Coming soon....Pickles!!!

Stuffed red chilli and lime pickle resting on my window enjoying British summer

Chicken Nihari...A Royal Delicacy from Lucknow

Traditionally ‘Nihari’ was cooked with mutton or beef in the royal palaces of Lucknow as breakfast curry. The name comes from the Arabic word ‘Nahar’ which means morning. The Nawabs of Lucknow liked the mutton nihari with laccha parathas as breakfast.

It is very spicy and delicious dish with lots of whole spices grinded freshly without roasting them.

To suit me and my family’s palate, I cooked Nihari using boneless chicken and a little less spicy for my little one. And yes added few ingredients to enhance and make up for the spicy ness.

One very important fact I got from one of the site is this recipe is also a great homemade remedy for common cold and fever.  So here is my second royal dish straight from the streets of lucknow(now adays).

Chicken Nihari

Ingredients

Chicken- 2 big breast pieces around 1kg, cut into cubes/pieces)

 Onions- 3 (sliced)

Ginger-garlic paste- 2tsp

Red chilli powder- 1tsp

Turmeric powder- 1tsp

Coriander powder- 1tsp

Coriander leaves- 2tbsp (chopped)

Bay leaf- 1

Cinnamon stick- 1

Whole wheat flour- 2tbsp

Salt- as per taste

Sugar- 1tbsp (I am a Bengali, can’t miss sugar in non-veg dishes)

Dry Mango powder (Amchoor powder)- 1tbsp

Ghee- 1tbsp

Oil- 4tbsp

Water- 2 or more cups(it should be thick gravy)

For ‘Nihari’ Masala

Fennel seeds- 2tbsp

Cumin seeds- 2tbsp

Green cardamoms- 4

Black cardamom- 1

Cloves- 8

Black peppercorns- 15

Nutmeg- 1tsp

Cinnamon stick- 1

Bay leaf- 1

Dry ginger powder- 1tsp

Process

Grind all the items listed under 'Nihari Masala' into a fine powder in a mixer and keep it aside.  You can simply store the excess masala in a container for later use.

Clean and wash the chicken pieces thoroughly. Place them on a tissue and soak the water.

 Heat two tablespoon of oil in a pan or a kadhai and put the half batch of chicken pieces. Sprinkle a little turmeric powder for a brilliant colour. Fry the chicken pieces till they are golden. Repeat the same process for the second batch.

Once they are fried, take them out and keep aside. You may need to use a flat shaped spatula as because of the turmeric powder they might stick to the pan.

In the same pan, now add 2 tbsp oil, bay leaf, cinnamon stick and add the sliced onions. Fry them on medium heat till they are golden. Add ginger-garlic paste, turmeric powder, coriander powder, half teaspoon of red chilli powder, two teaspoon of the nihari masala prepared earlier. The masala will be very dry in the pan/kadhai. Add half a cup of water and cook for another 4 minutes. Now add the fried chicken pieces to it and cook for 5 minutes. Add salt and a cup of water to the kadhai and mix well.

While the chicken is cooking in the pan, prepared a batter with whole wheat flour and water with a smooth flowing consistency and pour it in the kadhai. Give it a good mix with the spatula. Check and adjust the taste.

 Let the chicken boil in the gravy and absorb all the spices. You may need to cover the pan/kadhai and let it cook for about 15 minutes on very a low flame. And don’t forget to stir it at regular intervals with the spatula as because of the flour, the gravy may stick to the bottom. Add the amchoor powder to the kadhai and mix well.

 After 15 minutes, remove the lid and check whether the chicken is well cooked or not. Check the taste again. If all good, switch off the gas and keep the lid on.

Tadka

Heat the ghee in a tadka pan and add half teaspoon of red chilli powder and one teaspoon of the remaining nihari masala. Fry for few seconds and add it to the cooked chicken curry.

You can garnish the chicken with chopped coriander leaves. Serve it warm with Rice or Nans or roomali rotis or even plain rotis.

Happy Cooking!!!

                                    

Fried eggs with fried-rice

 Hello friends, Apologies I am posting after a long time....was trying to settle with the new job, school runs and London life. But not to worry I am back. I have been cooking and experimenting in my kitchen all throughout but was not able to sit and jot the recipe in my blogpost and upload the pics. Days passed and now it's finally summer in UK. So here I am with whole lot of recipes awaiting to be posted and share with world.

As I said, my days are busier now, so I am always looking for quick and easy recipes specially in the weekdays.
 This one is an easy, simple dish takes just minutes to prepare and is a complete meal. The ingredients used here are readily available in any household. The recipe is from a book called 'Easy 30 minute meals' quick and easy recipes for busy people....I did some alteration to the recipe and it turned out perfectly fine.
So here it goes...

Ingredients

1 cup basmati rice washed ( leftover cooked rice will also do)
2/3 cup vegetable oil ( recipe says ground nut oil)
4 eggs 
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed 
4 spring onions sliced finely
6 to 7 fresh baby beans...if they are not baby beans you may need to blanch and fry them before adding to the rice.
1 scallions/ small onion sliced 
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1-2 tablespoon soy sauce depending on dark or light...I used dark and 2tbs
Freshly crushed pepper as per taste (recipe says a pinch of white paper)
2 tablespoon  of oyster sauce (I did not used)
Salt as per taste
2 fresh red chillies deseeded and finely chopped
a handful of fresh coriander leaves
You can serve tomato or chilli sauce of your choice.

Process

The process is very easy it is just like our fried rice with fried egg....with a Chinese touch

Cook the rice according to the package instruction(or by your experience).
Drain, rinse, and set aside until needed. You can also use a equal amount of leftover from the previous day.

Heat the oil in small deep wok over a high heat. The oil should be hot enough.
Crack 2 eggs into a dish and gently slide them in the hot oil.  The oil is hot enough and it may splutter a little so stand back and be careful.
Cook for 2 minutes until the whites are set but the yolks are still soft and oozy. If you do not like a soft centre you can cook it further but believe me the best part of a fried egg is the oozy centre.
Remove them from the pan and keep aside. Fry the other two similarly and set aside until needed.

Reuse 2 tablespoon of the remaining oil in a big wok or large saucepan. You can use the left over oil for preparing your dinner or next day lunch time meal.

Heat the oil and add garlic. Cook until its starts changing colour, add the cooked rice and half or more of your spring onions, all the chopped beans and scallions. Stir fry briskly for 4-5 minutes, add the sesame oil, soy sauce and salt to it. Give it a good stir. You can also sprinkle some fresh pepper now. Transfer it into a bowl and placed he fried egg on top. Sprinkle some salt n pepper on it and the remaining spring onions and the red chillies. Sprinkle some fresh coriander leaves and serve with tomato or chilli sauce of your choice.

Your fried rice with egg is ready....


Happy Cooking!!!