Guest post at Nithu's Kitchen

Hi friends, find me today as a guest in Nithu's Kitchen. Thanking her for the opportunity to let everybody know more about me and my blog.

My featured recipe was Hot Peppery Mushroom Fry. I request you to check it and recommend to try it out sometime. Hope you will enjoy the post and the fry.

The 'No Name' Chicken

This is one of my husband's recipe from his bachelor days. He is very famous for his chicken dishes. One such is the chicken prepared with Shaan masala powders, other than that, the ingredients are pretty simple. He is the one who introduced me to the brand 'Shaan' and now am totally hooked with it. This dish is a big hit among our friends and family. My mom was so surprised with the taste and flavor, and even got his recipe, when she visited us. He makes it extra hot, that literally makes you feel like having a spoonful of sugar after every bite. He learnt it from his Telugu friend, now you know where the heat came from. But you can reduce the green chillies and skip the chilli powder for a little to mild heat. When i asked him, what is the dish called as? He said, it has no name. Hence the name, 'no name'. But i would like to call it as 'Curry leaf Chicken Fry', as he adds a lot of fresh curry leaves at the end and gotta say this, the aroma fills the whole kitchen. He is really a curry leaf fanatic. Did i bore you with so much of details? Alright, today i was his helper and photographer. And here comes the extra hot recipe,

Ingredients:

1 1/2lb Chicken breast fillet (boneless &  skinless)

1 1/2 medium Yellow Onion (chopped)

1 big Green bell pepper (small dice)

6 small Green Chilli (minced)

1 1/2tsp Ginger (minced)

1tsp Garlic (minced)

24 Curry leaves (to be exact)

1/2tsp Turmeric powder

1/2tsp Red Chilli powder

2tbsp Shaan Chicken Curry powder

1tbsp Shaan Tandoori Chicken powder

1tsp Black pepper corns (optional)

1 Black Cardamom (optional)

4-5 small Cloves

2 Cinnamon stick (1")

1tbsp Yogurt (plain)

1tbsp + 2tsp Oil

Salt

How to:

• Marinate the chicken with yogurt, turmeric powder, chilli powder, shaan powders, peppercorns, black cardamom, 2tsp oil and salt. Let rest for 30 mins.

• Heat the remaining oil in a skillet, add cinnamon, cloves, followed by onions along with salt.

• Saute'em until tender, then add ginger and garlic, continue sautéing until raw smell disappears.

• Then add bell pepper and saute for 4-5 mins, followed by green chillies.

• After a couple more mins, add the marinated chicken, mix well and cook until chicken is tender and the masala is cooked.

• Check salt for taste and add curry leaves and saute for 3-4 mins.

Switch off and serve hot with steamed rice, chapathi or naan.

Chow Chow (Chayote) fry

I was looking for a quick and simple dish with chayote and came across Nithu's kitchen (http://www.nithubala.com/ ) and got this recipe. She has already done some changes to the original recipe from Geetha Achal's blog (http://geethaachalrecipe.blogspot.com/). Here goes the recipe with my alterations, 

Ingredients:

1 medium Chow Chow

2 Green Chilli (chopped)

4-5 Curry leaves

1/4tsp Turmeric powder

1tsp Cumin seeds

1/2tsp Mustard seeds

1/2tsp Urad dal

1 pinch Asafoetida

1/2tsp Black pepper powder

2tsp Oil

Salt

How to:

• Wash, peel the skin, discard the seed and dice the chayote into bite-size pieces.

• Heat oil in a skillet, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add urad dal, cumin seeds and asafoetida.

• Then add green chillies, followed by turmeric powder and the diced chayote.

• Add salt and saute until it starts browning slightly.
• Now add curry leaves and continue sautéing until tender and crispy.

• Switch off, sprinkle black pepper powder, mix well and let sit for a min.

Serve hot with sambar rice.

Pepper Okra(Lady's finger)

Ingredients:

1lb Lady's finger

1/2 Yellow onion (thinly sliced)

1tsp Turmeric powder

1tbsp Black pepper powder

1/2tsp Mustard seeds

Salt

Oil

How to:

• Wash and slant cut the lady's finger into 1 inch pieces.

• Now mix the turmeric powder with the lady's finger and let it sit for 5 mins.

• Heat oil in a skillet, add mustard seeds, when they pop, add onions and cook until tender.

• Then add the lady's finger, mix well and cook for few mins.

• When the onion starts browning, add salt and cook in a low flame with lid closed.

• Stir once in a while, as the ingredients may get burnt.

• Add the pepper powder when there is no more stickiness in lady's finger.
• Check salt for taste and cook for 3 more mins.
• Switch off the flame when the lady's finger starts browning.

Serve hot with steamed rice.

Pepper Mushroom fry

Ingredients:

Set A

8oz mushroom (sliced)

1 Yellow onion (chopped)

1 1/2 Tomato (chopped)

3 green chillies (chopped)

1tbsp ginger-garlic paste

4-5 curry leaves

1/4tsp Turmeric powder

1tsp Cumin seeds

1tsp Fennel seeds

3 cloves

1 cinnamon stick

Oil

Salt

Set B

1tsp Cumin seeds

1tsp Black peppercorns

2-3 Garlic pods

1tbsp Coriander powder

1/2tbsp Cumin powder

3tbsp Ghee

How to:

• In a blender, coarse grind the set B ingredients (cumin seeds, peppercorns and garlic) and keep it aside.

• In a skillet, heat oil, add the cumin seeds, fennel seeds, cloves and cinnamon stick.
• Now add finely chopped onion along with salt and saute.

• After a few mins add turmeric powder and ginger-garlic paste and saute until the raw smell disappears.

• Now add chopped green chilli and curry leaves and saute well. (Decrease the number of green chillies or peppercorns for less heat)

• Then add tomatoes and cook till its completely mashed.

• Now add the mushrooms, mix well and cook till they are tender.

• In another skillet, heat ghee, add the coarsely ground mixture and fry for a min.
• Now add the coriander powder and cumin powder and cook for another min.

• Then transfer the cooked mushroom masala, mix well and cook in a low flame.

• Adjust the salt and cook till the mushrooms starts browning.
• Finally, garnish with cilantro.

Serve with steamed or fried rice.

Let the cumin-pepper-garlic aroma fill your kitchen. Must feel it.

Potato Fry

Ingredients:

1 Russet potato

1tbsp chilli powder

1/2tsp mustard seeds

1tsp Urad dal

4-5 Curry leaves

Salt

Oil

How to:

• Heat oil in a skillet, add mustard seeds, when the crackle add urad dal and curry leaves.
• Now add thinly sliced potato and saute for a while.
• Add salt and chilli powder and fry them in low flame till it turns brown.

Your fries are ready in a snap!