Chicken Pickle

The world did not come to an end and my mom is visiting, so I have time to try out a few recipes which have been on hold for a long time.

cooked chicken

The friend who gave me this recipe and me were discussing about the end of world prediction set for May 21. The deal was if we came out of it alright I'd take some chicken pickle for her. The recipe came from her mother after all so it is fair I take her some for taste?

I chanced upon this farm where I got really fresh chicken. Usually what is sold as fresh chicken in store is not not really fresh right? it could have been sitting in the store for quite a while. Fresh chicken is sure worth its price.

I had saved the breast meat for making the pickle but any part (bones and all) would work.

Chicken Pickle
1. 3 cups of chicken cut into bite size pieces
2. 2 tbsp of grated ginger
3. 4 tbsp of finely chopped or crushed garlic
4. 2-4 tbsp of red chili powder
5. 1 tbsp of garam masala or chicken masla powder
6. 2 tsp of turmeric powder
7. 1/2 cup of oil (I used safflower oil)
8. 1/2 cup of lime juice
9. salt to taste

Method
1. Wash the chicken well with turmeric powder drain and set aside
2. Boil the chicken with 1/2 tbsp ginger, 1 tbsp garlic, 3 tsp of chili powder, turmeric powder, salt (use just enough to partially cover the chicken (I needed to cook only for 8 minutes for the chicken to cook). Necessary to cook the chicken completely. Drain (use the juicy liquid for making some yummy rice and bean rice perhaps!)
3. In a heavy bottomed pan, heat the oil, add the garlic followed by the ginger and saute for 3-4 minutes
4. Add in the chicken and masala powder and let it cook for another 4-5 minutes
5. Add in the lime juice and let the mixture come to a boil
6. Continue to boil till the oil start to separate
7. Add the chili powder and salt if required and let it cook for a few more minutes
8. Cool and store in the refrigerator

Though my family ate the chicken like it were chicken curry till I reminded them it was pickle. Feel free to eat as you see fit.

Green Bell Pepper Gothsu (sour and spicy sauce)

The recipe is again one from my lunch room. Not from the friend who has provided the most recipes for the lunch room series. The friend is in India now trying to get what is called a H1B visa stamping.

From what I understand the H1B visa is issued here in the US but the stamping apparently has to happen in the person's country of birth. The exploitation by employers who sponsor someone a H1B visa are numerous. These employers are the bottom feeders who don't create any jobs but make money supplying the cheapest labor to employers who do not want to sponsor these visas. Don't for a minute think these are small businesses these are huge multinational companies who want to be able to hire and fire people generally called contractors. Hiring these kind of workers frees them from some of the legal requirements of having permanently employed workers.

As the number of years it takes to get a Green Card getting longer and longer a lot of these H1B visa holders are pretty much slaves to these employers who have found weaknesses and latched on to a system where the people who they employ don't have any easy legal recourse. It almost seems that illegal immigrants are much better off in this system than H1B workers. Failing to pay proper wages, having one amount listed in the papers and paying partial or incomplete payments are just common practices.

The sad part is what enables these employers to get away with these abuses is the employees themselves are willing to bend rules and do whatever it takes to get employed. From inflating the years of experience, cooking up projects and companies that exist only on paper, having someone else take the interview to get a job - the array of abuses are sometimes too hard to believe.

So here is the relationship. It is a hard one to keep track of. There is the company that has the employee(person on a visa doing work) on its payroll. The employer and employee in most cases have never met face to face. This company is selling the skills of its employee to a vendor who in turn sells it to another vendor. At the end of this chain is the preferred vendor who has the contract with the end client - the business which actually has the requirement for a worker. Most times the client is unaware of the treacherous route the worker took to get there. They do not care in most cases, they just want a body to do the work for a short period and get the heck out.

While in most states of India the obsession to work in the US has subsided greatly, Andhra being the only exception it seems to me. There is enough blame to go around. These kind of workers do bring down the rates of native born workers as well as those workers who are unwilling to inflate their resume or work for peanuts.

Now that I have totally digressed I will rein myself back and give you the recipe. I have cooked with bell peppers sliced lengthwise, larger cubes but never chopped into tiny cubes. And so the curry that I saw and tasted with these tiny chopped cubes intrigued me. The friend who shared the curry did not cook it, was cooked for her by her cousin. Anyway I tried to recreate it from taste. It was also very similar to the brinjal curry my grandma and mom make for ven pongal. Recipe here. I added tomatoes for the recipe but it is not required.

Green Bell Pepper Gothsu
Ingredients
1. 2 green bell peppers innards removed and chopped into tiny cubes (about 2 cups)
2. 2 cups onions chopped fine
3. 1/2 cup of finely chopped tomatoes or 1 1/2 tbsp tomatoes (optional)
4. 1 1/2 cups of tamarind pulp from a small lime sized piece of tamarind
5. 1/2 tbsp of chili powder or 1 tbsp of sambhar powder
6. 1/2 tsp of roasted methi powder
7. salt to taste
8. seasonings: split urad dal, cumin seeds, mustard seeds and curry leaves
9. 1 tsp of oil

Method
1. In a wide mouthed pan heat oil add urad dal and when it starts to brown add the cumin seeds and mustard seeds and when it starts to splutter add curry leaves
2. Now add the onions and let it brown nicely
3. Add the chopped bell peppers and saute for about 8 minutes or so
4. Add the sambhar powder and salt and mix it in well followed by the tomatoes if using
5. Saute for about 4-5 minutes. Add the tamarind pulp
6. Add salt close the lid and let it cook till everything comes together and most of the moisture has evaporated

Serve with white rice.

Mango Moong Dal

With the Federal shutdown out of the way we can move on to other important things. Living in the shadow of the Nation's capital like we do a shutdown would paralyze a large portion of life around here. Memory of the last one not a distant memory and what it could do the personal life of a president still lingering another one was not very welcome.

If you live in the NE US and are starting a backyard garden, now is the time to start the seeds indoors. They will be ready to be transplanted outside end of May. If you are lucking to be living in the South (US) you are probably already well into your growing season.

Now to the recipe,
I had bought a raw mango hoping to make some mango pickle but it was not meant to be. So the next best thing was making dal out of it before it became completely unusable. I usually make sambhar with mango and drumstick but with the Andhra influence big I decided to make mango pappu (or mango dal). Toor dal can be used but I like the taste of moong dal and I was making a side dish for idli. Combined the method my mom uses to make breakfast sambhar for idli.

Mango Moong Dal Recipe
Ingredients
1. 1 cup of split moong dal (preferably without skin)
2. 1 cup of raw mangoes cut into small cubes (peel the skin if it is tough)
3 1 medium sized ripe tomato
4. 1/4 cup chopped onions
5. 4 slit green chilies or 1/2 tbsp sambhar powder
6. 1 tsp turmeric powder
7. seasonings: mustards seeds, cumin seeds and curry leaves
8. 1 tsp of oil and salt to taste
9. handful of chopped coriander leaves

Method
1. Pressure cook the moong, onion, tomato and mango with 2 cups of water, turmeric powder, sambhar powder(or green chilies) and few drops of sesame oil for 2 whistles, cool and mash it with a back of a spoon.
2. If the cooked dal is too thick add a cup more of water if required (or as much water as you'd like) and let it come to a boil (3-5 minutes)
3. Add salt and coriander leaves
4. In a small pan heat the oil add the cumin and mustard seeds followed by the curry leaves. Pour over the dal

Tastes good idlis or dosais but I bet it tastes good with rice as well.

Aloo Matar Sabzi - Potato Peas Gravy (Potatoes, Peas, et al in an onion- tomato-coconut gravy)

There is so much going on around the world that for once I have nothing to say. Will stick to food and the comfort that brings.

Potatoes get a bad rap as being too starchy, carb overloaded, fatty and every other bad book you can throw at it. But it reigns supreme in my kitchen and is everybody's favorite in our house. It adapts itself beautifully boiled, steamed, roasted, curried, gravied whatever. As long as it is not double deep fried and ends up as a French Fry there is nothing really to complain about. This is the first real vegetable I learnt to cook as a youngster.

My office lunch room is no different. Potatoes take up different tasty avataars and there is not much I can do to keep away. This aloo matar recipe which I hear is a Punjabi classic took a detour to Andhra added on some more delicious characteristics and morphed into this delicious gravy. Perfect as a side for any kind of Indian flatbread.

I had some leftover soaked navy beans which was added to the mix. I usually saute the garlic before blending but you could blend them raw as well.

Aloo Matar (Potatoes, Peas in a tomato-onion-coconut gravy)
Ingredients
1. 4 medium sized potoes (3 cups more or less) peeled and cubed
2. 1 cup of peas
3. 1 cup of navy beans soaked overnight and precooked for about 8-10 minutes (optional)
4. 1 large red onion (1 1/2 cups) onion chopped fine
5. 4 tomatoes (1 cup) chopped fine
6. 2-3 tbsp of coconut
7. 5 cloves of garlic
8. 1 inch piece of ginger
9. 2 tsp red chili powder
10. 1/2 tbsp Kashmiri chili powder
11. handful of chopped coriander leaves
12. 1/2 tbsp of masala powder (I added Kitchen King chicken masala powder)
13. 1 tsp cumin powder
14. salt to taste
15. seasonings: fennel seeds and cumin seeds
16. 2-3 tsp turmeric powder

Method
1. In a pressure cooker/pan heat a tsp of oil. Season with fennel seeds.
2. Add whole garlic cloves and saute for a minute or two and fish them out and blend it along with ginger, coconut, cumin powder and the masala powder to a fairly smooth paste and set aside
3. To the oil in the pressure pan add the onions and saute till they are nice and brown
4. Add the chili powders and turmeric powder and give a good mix
5. Add in the cubed potatoes and the navy beans and saute for 3-4 minutes
6. Add the chopped tomatoes and let them cook till they are mushy
7. Add the blended paste, about 2 cups of water, peas and chopped coriander, salt
8. Close the presssure cooker and put the weight on. Cook for about 8-10 minutes or till the first whistle whichever comes first

Delicious with rotis or parathas. The aroma is what gets to you first.

Andhra Style Spinach Dal(Pappu)

In the US every third person you meet is a published author. I might be exaggerating a bit but more books are published here than any other place on the planet. No subject is off-limits and with the network readily available to publicize the book and its author. Most make money I presume or so many books would not be published.

The more radical the writing the more air time devoted by radio and TV stations for the authors and their books. One of my favorite radio stations an affiliate of NPR has a Talk Show where mostly sensible and very civil discourse takes place. I had lot of respect for the host and also the staff who I thought I did a pretty good job of researching and promoting and giving air time to the mostly well written and historically correct books. This was until my opinion took a nose dive after lisening to this guy a Kashmiri educated in Delhi for free took to disparaging India to an extent that Indians and a few non-Indians called in to complain about the historical inaccuracies he was passing off as truth. This is scary especially because most of the world tends to believe what is written in a book to be true.

If a subject is confined to matters related to the US the text of a book rarely deviates from the truth unless it is an opinion piece. But most publishing houses, literary personalities, journalists all drop the ball when the subject matter moves beyond the border. For e.g. more often than not information presented about India has inaccuracies which is difficult to detect unless someone spent a considerable amount of time there and are familiar with the country. This perhaps is true for information presented about other countries as well.

Do all these books make Americans better informed than the others? Do they even know what is happening in their own country? When George W. Bush first ran for President he was asked who the PM of India and his answer was Benazir Bhutto!!!! What do you think? Or what has been your experience? Share your thoughts.

Now on to the the recipe,
This is another recipe garnered from the lunch room. Where I came from paruppu(mashed dals) is cooked toor/moong dal lightly seasoned with onions, green chilies, mustard seeds and curry leaves. Eaten with rice generally with a spicy/tart puzhikuzhambu on the side. Just across the border in Andhra I have learned exists a huge variety of paruppu or pappu as they call it and are generally cooked with different kinds vegetables or greens. Vegetables/greens and dal are cooked together with green chilies, tomatoes or tamarind, onions and garlic and lightly mashed and seasoned. This opens up a whole new array of dals to dazzle the pallette. One of my lunch room buddies rents a room from an aunty and lucky for her the aunty cooks great food and packs it for her.

One day was this aromatic spinach dal which was absolutely delicious. She had made it with toor dal. I have tried with both toor and moong and my preference is toor dal.

Andhra style Spinach Dal
Ingredients

1. 2-3 cups of fresh spinach washed and chopped coarsely
2. 1 cup of moong dal or 1 1/2 cups of toor dal
3. 3 tbsp of chopped shallots or red onions
4. 3-4 green chilies
5. 4 garlic cloves minced
6. 1/2 tbsp of sambhar powder (if adding green chilies skip or reduce)
7. 1 medium tomato chopped (or 1 tbsp of tamarind pulp)
8. 1 tsp of methi powder (roasted and powdered methi seeds)
9. 2 tsp of turmeric powder
10. salt to taste
11. 1 tsp of sesame oil
12. seasonings: ghee, mustard seeds, cumin seeds and curry leaves

Method

1. In a pressure cooker add the dal, spinach, onions, tomato, green chilies, garlic, sambhar powder, turmeric powder along with 3 cups of water and cook for 2-3 whistles.
2. Mash the dal gently and set it on low flame. Add more water if too thick and let it come to a boil (Do not over cook just gently heat for a couple of minutes if not adding extra water).
3. In a small pan heat the ghee and add the seasoning and pour over the dal and sprinkle the powdered methi powder on top. Add salt and turn of the heat.

Goes best with rice.

Andhra style Pepper Chicken curry

My little brother has gone astray. We grew up in the same house breathing the same air, eating the same food, surrounded by the same things and disciplined the same way. One went astray and I am despondent.

OK enough of the melodrama. What exactly did he do? The Horrors! He is skeptical that Global Warming is the reason for Climate Change. The first time I heard him say it I was a bit taken aback. My baby brother? Really? Anyway it easy for me to listen to his reasoning than a conservative talking head on TV at whom I want to fling a really blunt heavy object.

Though I am willing to listen to his reasoning a bit (a tiny little bit) I am still not convinced that carbon emissions and other pollution by way of industrialization are somehow not responsible if not directly but indirectly. As people move farther and farther away from the sources of food and what sustains life they are unaware of how global warming is affecting them directly.

People of the industrialized western world and increasingly now the developing world are moving away from their roots and literally feeling and touching the earth. Even 20-30 years ago most children had some connection to a farm and in a way knew intimately how the vagaries of climate affected livelihood. Today a farmer is a distant figure toiling away in obscurity fighting not only with increasingly severe weather but also with giant food companies ready to do anything to see a profit and enslave the global food system to their modified seeds and scientific methods of modifying living things.

Large coastal areas are going under the sea while vast areas of Africa is reeling under severe drought. So when I saw this article in NY Times - Zambia BurningI forwarded the article to him . And here is what he had to say about it.


"This article illustrates precisely how the global warming fear mongering has reached ridiculous proportions. I am actually pleasantly surprised that so many readers of the titan of mainstream liberal media - NY Times, have actually pointed this out.

Fertile forests and grasslands turning into desert has happened throughout history. Thar desert in Rajasthan was apparently once green with streams and rivers. Even Sahara desert and Egypt were once covered with forests. Was industrialization and global warming responsible for this 2000 years ago?

And then to top it off, the favorite liberal pastime - blame the West and blame America for everything that happens in every corner of the world. First of all, cycles of severe drought and rain are a constant feature in sub-Saharan Africa - the main reason why no major civilization ever thrived there. In recent times, Zambians like people of most poor countries are clearing away forests to create agricultural land and for mining, and this further leads to failure of rain and drought. Not to mention the corruption of African governments that do not care at all about their people and resources.

Of course, why hold them responsible for their own land, blame the West and blame America. Let us see what this "honeymooning" couple will give up to reduce the so called global warming!"


I can't completely disagree with his reasoning either. I am slowly learning to look at issues impartially without being taken over by emotion.

The next in the lunch room recipe series comes this tasty and absolutely delicious pepper chicken. After tasting this in the lunch room had to try it out.

Andhra style Pepper Chicken Curry
Ingredients
1. 2 lbs of chicken thighs cut into bite sized pieces
2. 1 1/2 cups of finely chopped red onions or shallots
3. 6 garlic cloves
4 2 inch piece of ginger
5. 1 tbsp coriander seeds
6. 1 tbsp pepper corn
7. 1 tsp cumin seeds
8. 2 tbsp coconut
9. 1/2 cup tomatoes
10. 1 tbsp chicken masala powder or (1/2 inch piece of cinnamon, 3 cloves, 2 red chilies all roasted and powdered)
11. 1/2 tbsp lemon juice (optional)
12. 1-2 tsp chili powder
13. 2-3 tsp turmeric powder
11. salt to taste
12. 2-3 tsp of oil
13. seasonings: curry leaves and cumin seeds /fennel seedes
Method
1. Wash and pat dry the chicken and marinate it with the turmeric powder, chili powder and lemon juice for about an hour
2. In a small saute pan add a few drops of oil, saute the garlic and ginger, add in the tomatoes and let it get soft. Add the coconut and saute for a minute more. Cool and blend to a paste with very little water
3. Dry roast the coriander seeds, pepper corn and cumin and make a powder
4. Heat a heavy bottomed pan heat the oil and in high heat saute the chicken till they turn brown for about 8-10 minutes. Most of the water would have evaporated at this point. Set aside
5. In the same pan add a bit more oil if required, add the cumin/fennel seeds and curry leaves
6. Add in the onions and saute till they turn brown
7. Add in the sauteed chicken and the powdered coriander/pepper powder, chicken masala powder and give a good mix
8. Add the blended paste, salt and 1 1/2 cups of water and let them cook together after the mixture comes to a boil for 8-10 minutes. Turn off heat

Serve with rice or any type of bread.

Val Beans in a peanut gravy (Mochai kuzhambu)

Lunch time at work has become something to look forward to with a few colleagues from Andhra, a chance to taste some good food and get ideas and recipes first hand. The recipe to be presented today is one I tasted during lunch hour one day.

I remember fresh val beans (pachai mochai) from childhood, during season there were always in abundance and everyone was rounded up to shell them. A tamarind spiked spicy gravy made with with brinjals and fresh val beans was a big favorite. It has also boxed me into a narrow idea that Val beans have to be cooked in a tamarind based gravy. Not necessarily, a vast array of possibilites opened up after tasting val in a peanut based gravy.

Val Beans in a peanut gravy(Mochai Kuzhambu)
Ingredients
1. 2 Cups dried val beans soaked overnight
2. 1/2 cup onions chopped
3. 1/4 cup sour tomatoes (2 tbsp tamarind extract for unsour tomatoes, optional)
4. seasonings: mustard, cumin seeds and curry leaves
5. salt to taste + 1 tsp oil

For the peanut paste
1. 1/4 cup roasted unsalted peanuts (shelled and skin removed)
2. 1 tbsp coriander seeds
3. 4-5 red chilies
4. 1 tbsp grated fresh/frozen coconut
5. 1/2 tbsp grated ginger (I forgot to add them)

Dry roast the coriander, red chillies till they start to turn brown. Add the coconut and ginger if using and roast till it starts to turn slightly brown. Cool and blend to a smooth paste, adding a couple of tbsp of water if required.

Method
1. Wash and rinse the beans and set aside
2.In a pressure cooker, add oil and when hot add the seasonings
3. Add the onions and saute till translucent
4. Add the beans and saute for 5-10 minutes
5. Add the tomatoes and saute for a few minutes till they become soft
6. Add in the blended paste and 2 cups of water. Do not add salt now.
7. Close the lid and cook for 2 whistles. Let cool, add salt and boil for a minute more.

Note:
1. The val beans can be precooked, in which case they will be added after the peanut paste has been added.
2. Pressure cooker is not a must. Can be cooked in a pan with lid