Curry leaf Masala, Potato Wedges and Chicken

All the spices for Rushinas Anna Rascalla Masala toasted and ready to be ground!

I am fascinated by spice blends. Every cuisine I have ever cooked has an all-important signature spice blend. Often these blends can even define the character of a cuisine (think Panch Phoron, Bottle Masala, Malvani Masalla, Chinese five spice). Living the Mumbai life as I do, juggling many roles, Spice blends bring convenient variety to my kitchen. A small amount added at the right moment can contribute characteristic flavor to the dish! In fact, often, just adding a different spice blend to a regular dish can result in new flavours. India being home to spices is a powerhouse of spice blends of course. But traditional blends notwithstanding I have been exploring my own combinations for a while now, here is one of my favoirtites for bringing South Indian flavours to the plate.

This Anna Rascalla Masala was inspired by the ingredients that are traditionally used to temper a South Indian Sambhar; the curry leaves being predominant of course but also the Fenugreek seeds. You can choose the texture you want. I like to grind it fine for curries, gravies dressings and soups but leave it coarse for things like wedges and meat rubs. You can store the coarsely ground version in a Pepper mill as well. Of course doing a Rajnikant sunglasses thing is mandatory!! Enjoy!

For Rushina’s signature "Anna Rascala" Masala (Makes about ½ a cup)

Ingredients
1 cup curry leaves, washed and air dried
1 tbsp Fenugreek seeds
2 tbsp Coriander seeds
1 tbsp cumin seed
5-6 chillies
½ c toasted sesame seeds
Toast Curry leaves on a dry pan till the curl up, turn olive green and become brittle and aromatic. Transfer to a bowl to cool. Now toast each of the spices; fenugreek, coriander, cumin and chillies individually until each of them darkens in color slightly and releases their aroma. In a Mortar and pestle or blender place fenugreek seeds and grind, then add cumin, coriander and chillies and grind or pound to a coarse powder. Lastly add chillies and curry leaves and pound. Stir in sesame seeds and transfer to an airtight container. Use as required.

Toasting the curry leavez, I love how they curl up!

then the Fenugreek...

the Cumin

and the coriander seeds

All set!

Start with the Fenugreek...

Add the Coriander and chillies.

Add rest of the spices, the chillies and some of the curry leaves.

Leave a little of the whole spices in when you crush the curry leaves for traction.

And Viola the Anna Rascalla Masala ia all ready!

Stir in toasted sesame !

Crush the garlic and add to masala mix, Yes I LOVE MY NEW MORTAR AND PESTLE!

Anna Rascalla Potato wedges (Serves 4-6; Time 40 mins to 1 hour)
I was planning on experimenting with potato wedges for a while but when I tasted some rather dismal so called South Indian Wedges at Beangaru recently, I just had to make these because it is just shameful to go wrong with so simple a dish. These make the ultimate easy spicy side dish with anything, great with pooris or parathas and dahi or Rassam rice, Sambhar rice, Sindhi Kadhi rice or just by themselves for rainy days and Sundays as a snack too. I kept the Anna rascalla masala I mixed up very coarse as I wanted the rustic mouthfeel and texture of larger bits of spice. They are fancy enough to serve as a starter for a party too. Just stick them in the oven and forget about them until hunger strikes. Being baked means they are fairly healthy and the toasted sesame add oodles of healthy crunch to the recipe.

Ingredients
1kg potatoes, cooked in salted water and cooled
3 tbsp sesame oil (Gingelly is fine but Toasted Sesame adds flavour and aroma)
3 tbsp Anna Rascalla Masala
6-8 cloves garlic crushed
1 tbsp Amchur
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Cut your cooked potatoes into large wedges and place in a large mixing bowl. Reserve. In a smaller bowl combine the Anna rascalla Masala and Amchur. In a small pan heat the sesame oil and pour over the masalla mixture. Pour the resulting paste over the potato wedges and toss well. Tip the potatoes onto a baking tray. Place in the oven and bake until reddish golden-brown and crisp on the outside and cooked all the way through on the inside (about 30 minutes). Serve hot from the oven.

Add the amchur!

Add hot oil to the masala sesme mix ..

Pour spice sesame oil paste over prepped wedges and toss well.

Potato wedges all rady to go in the oven!

HOT AND SPIZY Anna Rascalla Potato Wedges! SIMBLY DELICIOUS I ZAY!

Another angle in case you STILL need motivation to make these!

Anna Rascalla Chicken

Anna Rascalla Chicken (Serves 4-6, Time taken 45 mins)
This is one of my own signature recipes, that also offers a healthy option to assuage our usual monsoon craving for Pakoras. Serve it dry with chai or drinks or lightly saucy for a hot spicy meal with butter dosa.

Ingredients
250g boneless chicken, diced small

2tbsp Anna Rascalla Masala

Juice of 1 lime

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

Salt to taste
2 tbsp oil
1 c shallots (sambar onions) or 3-4 small onions, quartered
1 c baby potatoes or whole potatoes diced, cooked

1 c Bhavnagari chillies or Capsicum cut in chunks
1/2 tsp salt or to taste

To make it saucy
1 c prepared chicken stock
2 tbsp coconut cream

Method:

Combine chicken, half the masala, ginger garlic paste, lime juice and salt to taste. Leave to marinate for ½ hour. Heat oil in a large pan or heavy pot add the rest of the masala and sauté for 20 seconds, add chicken pieces and stirfry till golden. Ensuring it does not burn. When chicken is close to being done (cut a piece in half if it is slightly pink and transluscent in the middle it is close to being done and if it white right through it is done.) Add all the vegetables, check and adjust salt stirfry until vegetables at tender but crunchy. To make dish saucy add stock and simmer till slightly reduced and then stir in coconut cream. 

Boneless Butter Chicken AKA Murgh Makhani (Rushina's replies to a recipe request)

Boneless Butter Chicken/ Murgh makhani picture courtesy Bharat Bhirangi and Mrigan Sharma.

Akanksha Malhotra of Delhi who has attended one of my cooking workshops at Natures Basket wrote in to on Facebook "I really need your help. I am looking for authentic boneless butter chicken recipe for a family dinner. If you could please help me with it. Would be great !" I replied to Akanksha, on Facebook but I thought I would post the recipe here as well because this is an evergreen recipe that can be handy to have lying around! 

I learnt this recipe from a Punjabi neighbour Sharma aunty who lived next door to the first home I lived in after we married. In fact putting the recipe down brought back some long forgotten memories. I remember how tough that first year was for me. Not only did I have to learn to manage a home and kitchen, I also had to get used to a 3 hour commute to and from work. So on days when i got home late, it was a boon when Sharma aunty would pop her head out of her door as I unlocked my house and hand me a casserole of some hearty rajma, mah dal or butter chicken. I am not sure how ‘authentic’ this recipe is, but it is the one I use, But nobody that’s eaten it has ever complained. In fact there are rarely leftovers! As a shortcut you can use ready tandoori chicken in a pinch as well.

Boneless Butter Chicken /Murgh Makhani (Time : 4 hours prep +45 mins cooking time; Serves – 4)

Ingredients

800 g Chicken breast pieces, boneless

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder

Salt to taste

2 tbsp Butter

For the marinade

1 c Yogurt

Salt to taste

½ tsp Garlic paste

½ tsp Garam masala powder

1 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder

2 tbsp Ginger paste

2 tbsp Lemon juice

2 tbsp Mustard oil

For the Makhni Gravy

50g Butter

1 tbsp Ginger paste

5-6 Green chillies, chopped

1 tbsp Red chilli powder

Salt to taste

½ tsp Dry fenugreek leaves (kasoori methi) toasted lighly on a tava /griddle for a minute or so to crisp it up

1 tbsp whole garam masala

1 tbsp garlic paste

400g Tomato puree

½ tsp Garam masala powder

2 tbsp Honey/sugar

1 c Cream

Method

Hang yogurt in a muslin cloth for fifteen to twenty minutes to remove extra water (I find using ready yoghurt means there is less water  - in fact I love Danone natural yogurt and no I am not plugging it, it really is beautifully thick. Abroad I recommend Greek Yoghurt. Meanwhile halve the chicken breasts (Butter chicken is a hearty dish so aim for 1-2 nice big chunks per diner, nothing smaller) and make incisions with a sharp knife on chicken them. In a small bowl combine the red chilli powder, lemon juice and salt and apply on the chicken breasts, rubbing in well. Reserve for half an hour. Then combine red chilli powder, salt, ginger-garlic paste, lemon juice, garam masala powder and mustard oil and apply marinade to chicken. Refrigerate for three to four hours. At this point remove from fridge and thread marinated chicken onto a skewer. Cook in a moderately hot tandoor or preheated oven (200°C) for 10 -12 minutes until the chicken is almost but not completely cooked. Pull out baste with a little butter and return to oven. Cook for another 2-3 minutes. Remove and reserve. To make the gravy, heat butter in a pan. Add green cardamoms, cloves, peppercorns and cinnamon and sauté for 2 minutes, then add ginger-garlic paste and the chopped green chillies and cook for 2 more minutes. Add the tomato puree, red chilli powder, garam masala powder, salt and one cup of water and bring the whole thing to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for ten minutes. Stir in the sugar or honey and crumble in the kasoori methi. Add the cooked chicken pieces and simmer for 5 minutes. Swirl over the fresh cream and serve hot with naan or roomali rotis.

A NOTE on a new genre of posts.

I am revamping my blogs slowly as you might have noted. One of the mig requests I have is for recipes so I have already started a section called Rushina recipes where I put selections of recipes based on an ingredient, dics or cuisine. Requests for recipes and questions on cooking have also been on the rise so I am also going to be adding a section called Rushina repliesso my replies can benifit everyone. You can look forward to replies on Five spice powder, sichuan peppercorns, zaresht berries and star anise. And if you have a question on cooking or an ingredient or  even  a recipe request you can leave it as a comment and I will address it as soon as I can.