Dear All, We used to run a regular blog here a while ago. Some of these recipes are gems which I reuse repeatedly cos they are so bloody easy plus delicious. If you don't know me or know barely enough about me, know this that I bake more than I cook, regular cooking is not my forte (beyond the copious amounts of Kachimoru that I make), and can eat the same Choru (boiled red rice) and cheru payar (green moong dal) every single day as long as someone else has made it for me. But I cannot disassociate myself from the fact that I like good food. When I make something, it better taste good. I also don't have ninja chopping skills. So when I say this curry comes together in 20 minutes, I think that's easy enough to believe.

I got this recipe from my aunt Annie, after having it at her place one day and totally falling in love with it. Hence Annie's chicken curry. The rest of the fab cooks in the family call it biryani chicken. But this is not biryani chicken to me cos my biryani is quite different. That's another story for another day though. Without further preamble, here's the recipe.

Ingredients

Chicken Breast               - 1/2 kg cubed
Oil (Coconut/Refined)   - 2 tbsp
Onion                             - 1/2 kg chopped
Garlic                             - 5 cloves finely chopped
Green Chillies                - 7 finely chopped
Ginger                            - 1 piece finely chopped
Juice of 1 lime

Coriander Leaves           - 1 bunch or even few stems more
Coconut                          - 1 tbsp
Curd                               - 1 tbsp
Cashews or Almonds     - 6
Grind these ingredients together

Method

Heat oil in a pan
Saute onions till translucent
Add the chillies, garlic, ginger and saute till the raw smell goes off.
Add chicken, salt to season, cover and cook in the chicken's own juices
Once the chicken is cooked, add the crushed coriander mix and gently bring to simmer. Don't overcook or the curry will lose its colour.
Add lime juice to taste

So I'm back to my blog after like forever. I've almost forgotten all the fun things I've done this last month while my laptop was ailing. Well, I'd been avoiding this place for sometime. I didn't know what to update. Do I really need to update? If you are wondering, or were ever worrying, chill.

Not that I'd stopped cooking or baking. The baking slowed down a bit, but when I did step in, it was pure indulgence. As for cooking, in tandem with my sporadic approach to running this year, it swayed between healthy and easy to cook meals, and then completely losing my senses and ordering massive amounts of takeaway.


One of those things I made when I was in my senses was this Chicken Teriyaki Bowl. Adapted from norecipes which is linked to PBS. Well, basically Marc writes for PBS and hence the recipe appears in PBS. This recipe is simple enough to be a quick meal for even the laziest bum aka me on weekends. Well, thats actually me on most days. Daily cooking is not my forte and just thinking about meal planning for a week and then actually cooking it is enough to boggle my mind.


I followed Marc's recipe as close as I could. I did not have sake, so I just used water. I did have mirin, which if you do not have, try a white dessert wine, or who am I kidding? Add some extra sugar to white wine. Bah! Just don't make it too sweet. This might seem a little wrong to Indians used to eating spicy food redolent with all the masalas the peninsula can offer. If you are those kinds which I mentioned right now, this recipe is not for you. It is mild, bordering on bland with light flavours. But to me, light soy, a little sweet with a little astringent are good flavours. I actually shied away from adding ginger or garlic to this dish. I went uncomplicated and marinated the chicken in salt & pepper. That's about my patience level.


I used a chicken breast I had in the fridge, and I filleted it down the center to make two thinner halves. One which I cubed up for this dish and the other which I grilled for use in a sandwich later. I used the same measurement for sauce, cos I'm Indian, I like lots of gravy, Subtlety in flavour and all is ok, but hey I need my gravy to mop up my rice.

Ingredients

200g Chicken breast/thighs cubed into bite size pieces(thighs are better. thighs rock.)
Seasoning of salt & pepper
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp sake/water
Bowl of boiled rice
1/3 cup blanched peas.

Marinate the chicken in salt & pepper.
Whisk sugar, soy sauce, mirin, water & salt together and keep aside in a bowl
In a non-stick frying pan, over medium heat, gently fry the chicken undisturbed till it's browned on one side. Flip and wait for the other side to be equally browned.
Whisk the teriyaki sauce and add it to the chicken, tossing to coat the chicken.
Let the sauce boil and reduce till it becomes a thick shiny glaze.
Serve chicken atop hot boiled rice, pour extra sauce in top, sprinkle with peas.

Dig in!

I'm opening up a new category 'Quick Lunches'. I've been trying to eat a little more healthy these days, while still not compromising on taste. It's very difficult to continue on any regime where I feel I'm giving up on major food groups or have major dietary restrictions. I want to have a balance in my food intake, try and cut down on my eating out tendencies, and yes, move around a bit more.

Are you single? Do you live alone? Let's bond over meals that conquer singledom.
I'm a fan of one bowl meals and an even bigger fan of meals which don't need to be prepped in huge portions resulting in leftovers lasting in the fridge forever and forever. I'm also a fan of meals which can be put together easily. Also as you know a fan of all things delicious. In my opinion, this qualifies for all of the above.

Some days, warming up food from the fridge doesn't cut it after a long day at work. Also, on the same days you don't want to be the really weird female capable of putting in long hours in the kitchen after a long day at work. This recipe works for those days and every other day. No wonder they called it 'Meet your new favourite meatball' recipe in Bon Appetit magazine .