here is the recipe...

Ingredients

Chicken - 1 kilo

Onion -4(sliced in round)

Tomato- 2

Green chillies -4

Garam masala - 1 tsp

Redchillypowder - 1 tbs

Cashew nuts - 50 gm

Kasoorimethi - 3/4tsp

Ginger - (chopped lengthwise ) 1 tbs

Oil - 2 tbs

Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp

For gravy

Onion -3

Garlic - 1 1/2 tbs(chopped)

Tomato -1

Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp

Red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp

Tumeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Ginger - 1 tbs

Preparation

In a saucepan add all the ingredients for the gravy and add 1 cup of water and cook well.Allow it to cool .Blend it in a blender to get a smooth paste. Add chicken to this gravy , add 1/2 tsp of garam masala and salt.Cook the chicken.
In another saucepan take some oil and add the sliced onions (round shaped),ginger and green chillies and saute well.Add the tomatoes and saute again.Add all the spice powders and saute till raw smell goes.Finally add the chicken gravy and mix well. Allow it to boil for few minutes. Finally add the cashewnut paste and bring to boil.Turn off the flame and garnish with coriander leaves.

Malai Kofta

Collaborative curry needs no special introduction , a Collaborative blog by my friends Namitha and Sunitha. They always come up with fabulous recipes and irrestitable clicks, so I have a long try list from their blog but only time is the factor that restrict me from trying our their recipes.When Sunitha posted this recipe I bookmarked this one and last week was perfect to try it out and the outcome was superb...My hubby has approved this as a hit item and I am defintely going to include this in my guest menu. Thank you so much Sunitha for sharing this recipe.

Paneer Butter masala

Ingredients

Paneer - 2 cup

Onion -2

Tomato -1(puree)

Ginger garlic paste -1 tbs

Kasoorimethi - 1 tbs

Red chilly powder - 1 tbs

Garam masala - 1 tbs

Corainder powder - 1 tbs

Turmeric powder = 1/4 tsp

Salt

Milk - 1 cup

Preparation

In a saucepan take some oil and fry the paneer cubes flipping the sides until its light brown in colour.In another saucepan saute the chopped onions till it becomes light brown in colour.Add ginger garlic paste and all the spice powders ,saute for few minutes until the raw smell goes off.Add the pureed tomato and saute again.Finally add milk and when it stars to boil add the fried paneer cubes.Let it cook for few minutes.Garnish with coriander leaves.

Rogan josh

During our 1 year stay in Pune (back in 2006), me and my hubby  used to go out for dinner every Friday night and treat ourselves with a three course dinner. I really miss those beautiful Friday nights. We covered so many restaurants in the city and tried all types of cuisines available there. But among all restauranst my fvoutite one was a Kashmiri restaurant. It was from there, I tasted this wonderful dish for the  first time. The taste was so incredible that every time I go there I ended up ordering the same thing.   This was my first attempt to prepare this at home, I did little google search, went through so many recipes and finally made my version. I made this for dinner and luckily it came out well and I was planning to take a picture next day during daylight but nothing was left after the dinner :( Here goes the recipe. 

Updated with a new picture  - I still follow the same recipe and has been making this for so many years! Jan 2021

  Ingredients 

Lamb - 500 g ( diced)

Onion - 3

 Tomato - 2 small or 1 large

Green chillies -2 

Cinnamon stick -1 

Bayleaf - 1 

Cardamom pods -1 

Cloves -2 

Cumin - 1 tsp

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbs 

Kashmiri redchilly powder - 1 tsp

 Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp 

Coraiander powder - 2 tsp 

Garam masala - 1 tsp

 Yogurt -2 tbs 

Salt

corianader leaves

Preparation

In a saucepan take some oil sputter some cumin seeds, add the whole spices (cinnamom, cloves, cardamom, bayleaf) and stir for few seconds.

Add the finely chopped onions to it and saute until onions becomes soft. 

Add ginger garlic paste and stir again.

Add all powders and stir until the raw smell goes. Add the diced lamb and fry it for few minutes till the meat becomes little brown. 

Add tomato puree and stir for few minutes.

Finally add the yogurt and cook it uncovered for 5 minutes.

When it is about to boil simmer it cook on a low heat , strirring occassionally until the meat is well cooked. It took 1 hour for me.. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Palak Paneer

Ingredients

Palak - 2 bunch

paneer -250 gm( cubed)

Onions -2

Tomato -1

Green chilllies -3

Chilly powder -1/2 stp

Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp

Corainder powder - 1tsp

cumin seeds -1tsp

cumin powder - 1/2 tsp

Ginger garlic paste - 1 1/2 tsp

Garam masala - 1 tsp

Salt

Preparation

In a saucepan cook palak with little water for 2 minutes with lis open , if you overcook you wont get the green colour for the dish.

Allow it to cool down for a bit and then blend  with some water into fine paste .

Shallow fry paneer for few minutes,flipping the sides over .

In a sucepan take some oil sputter cumin seeds.

.Add chopped onion and saute well till the onions becomes soft. Add chopped green chillies, ginger garlic paste and cook for a minute.

Add all masala powders and cook until raw smell goes.

Add chopped tomatoes and saute again for few minutes until it becomes a fine paste.

 Add palak to the gravy and  add water if required. 

When it starts to boil, add paneer .Cook covered for 2-3 minutes.

Chicken Curry

Back home in Kannur my mom make varutharacha chicken curry ,but I am not a big fan of varutharacha curry,but if we want more gravy then there is no other option rather than varutharakkal. If there is any non malayalees reading this they might be wondering what varutharakkal is ..We saute grated coconut in coconut oil till it becomes dark brown in colour and then grind it in a mixie to get a smooth paste that is what we call varuthrakkal. To add taste we add curry leaves, redchillies, shallots, cinnamon sticks, fennelseeds, cardamom , pepper pods, garlic , cloves etc to grated coconut .The aroma of that paste is so good.This is not the recipe that I am going to post now.

Here goes my recipe

Ingredients
Onions - 5 large
Green chillies - 4-5
Curry leaves
Tomatoes - 1-2
Ginger garlic paste- 11/2 tablespoon
Redchilly powder - 2tsp
Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
Chicken masala - 2 tsp
Coriander powder - 2 tsp
Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1tsp (By grinding same ratio of cinnamon sticks,cloves ,fennel seeds and cardamom )
salt
coriander leaves
Chicken 1 kg

Marinate chicken pieces with redchilly powder,turmeric powder,chicken masala,Coriander powder and salt .Keep it aside for 1/2 an hour

Saute onions is a saucepan till it become light brown in colour ,add chopped tomatoes,ginger garlic paste,green chillies,curryleaves and saute for few minutes. Add marinated chicken piece and cook until chicken is cooked. Add pepper powder and garam masala powder and let it boil for few minutes.Garnish with coriander leaves

I usually dont add water or coconut milk to the curry as we get lot of water from chicken itself,the gravy will be much more tastier if we dont add water or coconut milk.But if we want more gravy add some water while cooking chicken or if coconut milk is your choice add coconut milk after the chicken is cooked. Adding grinded coconut is another option which also tastes good.

Dhal and Seafood

I am dedicating this recipe to my 13 month old baby as this curry was an experiment I tried to make him eat rice. When he was around 7 months I started giving rice to him with parippu as curry, Just the plain parippu with salt and turmeric..but later on I started adding vegetables to parippu so that he will eat vegetables aswell. I didnt gave him any meat or fish till his first birthday..I thought let him be a pure vegeterian till his birthday..Soon after his birthday I gave him meat and fish and he liked it very much ..After having meat and fish for fewdays I cooked a vegetable curry last week but he started spitting rice without meat or fish..I tried the vegetable curry next day also, but again he started spitting and I didnt want to starve him....Thats how I made this dish which is very easy if you have seafood collection in your freezer.

Ingredients
toor daal - 1/4 cup
Onions - 2
Tomato - 1
Green chillies-2-3
Curry leaves
Garlic -2-3 pods
chilly powder - 1 tsp
turmeric powder - little
coriander powder- 1 1/2 tsp
chicken masala - 1 tsp
salt
seafood collection( prawns,mussels,scallops etc)

Preparation
Saute onions till pink in colour add chopped tomato saute for few minutes till it become a paste. Add greenchillies, garlic,curry leaves and all the powders and add some water.Add seafood collection and cook.
Cook toor daal in a pressure cooker and pour it to the curry mixture.Let the mixture boil for few minutes. our curry is ready..Garnish with coriander leaves.

MALABAR FISH CURRY

Ingredients

Fish - 1/2 kg

Grated coconut - 1 1/2 cup  ( half of a coconut)

Chopped Ginger - 2 teaspoon

Green chillies - 3-4

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Red chilli powder -1/2 tablespoon 

Kashmiri red chilli powder - 1 tablespoon

Salt to taste

curry leaves - 3-4 strands

Cocum - 2 small pieces 

Fenugreek powder - 1/8 tsp

Preparation

Add turmeric powder to grated coconut and grind it into  a very smooth paste in a mixie.

Add coconut paste , chopped ginger, green chillies, curry leaves, cocum ,chilli powders and salt to the chatti/claypot.

Add enough water to this  and boil.. When it starts to boil ,add fish and cook for 5- 10 minutes.

Add a pinch of fenugreek powder and a tsp of coconut oil and remove from fire.

Garnish with fresh curry leaves.

VEGETABLE STEW

INGREDIENTS

Onion - 2 no
Potato - 3 no
carrot - 2 nos
Green peas 1/4 cup
Green chillies 2-3 no
Chopped Ginger -1 teaspoon
cinnamon -2 sticks
cloves -3-4
cardamom pods- 3-4
Pepper powder- 1 -2 teaspoon
coconut milk - one cup
Ghee - one table spoon
Salt to taste
Coraiander leaves

PREPARATION
Cook all the vegetables adding chopped ginger,chopped onions, green chillies and salt. While cooking add cinnamon sticks,pepper powder,cloves and cardamoms. When all the vegetables are cooked add coconut milk and cook for few more minutes. Switch off the gas when it starts to boil.

For garnishing

Chop onion leangthwise and saute them in ghee till it becomes brown .Garnish the curry with onions and chopped coriander leaves.

Serve it with Palappam,Chapathy etc