May 01, 2007

Chicken Curry In A Hurry..



Invoking the summer gods with the Okra has worked (:)) as it is warm and sunny here finally. What a difference in last week's rainy and gloomy days and this week's sunny days!!

But the days suddenly have become hectic and cooking has taken a back seat for a moment. After a long time, studies are back on the horizon (for a test) and all the yummy recipes seem so time consuming and labour intensive. Focusing on remembering what you read is not so easy with a rusty brain, and stressing it further with a complicated meal planning is just not right.

Nevertheless food has to be cooked unless you want to brave the greasy restaurant staples on a daily basis. Blogging too has thus been quite on the slow track. So today, I am stealing some time to rescue my readers from the corny hindi video.:)

Rummaging through my cookbook, I came across a handwritten malayalam recipe tucked in my recipe drawer, called Chicken Shahi Kurma. Though daunted by the name, the recipe looked easy and It turned out to be a creamy chicken curry which fools you into thinking that it is rich and took ages to cook. No cream, no coconut milk, just good ole ground cashews to thicken it. Prep time is minimal if you use a 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts and the cooking time is 15 minutes. Curry in a hurry indeed!

You will need:
Chicken-1 ½ lb, (700gm) boneless, cleaned and cut into small pieces.
Onions- 1 1/2 medium sized ones
Green Hot Chilies-6-8
Garlic cloves-3
Ginger-1/2 inch piece
Carrot-1 large one
Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
Red Chili Powder- 1 tsp
Fennel Powder-1/4 tsp
Black Pepper Powder- 1/4 tsp
Cashew nuts-7
Whole spices: 3 cloves, 2 cardamom
Lemon juice-1tbsp
Plain Thick Curd (Yogurt)- ½ cup beaten
Curry leaves- 1 sprig
Cilantro(Coriander)- 2 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Oil-2 tbsp
Preparation:
1. Cut the chicken into 1-2 inch even sized pieces. Wash the chicken and lightly toss it with lemon juice and rinse again. Drain well onto a slotted drainer. Slice the onions finely and dice the carrots. Soak the cashew nuts in ½ cup warm water for 10 minutes. Cook it in the microwave for 1 minute to speed up the soaking. Then wet grind it with the cleaned ginger, garlic and green chilies to a very fine paste. Add water only as you need to grind.
3. Heat the oil on a medium flame in a large shallow pan, add the whole spices and the onions. Saute the onions till they are light brown. Keep stirring and add oil if the onions are sticking to the pan or browning too fast.
4. Add the ground paste, spice powders and saute well for at least a minute, or till the red chili powder gets cooked. Then add the chicken and carrots and stir well till all the excess moisture dries up. It would be good if the chicken gets sauted on all sides before getting cooked. Then lower the heat, add 1/2 cup water, salt and cook covered for about 10 minutes or till the chicken gets cooked. Keep checking and add a little bit water if it starts sticking to the pan.
5. Check to see if the chicken is cooked. Add the chopped leaves and then lower the flame to a minimum. Add the beaten yogurt and adjust salt seasoning. If the yogurt is not sour, add a tsp of lemon juice to balance the flavors.
Serve hot with pathiri, appam, bread, puttu or just paratha.

34 comments:

Ayesha Seerin said...

Mouth watering pic ...
I am drooling all over :-)

Seena said...

This is just like my Kunjumma's chicken curry..For long we believed she prepared this curry by adding coconut..very thick gravy and easy to prepare..
thanks for the recipe, shaheen..

Anonymous said...

This is just the most delicious looking thing I’ve seen in ages. I can’t wait to make it! Yum!

Bong Mom said...

The curry looks yummmm. But how come you did it "in hurry". To gather all those ingredients I will spend half my day :)

All the best for your exams, end of sem right ?

Manjula said...

Delicious..
I really need to relax and mentally prepare a day ahead to cook chicken :( he he..off course that does not include the time for surfing the blogs and choosing which recipe to make.

Anonymous said...

shaheen, i was wondering where you were? good to see you with another yummylicious dish.

best of luck for the exams

indosungod said...

Shaheen good luck with the exams! Ah! now I know why you have been quiet. Curry looks delicious, just right for studying!

Sig said...

Wow, that picture looks too yummy to be curry in a hurry :) I haven't used a cashew paste for chicken curry, sometimes I grind cashews along with coconut, but never thought of using it alone. Will try this recipe for sure!

Good luck with your exams...

Bharathy said...

Good luck for your exams...getting thru them in flying colours is much more than blogging(ur hobby) and satisfying your readers comes last..Relax during your free time and dont pressurise urself..
After all your readers are ubderstanding than the professors(who mark your test papers;))..
Good recipe..will give a try with mushrooms and peas with the same base...
All the best again:)

Kalyn Denny said...

I'm saving the recipe right now.

sra said...

Best of luck with your test! And you used just 7 cashews?

Shah cooks said...

Ayesha, thanks!

Seena, good t hear that u have tasted something similar.

Dankos, let me know how it turns out.

Sadeepa, all these spices are my my daily use ones. no semester, just work related exams.

majula, now that u have selected it, lets hopw u make it tomo.:)

Reena,Indo,Sig, Bharathy, thanks!

MR said...

looks very delicious,
a different recipe than my usual chicken curry.
all the best for ur test!!

Prema Sundar said...

Nice looking picture Shaheen. At first i thought u have made it with coconut.. but u have used yogurt..will taste delicious with parathas.

Maneka Nirmal said...

yum.yum.yum................ and yum!!! adipoliyayittundu....but shaheen, how did you make it in hurry??

amna said...

Hello!

I am thinking of starting a new portal to host simple and easy-to-prepare recipes. This is mainly for bachelors/bachelorettes who may not have the time and the necessary utensils to prepare anything elaborate.

Please do contribute. For more details, I have made a post on this at:

http://cookingandme.blogspot.com/2007/05/portal-for-simple-cooking.html

Err.. does this comment look like spam? :O It really is not! Also, tell me what you think about the idea and better ideas of how I can go about this, if any.

amna said...

thank u so much shaheen.. u are my inspiration for this food blog and the photography :)

looking forward to your recipes!

Bharathy said...

same pinch no back pinch,n.:)

Priya Bhaskaran said...

Shaheen this curry you made in hurry....lol--all the best with your test...

mallugirl said...

kalyn,Glad to know u will be trying it.:)

Maneka, Priya, Believe me, it doesn't take time.:)
N, u are welcome. iwill send soem when u set up the portal.

Prema, hmm. porottas are a good combiantion with this.

sra..7 cashews. yes. and thanks.
mallusrecipes.. thanks!

Suganya said...

Mouth watering picture..... Delicious......

Anonymous said...

ha ha ...so u didn't turn into a veggie as i suspected.....
good recipe ...and an even better
'photom'
ki

Mrs. K said...

If in hurry, I would go to pizzahut.com, and place an order!
Don't know why..I don't use cashew nuts in curries a lot. I have only tried it once. Maybe I will try again to see how I like it now.

drNO said...

looks delicious, will try

Mandira said...

In a hurry? Now way. With all these delicious ingredients it looks amazing. The picture, I could eat the picture... :) hope the exam went well.

mallugirl said...

Sukanya, thanks!

Ki, I am a veggie, but what abt the others?:)

Rp, Pizza hut? u ? i thot u jsut whip one up!:)

MAndira, thanks for ur wishes!

Revathi said...

Hmmm so u want vettiver ?? Anything for you :) Waiting for your next post !!

Prajusha said...

hi shaheen,
ur chicken curry looks yummy yummy.good for porottas.thanks for sharing the mouthwatering recipe.:)

Unknown said...

Thanx a lot for this wonderful recipe......simply loved it......

Shah cooks said...

Lathi..your comment was not published here not because you didn't like the curry, but because your language was not appropriate to a blog's commenting space.This is my personal blog and the recipes are liked by my friends and families and i never guaranteed that you will like it. Please don't visit my blog if you don't like the recipe and leave vicious comments.

Dina said...

Tried ur recipe tonite and we loved it with roti.But i didnt add carrots.

Unknown said...

Hi shaheen...alls well I hope...
Curry looks yummy yummy but name seems inappropriate coz to gather all the ingredients may itself take hours!
anyways, will check out the recipe.
thanx dear...
Fi Amaanillah
Sameera

Sabitha said...

shaheen..grt chicken curry! Its quite a simple and quick recipe. My kids loved it a lot and were asking for more and more. Thanx a lot....

Unknown said...

Excellent , i did try today and managed to impress my wife on her b'day! Thnks to u..