Chicken Dhansak and Brown Rice

Always been a big fan of Parsi folks and their delicious Parsi food! Patrani machchi, sali boti, kheema with eedu on top! Such mouthwatering dishes!

One of my favourite aunts is a proud Parsi lady and she cooks the most delicious food. I got this special Dhansak with brown rice recipe from her. I hope you guys drool as much as we did while cooking it :D

Dhanksak

You will need:

500 g Chicken

2 medium Onions

4 tbsp Ginger-garlic paste

2 heaped tsp of Dhansak masala*

For the gravy (all of the below to be pressure cooked and mixey-ed up):

2 tomatoes

3 brinjals/aubergines

200 gms of Pumpkin
4-5 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp cumin
2-3 medium spicy green chilies

A handful of coriander leaves

A handful mint leaves

Tiny bit of methi/fenugreek leaves (or 1 tsp methi seeds)

2 fists toor dal (soaked)

1/2 fist moong dal (soaked)

1/2 fist masoor dal (soaked)

1/2 fist chana dal (soaked)

1 tsp Turmeric

Red chilli powder to taste

Salt to taste

Method:

1) Add all the gravy ingredients in a pressure cooker and cook for 3 whistles (this may vary according to your cooker, so cook as long as you would cook rice). Mash them all up together into a smooth paste.

2) Coat chicken with ginger, garlic and salt and pressure cook for 15-20mins.

3) Heat oil in a pan. Put a paste of onion, garlic, cumin, green chillies. Stir fry. Add dhansak masala.

4) Add the chicken. Cook for 5-10mins.

5) Add smoothened dal paste.

6) Stir until fragrant.

Brown Rice

You will need:

2 cups Rice

3-4 tsp Sugar/Jaggery

2-3 of 2" pieces Cinnamon

5-6 Cloves

1 tsp Cumin (jeera)

1-2 Bay leaf

Method:

1) Heat ghee. Put cloves, cumin, cinnamon, bay leaf.

2) Add sugar/jaggery, caramelise.

3) Add rice. Pour in water. Cook.

* To make dhansak masala at home, you need:

5 Chillies (up to 10 depending on your preference)
2 Cinnamon sticks
3 Bay leaves
1 ½ tb Cumin seeds
2 tb Coriander seeds
1 tb Green or black cardamom seeds
2 ts Black peppercorns
½ tb Cloves
1 tb Fenugreek seeds
1 tb Black mustard seeds
½ tb Mace
½ tb Ground turmeric

Dry roast these and grind them in a mixer.

Green Chicken

This is another one of our experimental recipes that turned out great! The gravy can be green or brown depending on how long you cook it, and whether you add fresh green chillies or red chilli powder. We don't know what else to name it, so we're open to suggestions :)

The whole thing took about an hour and a half. If you're quick at prep, it will take you less. We're super picky about peeling the garlic, and we want to wash the coriander at least 4 times, plus we hate chopping onions so we had to take frequent "my eyes are watering" breaks!

You will need:

500g chicken
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste

5 tbsp yoghurt

1 cup almonds, made into a thick paste

1/2 cup grated fresh coconut

2 cups of Coriander

3 Onions, sliced

6-7 cloves of garlic

1 inch of ginger

3 tsp of red chilli powder (or use green chillies, like we did)

1/2 tsp of turmeric

Chicken masala (any brand is fine. The one we used had the following ingredients: coriander, chilli, garlic, fennel, cumin, star anise, black cardamom, shahi jeera, cinnamon, poppy seeds, dry fenugreek leaves, dry mint leaves, black pepper, clove, bay leaf, nutmeg)

Oil
Lemon juice (optional)

Salt to taste

Method:

1) Marinate the chicken in ginger garlic paste and yoghurt.

2) Meanwhile stir fry onion and coconut in oil until golden brown. Let it cool. Then make a paste in the food processor/mixer along with coriander, ginger and garlic. You will need to add water in small increments.

3) Fry the the above paste and the almond paste in oil until fragrant.

4) Add the marinated chicken.

5) Add chilli powder, turmeric, chicken masala and salt.

6) Stir and simmer for five minutes.

7) Add hot water and let simmer until the chicken is cooked. You can add the water until the gravy is the consistency of your liking. We prefer a thicker gravy.

Serve hot! :)



Tips:

You can use cashews if you don't have almonds.

You can add mint leaves for a variation of the recipe.

Pasta in Red Sauce

I find myself hungry at midnight several times. The clock strikes twelve and here I am trying to control my urge to give in to hunger'oclock, its so strange right?

One of my all time favourite and easy to make midnight snacks is pasta! Yes pasta, I enjoy elaborate meals even in the middle of the night.

Oh hello, delicious!

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