Monthly Archives: February 2017

Pan fried lamb (mutton) chops


This is a dry pan fry lamb (mutton) chops, which you can enjoy as a starter or as a side dish with your meal. The lamb chops are marinated twice to give much flavour and taste. These lamb chops have a tangy and sour taste apart from other freshly roasted ingredients. There are front chops and back chops. You can use either of these, I have used back chops. In restaurants, lamb chops have become very popular and they serve it as a starter. You can even make it at home and enjoy.


Chettinad chicken kurma


This time I am sharing authentic chettinad dish, chicken kurma. Chettinad food is a very famous cuisine for its distinct flavour, taste and spiciness and most popular for its non-vegetarian dishes in chettinand region in Tamil Nadu. Chettinad cuisine is popular for its variety of spices and freshly ground spices for non-vegetarian dishes. Chettinad chicken kurma is a spicy, hot and aromatic dish, which is flavoured with aromatic and distinctive spices like dagad phool (kal pasi or black stone flower), nutmeg and mace (jaiphal and javitri), star anise apart from cashews and kus-kus (poppy seeds), which is a must . Don’t compromise with the ingredients given or you will not get the chettinand taste. Chettinand chicken kurma goes well with plain rice, porotta, roti, idiyapam , idli and dosa, etc.


Achari gosht (pickled lamb curry)


Achari gosht is a lamb/mutton dish cooked in mustard oil with Achari (pickle) spices to bring out the pickle flavour in the lamb/mutton curry. Achar means Pickle. In India, it is used as a accompaniment with the meal. Apart from lamb, I have used thick sized green chillies stuffed with achari spices for more flavour and taste. Achari gosht goes well with roti, phulka, chapathi or just plain rice.


Dal tadka


Dal tadka is a very popular dal preparation offered in Punjabi dhabas and restaurants in India. It is very easy to prepare this in the restaurant style. Dal tadka is a Punjabi dish in which the boiled dal is cooked with onion and tomato mixture and then tempered in the end with ghee and spices. Tadka means tempering/frying in the oil with spices. I have used a combination of arhar dal (toor dal/split pigeon peas) and chana dal (Bengal gram). You can use any dal (lentils) as per your liking and taste. People often confuse dal fry with dal tadka. In dal fry, boiled dal is cooked with onion and tomato mixture and tempered once. In dal tadka the tempering happens twice. Otherwise, both dal preparations are the same to me with only difference being in the name – one is in English (fry) and the other is in Hindi (tadka). Dal tadka is a comfort food with full of protein source, which can enjoyed with just plain rice or roti.


Vazhakkai bajji / Raw banana fritters


Vazhakkai bajji/raw banana fritters is a very popular evening snack in Chennai, which is usually accompanied with a cup of tea. Vazhakkai bajji is a south Indian snack, which you can find near Marina beach in Chennai, served in paper plates with a spicy onion or tomato chutney. We often order milagai bajji (chilli fritters) and vazhakkai bajji (raw banana fritter). Apart from beach in Chennai, it is also made at home and also available at small tea shops as a snack in the evenings.


Chettinad chicken curry / kuzhambu


Chettinad food is very popular for its non-vegetarian dishes from Chettinad region in Tamil Nadu. I am sharing this authentic restaurant style Chettinad chicken curry/kuzhambu, which is spicy, hot and aromatic flavoured with distinct spices like kal pasi (dagad phool or black stone flower), nutmeg and mace (jaiphal and javitri), star anise in addition to other spices. Do not compromise with the ingredients mentioned in this recipe if you want the real Chettinad taste. Chettinad chicken curry/kuzhambu goes well with anything – plain rice, roti, chapathi, parotta, biryani, pulao, idiyyapam, dosa, set dosa, idli, etc.


Kadai paneer


Kadai Paneer is a very popular paneer dish from North India and easily found in most restaurants in India and in the UK. Kadai paneer is the combination of onion, tomato, bell pepper and spices, which gives this dish a very lovely taste. I have prepared kadai paneer as a semi-dry style and not as a curry. Kadai paneer goes well with jeera rice, roti (chapathi) and naan.


Paneer tikka masala


Paneer tikka masala is a very popular creamy tomato based Indian dish. Paneer is marinated in yoghurt and spices, cooked in the grill or oven and added to a rich tomato based sauce. I have used the grill option to make it quick. Paneer tikka masala is a time consuming dish to make, but you can do some preparation earlier to make your work easy when you get to cook this dish. I did the marination overnight and cooking the next day. I started to cook the sauce first and then cooked the paneer tikka in parallel, so that it can go straight in the sauce.