Chicken Curry - Mom's style

As you can see by now, I get my inspiration to cook mainly from my mom and soon you will see that my beloved husband also plays a key role .....

Am 20 weeks along and craving for spicy food... This curry being my all time fav!

Ingredients(for curry):

• Chicken - 1 Kg
• Medium sized Red onions - 5
• Medium sized Tomatoes - 3
• Green Chilies (optional) - 2
• Ginger - 1 inch
• Garlic - 6 pods
• Coriander leaves(cilantro) - Fist sized pinch
• Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
• Red Chili powder - 1 Tbsp
• Coriander powder- 1 Tbsp
• Garam masala - 1 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Pepper - 1 tsp
• Curry leaves - 15 leaves or as needed
• Cooking oil(vegetable) - as needed

Ingredients(for marinade):

• Red Chili powder - 1 Tbsp
• Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
• Cumin powder - 1 tsp
• Curd(yogurt) - 1 Tbsp
• Ginger & Garlic paste - 1 Tbsp
• Salt - to taste

Ingredients(for garnish):

• Half Capsicum(green)
• Ghee

Marination:

• Wash the chicken well and move it to a big bowl
• Add all the ingredients for marinade
• Mix well (using your hands would be the best way)
• leave it in the fridge for atleast 2 hours or even overnight(if you are patient enough)

Procedure:

• If your chicken was in the refrigerator, leave it out till it comes to room temperature
• Wash your onions well and mince it (http://startcooking.com/blog/64/How-to-Mince--Dice-and-Chop-Onions)
• Take one and a half tomato and blend it to make a puree
• Chop the remaining tomatoes
• If you decide to use the green chilies, then take both the green chilies and slit it
• Take a big cooking vessel (non stick preferred) onto the stove
• Heat to be Simmered
• Add enough oil to shallow fry all your chicken pieces
• Once the oil is a little hot, add your chicken pieces(one by one)
• Do not cover the vessel - Let it fry
• in a few minutes, turn the chicken pieces
• You will notice the water from the chicken filling up(do not add more oil when you see this)
• Once you see the waterwith oil floating, drain this water alone to another vessel
• Continue to fry your chicken pieces (keep turning as needed)
• Wait till the chicken starts browning just a little
• Move the chicken aside to another plate
• To the same vessel thats on the stove, add 2Tbsp oil and wait a minute
• Add your ginger garlic paste and stir
• Add half your curry leaves (pinched) and stir
• Wait for the raw ginger garlic smell to move to a slightly cooked aroma
• Add all your chopped onions into this vessel and stir well (pinch of salt to speed browning)
• Once the onions are golden brown, add chopped tomatoes and stir till soft
• Then add the pureed tomatoes and stir till the raw smell disappears
• Now, time to spice it up a bit... add the powders - Turmeric, Chili, Coriander, Garam masala, pepper, salt
• Stir well - keep in mind - Heat should be simmered throughout
• Once the raw smell starts to vanish, add your semi-fried chicken pieces to this
• Stir well and make sure this masala gets coated on all your chicken
• Let it stay for a minute or so
• Pour in the stock (the chicken water and oil that we stored earlier)
• Stir well
• Pinch in Half the coriander leaves to this
• Let it cook ( you can cover the vessel now)
• Let it cook for a good 5 to 10 minutes - just check intermittently and stir if needed
• Taste and add salt as needed
• Add the remaining curry leaves and coriander leave (pinched)
• Check if your chicken is cooked
• Turn off the stove and let the vessel remain covered for a few minutes
• Get your garnish ready at this time

Garnish:

• Take a small vessel onto the stove
• Add a Table spoon of pure ghee/ use butter if you don't find ghee
• Cut the Capsicum to your style
• Add the Capsicum to the ghee once the ghee is hot
• Lightly fry it for a few minutes - don't brown it
• Switch off the stove - your garnish is ready

Serve:

• Move your chicken curry to a bowl
• Add your garnish
• Enjoy!!!

The Yellow Cake...

Baking has always been my stress reliever. My mom bakes super yummy cakes... This yellow cake is her quick easy recipe. For first time bakers, I would suggest starting with this cake... It can not go wrong (fingers crossed so tight that they are blue like a smurf already)

Ingredients:

• All-Purpose Flour - 250 grams
• Sugar - 250 grams
• Butter - 250 grams
• Eggs - 5
• Baking powder - 1 tsp
• Nutmeg powder - a pinch or two
• Salt - 1 tsp

Procedure:

• Sieve together the Baking powder and All-Purpose flour and set it aside in a Bowl
• Break the eggs into another bowl and using a hand mixer, whisk up the eggs
• Make sure your butter is kept at room temperature (it should become soft to touch)
• Powder your sugar and add it to your egg mixture
• Add the butter also to your egg mixture and blend it together using your hand blender
• Add in your flour in parts to this mixture and keep blending at a medium speed
• Add in Salt and nutmeg Powder
• Blend on High for 2 minutes
• Move this mixture to your baking pan (Tips for the first time bakers - Grease your pan before using it - and when you pour in the mixture, make sure you pour only till half pan - because this cake is going to rise up and if you fill till the brim of the baking pot - its going to be really messy and you are not going to want that on your first making experience)

Oven:

• Preheat your oven to 380 deg F(193 deg C)
• Put your Baking pan on middle rack
• Bake it for 40 - 45 minutes (Tips: Different ovens behave differently - so after 35 minutes, use a skewer or a toothpick and poke at the center of the cake to check if it comes out clean - if yes, stop your oven - if the toothpick/skewer comes out a little wet with batter - then give it another 5 minutes and repeat)

Cooling and Serving:

• Take the baking pan out of the oven and set it on a table
• Let it cool a bit and then move the cake out of the pan onto a wire rack (I know the smell must be tempting but just let it cool for a few more minutes)
• After its a little cool, use a cake knife and slice it.

Storage:

• If you have made just a little cake and are sure it is going to finish within a day or two, you can store it in an air-tight container in your storage room but if you have made a little extra, then ziploc it/ put it in a container and refrigerate it.

Tips:

• If you have refrigerated your cake, 10 seconds in the microwave before serving would be perfect!