Kadai Murgh Afghani

I have always loved cook books. Almost all of R's cook books have been gifted by me. Doesn;t matter if I tried out recipes from them. I just love going through the recipes. Infact, there was a time when I couldn't sit through lunch and dinner without leafing through one. (OK, weird, I know). And the exotic recipes more than made up for the simple daily fare that I happened to be eating. Actually daily fare plus exotic recipes from cook books was the ideal combo for me. I don't have those books here with me. They are with R. But ocassionally on a weekend, I look up a food blog...but its not quite the same.

What with the avian flu scare and chicken being a big no-no, I asked R for her Aaghan chicken recipe (she got that out of a book and then added her own twist)...to read through while I ate decidely vegetarian meal. So here it is:

Kadai Murgh Afghani
(Can't vouch for it to be authentic afghani but its very tasty and looks great too).

You will need:
Chicken 1 kg
Cooking oil 6tbs
Garlic paste 3½ tsp
Whole red chillies 5-6
Coriander seeds 3tsp
Tomatoes chopped 4 ½ cups
Green chillies chpped 3-4
Ginger chopped 5tsp
Corainder leaves chopped 5tbp
Garam masala 2tsp
Fenugreek or methi powder 1tsp
Salt 2tsp

How to:
1. Clean and cut chicken into medium sized pieces.
2. Pound red chillies and corainder seeds into a paste.
3. Heat oil in a Kadai and add garlic paste and saute over medium flame till light brown.
4. Add red chillie-coriander paste, followed by tomatoes and bring to a boil.
5. Add green chillies, ¾ of the ginger and 1/3 of chopped coriander, reduce heat and simmer for 4-5 minutes.
6.Add chicken and bring to boil.
7. Reduce heat to allow gravy to simmer,stirring occasionally until oil separates from masala and the gravy becomes thick and chicken tender(approx 15 min or so).
8. Sprinkle garam masala and methi powder, stir for two minutes. Adjust seasoning.
9. Pour the chicken into a dish and garnish with leftover ginger and coriander.
10. Serve with rice or rotis.

Bon Appetit!

Dal with Radhuni

Here I am, after an enormously exhausting week. I worked late everynight and returned home at 4.30am on Thursday. I was alone today and (A having gone to his parents for weekend) and so instead of eating out (which I do when I am alone), I rustled up a simple bengali meal. Aloo posto, Radhuni dal and rice. And savored every bit of it. So for Weekend Herb Blogging, at Kalyn's Kitchen here is the recipe forDal with Radhuni

Radhuni is a herb used (to my knowledge) by bengalis mostly. I looked up the net to find out more about it (for the benefit of non-bengali readers of my post) and to my surprise found radhuni is the seed of celery! Perhaps my knowledge is scant, but I can think of only a very few dish that requires the tiny dark grains of radhuni. And yet, these dishes cant be cooked without radhuni. There is simply no substitute for it! It looks a lot like "ajwain" or Carum / Carom. But that's where the similarity ends. It has a very distinct flavour. And only a pinch is required, otherwise, it could overpower the dish!

(For Two)
You will need:
1 small cup of masoor dal (Marc has explained dals very well here)
1/2 tsp radhuni / celery seeds
salt to taste
1 tsp oil for tempering
green chillies optional
1/2 l water

How to
1. Pressure cook / boil the masoor dal with 1/2 tsp turmeric and salt. Reserve.

2. In a kadai / wok, heat 1 tsp oil.

3. Add the radhuni seeds.

4. When they crackle, add the dal.

5. Add water if dal is too thick or cook on high flame to reduce if too watery.

6. Adjust salt.

7. Eat with rice and veggies of your choice!

Bon Apetit!!