Virudhunagar Chicken gravy

Virudhunagar is a town near Madurai. Many spicy and delicious non veg dishes have originated around that area and one among them is this chicken gravy. Also this chicken curry can be seen in any roadside parotta stalls or muniyandi vilas, or in few typical native restaurants.
 If one has to travel from Tirunelveli (Nellai) to Madras (Chennai) by bus or car  (roadway), they would have the chance to taste the spiciest curries along with parotta.  Those travels would be by night time and the drivers would make a few stops for dinner, snack, tea time on the way. Whenever we used to travel  that route (our native place -  Chennai), hubby introduced me to these foods which he had enjoyed in his bachelor days. Every stop would have some specialty like Jasmine flowers in Madurai .... In almost every stop he would wake me up and would buy me something like eatables or flowers or coconut water or milk and this habit is continuing even in US too:) I think that is the basis for my knowledge on local foods.
Back to the recipe, those typical roadside motels would have a combo of parotta , salna as a standard menu and a spicy oily chicken gravy on special orders. We call it as Virudhunagar chicken gravy or ennai (oily) kozhi curry or sometimes Nellai chicken curry. This oily gravy is very common in these places, as we can get many versions of it. The serving will be on a very small bowl but will definitely make you crave :)
The specialty of this curry is the amount of sesame oil we add. Nowadays people are making it in any oil they have, but pure cold pressed sesame oil (sekku nallennai)  is good for this.  As it is a more oily gravy, I make it on special occasions only. That day I wanted to make something very spicy and truly southern for one of my friend's family. So I made this parotta stall version of chicken gravy along with chicken briyani. We all enjoyed the dinner very much and I am very glad that it turned out similar to the restaurant curry.The next day hubby happily carried it in his lunch box too:)

Spicy Virudhunagar oily chicken curry (ennai kozhi curry)

Ingredients:
Chicken - 1/2 kg (1 lb)
sesame oil - 1/2 cup
curry leaves - 2 sprig
fennel seeds (sombu)- 1 tbsp
cinnamon (pattai) - 2 inch
bay leaf (brinji ilai) - 1
cloves - 1/2 tsp
red onion - 2 large
tomato - 2 (optional)
cilantro (malli thazhai) - a handful

To grind:
Ginger - 2 inch
garlic - 1 whole

To grind:
Coconut - 1/4 to extract milk

Marination:
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 3 tbsp
red chilli powder - 1 tbsp
black pepper powder - 1 tsp
cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
curry masala powder - 1 tsp
sea salt - to taste
thick curd - 1 cup

Method:
Choose chicken pieces with some skin and bone (example, thighs).
Rinse and clean the chicken.
Cut it into small pieces.
Mix curd , coriander powder, chilli powder, curry masala powder, turmeric powder and salt.
Marinate chicken in this paste for  4 - 6 hours or inside fridge overnight. The marination is necessary for more flavorful soft chicken pieces.
Heat a thick bottom wok (kadaai) along with oil. Add spices like fennel, cinnamon, bay leaf, cloves.
After the fennel gets mild red, add finely chopped onion, curry leaves. Then put the ginger garlic paste and cook till raw smell goes. Then goes the chopped tomato. Wait till oil separates. (I won't add tomato for this gravy, but some people like to add tomato to reduce the spice level). Then add the marinated chicken, stir well and cook covered in low flame for 30 minutes.
Extract milk from coconut.
Then add the coconut milk and cook covered in low flame again for 5 minutes or till oil separates. Stir in between. If needed add 1/2 cup boiling water in the end to get more gravy. I add water at the end and cook covered for 5 more minutes in medium heat.
Spicy Virudunagar chicken curry is ready!

Serving suggestion:
Serve as side dish with parotta, chapati, briyani.

Wheat uppuma

Wheat upma is one of the easiest and simplest fulfilling Indian food. I am sure many of us know how to do it. I am sharing my simple recipe, which is my hubby dear's one of the favorites.
Cracked wheat (kothumai ravai) is available in almost all Indian grocery stores nowadays. But before they show up in the store isles, we used to buy whole wheat and break them into ravai (coarse flour) and fine whole wheat flour every month. Mom used to schedule this whole process at home and would dry the whole-wheat under direct Sunlight for a day, then send it to a grinding mill , get them done, would cool them off and store the flours in airtight vessels. Nowadays the whole process is reduced to a sachet sold in a nearby stores and we all are happily buying them too:)  So lets make this simple and delicious upma quick and nice !

Plain wheat rava upma with methi leaf chutney.

Wheat rava

Ingredients: (for 2 servings)
Wheat rava (cracked wheat)- 1 cup
water - 2 1/2  cup
red onion - 1
green chilly - 3
ginger - 1 inch
salt - to taste
curry leaf - few
cilantro - few
channa dal - 1 tbsp
mustard seed - 1/2 tsp
shredded coconut - 2 tbsp (optional)
oil - 1 tbsp

Method:
Dry roast the wheat rava for a few minutes till it smells nice. Take it out and keep aside.
Heat oil in a kadai.
Add mustard and let it start cracking.
Then add channa dal and fry for a few seconds.
Put the finely chopped onion, green chilly, curry leaves, chopped ginger and saute till onion gets cooked (golden color).
Add water, salt and bring to a boil.
Put the roasted wheat ravai, reduce flame and cook covered till rava gets all the water.
Check if it is cooked and stir till the upma looses the moisture.
Add chopped cilantro, shredded coconut. Mix well and switch off.
Cracked wheat upma is ready!

Serving suggestion:
Serve as breakfast or dinner along with chutney or sugar.
It tastes great with any spicy chutney like methi leaf chutney or cilantro chutney.

Okra sambar

Okra (Vendaikkai - Tamil) is one of the popular vegetables recommended for kids and adults.  But including that in our daily meals needs more care and knowledge to cook this delicate vegetable. Beyond the regular fries (poriyal) , I make it as sambar or puli kuzhambu to make it more delicious. Okra gives a very nice flavor to sambar just like shallot for a sambar.
Here is a special meal I made recently on a weekend. The menu was vendakkai sambar, plain rice, grilled pappad, tomato koottu, keerai poriyal and curd.
Make some extra sambar on the first day and serve along with dosa or idly the next day too. I love this sambar with masal dosai very much  and that's how I plan my meals. Isn't it yummy:)

Okra sambar

Regular South Indian meal platter : Plain rice,sambar , pappad, spinach poriyal, tomato kooottu, curd.

Ingredients:

To pressure cook:

Toor dhal/red gram lentil - 1/2 cup (100 gms)
water- 2 cups
turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
asafoetida - 1 pinch
sesame oil- 1 drop
Wash and clean the lentil. Pressure cook the dhal with the above said ingredients for a whistle. Then reduce flame and cook for 10 minutes. Let it cool. Open the lid and add some fresh cumin seeds .Mash well using a spatula. Keep aside.
(we can cook the dhal in stove top also. But we may need to soak it first for 30 minutes or more and cook for 30 minutes).

Other ingredients:

Okra (vendakkai) - 10
Shallot (sambar vengayam) - 5
Tomato - 1
Tamarind - amla (gooseberry /  nellikkai) size ball
cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp
cooking oil / ghee - 2 tbsp
(Try to use ghee, as it gives more taste to the sambar).
curry leaves- 1 sprig
cilantro/ coriander leaves (chopped)- 1 tbsp
mustard seeds-1/2 tsp
fenugreek -1/2 tsp
jaggery- 1 tsp (optional)
salt - to taste
Red chilly powder - 1 tsp
coriander powder - 2 tsp
Sambar powder - 1/2 tsp

Method:

Soak the tamarind in 2 cups of hot water and extract the juice by squeezing.
Add the red chilly powder, coriander powder, salt and bring it to a boil. Let it boil till the raw smell vanishes.

Chop the okra into long pieces and shallot into half and keep ready.
Heat oil or ghee in a separate wok. Add the mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and let the mustard splutter. Immediately add the shallots, curry leaf and saute well. Continue frying till the shallot and okra gets cooked. Sauteing the okra is a MUST before adding anything at this stage. Then add the finely chopped tomato and saute till oil separates.

Pour this hot mixture over the boiling tamarind paste. Add the mashed dhal, sambar powder and bring it to a boil. As it starts boiling, put the crushed jaggery, chopped cilantro and switch off.

Vendakkai sambar is ready!

Serving suggestions:

Serve hot over plain cooked rice.
Reserve some sambar for dinner and serve along with paper roast dosas.

Happy New year,

Let's welcome the New year with joy,
with lots of prayers and well wishes,
with hope, faith and love in family
with more dedication, belief and prosperity

God in our lives everyday,
Light in our paths and delight in our minds
World peace becoming everyone's wish
Freedom to innocents and needy

Love in hearts and happiness in world
Seeking God in everything we do,
May every day be filled
with happiness and peace,

May every face on earth live happily forever,
with all our needs satisfied,
May every life lives peacefully
with all our dreams come true,

Grace and kindness multiplying,
Health and wealth flourishing,
With every child getting love and care
Seeing God in happy faces,

May all our wishes come true
to make our Creator happy,
For all the wishes made in love,
May God shower His grace and love on all of us,

Happy New year!

New year cake with roses and lotus flowers icing.

Wishing all a
beautiful, Prosperous and Blessed
Happy New Year
Love,
Viki.

Carrot Pumpkin cake

I baked this carrot pumpkin cake for Thanksgiving day 2013. I enjoyed making these pink rose flower icing.  As the main theme of Thanksgiving day is to thank God, I made 12 roses to represent the 12 months of the year. I got the recipe from this website and thanking the author too for this successful recipe. Click  here for the original recipe

Pumpkin carrot cake I made for Thanksgiving  November 2013 , Thank you Jesus !

Some more pumpkin carrot cupcakes to share with hubby's friends

Before frosting.

Shredded Carrot and mashed pumpkin

Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 2 1/2 cup
white sugar - 1 1/2 cup
dark brown sugar - 1/2 cup
butter - 1 cup (2 sticks)
egg - 4
pumpkin puree - 1 cup
shredded carrot - 1 cup
shredded coconut - 1/4 cup
walnut - 1/2 cup
raisin - 2 tbsp
baking soda - 2 tsp
baking powder - 2 tsp
cinnamon powder - 1 tsp
dry ginger powder - 1 tsp
all spice powder - 1 tbsp
salt - 1/2 tsp
Frosting:
Cream cheese frosting

Method:
Cook the pumpkin with very little water and mash it finely (or just use canned pumpkin puree).
Shred the carrots.
In a mixing bowl (or blender / mixie) add sugars , softened butter, egg, salt, all spice powder, cinnamon powder, ginger powder. Mix till fluffy.
Sift the flour , baking soda, baking powder together TWICE.
Put the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl along with wet ingredients, mashed pumpkin, shredded carrot, raisin, roasted chopped walnuts.
Mix well.
Pour batter into greased pans.
Bake at 350 deg F for 35 - 40 minutes.
Makes two 9 inch round cakes or one 6 inch cake and 18 cupcakes or nearly 2 dozen cupcakes.
I used butter cream frosting to make flowers and other colors.
Frost with cream cheese frosting or serve simply.
 

Merry Christmas,

Wishing all my friends , family and readers a  Blessed Happy Christmas,

Merry Christmas!
Love,
Viki

Updated :

Christmas wreath I made for front entrance door

Christmas wreath I made for  indoor decor.

Our Christmas tree

Christmas village and nativity scene for Christmas

Birthday cake  I made for Baby Jesus, our cute little Christmas cake.

Offering cake to Holy family as soon as I finished baking the first fruit cake (Dec 16)

Offering vadai and kesari for Holy family in nativity scene, on Christmas day early morning, a Christmas tradition in our family.

I got a lot of gifts from Santa. Finding my favorite gifts under the Christmas tree on Christmas mornings excites me very much:)

My friends Emelda and Elizabeth brought us these yummy Christmas goodies.

My friends Emelda and Elizabeth together made these yummy Christmas snacks. They worked together long hours and days to make these delicious murukku, mixture, fruit cake, milk peda, bathusha, coconut mittai.....and packed them artistically.  I admire their enthusiasm and Christmas cheer very much. Thank you friends!

Christmas goodies from my friend Esther

My friend Esther has brought us Fruit cake, ladoo, nuts sweet, spicy murukku, murukku, chandrakala and rose cake (achimurukku) on Christmas. Even before clicking, we started finishing those yummy rose cakes and now I think I should have clicked that whole platter first :) Thanks Esther !

Gifts from my sweet cousin Madhu: A pretty handmade greetings and a cute ornament.

Last year we enjoyed our Christmas with Madhu , my cousin and I love the way she cherish arts, vintage collections, making handmade greetings , brightening up the whole situation with her kindness ....lot to learn from that hard working , intelligent ,cute little girl (she is always a little girl in my eyes) :)

My neighbor aunty presented me many pretty Christmas  ornament birds.

I got many pretty birds from my neighbor aunty on Christmas eve and we put them all on our tree and village. I hosted a small party for both of our families on Christmas eve. I made it as almost vegetarian as per her choice and it was easy too. As soon as we came back from Christmas mass in church I prepared Vegetable briyani, egg curry, raitha and semiya kheer. She brought us the papad chaat items and assembled them as starter. The party went on even after midnight:)

Christmas goodies I prepared : Christmas fruit cake, murukku, ginger bread cookies

This is the Christmas goodies I made for our us all: Christmas fruit cake, murukku and ginger bread cookies. I started baking by 16 th Dec and sent that cake for hubby's  office Christmas party. Then baked all other cakes by Dec 19, made murukku on 23 rd Dec as a surprise gift to hubby (his most favorite) and cookies on 23 rd night and 24 th morning. In between we enjoyed sight seeing, meeting friends, watched my favorite movies , enjoyed the new release an animation movie ...... Totally we all enjoyed this Christmas very much and want to do like this every year. Cheers !

Cheesy vegetables with pasta

Recently I made this baked pasta with loads of green vegetables and we liked it very much. I didn't follow any basic recipe for this , as my only motto was to use all those vegetables when they were still fresh.  Just saute whatever green vegetables we have in hand like beans, kale leaf, brussel sprout, green bell pepper, Asparagus..... mix with cooked pasta , milk sauce and bake with cheese. I am sure this will make a yummy dinner or lunch pack.

Baked pasta with green vegetables

Ingredients:
Brussel sprout - 1 lb
broccoli - 2 cups
kale leaf - 2 cups
green bell pepper - 1/2
Penne pasta - a handful for each serving
shredded cheese (any variety) - 1 cup
olive oil - 2 tbsp
butter - 2 tbsp
all purpose flour - 3 tbsp
salt, pepper - as per need
dried Italian seasoning - 1 tsp
milk - 2 cups

Method:
Rinse all the vegetables.
Chop the kale leaves coarsely, bell pepper into 1 inch squares, broccoli into small florets and halve the Brussels sprouts.
Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a saute pan. Saute all the vegetables till tender crisp (2 - 3 minutes) and keep aside. Add required salt, pepper.
Cook the pasta as per directions (cook with little salt and lot of water till firmly cooked and drain water). Mix the pasta with vegetables and put them all in a baking pan.
Easy Milk sauce : In a pan heat 2 tbsp butter and add 3 tbsp all purpose flour (maida) and fry till raw smell goes (but not red). Add 2 cups of milk, dried Italian seasoning and bring to a boil.
Pour this over the pasta and mix .
Put cheese over this and bake at 350 F for 5 minutes or till cheese turns bubbly. (If using pyrex glass bakeware, bake below 325 F till cheese turns bubbly).

Serving suggestion:
Serve as main course meal.