Cashew Chicken Curry

I came across this simple yet "Hatke" (different) chicken recipe sometime back. According to a friend who passed this on, this is a simple subtle chicken dish from down south, Kerala, to be more precise. This creamy, subtly spiced and rich dish is easy to make and as experience taught me, was a big hit with the kids, who despise the usual spicy fare.

The cashew is another example of the all accommodating India. It was not native to India and was bought to India by the Portuguese (from Brazil) in the mid 16th century and is now used extensively in Indian cuisines, lending creaminess to many shahi kormas and who can forget the "Kaju Katli", the sweet preferred by many over the usual barfi and ladoos.

Though I'm sure this curry, without the tempering at the end, will go very well as a pasta sauce too, I'm also seriously contemplating making a pie with this as a filling. But that, is for another post.

Cashew Chicken Curry
Ingredients:
Chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces - 6
Salt - 1 Tsp
White Pepper - 1 Tsp
Cashews, soaked for 2 hours and drained - 2 cups
Onions, chopped - 2
Green Chillies, chopped - 2
Garlic - 8 cloves
Ginger, chopped - 3 Tblsp
Green Cardamom - 2
Cloves - 4
Cinnamon Stick - 1 (1 inch)
Yogurt - 1 Cup
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 Tsp
Curry Leaves - 6
Cashewnuts, cut into halves - 6
Red Chillies - 2
Salt - To Taste
Oil - 3 Tblsp

Method:
1. Dry roast the Cinnamon stick, cardamom pods and cloves slightly and grind to a powder.
2. Grind the 2 cups of cashews with onions, garlic, ginger and green chillies into a fine paste. Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup water before grinding to achieve a pasty consistency.
3. Sprinkle the chicken pieces with salt and white pepper. Fry the chicken pieces with 2 Tblsp of oil until seared. Do not brown the chicken pieces as it will change the gravy colour.
4. Lower the heat and add the cashew paste. Stir fry for a couple of minutes till the paste and chicken have combined.
5. Take the skillet off the flame and gradually add the yogurt while stirring continuously. Return to flame and keep stirring to combine. Cook till oil rises to top (3-4 Minutes).
6. Add in the ground spice powder and mix well. Cover with a lid and cook for 10 more minutes on medium flame. Add in water if required.
7. Adjust the seasoning and transfer the sauce and gravy to a serving dish.
8. In a small pan, heat 1 tsp of oil and add in the mustard seeds. As the seeds start to crackle, add in the cashew halves and fry till they start to turn brown. Add the curry leaves and red chillies. remove from flame and pour over the chicken dish. Do not stir to mix.
9. Serve hot with rice, malabari paranthas or appams.

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Chemmeen Mapas (Kerala Prawn Curry with coconut milk)

The wedding season is here and all the partying and staying out late in the cold winter evenings does call for a sleepy and lazy Saturday/Sunday. The last thing you want to do that day is get up early and cook up a huge elaborate fare. Last Saturday was a similar one. We had just got over a very busy week involving loads of work at the office and hectic wedding celebrations in the evenings.
I decided to cook some prawn curry native to the christian community of Kerala. Since I have never tasted it in the past and was making do with an old newspaper cutting that had the instructions, I do not know whether I ended up making it as it should be, but it surely tasted heavenly with steamed rice on the side.

Chemmeen Mapas

Ingredients:
Prawns, washed, shelled & deveined - 250 gm
Oil - 2 Tblsp
Mustard seeds (Rai) - 2 Tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 Tsp
Onion, sliced - 1
Green Chillies, slit - 2
Ginger, chopped - 2 Tsp
Garlic cloves finely chopped - 12
Coriander Powder - 2 Tsp
Red Chili Powder - 1/2 Tsp
Tamarind, soaked in 2/3 up of water - 1 Lemon sized ball
Coconut milk - 2/3 Cup
Salt - To Taste

Method:
1. Heat oil in a pan. Add in the mustard seeds. When they start to crackle, add in the fenugreek seeds, Sliced onion, green chillies, ginger and garlic.
2. Fry till onion turns translucent.
3. Mix together the coriander powder and red chili powder with a tblsp of water to form a paste. Add the spice paste in and fry again for 2 minutes.
4. Extract the tamarind pulp and add that to the pan. Add in the salt and cook.
5. Bring the mixture to a boil. Add prawns and cook till prawns are half done.

6. Pour in the coconut milk and mix well. Bring to a boil and remove from heat.
7. Serve hot with steamed rice or appams.

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Why worry when there's curry ?

Curry has been the most popular Indian export to the world after zero ( :-D) especially to UK. Hundreds of curry houses exist at every nook and corner, and then you have the frozen..just heat and serve varieties staring out at you from the shelves at Sainsbury’s. Statistics report that half a million curries are eaten every day in the UK.

Before going any further, curry simply put, means a spicy, stew like dish which has gravy. The origin of this word has many different versions to it. Some say it came from the ‘karahi’ ( Indian wok like vessel used for making gravies), while some say it is from the north-indian ‘Kadhi’. The most acceptable version though seems that it is from the south-indian word (Tamil) ‘Kari’ meaning gravy or spiced sauce.

Also, not all curry’s are hot. There are mild curries and medium spiced curries. To make a hot curry mild, coconut milk is usually added.

The mere mention of Coconut, also conjures up another interesting culinary location situated in the South of India – Kerala. With a diverse set of population, ranging from the Hindus to the Syrian Christians to the Muslim community, Kerala offers an interesting menu of tasty fish delicacies to some popular vegan dishes also. The Kerala cuisine ( also called Pachakam in Malayalam, the local language) is spicy and uses lot of coconut in various forms.

This time around however, I bring the Malabar Mutton Curry which is cooked by the Kerala Muslim community called the Moplahs. Though the Moplahs are more famous for their Biryanis and chattipathri ( Malabar Cake), the mutton curry is also worth a try as it is tasty, not too spicy and not too greasy.

Ingredients :

Mutton/lamb - 1 Kg
Grated coconut - 1 cup
Red chilli powder - 1 Tsp.
Ginger-garlic paste - 2 Tsp.
Corriander powder - 3 Tsp.
Turmeric powder - 1/2 Tsp.
Black peppercorns - 1 Tsp.
Cumin seeds - 1 Tsp.
Fennel seeds - 1/2 Tsp.
Cinnamon - 2" stick
Bay leaf - 1 No.
Cloves - 5 No.
Onions - 2 No. (Made into a paste)
Cashew nut paste - 2 Tsp.
Tomato - 2 No.
Coconut milk - 1 Cup
Salt – To Taste
Oil – 15 Ml

Method :

1. Grind together grated coconut, red chilli powder, ginger-garlic paste, corriander, turmeric, black peppercorns, cumin, fennel, cinnamon, bay leaf and cloves into a paste.

2. Heat oil in a wok.

3. Add the onion paste and fry the onions till they start turning brown.

4. Add the spice paste, sprinkle a little water and fry for 2 minutes on a low flame.

5. Add the mutton/lamb. Stir well and cook.

6. Add the chopped tomatoes and the cashew nut paste.

7. Add salt and water to cover the mutton pieces.

8. Cook until the meat is done. ( If there is a paucity of time, transfer to Pressure Cooker and cook ...will cook faster)

9. Add the coconut milk and allow it to simmer.

10. Serve with Rice.

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