Tag: Indian recipes

Green Mango & Mint Chicken

A refreshing twist on traditional chicken curry, combining tender chicken with tart green mango, cooling yogurt, and fragrant mint for a light yet flavourful dish.

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There is a mango tree in my garden which produces small but sweet mangoes every year. As the fruit ripens it attracts birds and monkeys to my garden. We usually use the sour raw mangoes from this tree to make pickles and chutneys. It was a very hot day in Gurgaon and I was craving something spicy and tangy, so I cooked up this Chicken curry using raw mango and yogurt . It turned out pretty delicious, and refreshing. There was Mint growing in the garden so I used that too. Do give this recipe a try—I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

This recipe is is fairly easy to make.

  • First marinate the chicken, with yogurt, salt, mustard oil for a few minutes.
  • While the chicken is marinating gather all the ingedients and grate the onion, ginger garlic, roast and grind the spices.
  • Then heat the ghee in a pan and fry the Onions, ginger garlic, and the spices. Then add the chicken with the marinade. and mint.
  • Add the Yogurt and cover. Lower the heat and let the chicken cook till the chicken is tender and gravy is thick.
  • Serve garnished with Mint leaves.

Ingredients

Chicken : I have used medium size chicken without the skin. I think chicken pieces with skin might give a richer curry.

Raw Mangoes: I used the raw Mango from my garden. Mangoes are available throughout the season these days and you will need only a piece of it.

Yogurt: I had yogurt at home, but any plain yogurt from the market will work. I would not suggest Greek yogurt in this recipe.

Mint: I had a lot of Mint at home, so i used that. But if it is difficult to find fresh Mint, you could try using Coriander leaves ( Dhania Patta).

Other spices: Cumin powder, Coriander, and turmeric are regularly used Indian spices. Fennel seeds make a difference in the flavour. I have used the spicy ( Hot) chilli powder because I wanted that taste. You can use Kashmiri chilli powder or ( Degi Mirch) if you would like it less spicy

Green Mango and Mint Chicken.

A refreshing twist on traditional chicken curry, combining tender chicken with tart green mango, cooling yogurt, and fragrant mint for a light yet flavorful dish.
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Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings: 4 persons
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 500 g chicken ( without skin and cut into medium size pieces )
For marinating the chicken
  • 1 Tbsp. Mustard oil
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 tsp. Turmeric powder
  • 1 Tbsp. Yogurt
For the gravy
  • 1/4 cup Grated Onion
  • 1 tsp. Fried onion paste ( optional)
  • 3 or 4 Tbsp Ghee or Butter
  • 1 Tbsp. Garlic and Ginger paste
  • 1 Tbsp Raw Mango grated
  • 1 Tbsp Masala mix
  • 1/4 tsp. chilli powder ( spicy )
  • 1/4 tsp. Turmeric powder
  • 1/2 tsp. Salt
  • 1/4 tsp. Sugar ( optional )
  • 1/2 cup Yogurt
  • 1/4 tsp. Flour
  • 1/2 cup Mint leaves torn. (Save a few Mint leaves for Garnishing )
  • Small piece of Cinnamon, 2 cloves and 2 small cardamoms ( for seasoning or tempering the oil / tadka )
Masala Mix
  • 1/2 tsp. Cumin seeds ( Jeera, Jire)
  • 1/2 tsp. Coriander seeds ( Dhania, Dhone )
  • 1/2 tsp. Fennel ( Saunf, Mouri)

Method
 

Preparaton
  1. Wash the chicken and Drain out all the water. Then marinate it with Yogurt, Mustard oil, Salt and Turmeric powder. Keep aside while you get all the other ingredients.
  2. Masala Mix: In a small pan roast together, 1/2 tsp. of Fennel seeds ( mouri/ saunf), 1/2 tsp. of Cumin seeds ( Jeera/ Jire), and Coriander seeds ( Dhone/ Dhania ). Once the seeds turn slightly brown and fragrant, remove from heat and put it in a dish to cool. Grind into a powder when it cools.
  3. Grate the onion, and the ginger and garlic
  4. Peel the raw mango, and grate it .
  5. Beat the 1/2 cup Yogurt with the 1/4 tsp. of flour.
  6. Wash and tear about 1/2 cup of mint leaves. Chopping makes it wilt soon.
  7. In a small bowl, mix 1/4 tsp.chilli powder, 1/4 tsp. Turmeric powder, 1/2 tsp. of salt and 1/4 tsp .sugar and 1 Tbsp of the Masala mix.
How to make the chicken
  1. Heat the Ghee in a wok or a heavy bottom pan.
  2. Add the Whole Cinnamon, Cloves and cardamoms. ( Tadka / Phoron)
  3. Add the grated oinion and stir fry, till the raw smell goes.
  4. Add the fried onion paste, and stir it in. ( optional )
  5. Add the grated raw mango and stir well
  6. Add the Turmeric powder, Chilli powder, Salt, Sugar, and the Masala mix.
  7. Fry a little and then add the chicken with the marinade.
  8. Keep stir frying till the oil separates around the gravy.
  9. Add the beaten yogurt. Stir and cover .
  10. After a few minutes add the mint leaves, and stir. Let this simmer till the chicken is cooked and the gravy is thick and creamy.
  11. Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with Mint leaves. Serve with Roti or Rice.

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Masur Dal with onion and garlic (Split red lentil with onion and garlic)

Masur dal can be cooked in many ways. This is a special recipe for Masur Dal or Split Red Lentil and was given to me by my mother. She had learnt it from her mother. Dals are made in most Indian homes but each home has their own way of seasoning and Tempering.

Generally there are 3 steps in cooking Dal :

  1. Wash and cook the dal in a pressure cooker or a pan till the grains a soft.
  2. Add the seasoning, like salt, sugar, chillies or any other spices to this cooked dal
  3. Temper the dal, by adding some fried spices to the Dal. Tempering is called Tarka in Hindi and Phoron in Bengali.

How to make this Dal

First we cook the Masur Dal with some water and onions, garlic and the cinnamon, cloves and, in the pressure cooker. If you do not have a pressure cooker then cook it in a saucepan. If you use a saucepan then do check often that the water does not dry out. You could add some more water if needed. The consistency of the end product will be like a thick soup.

Masur Dal ( Red Lentil).

This is what the Dal looks like before it is cooked. This has to be washed and then cooked with some water and spices.

Chopped garlic, and ginger and sliced onions and cinnamon broken into pieces, and cloves are added to the washed and cleaned Masur dal and then cooked with enough water in a pressure cooker or in a saucepan

After the Masur dal is cooked in the pressure cooker it will look like this.

Now add Sugar, Turmeric, salt and Slit green chilies (optional) to the cooked dal and let it simmer for a few minutes. Taste to see that the seasoning is right.

This is now ready for tempering.

Tempering is frying some spices in oil or ghee and then adding it to the boiled Dal. It makes a huge difference in the flavouring and taste of the Dal.

These are the spices that we use for tempering this Dal. whole Jeera seeds, some cinnamon pieces, some cardamom and dry red chilli. Always tear or slit the whole red chilli before adding it to hot oil or it may burst and splatter all over. Same with adding cardamoms, open them up a little before adding them to hot oil.

Tempering

There are 2 ways to temper,

  1. Heat the oil or ghee, add the spices, fry a little and then add the boiled and Dal to it . OR
  2. Heat the oil, fry the spices and pour the hot oil and spices onto the Boiled Dal.

I usually temper the second way, by pouring the oil and spices onto the dal.

After Tempering the dal it has to be simmered for a few minutes so that the flavours get incorporated well .

The Masur Dal is now ready to be served. You can garnish with chopped Cilantro ( Dhania Patta).

Serve hot with Roti or Rice.

The Recipe

Ingredients

  • Masur Dal (red lentil) 1/2 cup
  • Onion (Piyaj ) peeled and sliced. 1/2 cup
  • Garlic ( Lasun). peeled and chopped 1 teaspoon
  • Ginger ( adrak)peeled and chopped 1teaspoon
  • Cinnamon ( Dalchini) 2inch broken into pieces
  • Cloves ( Laung) 6
  • Sugar ( Chini ) 1/2 teaspoon
  • Salt ( Namak)1/2 tsp
  • Turmeric powder ( Haldi ) 1/4 tsp
  • Green chilies ( hari mirch )slit 2 or 3
  • Water ( Paani ) 2cups

Spices for tempering ( Tardka )

  • Ghee 1 tablespoon
  • Cinnamon ( Dalchini ) 1 inch piece broken into smaller pieces
  • Cardamom.( Elaichi ) 6
  • Dry red chilli ( Shukha mirch ). 1
  • Cumin seeds ( Jeera) 1/4 teaspoon

Method

  1. Wash the Masur Dal ( Red Lentil ) well, and put it into Pressure cooker, add the sliced onions, the chopped ginger and garlic, and the cinnamon pieces, and cloves. Add the 2 cups of water and close the lid. Place the cooker on the stove. Once it whistles, start counting till it whistles 4 times more, then switch off the stove.
  2. Open the pressure cooker lid after the cooker has cooled, then add salt, sugar, turmeric, and slit green chilies to the cooked dal and place the cooker on the stove again, without the lid. Let the dal simmer for 5 minutes, stir a few times.
  3. Now it is ready for Tempering ( Tarka, or Phoron ):
  • Heat the ghee in a small saucepan or frying pan, add the Cinnamon pieces, Red chilli and cardamoms and the jeera seeds. Let the spices brown a little, then pour in onto the simmering dal in the cooker and let it simmer for another 5 minutes, before taking it off the heat.
  • OR
  • The other way is to heat a wok or a big saucepan and add Ghee, and Cinnamon pieces, and cardamom and the Jeera seeds, and Red chilli. Once the spices brown a little, pour the dal from the cooker to the Wok, then let it simmer for 5 minutes more before taking it off the heat.

Garnish with chopped Coriander leaves ( Dhania Patta) before serving. if You add a spoonful of Ghee when you eat the dal it will definitely taste better.

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