Chicken Fry with Poppy Seeds and Spices

Today's Chicken fry is yet another recipe we made during the Party couple of weeks back. The recipe is very simple and got very good feedback from the guests. Though chicken fry or roast gets done every other week, and end up being a morphed version of the many varieties that we make, I feel I got to make sure I note even the smallest change done to the recipe. To tell the truth I don't normally stick to a recipe all the time. I keep changing the spices and other ingredients. So one particular combination gets liked more and I make sure I note down what they are.

The difference in this recipe is the usage of roasted poppy seeds along with cardamom, cinnamon and clove. That really give it a nutty taste and enhances the roast effect. Though I managed to click a step wise pictures, I was not able to click proper end picture. It was a hurried last minute capture before being passed on.

Ingredients Needed:

Chicken, cut into bite size - 250 gms
Onions - 1 big
Tomato, puree - 1 medium
Green Chilies - 2 medium
Ginger Garlic paste - 1/2 tsp
Red chili powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder a pinch

Spice powder

Poppy Seeds / Gasa gasa - 1 tbsp
Cloves - 2
Cinnamon  - 2
Cardomon - 2

Roasted and powdered.

How to make the Chicken Fry

Wash and cut into bite size pieces. Drain in a colander.

Heat a kadai and dry roast the poppy seeds, cloves, cinnamon and cardamom. After couple of tossing around, remove and allow it to cool. Grind to a fine powder once it's cooled.

Add oil to the kadai, when hot add onions, chopped green chilies, saute well. When the onions turns colour, add ginger garlic paste. Cook for couple of mins.

Add the drained chicken, combine everything well and cook on high. Moisture starts coming out. Continue stirring, after 10 mins, add red chili powder, coriander powder. combine everything and continue cooking.

Next add the tomato puree, cook on high. Then add a cup of water and cover with lid. Simmer for 10 - 15 mins.

When the chicken is cooked and tender, saute in high for the moisture to evaporate. Remember this has to be almost dry, so continue until you find the moisture is all evaporated and nicely done.

Finally add the ground masala powder to the chicken and mix everything well. Cook for couple of mins, sprinkle coriander leaves and switch off.

Party Menu 2 | Menu Planning | Indian Party Menus | Dinner Party

Last weekend, we had another house party totaling about 10 people. So for those of you who host parties at home, this menu would surely help. All the dishes were prepared at home, except for one chicken starter that was store bought and the ice cream.

We wanted to stick to just chicken kurma and chicken Roast, so got 2 kgs of Chicken. The main course was the Vegetable Fried Rice and the Peas Paneer Masala for the Vegetarians.

The welcome drinks and the starters ended up being very filling. So this main course being simple was all fine. I had tough time clicking away the pictures as I ended up making couple of the dishes on the go, and couldn't manage with all the dishes at one time. Our guests knew about the blogs and were amused that I was more keen on clicking away the food pictures than them. Infact I remembered to click pictures of the party only on afterthoughts!

Venue : Home
Number : 10

Our Dinner Party Menu was:

Drinks
Mango Juice

Salad

Peanut Chaat
Onion, Cucumber, Carrot Salad

Starters:

Fried Cashew Masala
Paneer Pakoras
Chicken Nuggets (Store bought)

Side Dish - Semi Gravy
Chicken Roast

Main Dishes

Vegetable Fried Rice
Chicken Kurma
Peas Paneer Curry
Rasam
Plain Rice
Curds

Dessert

Fruits
Vanilla Icecream

 Chicken Roast

Paneer Pakoras

Peas Paneer Curry

Groundnut / Peanut Chaat:

Boiled Peanuts - 2 cups
Onions, finely chopped - 1 cup
Coriander Leaves, finely chopped - 2 tsp
Chat Masala - 1 tsp
Lemon juice for seasoning
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Shell peanuts and boil for 10 mins. The peanuts should be crunchy and not over boiled.

In a bowl, take the boiled peanuts, add the salt, pepper powder, chat masala, onions, coriander leaves. Toss well. Squeeze in lemon juice and serve as starter.

Rest of the recipes will follow.

Microwave Roasted Potatoes with Herbs

With so much of potatoes that my brother got us, it was natural that I find different ways to use up those spuds. They were sprouting already and I was in a haste to use it up. After making those chips, seeing how much the kids loved it, I wanted to store them for a long time. Imagine my bad luck that somehow one important step in making the chips stay for longer shelf life, was overlooked. This was my first kitchen failure and I was badly affected. I have been upset over this for the last two days. Never imagined that I would be affected so much. One reason would be that my brother got it all the way and second would be that the kids loved the potatoes chips so much, third would be facing a failure and accepting is always such a hard lesson to learn!

Anyway certain things just happen, no reasons to explain why. I thought I should just move on. Athamma had stored some potatoes for making a gravy and I ended up making something else. So I had that share on hand and decided to bake some in microwave. As you know I always microwave the potatoes, instead of using pressure cooker. It's such a time saving, fuel saving method. So I thought baking them in microwave would be a great option. To make it even better, I baked it in butter and some spices. It was very delicious to say the least. While this didn't mitigate the pain I feel every time I remember my whole lot of potato chips that might go down the drain, this dish surely ends up being very satisfying.

Sending these to Lavanya who is hosting the MEC this month themed on Party Appetizers.

Ingredients Needed:

Potatoes - 5 medium
Butter - 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Pepper powder - 1 tsp (as per taste)
Herb Mix - I used Thyme, you can mix in rosemary, Oregano. anything that you have on hand.

Method to prepare:

Wash and cube potatoes into 1 inch pieces.

In a microwave safe bowl, add butter and the cubed potatoes. Toss well. Microwave for 10 mins.

After 5 mins, open and toss again. Sprinkle the salt and pepper and other spices you are going to add.

Microwave again for remaining time.

Tastes great as an appetizer and very quick to make if you plan for a party.

 

Enjoy as a side dish too!

Check other Potato Recipes