Salem, Pichipotta Kozhi Varuval - Salem, Shredded Chicken Fry

                                                Salem brings back a lot of nostalgic memories. Like someone said, it is difficult to tame an animal that still has wilderness in its memory, I guess even people displaced to a new place will always carry their childhood memories of their home town, no matter how old they grow. We as a bunch of kids were always outdoors, either playing or fishing in wide and deep wells, transferring to a big bucket of water hoping to bring up this new found pet that never survived for more than two days, collecting rose plant cuttings and growing in our own pots and waking everyday with anticipation to see pretty flowers, that only bloomed like a surprise, once in a blue moon, but still pretty and we would gather figs from a tall tree in a nearby college ground, pelting stones at it, which was always, always infected with worms and when every time a funeral procession passed by, we would rush to the end of the street, climb the walls of the temple there, cling on to the window grill and would try to catch a glimpse of the dead person and discuss later who it was, not that we know, but just for the fun of it. While now, I shudder even when I hear the sound far, far away. 

                                       When it came to food, those were the best days, because the ladies who were  young back then, made us all possible delicious food, that even my son, nor my nephews have had the chance to taste it till date and now they are pestering me and my mother to make all those delicious foods that my grandmother made for us. My little twin nephews who are barely '8 years old', know exactly what they would eat if they were to visit salem! Well, even we grown ups have our favourite eating spots and favourite food in salem, that we never fail to miss, before we board our trains. After all, it was my hometown for nearly thirteen years! 'Pichipotta kozhi varuval or pichi kozhi' as shortly called, is a simple stir fry that can be fixed in no time and one that will tempt you to make quite often. 

Ingredients
Chicken                                     300 gms
Onion                                        1
Ginger garlic paste                  3/4 tsp
Turmeric powder                     1/4 tsp
Chilly +coriander powder       1/2 tsp
Dry red chillies                         3
Oil                                               2 tbsp
Fennel                                        1/2 tsp
Freshly ground pepper            to taste
Curry leaves                              few

Method
Pressure cook chicken with 1/4 tsp salt and a good pinch of turmeric powder for about 10 minutes ( If turmeric powder is used while cleaning the chicken, then avoid the turmeric and cook the chicken with just salt and do not add water)
Let it cool. Shred the chicken into long strips, discarding the bones. Keep it aside.
Heat oil in a pan, add the fennel, as it begins to change colour, throw in split dry red chillies and the curry leaves.
Add the finely sliced onion and sauté until the onion turns golden and lightly crisp.
Add the ginger garlic paste, stir, add the turmeric powder, chilli+coriander powder, 1/2 tsp salt and stir again.
Add the shredded chicken stir well until everything is mixed, add in freshly ground pepper stir for a few more seconds and serve hot with rice or chappathi. Garnish with a few more fresh curry leaves.

Note:
For a spicy 'pichi potta kozhi or shredded chicken fry', add more red chillies and chilly powder and for a peppery fry, reduce the chilli powder to 1/4 tsp and add more of ground pepper. Here, I have given a balanced version of the two.
When transferring the chicken to a  serving bowl, make sure to scrap the crisp, fried masala from the bottom of the frying pan, that’s full of flavour.

Vacation In God’s Own Country

                                         It was a beautiful day and a wonderful weather, drizzling lightly, it was all perfect on the first day of our landing in Kerala a week ago. Starting from kumarakom, floating peacefully in a huge house boat on one of the largest lake in India, that almost looked like a sea, was a beautiful ride to relax on the serene backwaters with good food and good view, but the overnight halt was not a good idea with the beetles, lizards and mosquitoes swarming towards the boat just after the sun set.
                                             
                                                                    A view of the sun set in kuttanad from the house boat

Siberian birds in Kumarakom bird sanctuary

                                        Besides visiting the well known temples in kerala, the tour turned out to be a gastronomic delight with kadala curry and puttu, the best duck roast in Allapuzha, appam and egg curry in cochin, kottayam style fish curry and we were treated to an absolutely delicious prawn fry, crab curry and chicken biriyani by a bunch of syrian christian friends in cochin. These people love food, talk about it with passion and narrate with their eyes wide open and make us wish we had a taste of whatever they are talking about.

               
                                                           
                                     There’s water, water, water  every few kilometres or so in kerala, in one form or the other, it may be a small river or a lake or water falls or the vast sea or even a small pond and with so much water around, the desire to swim kept popping up all the time, but the lack of the skill and the fear of water prompted me to enquire the depth of water every time I went near a water body.

                  I invited myself into the house boat kitchen and watched the chef making kottayam style red fish curry, unfortunately we couldn’t eat more than a mouthful as it was 'too spicy' for our palate, but loved his chicken curry, pulicheri and pazham pori .

                                 I also happened to meet a well known sous chef in malabar who is writing recipes for a popular magazine in malayalam and had a little chat with him about food and his deep desire to spread the rich heritage of kerala cuisine and I was flattered by his humility when he gave his card and asked me to share ideas with him.

 One food that I felt was not right and could not appreciate throughout my eight days of stay in kerala was the sambhar. None of them tasted good or maybe I didn’t get to taste the right one!
                                                       
                                                          That's my son, standing by the sea in Fort cochin

       
                                       To wake up to the sounds of the sea waves on one side and view the sun rise on the backwaters on the other side of the room is sheer bliss. Our stay in cherai provided that wonderful experience of visiting the beach as and when needed and I could never take in enough of the beauty of the sea and the sun set, as I got tempted on all three days of my stay there to picture as much as I can till  my camera refused to take any more( the lens was a little tarnished that did not clear till I reached chennai)

                   Just us on cherai beach in the early hours of the day

                                    

                                       Aanai thavalam - Elephant Sanctuary in Guruvayur shelters about 58 elephants. Some of them are fat, some are old, some are young who playfully (?) toss around the branches, some elephants in ‘masth’ looking aggressive, but it is always pathetic to watch animals in captivity, even if it’s a sanctuary as they stand for hours legs chained to a pole, with no memories of their wild life, their family, their passed on knowledge of the long corridors they used to travel for food and water, generation after generation.

                                   
On returning to chennai we felt like we were stepping into a hot furnace and worse, the still existing misery of power cut slapped on our face to make us feel, 'wish we were still on vacation’ !                                
                                 

                   

Mutton Kolaurundaiyum Muttaiyum - Indianised Scotch Eggs

                           'Mutton kolaurundai' and 'Scotch Eggs', two most prominent dishes of South Tamilnadu and UK, are a must try, for any foodie if they were to visit these regions. While the scotch eggs are made of sausage wrapped around hard boiled eggs, coated with bread crumbs and deep fried, the southern kolaurundai is a spiced mutton or chicken mince ball, deep fried until crisp and brown. The fusion of these two regional food has resulted in this 'Mutton kolaurundaiyum muttaiyum' - 'Scotch Eggs with indian flavour’.

                             'Mutton kolaurundai' the speciality food of Madurai cuisine is ubiquitous in almost all restaurants that boasts of specialising in this cuisine. Speaking of Madurai, it’s one place that we love to visit again and again, not only because it our native place, but the temple city attracts us with its rich heritage, culture and food. 'Sathuragiri hills' which became popular recently, was my granddad’s hunting ground and a playground for my father and his siblings, while we only carry the distant memory of strolling in the vast coconut farm of my granddad, with coconuts on our head, which is all nothing but dry, vacant land now.

                               Only in Madurai, one can get to see the ritual of the temple elephant drinking a big jug of coffee every morning from a restaurant near the temple. It’s a city that is live even during midnight where hot and fresh food is available even in the late hours of the day. I have had the best chicken pakoda from here, which was irresistible even though it was given to me just before midnight and I have missed the most delicious feast that was prepared using every part of the sacrificed goat during a ceremony, all because I remained a vegetarian for a few years. This city is truly a gastronomic paradise and the popular food spots in the city still attracts many who don’t mind to stay a little longer only to get a good taste of their favourite food. That’s the reason why it is aptly called, 'the food capital of Tamilnadu’.
                 

Ingredients
A
Mutton mince                     1/2 k
Turmeric powder               1/4 tsp
Salt                                       1/2 tsp

B
Roasted gram                      2 Tbsp
Poppy seeds                         1 Tbsp
Fennel                                   1/2 tsp

C
Green cardamom                 1
Black cardamom                  1
Cloves                                    3
Cinnamon                             1 small
Star anise                              1 small

D
Onion                                        1 cup (finely chopped)
Coriander leaves                     1/4 cup( finely chopped)
Chilly+coriander powder      2 tsp 
Salt                                            1/4 tsp
Ginger garlic paste                 1 tsp
Bread crumbs                          1 cup
Boiled eggs                              4

Method
Combine the ingredients in list A, pressure cook for about 10 minutes without adding any water.
Let it cool.( Even before cooking make sure to squeeze out as much liquid as possible from the meat)
Slightly dry roast the ingredients in list C and combine with list B and make a fine powder.
Take a mixie jar, add the onion,  coriander leaves, chilli+coriander powder, salt, ginger garlic paste and pulse until everything is minced finely( not paste).
Add the cooked minced mutton and pulse again until it is mashed well, add the powdered mixture and pulse again until everything is mixed and gathers well .

For Scotch eggs/ Kolaurundaiyum muttaiyum
Dust the eggs with a Tbsp of flour and wrap the egg with the minced meat mixture.
Roll it in bread crumbs until it is evenly coated. Deep fry in medium hot oil until it is golden brown.
The given quantity is good enough to make  4 scotch eggs.

For Mutton Kolaurundai
Make small balls from the minced meat mixture, roll in bread crumbs and deep fry in low- medium hot oil one by one until golden brown.

Note:
Since I wash the meat with turmeric powder, I have used only 1/ 4 tsp of turmeric powder while cooking as it already has turmeric flavour. If you don’t, then use a pinch of turmeric powder along with chilly + coriander powder and onion mixture.

While frying the kolaurundai, do not turn the meat balls immediately to cook on the other side, as this only result in the balls breaking apart, wait for a minute until one side is lightly browned before turning it over.
As the meat is already cooked, the kolaurundai ( meat balls) should be fried just until it turns golden brown.

Potato 'n' Peanut Cutlet

                                 It is the worst time of the year, when the summer heat is at its peak and as if that is not enough, adding to our woes is the frequent power cut that is driving everyone crazy. Although the weather is not conducive to indulge in serious cooking, with kids at home for summer holidays that is no excuse. My son loves cutlets, even as a child, he would brighten up at the sight of cutlets and I know, it is one of the best ways to make him eat vegetables, which he would always be too happy to finish. Only problem I face is,  he always wants more and these potato 'n' peanut cutlet are no exception!

Ingredients
Cooked and mashed potatoes           1 1/3 cup
Roasted and powdered peanuts       2 tbsp
Roasted and powdered cumin          1/2 tsp
Green chilly                                         1
Chilli powder                                      1/2 tsp
Chopped mint leaves                         1 tbsp
Chopped coriander leaves                1 tbsp
Cornflour                                             3 tsp
Salt                                                       1/2 tsp
Water                                                   1 tbsp
Oil                                                         2 tbsp
Ginger garlic paste                             1/2 tsp
Bread crumbs                                      1 cup

Method
In a wide bowl, combine mashed potatoes, chopped green chilly, chilly powder, cumin powder, chopped coriander and mint leaves, salt, ginger garlic paste, peanut powder and mix well.
Make small patties. ( Makes about 7)
Mix cornflour with water and dip the patties in this cornflour mixture and coat it with bread crumbs.
Dust off excess bread crumbs and fry in batches in a pan on medium heat.
Use a tbsp of oil for about 4 cutlets and another tbsp for the second batch.

Note:
Deep fry the patties if desired, to get evenly browned cutlets.
Can roll into cylindrical shapes instead of round discs.
In case of deep frying, fry only one cutlet at a time or else the cutlets will disintegrate.

      I have included a new page called my juke box, which you can enjoy listening if you like and I am thinking of introducing another page to publish readers review, as it would be helpful to others who might want to try the recipes. Although some of you have mailed me your happy experience of trying my recipes, I cannot publish it without your permission. So, I would like to get feed backs from all those who have tried my recipes, may be even photographs, which will be published in a separate page called ‘Review’. I assure you that your email id’s will not be published, only message and the name of the sender will be published. Looking forward to your feed back. Thank you all.
Email   -   mykitchenrhapsody@gmail.com