Chettinad Varutha Kozhi

By Chef Damodaran

Recipe

1. Cut chicken into small pieces and wash it well.

2. Dry fry whole pepper, red chilli, fennel seeds, curry leaves and coconut and grind it as a fine
paste.
3. Marinate the chicken using ground paste, ginger garlic paste and 1tbsp oil and required salt. Let
this sit for 20 minutes.
4. Prepare batter by mixing besan flour, pepper powder, salt and water and consistency of the batter
should be like bajji batter consisitency. If you want you can can add rice flour and Appa Soda with
this batter.

5. Heat enough oil in a frying pan. Once its hot enough, dip the marinated chicken pieces in the
batter and deep fry it in oil till it turns into golden brown color.
6. Heat 1tbsp oil in another pan.Add chopped onion, fry it till it turns into golden brown color.
7. Add green chilli, curry leaves, tomato and saute it till its half done.
8. Add fried chicken pieces with this masala and mix it well. Garnishes with coriander leaves.

Ingredients
Chicken - 1/2 kg
Ginger - 50gm
Garlic - 1 whole
Red Chilli - 4 -5
Fennel Seeds - 2tsp
Green Chilli - 2
Onion - 150gm
Pepper - 2tsp
Tomato - 100gm
Besan flour - 1/2 cup
Coconut - 1/4
Oil

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Allepey Fish Curry

Kerala Style

Ingredients:
200 g Sear Fish, cubes
40 ml Coconut Oil
5 Green Chilies, slit
50 g Sambar Onion, sliced
10 g Ginger, sliced lengthwise
5 g Curry Leaves
2 Raw Mangoes, peeled & cut in cubes
6 g Turmeric Powder
20 g Red Chili Powder
200 ml Coconut Milk
Salt, to taste
How to make Allepey Fish Curry:
Take a deep pan and heat coconut oil in it.
Put sliced sambar onion, green chilies, half of sliced ginger, half of curry leaves
and peeled raw mango cubes in it.
Saute well, till the onions turns translucent and mango is easily mashed.
Add turmeric powder and chili powder to it and mix well again.
Add salt and water in it and let the spices cook on slow flame.

Pour coconut milk in it and let it cook for 5 more minutes.

Now, carefully drop the fish cubes in the prepared mixture and cook till the fish is
tender.
Take a small saucepan and saute the remaining ginger and curry leaves in 1 tbsp
of oil.
Garnish the prepared fish with this mixture and serve hot, with rice.

Simple Fish Kulambu

Tamil Nadu Style

Ingredients:
750 gm Fish, cut into smaller pieces
Tamarind, size of a table tennis ball
1 tsp Pepper
1 tsp Fennel
1 tsp Turmeric powder
1 tsp Vegetable oil
1 Large onion
1/2 Cup fresh coriander leaves, chopped
3 tsp Masala powder (ground red chilli and coriander)
5 or 6 Sambar onions, sliced finely
Salt to taste
Methi seeds
Few curry leaves

1 tsp Lime juice

How to make Fish Kulambu:
Apply turmeric powder and salt on fish, keep aside.
Wash it properly after 5 minutes.
Soak the tamarind in water and remove thick pulp.
Grind the large onion, coriander leaves, pepper and somph together.
Combine masala powder and salt with the tamarind pulp.
Pour vegetable oil in a pan and season it using methi seeds.
Now add the curry leaves and chopped onions.
Cook it until the onion turns brown.
Add the tamarind pulp mixture and boil it, cover the pan tightly.
Add the fish after 10 minutes of boiling. Cook it properly.
Remove from the fire when done and garnish it with coriander leaves.
Add lime juice if the gravy is too spicy.
Meen kulambu is ready to serve.

Vegetable Biryani
Biryani is a flavored rice made with all
vegetables and all the spices

Vegetable Biryani is an Indian rice dish bursting with flavor, delicious spiced
vegetables and rice
Vegetable Biryani is one of most widely cooked rice dish in Andhra Pradesh and
Tamil Nadu.
This is famous offer traditional rice dishes is available in almost all restaurants.
This dish is suitable as a lunch dish for schools kids as well as office persons.

Ingredients
1-1/2 cups Uncooked Rice
2 cups (mixed boiled vegetables i.e. chopped cauliflower, carrots, potatoes, green peas)
2 pinches Saffron (dissolved in a little water)
1 tablespoon Coriander Leaves (chopped)
2 Onions (sliced)
4 tablespoon Ghee
2 tablespoon Cashew nuts (broken into pieces)
A little Milk
2 tablespoon Raisins
2 Capsicums (sliced)
3 Tomatoes (finely chopped)
Salt to taste
To be ground into a paste
6 Garlic Cloves
1 tablespoon Poppy Seeds
25 mm piece of Ginger
2 sticks Cinnamon
3 Cardamoms
1/2 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
4 Green Chilies
1/2 teaspoon Chilly Powder

6 Mint leaves
3 Cloves
2 Onions
Preparation
Boil the rice in a vessel containing adequate water, cook and drain excess water.
Add the saffron liquid and salt to the cooked rice. Mix well.
Heat the ghee and add the onions.Fry until brown.
Remove the onions and in the same ghee, add the cashewnuts and raisins.
Fry for a few seconds. Remove and keep aside for garnishing.
Add the prepared paste and fry for 3 to 4 minutes.
Add the tomatoes and capsicum and fry again for 2 to 3 minutes.
Add the boiled vegetables and coriander and cook for a while.
Put 2 tablespoons of ghee at the bottom of a baking bowl.
Make layers of the rice and vegetables, beginning and ending with rice.
Sprinkle a little milk on top.
Cover and bake in a hot oven at 200 degree C for 15 to 20 minutes.
Garnish with fried onions, cashew nuts and raisins and serve hot.
Vegetable Biryani is ready to Taste........

Sambar Rice

Ingredients
Thur Dal 1 cup
Raw Rice 1 cup

Shelled Green Peasn1/4 cup

carrot 1
Potato 1
Drum stick 1
Small Brinjal 1
TOmatoes 3
Beans 4
Coriander powder 4 tsp
Chilli powder 2 tsp
Green chilli 4
Mustard 1/2 tsp
Urad dal 1 tsp
Asafoetida 8 small pieces.
Fenugreek 1/2 tsp
Small onion 10
Curry leaves a bunch
Cashew nut 10
Ghee 3 tsp
Coriander one buch
Lime 1
Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
Process
Wash rice and drain.
Cook the thur dal.
Heat 2 tsp of ghee,add mustard ,urad dal, asafoetida and fenu greek.
When browned add onion,green chillies,curry leaves and fry/
When the onions are golden brown a
,add 1 1/2 cup water,rice , vegetable pieces and dal.

Season with salt,turmeric,chiili powder and coriander powder.

When the water to boil,close the vessel and cook on very low fireuntil rice is soft.
Fry cashew nut in ghee and pour over rice.
Add minced coriander leaves and lime juice
A bowl of steaming sambar rice and potato chips for that added crunch would
make any tummy truly happy

Chef Mr. Damodaran

Mr. Damodaran is the head of the MGR Catering College, in Chennai and a popular
host of the cookery programme 'Suvaiyo Suvai' on Jaya TV

How to reduce your cooking time

Before You Start. Defrost frozen foods in the refrigerator before cooking so your oven
or stovetop doesn't have to use its precious energy bringing your food to room
temperature. With conventional ovens, keep preheat time to a minimum. Unless you're
baking breads or pastries, you may not need to preheat the oven at all.
While You Cook. Food cooks more quickly and more efficiently in ovens when air can
circulate freely. Don't lay foil on the racks. If possible, stagger pans on upper and lower
racks to improve airflow if you're baking more than one pan at a time.
Try to avoid peeking into the oven a lot as you cook. Each time you open the door, a
significant amount of heat escapes. Food takes longer to cook and you waste energy.

Use your oven light and inspect through the window in the oven door instead.
With electric burners, you can turn off the burner just before the cooking is finished. The
burner will continue radiating heat for a short while. This may also prevent overcooking.
Another way to avoid overcooking in the oven is to use thermometers, especially for
meat.
For Next Time. It doesn't take as much energy to reheat the food as it does to cook it.
So cook double portions when using your oven, and refrigerate or freeze half for
another meal. This will also save you preparation time!
If you have a self-cleaning oven, the best time to use the feature is just after you've
cooked a meal - that way, the oven will still be hot and the cleaning feature will require
less energy. Try not to use the self-cleaning feature too often, and operate the
ventilation fan when it's on.

pal payasam
4cups Milk
1cup Water
1/4cup Rice rava
1cup Sugar
1tsp Cardamom powder
Few cashewnuts
Silvered almonds
Few saffron strands
1tbsp Ghee
Heat ghee in a heavy bottomed vessel,fry the cashews until brown..to the same ghee,
add the rice rava,fry till its turns brown in colour,now add the milk,water and cook
everything in medium flame for 15-20minutes, stir frequently until the rice rava get
cooked, now add the sugar,cook until the sugar gets well dissolved..finally add the
cardamom powder, fried cashews,saffron strands and put off the stove...
Serve this delicious pudding chilled or warm topped with silvered almonds.

Chicken Makhani
Bakrid Food: Popular Bakrid Food

The Muslims around the world celebrate this occasion in remembrance of

Prophet Ibrahim, who agreed to sacrifice his dearest son to appease god.
The pilgrims to Mount Mina make animal sacrifices in honor of the god, and the
Muslims all over the world celebrate the occasion in the same fashion. Mostly
four legged animals like goat, sheep, camel, etc are slaughtered during the
festival, and their meats are used to prepare different dishes.
Chicken Makhani is one of the popular dishes which is always included in Bakrid
festival

It is a full flavored dish that complements the chicken well. It is also known
by names like butter chicken or Murgh Makhani. This traditional Punjabi
meat dish is served along with parathas, naan, roti or steamed rice.
Chicken is dressed overnight with various spices and ingredients and fried
over a grill. The makhani sauce in which the chicken lies is prepared by

mixing butter with mixture of spices and tomatoes. You can add cashew
paste to get thicker gravy. Fenugreek leaves impart distinct flavor to the
dish.

Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 shallot (chopped)
- 1/4 white onion (chopped)
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 1/2 tsp ginger
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/4 cup plain yogurt
- 1 cup fat-free milk
- 1 cup tomato puree
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)
- salt
- ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb chicken breasts or thighs (boneless skinless, cut into bite-size pieces)
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1/4 cup water

Directions:

1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat. Saute the onion and
shallot until soft (about 3 minutes).
2. Stir in butter, lemon juice, garlic, ginger, 1 tsp garam masala, chili powder,
cumin, and bay leaf. Cook and stir for 1 minute.
3. Add tomato sauce and cook for 2 additional minutes, stirring frequently.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and Stir in milk and yogurt, reduce heat to
low, and let simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
5. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and set aside
6. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken until slightly
browned (about 5 minutes).
7. Reduce heat, season with 1 tsp garam masala and cayenne pepper, and stir
in a few spoonfuls of sauce.
8. Simmer until liquid has reduced and chicken is no longer pink.
9. Stir cooked chicken into sauce. Turn and bake for 20 more minutes or until the
chicken is almost cooked through but still moist.
10. Mix together cornstarch and water. Stir into the sauce and cook over medium
heat until thickened (about 5 minutes).
11. Serve over rice and enjoy!

The origin of this very popular dishes- butter chicken or murgh Makhani is
an Indian cuisine from Punjab. It can be made as mild or spicy as you wish
by adjusting the cayenne. Serve with basmati rice and naan bread.