Chicken Ularthu/fry - mommy style

My mom's a good cook. She can easily cook her way to success when she has guests around and is quite innovative with new recipes and the like. But just like me, cooking is not her favourite past time. Both of us do it, cos we have to do it and not because we love it. She, being in India has a good amount of help in the kitchen and supervision is all that is required. I, in another continent altogether, has no help (other than Ro of course..who is more like a pain in the ass if we are both cooking together) and has no choice but to whip up dishes on my own to survive.

One preparation that i am particularly fond of hers is the Chicken ularthu which is in fact the first ever dish i made back in Chennai, once when Asha beevi was on a sabbatical for a week and we had used up all the cooked/frozen food in the fridge. After we made this for the first time i was secretly relieved that i would never have to touch raw chicken again. Little did i know that a few months after i would be slaving (ok, im exaggerating a bit here..but I'm a drama queen, so a little of that wouldn't hurt) away in the kitchen in cold, windy, raining UK!

This chicken recipe has come in handy quite a number of times and is incredibly tasty, of course much tastier when you don't have to make it and then wash and clean up afterwards.

Chicken- 1/2 kg, cut relatively small

Small onions/shallots- 1/2 cup

Tomato- 1 (optional)

Ginger garlic paste- 2 tsp

Chilli pwd- 1 tsp (or according to your taste)

Turmeric pwd- 1/4 tsp

Coriander pwd- 1 tbs

Pepper pwd- 1/2 tsp

Garam masala- 1/2 tsp

Green chilli- 1, slit lengthwise

Curry leaves- a sprig

Oil- 3 tbs

Salt- To taste

In a heavy bottomed pan, heat 2 tbs oil and sautee small onions, green chilli and Ggp till nice and soft. To this add the tomatoes and all the powders including salt and cook well on low heat till oil starts separating. Add the cleaned chicken pieces and mix well. Make sure the pieces are well coated with the masala and do not add any water. Keep cooking on low heat and when the gravy reduces in volume to about 1/4th, take off the flame. At this stage you can also cool and freeze this in a zip lock bag and as and when required, you can do the next stage.

Pour the remaining oil in the frying pan, throw in some curry leaves and on low fire, fry till the chicken pieces become dark. You can also add some chopped big onions to enhance the taste.

Notes: You can actually omit the small onions bit in the beginning and straight away cook the chicken with all the powders on low heat and then at the frying stage add the onions.

The whole cooking should be done on low heat.

Roasted Chicken with Garlic Bread

I'm not bragging here, but this is one of my signature dishes adapted from a recipe passed on by a friend. I have tried and tested this quite a number of times and it has always tasted so good. In fact, this is the only dish i am confident of making, when i have guests over. Yes, i panic when people announce they are coming over for a meal, invariably ending up causing havoc in the kitchen and a not-so-great outcome. Ro comes to my rescue and he is so confident about cooking and gratefully takes over. I give moral support, BTW!

Chicken Roast

Chicken- 500gms (Thighs, drumsticks, breasts anything but bone-in pieces are the best and preferably without skin)

To marinate:

Chilli pwd- 3 tsp

Coriander pwd- 2 tbs

Ginger garlic paste- 2 tbs

Turmeric pwd- 1/2 tsp

Garam masala- 1/4 tsp

Meat masala- 1 tsp

Lime juice- 2 tsp

Fennel seeds- 1 tsp

Butter- 1 tbs

Salt- to taste

To bake:

Onion- half, cut in rings, or more if you please

Mix all the ingredients in the 'to marinate' section and make a paste out of it. Make gashes on the chicken pieces and generously rub the paste on to the pieces. Keep the marinade refrigerated over night or at least for 5 hours.

Pre-heat the oven to 200C. Transfer the marinade onto a baking dish and cover with foil paper and bake for 30 minutes on one side. Take the dish out, flip the chicken pieces, cover and bake again for 30 minutes. Remove the foil paper, stir in the onion rings and bake open for another 30 minutes (approx) or until the chicken pieces become a dark brown and the onions are well mixed in the gravy. Serve hot with rice, roti or bread.

I wanted a bit of gravy so i didnt leave it on till it became dry and thats why the colour isnt a dark brown yet. But the longer you keep the better it is, if you need it dry, that is!

Notes: The dish is very very spicy and if you are not a fan of spicy food, reduce the chilli pwd quantity. I personally love the spice.

If you don't want the chicken dry, you do not have to bake it for the last 30 minutes, you can reduce it to about 15 minutes, just enough to cook the onion rings. This goes great with rice.

Marinating it for a minimum of 5 hrs is apt, but its ok if you reduce it to about an hour or so, if you are in a hurry. It tastes just as nice. Have tried it :)

You can throw in any veggie possible. I have tried it with baby potatoes, carrots, trimmed beans and peas and is a whole meal on its own.

Garlic Bread

The one in the picture is store bought since its just move convenient, cheap and tastier (well..i am not sure i should have mentioned that, since i am trying to promote my blog and not blurt out that store bought ones are any day better). But my mom makes yummy garlic bread back home and this is her recipe.

Bread- 1/2 a loaf

Garlic paste- 1 tbs or more depending on how strong you want it to be

Butter- 2 tbs at room temperature

Mix the garlic and butter and make a paste out of it. Spread the paste on the bread slices and arrange them one over the other (stack them up). Cover the entire loaf with foil paper and bake in a pre-heated oven at 200C for about 20 minutes or till the ends start becoming nice and crispy. Serve hot with soup or as mains.

Note: If you want to jazz it up a bit, add some herb like thyme or sage.