RARA Chicken

Today I going to share with you some non-vegetarian dish. This is something new (at least for me)..I don't know how many of you are heard of this delicious chicken dish- "RARA Chicken". When I get this recipe idea I was wondering about its name. I started searching about it and finally got that it is a punjabi cuisine(rara means dry in punjabi) and it is the dry form of chicken curry.. However when I prepared the dish, it didn't come out as dry as I thought. But it was tasty :). I can gurantee that this is a very tasty chicken dish but it's preparation is not that easy.. if u have time then only start preparing this.. best combo with chapathi and fried rice.

When I asked my hus about this name, he told me that he never heard about such a dish and advised me to be careful while trying these kind of unknown dishes. But after tasting my new dish he said: "Kollallo, oru variety chicken curry koode kittiyallo.. (Good..got one more variety  chicken recipe). I was too happy because it was worth my effort and got a new delicious dish.. (Thankful to chef Lakshmi).

About the recipe: As I mentioned earlier it is not an easy task but not that complex/difficult.. We have to combine so many things together to prepare this delicious curry. The easy part is Phase 1 - "cooking the onion and ggg". Do not add more than two cups of water for cooking the ingredients.. If u r feeling the water is less, just add some water during grinding. Be careful while frying the onion and ggg's in Phase 3. The onion get burn very easily.. Do not add the burnt onion to the curry, it spoils the entire curry. Fry the ggg and onion separately. Cut the onion into very small pieces for frying. Use enough oil for frying otherwise it will take long time to get the onion to fry.

In the last phase just use paste of 4 or 5 cashew nuts.  if u use more cashews add more red chilli as well: otherwise the chicken curry have sweet taste.
Ok let me share the details of this recipe.Try it, sure ur loved ones is going to love this dish .

Ingredients
For Phase1
Ginger:medium size
Garlic: 5 pods
Green chili: 3 nos
Onion: 1 medium
Tomato: 1 no
Turmeric: 1/2 tsp
Redchili Powder: 1 tsp
Coriander Powder: 1/2 tsp
sallt :to taste
water: 1-2 cup
For Phase2
Chicken:1 pound
For Phase3
Oil:1/4 cup
onion: 1 medium
Ginger: 1 medium size
Garlic:5 pods
Green chii: 2 no
For Phase4
Oil: 1 tbsp
Red chili powder/Kashmiri chii powder:11/2 tbsp
Ground cumin: 1/2 tsp
Kasoori methi :1 tbsp
Garam Masala: 11/2 tbsp
Tomato:1 no
Cashew nut:3-5 nos
water: for soaking the cashews
coriander leaves:some
Preparation

Phase1
Step1:

• Crush the ginbegr garlic and green chili.
• Cut the onion into small pieces
• Cut the tomato into 8 pieces

Step2:

• Cook the ginger garlic green chili onion tomato along with turemric powder chili powder coriander powder and salt.Add 1-2 cups of water.Cook it for 10-15 minutes in medium heat.Close the pan and cook it.
• Let the cooked mix to cool down.Once it cooled make a nice paste of the cooked mix using a mixer

Phase2
Step3:

• Cook the chicken with the grinded mix until the chicken is well cooked.Add water as much required

Phase 3: 
Step4: 

• Cut the ggg and onion into very small pieces.
• In another pan heat oil.fry the  GGG until nicely fried .
• Fry the onions until crispy.Fry the ggg and onion seperatley.

Phase4: 
Step5:

• In the same pan take the 1 tbsp oil(if excess oil is there transfer them into other container) add the kasmiri chili powder ,ground cumin,kasoori methi and garam masala..saute for 30 seconds
• Add the sliced tomato into it saute for 1-2 minute.(Keep the heat level low)
• Add the cooked chicken with gravy into the frying oil. Mix all together.
• Add the Fried onion and gggs.
• Change the heat level into medium.cook the chicken for 3-5 minute.
• Make a nice paste of soaked cashews and add the cashew paste into the boiling chicken curry. Mix Well and just heat it for 30 seconds
• Garnish with some coriander leaves.

The delicious Chicken rara is ready .Have it with fried rice.

Cook's Tip

• Do not add more than 2 cup of water for boiling the mix in phase1.
• ''ggg is ginger garlic and greenchili.
• Adjust the spice level according to your taste.
• Do not overcook the chicken in phase 2
• Be careful while frying the onion.If u r burn the onion while frying, it spoils the entire taste
• In the last step just mix all the ingredients and then just heat it. No need to boil the curry..
• According to ur taste u can use more cashews. You can use some cream for making the paste of the cashews. It ill give a nice flavor.

Ridge Gourd/Luffa squash Chutney/ Peechinga Chammanthi/

Today I am going to share with you a simple vegetarian recipe: A special  chutney. We can prepare chutney with different vegetables. Here i used the   Ridge-gourd ,its also known as Luffa squash.

Wiki says the Luffa squash is commonly known as ridge gourd and is called tauri 'توری' in Urdu, "bhol" in Assamese, turai or tori (तोरी) in Hindi, parteek (कारी) in Nepali, jhinga in Bengali, janhi in Oriya, gisoda or turiya in Gujarati, Beera kaya (బీర కాయ) inTelugu, heeray kayi in Kannada, peechinga (പീച്ചിങ്ങ) in Malayalam, dodaka (दोडका) or Ghosavala (घोसावळं) in Marathi, Ghosale in Konkani,Peerkankaai (பீர்கங்காய்) in Tamil, wetakolu in Sinhala, mướp in Vietnamese language, patola in Tagalog, kabatiti in Ilocano, susemi  inKorean, hechima in Japanese, and pitulo in Padang or Minangkabau, gambas or oyong in Indonesian language or koinkon in Yoruba language.

I haven't seen this vegetable in my native place but it is a commonly used veggetable in Karnataka. They prepare lots of different curries using this ridge gourd. When I mentioned about this vegetable, My hus told me that people usually use this one (dried version) for making bath scrubber..not for cooking. Even when I talk to Amma, she also told me about the scrubber. (It is a very natural one and good for the skin too.If you are interested, visit here  to get the details of making the scrubber from this squash).Then I came to know this is one of the popular ingredient for the Kerala Shrimp Curry (Konchu Theeyal) (I will post this recipe soon).

Recently my friend told me about the variety of dishes with this ridgegourd and i saw many varieties from my fellow bloggers too. She told this one is good for chutney as well. So I decided to prepare its chutney for  Dosa . Yea,it taste really delicious as good as the coconut chutney . We really enjoyed having this veg-chutney. I just prepared the potato podimas too. All came together as a nice combination.

It is one of the easy to prepare and tasty dish.About the preparation of this chutney, Usually we have to take out the seed from this veggie for cooking.For this chutney preparation i didn't do it.and also i just added some cashews too. But be careful.do not add more cashews, it will make the chutney so sweet..You can even add the peanut instead of cashews..try both version. 

OK, Let me share the recipe of this tasty chutney.

Ingredients:
Ridge gourd: 1 medium size
Tomato: 1 small
Green chili: 1 no
Cashew nut: 3 nos
Ginger: 1 small piece
garlic: 2 pod
Onion: 1/4 of the medium onion
Tamarind: small piece
salt : to taste
Ground cumin:1/2 tsp(optional)
Coriander leaves: some
For tempering
Mustard seed: 1 tsp
Oil: 1 tbsp
Spilt urad dal:1 tsp
Red chili: 1 no
Curry leaves: 1 sprig
Preparation
Step1: 

• Peel off the Ridge gourd's skin and cut them into medium sized pieces. 
• Cut the tomato into 8 pieces.
• Slit the green chili, Dice the onion and crush the ginger and garlic.
• Chop the coriander leaves

Step2:

• Heat 1/2 tbsp oil in a pan
• Add the cashews followed by ginger, garlic and green chili. Sauté for some time
• Add the Onion,Tomato ,Ridge gourd, tamarind and ground cumin. Don't forget salt.Mix well. Close the Pan and cook the vegetables for 5-7 minutes for medium heat.
• Add the coriander leaves once the veggies cooked nicely. Let the mix to cool (5-6 minutes)

Step3:

• Grind the cooked veggie mix using a grinder or mixer. Make a nice paste. Do not add water. 

Step4: 

• Heat 1/2 tbsp of oil .add the mustard seeds. Once the seeds started spluttering add the split urad dal,red chili and curry leaves..Saute for 30 seconds
• Add the grinded mix to the seasoning .mix well..Add some coriander leaves .

The delicious Chutney is ready to have.Have it with dosa or idly.Here i prepared the potato podimas too .Really a best combination  for Dosa or Idli.Enjoy..

Cook's Tip

• Do not add water for cooking the ridge gourd.while cooking the vegetable itself produce more moisture
• Do not add more tomato  or tamarind.just use a small amount of tamarind
• Cumin gives nice taste if u like u can use it otherwise just discard it.