Paalak Chicken Curry (Spinach and Chicken Curry)

What do you want to eat, my mum asks me at times. It's those days when you feel like eating delicious dishes but you run out of both options and ideas as WHAT TO COOK for lunch?

Some days when I am lazy and yet require a delicious meal i hunt my fridge to find vegetables or meat or any other thing that I can put together and yet make it super yum, but it's not always a win win situation. 

I admit sometimes meals that I experiment are disaster, yet I try to perfect it by subtracting or adding few ingredients  but some times things fall in place without any efforts. Just like this paalak chicken curry.  

It's utterly delicious and has few ingredients. Here is how I made it.

 

Ingredients:

500 grams chicken

2 onions fried

2 bunch spinach blanched

1/2 bunch coriander

4 green chilies

2 tblsp ginger garlic paste

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

2 tblsp cashew nut powder

1/2 cup oil

Salt to taste

Method:

Fry onions till brown remove and keep aside. 

In a blender add blanched spinach, onions, corriander, green chilies blend coarsely.

In a saucepan add oil then add ginger garlic paste cook for few seconds then add chicken and cook till chicken is tender.

Then add blended masala and cook for another few minutes. Lastly add cashew nut powder and cook till gravy thickens. Serve with Chapatis or boiled rice.

Spicy Prawn Tikka Pasta

I never liked the prawns when I used to be a kid. These half mooned creatures used give me "eww" kind of feeling, at times I even used to think why mommy purchases these sea worms to make the saalan (prawn in thick spicy gravy) and feed us thus until one day my mum insisted and asked me to try it. 

"It's just like fish" she said "khaa ke Dekho" (eat and try). I was sceptical first but then I gave in and took one bite. It was delicious on its own nothing like fish but I really loved it from that time.

Me and my sister always used to wait for the day when my mommy used to make prawn saalan (prawn in thick spicy gravy).    There used to be something different about this gravy that my mum used to make. It used to be thick, spicy and you could always feel dedicated coconut flavour underneath and yes not to forget the prawns firm yet full of flavour.

This time I gave my moms saalan a bit twist and adapting it to make a thick sauce for pasta, of course eliminating and adding few ingredients.

Ingredients:

1 packet spaghetti (boiled accordingly as package instruction)

12 pieces prawns cleaned and deveined 

Marination:

3 cloves garlic

1 inch ginger

4 green chillies

1 tsp tikka masala

2tblsp lemon juice

Salt according to taste

Sauce:

4 tblsp oil 

1 shallot chopped

2 tblsp tomato paste

1 tblsp soy sauce

3 tblsp vinegar

1 small carrot

1 small capsicum

Method:

Coarsely crush ginger garlic and chillies on mortar and pestle. In a bowl add prawns and rest of the ingredients of marination along with crushed ginger garlic paste. ( reserve some ginger garlic paste to make sauce)

In a sauce pan heat oil add shallots and fry till translucent add prawns and carrots cook till prawns are half cooked add the rest of the ginger garlic paste ,soy sauce,  vinegar, tomato paste and capsicums. Cook on high heat. Add little water to get the desired consistency of the sauce . Now add boiled spaghetti and mix. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot. I served mine with salad. 😊