Health for life

Every 7th and 20th of the month,am hosting Rendez Vous With A Foodie, an event happening twice a month in my blog,the main motto of this event is to introduce budding bloggers to this immense virtual world.Today is an another special day for me,yep todays host is a wonderful person, before going to know about her, if anyone want to be my guest and if your blog is less than two years please do contact me through Facebook or by a mail with your facebook name to add you in this new adventure.


Coming to todays host, she is a one of my soul mate again, actually i dunno anything about her a year back. I came to know about her only through SN Challenge, an event by  Divya Pramil when she challenged us with the famous Rajasthani Ghevar, its was like hi and bye relation before. Suddenly we came closer through FB coz of guest post by Sangeetha of Spicy Treats,from that onwards we started chitchatting, then only i came to know that Manjula is a Rajasthani gal who speaks tamil,my mother tongue fluently. She is also very special to me as much as like my other virtual family members, my bubbly sister who never fails to make me laugh by her naughtiness.

Do you how she was inspired to start her blog??, she told that am the one who inspired her.Trust me, that day i was like a person who won a jackpot, watelse a food blogger need. Inspring a foodie to start a blog,thats seriously something special na and its was like an achievement for me. Manjula, a super jovial person who speaks tamil like a pakka chennailite never failed to amaze us with her frequent blogging, that too she is a Thali queen who challenged a complete Rajasthani Thali for the SN Challenge, am happy to say that through her i learned many Rajasthani delicious dishes.

With a toddler at home,she is a busy mom but still she cooks easily a Thali and will surprise you. Do you know for Onam she prepared an Onam Sadya Feast.Seriously its rare to see an enthusiastic person like her in this virtual world. Manjula have her own way of cooking and makes anybody to drool in front of her pictures. Needless to say about her pictures, you may think that she own a DSLR,nope she is capturing her food clicks with P&S, whoever go through her pictures wont trust that her pictures are clicked with a P&S. She proved that we doesnt need a DSLR for food photography even with Powershot we can make magic. Today am very proud that she is my guest host today, its was so special and very emotional moment for me. Thanks Manjula for making a beautiful guest specially for me.



Lets hear from Manjula of Desi Fiesta

I was so waiting for this moment where i can express my inspiration to blog . U might not believe me but its true the first ever blog I saw was Priya versatile recipes . This was when i was a non blogger from past few months I have been silently watching her blog and was so amazed to see an array of innovative and attractive recipes she shares. I had a thought she must be a very popular person in blogging world and she is so .Her recipes made me stun she was a inspiration and her energy level is in tall heights  i cant even imagine touching.Then one fine day I was so inspired by her blog and created a my own blog.Then I was so confused whether she is younger than me or elder bcoz all leave a comment with her name " priya " I thought whatever, she is a senior to me in blogosphere and my guru to inspire me to start a blog. One fine day i will tell this to her actually I was waiting for that day. Then after few months of blogging i got a chance to  chat with her and told her how she inspired me to blog. I personally think it is so wonderful that she has inspired me to blog and there are so many people who get inspired by her cooking. As far as in cooking you all know her, she is a fantastic chef but as a person she is so very kind hearted and a very polite person . After I started blogging  I have been  surrounded  with very kind and jovial friends, with in few months they have become so close to my heart . Priya suresh aks is one among those bunch of friends and my guru in blogging .I thoroughly enjoy being with her and my other friends company, they are 24 *7 available for me.

As you all be knowing today am the guest for this blog and so thankful to priya aks for this kind thought and giving me a chance to include my tiny and simple recipe in her vast collection of recipes. Each and every day i learn a new combo from her recipes she share.I have been trying some of her chettinad recipes and her baking always makes me  spell bound they are always perfectly baked. I admire her energy level and the time she spends to post daily and she is so very punctual. She is now managing two blogs and i love both of them  , a salute to the effort she has been taking for past 4 years till now and being an great inspiration for the budding bloggers . Some of her recipes which sent me to drool are Rajma Murukku , Custard Halwa , her chettinadu kozhamubu collections , Strawberry Rasgulla, and all her baking goodies .The hard work she has been doing is the big part off camera which she had done a fabulous job and doing non stop cooking and blogging is so very impressive .We talk n talk n talk and our chat never ends till it is mid nite for us,sometimes I chat in my dreams too ,I got so attached to them a day never passes till I say a hi hello to them . Its so nice to have friends to whom we can share all our thoughts other than cooking and blogging and the wave length is exactly same for us.So for this baking queen today   I have got some colorful bunches of edible roses and an Indian doll cake for her blog baby hope she likes them. Lets move on to the recipe quickly .

1)Tell us about your blog and you?
My blog Desi Fiesta as the name means Desi feast everyday  which i share with all my readers and  friends. I try to cook both  innovative and traditional recipes. Am was an home science student in my 11 and 12 th so have learnt some of the cooking techniques and terms from there.

2)Before and after blogging, tell us what blogging changed your life?
Before Blogging I never thought I would ever blog as i didnt know there is a thing called blogging exist , after blogging I never thought that I could develop recipes on my own.But my experiments in kitchen have been increasing day by day thanks to blogger. I am using my mind in a gud way and i have gained so much knowledge about  other cuisines via blog hop we do .

3)When and what motivated you to blog about food?
Of course its the person who is asking me this question  inspired me to start a blog and when I said this to my H he motivated me a lot and  he is still cooperating with me a lot by tasting my experiments and reviewing them before I share the recipes in my blog.

4)There are a tonsof blogs/pages on food these days, what accordingto you is the speciality of your blog and the food you cook?
According to me I share all variety of cuisines , traditional , innovative  recipes which would attract all type of readers . But currently my blogger friends are showing great interest in my thalis I make.

5) When it comes to cooking, who is your inspiration?
My mom and my masi(mums sis ) are my inspiration . They are any time available for me if i have any doubts. My mom is a specialist in cooking all rajasthani recipes whereas my masi is specialist in all south Indian cuisines so they both are boon for me and my blog.

6)Every newbie blogger faces tons of challenges when its comes to blogging, tell me about one of the challenges you faced and how did you overcome it?
I havent faced any technical probs in blogging till now but if i suppose face any problem ,google is always the first person i consult . I have this feeling that no person is intelligent to answer your queries with in few sec than google so first ill do google search and find whats the prob, then if you cant find any answers you might have to nag some of your friends .

7)What is your best recipe and your favourite recipes you have blogged till now?
My fav and best recipe which have been in my popular post list and gave me so much recognition was Ghevar which i challenged for SNC  hosted by divya pramil . My favorites also include Parotta Platter, Rajasthani Thali,Eggless Butterless Dark Chocolate Cake and Ona Sadya.

8)Few tips about food photography?
As my blogging guru is priya aks my photography guru is Sangeetha who made me to think its not camera which we might have. A dslr or point and shoot it all depends on the person who clicks it . In the beginning of my blogging i used take pics with flash light as I used to cook most of the recipes in the evening time after my H come back home. But later i realized natural light is so important to get the exact view on how the food appears. I have been taking all my clicks in natural light and i per to do so. I take my pics in the patio where i  dont have direct sunlight as the source and so there is no room for harsh light. Since i dont have ample amount of light entering my home i per taking my pics in patio . No matter you have dslr or point and shoot,natural light will make your clicks more appealing. Am still an amature photogrpaher but this was the first thing i learned that natural light is the key to photograph a picture well . Lots of bloggers have asked me whether i use a slr or dslr to take my pics but i take it as an wonderful compliment as i use only a point n shoot for now and dreaming for an dslr so its not the cam  matters you can click better than dslr even with your easy to carry point and shoot, just  the focus, angle and lighting matters .

9)What is your budget for the props,do you have any or else do you manage with your household stuffs?
I have got me some probs only for blog as i didnt have any fancy bowls to serve . My monthly budget is 10 - 20 dollars minimum but i dont hunt for probs every month.When i see some very unique props i get tempted and buy them . I feel having too many probs will confuse us more on what to use for a single dish .

10)How do you plan your blog posts? Do you post rarely,regularly or once a week?
I am trying my best to post the recipes regularly but at least 5 days a week is a must for me .

11)Do you have any other passions apart from food blogging or blogs you own?
I have a passion to learn keyboard / piano which H gifted me for my birthday too but am  still  a learner  as blogging takes the priority and hence piano is taking the back bench .


Rose Petit Fours:
Ingredients

1 tin condensed Milk
1 3/4 cups Milk
1/2 cup Butter, melted
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour/ maida
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
3 - 4 tbsp of rose syrup / roohafaza

Method


Preheat the oven at 350 F for 15 minutes. Grease a cookie tray and line the parchment paper on it .
In a bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder,Baking soda and salt, Keep it aside.


In another bowl,  Mix butter, condensed milk, Milk till well combined .
Add the vanilla extract and remaining and Mix well.
Add the Milk mixture into the flour mixture little by little stiring the constantly and ensuring that there are no lumps formed .
Fill the tray with batter and bake them at 350 C till a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean this takes only 10 15 mins as it is sheet cake
Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
After it cools a bit cut them in to bite size pieces or used any shaped cookie cutter which is in bite size and cut the sheet cake. set it a side

For Icing

Icing Sugar - 1 1/2 cups
2 tbsp corn syrup
2 tbsp water
Food colors - as required ( I used Red, Purple and blue)


Method:

In a saucepan combine all the three ingredients and turn on the stove to medium flame .
By stirring constantly cook them till sugar melts completely and then for 10 mins so that you get the desired consistency .
If you feel the icing is much thicker you can add a little water to dilute them at any stage.
Now divide the icing to equal parts and dye the colors as required .

 To coat the cakes with icing :

With help of a fork  place  a cut piece of  cake on it  and dip on prepared icing cover with icing from all the sides.
Then place the cake on a wire rack so that the excess icing drips of from the cake.
Decorate the cake as you like with sprinkles .
If you feel the icing is thickened you can little water and make it a bit thin .

To use of the leftover cake pieces you can make cake pops out of them as I did.




Rose Cake Pops:
Ingredients :

Cake crumbs ( I used the leftover rose cake crumbs)
White Butter cream - I used for 1 cup of cake crumbs a 1/4 cup icing ( This depends on the softness of the cake
so add just enough icing till you can form smooth balls out of the crumbs dough)
Cake pop sticks / lollipop stick
sprinklers
1 cups of candy melts/ chocolate
Shortening / oil  ( this is to thinner the consistency of melted chocolate )

Method :
Mix the cake crumbs and butter cream well to form a dough .
After you form a smooth dough divide them to equal parts and roll them
Insert a lollipop stick  dipped in chocolate so that is seals the edges .
In a double boiler  heat oil and chocolates and melt them . It u feel the melted chocolate is very thick you can add more oil .
Now transfer the melted chocolate in a deep bowl .
Now take the cake pop and dip it from all side , slightly shake it and remove the extra  chocolates sticking.
Add some sprinklers and stick them in a thermocol  to dry .
After they dry you can pack them in  goodies bag  and share.
You can decorate all the pops as you wish :)


Indian Doll Cake:
I made this doll cake for my kidoos 3 rd birthday and for my dear priya aks blog baby too.

Eggless chocolate cake  -  Hop on to my blog for recipe Click here
Wilton cake pan set - This included the pan and doll
Butter cream icing - as required  ( i used blue color )
Sprinkler - To garnish
Tootie (candy ) - i used pink one for the dupata / shawl

Method :


Pour the chocolate batter in the wilton cake pan mould and bake them at 180 c till a tooth prick inserted in the cake comes out clean.
Cool them and transfer it to wire rack till the cool completely .
After they cool completely cut them in to two layer ,frost them and keep the other layer on top .
Cover the cake with buttercream and decorated it as u wish .
Roll the tootie with a rolling pin and use them as a shawl or dupata.
I did some random strips using my spatula and garnished them with sprinklers .


I so enjoyed being in my inspirators space and would like to thank priya aks for giving me this wonderful chance to share my thoughts and recipe here :) I loved the sweet chit chat we had aks its been great visiting here !!

Hope you all enjoyed going through Manjulas beautiful bakes, they were super cute na, thanks again Manjula for this wonderful guest post,loved it to the core.

Stay tuned for an another guest post friends.

When its 7th and 20th of every month, ill be introducing new budding food bloggers in my space.And i named this event as Rendez vous with a foodie, obviously this event is open to new bloggers who started food blogging before a year. Today am introducing my 6th guest aka newbie blogger who cooks at Virunthu Unna Vanga yep its none other than Vijayalakshmi Dharmaraj,a young chef and a creative blogger. Ask her to make sweets with anything, she can come up definitely with some innovative and unique sweets, we named her seriously as scientist as she never stop experimenting in her kitchen with different ingredients.


I can talk for hours and hours about Viji, she is such a sweet heart you will definitely miss her everyday if you dont chitchat with her.Eventhough i know her virtually, she is really a wonderful,very humble,modest and honest human who makes you laugh with her naughtiness and instant jokes. Thank god, i got to know her through this virtual world, else i would have missed a down to earth and super jovial sister. Even am planning to meet her during my next trip to India, especially at her hometown as she lives not far from Kodaikanal.Do visit her space and seriously you can learn many different,unique and creative dishes as she shares stepwise pictures for every dishes she blogs at her space.

Now its over to Vijayalakshmi Dharmaraj..

Hi dear friends, Yeah! I am flying at the same time am happy to present my guest post for one of my sweetest blogger friend  aka akka Priya Suresh. When she has announced about the Rendez Vous event, am voluntarily reserved my slot in her fantastic space. I am so energized and very blissfully am writing this post for her.

She is such a lovely, humble, humorous, down to earth sister, and I am so happy to get know her through this virtual world. I always admired her delectable, versatile recipes and her energy. When I first stepped into blogging I found very few regular bloggers who blogs frequently with zeal. She is the one passionate blogger who stood with her steady everyday blogging. I am great fan for her baking goodies, even I used to tell her if you have idea to open bakery then I will sponsor you so that I earn bigggg popularity and money.

Before I met her through group chat, I never thought that I will become a close friend of this great blogger but now I am. I got an opportunity to chat with her through some of our dearest friends in our group chat. Thanks to them for making possible to meet the pretty lady Child. We chat a lot and I got to know more about her and our bonding is growing healthy, wish to grow forever… If you give me a chance to about her, I can’t keep full stop to the speech about her. Am I Right?

Though the event ‘Rendez Vous with A Foodie’ itself evidence of her helping nature, the main motto of this event is to showcase the new food bloggers, their passion and their individual blogs.

I was thinking for some special recipes until i send my guest post for her.  And finally I have chosen a delicious and chocolate pancake. Other reason to choose the recipe is Priya akka is greatest chocoholic person and I hope its a best virtual treat for her from me… N hope u all loves this delicious chocolatey pan cake.


Tell us about you and your blog?

Hi am Vijayalakshmi as Viji, I write at VIRUNTHU UNNA VAANGA with Indian and Innovative recipes.  I have completed my studies and at present am being in home.

Before and after blogging,tell us wat blogging changed your life?

Before Blogging
I used to cook very simple and repeated recipes,sometimes i may forget the measurements and ingredients too. No idea about baking and new cuisines and feel quite alone in home with my lappy. And you know my lovely dad was telling to my relatives “she doesn’t even know to boil hot water”  see how nicely he was pulling my legs….;)

After Blogging
 Now I can do most of the recipes without knowing the measurements even  I forget, no problem that I have stored them in my space or else I can er at friend’s blog.

 Now baking is  my favourite passion. Obviously my dad will ask me to bake cake for him and he shares with others to taste my cake, needless to say he is super happy about her daughter’s cooking and baking skills.

 I started capturing my foods  to learn food photography,which is my another new passion.

 My writing skills have improved very much and i love to write more.

 I can make different cuisines from different region to know about their taste too ,moreover I got so many true lovable friends and sisters through the blogosphere so am thoroughly enjoying and learning more n more from them.

When and what motivated you to blog about food?

Before started to blogging, I wanted to learn many varieties of cuisine and sometimes interested to do innovative dishes with my hands. I really wanted to make notes of the recipes in one place, first I have stored everything in my laptop as word document then only BLOGGING strikes=d my mind and immediately i creates one and started to share my cooking and baking goodies. Other reason was my friends asking me to write some recipes for them so I utilize the opportunity to create the blog. Sangee akka-Spicy Treats is the first person who indirectly motivated me to start the blog. Thank u Sangee akka.

There are tons of blogs/pages on food these days, what according to you is the speciality of your blog and the food that you cook?

My blog contains full of simple and easy Indian vegetarian recipes and egg-less baking with step-wise pictures which is very useful to novice bakers and beginners.  You can see recipes using leftovers and quick desserts or rice varieties which gets ready in a jiffy. Moreover I like to present my innovative dishes.

When its comes to cooking, who is your inspiration?

Of course my mom is my first inspiration. Wherever I learn recipes, all of them are my inspirations so i have a  quite long list of persons who inspired me.

Every newbie blogger faces tons of challenges when its comes to blogging, tell me about one of the challenges you faced and how did you overcome it?please specify with facts and details..

Mmm… no big challenges but it will be here n there. But can manage everything with the help of our blogger friends and internet. But yet I need to learn some techniques to improve my blog…

What is your best recipe and your favourite recipes you have blogged till now?

I love most of my recipes, but I think my best recipes are Ras Malai, Molten Lava Cake, Whole Wheat Halwa, Gobi Fried Rice, Thinai/Foxtail Millet Payasam, Milk Powder Peda, Kaju Flower, Rose Flavoured Kaju Milk Roll and many more…

Few tips about food photography?

I am still a novice photographer, yet to learn many more things and learning every day. I followed these tips,
Day light is more important to the food photographs; nowadays I don’t per to take pictures during evening time.
Use simple props and good backgrounds for the pictures.
Simple food styling makes your pictures even better.
Click more n more in different angles to get good pictures.

What is your budget for the props, do you have any or else do you manage with your household stuffs.

Actually I don’t have any budgets for my props. I generally use what I have in home. But nowadays, while going to departmental stores i started hunting some props for me but at the same time my mom will stare at me. Still I spent  INR 100-200 thrice month or more for my props.

How do you plan your blog posts, do you post rarely,regularly or once a week?

Mostly I will post 3-4 recipes per week, but sometimes it may change.

Do you have any other passions apart from food blogging or blogs you own?

Yes, I have. I am very much interested to do glass painting, Jardosis work and crochet.  I love to do crochet works like purses, cell pouch, kid’s towel, scarf, shocks for my sister’s daughter as I learnt the crochet work for her. I love reading books but nowadays I  glued on lappy for my food blog, but sometimes I’ll read my subject book to gain good knowledge in my field.


Chocolate Pancakes - Eggless
Preparation Time – 2 Minutes
Cooking Time – 5 Minutes


INGREDIENTS:
All Purpose Flour – ½ Cup
Baking Powder – ½ Tsp
Baking Soda – ¼ Tsp
Sugar – 2 Tbsp
Coco powder – 1 ½ Tbsp
Salt – A pinch
Milk – ¾ Cup or more
Choco chips – 1 Tbsp (Optional)


METHOD:
Take wide mixing bowl, add all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, coco powder and salt and mix it well.
Pour milk to the dry ingredients and stir it well till you get the semi liquid consistency.
Spread choco chips to it and stir it once.
Heat dosa pan, add one ladle of choco batter on medium flame but don’t spread it.
Flip it to cook other side and switch off the flame.
Serve it hot with honey or melted choco chips with fruits as breakfast.


NOTE
You can adjust sugar level according to your taste.
Batter should be semi liquid not too runny or watery.


Hope you all enjoyed this fantastic eggless pancakes, seriously i would like to start my day with this delicious pancakes drizzled with some honey..

Will be back with an another guest post on 7th July until then stay tuned friends.

Twice a month am introducing newbie bloggers to this immense blogging virtual world, just to showcase their blogs with their guest posts they prepred specially for me and i named the event as Rendez vous with a foodie. Many new fellow bloggers came towards me to join this event and shared their fabulous dishes since ever i started this event. Happy that this event is going successfully since the month of march and i came to know more about my guest hosts through their replies they shared for my questions. Each and every posts of my guest hosts are unique in their own way.


Today is 7th october and its time for an another guest post, todays host is very much close to my heart.Life is beautiful when you are surrounded by simple and broad minded peoples as like you, couple of months back my days were not that much funfilled as like now. Yes few buddies from this immense virtual world came very much closer to me and i got a bunch of close friends to whom i can share my happiness and sorrows, trust me they are my family now, eventhough we never had a chance to meet personally, virtually the bond between us is getting more closer and closer.One among those kind hearted and very humble person is Nalini suresh of Nalinis Kitchen, eventhough she is very busy with a young boy and a toddler baby gal she blogs quite frequently. Seriously i admire her enthu  and loves her fabulous dishes she shares in space.

I can talk for hours about Nalini, she is a very jovial person she can change her environment in a couple of second with her humour. Many peoples can come and go in your life but only few will stay with us, Nalini is one among those person very special for me.Nalini is a wonderful,sweet,honest,modest, down to earth and a humble heart, who will get very much easily closer to you. I love her space, she shares many beautiful dishes with eye catchy clicks, anyone can learn easily with her detailed stepwise pictures. When i asked Nalini to make this guest post, i asked her to share some village style foods coz my space have rare numbers of village style foods.She was kind enough to accept and send me a fantastic village style food,which makes me nostalgic.

Lets hear from Nalini of Nalinis Kitchen..

Today I am so excited to do a guest post in one of a well known blogger Priya.She is one such caring person and passinate blogger,never forgets to visit my blog with her lovely words.Though she ia a mom of 3 kids her dedication towards blogging is amazing and like the way she posts.She is a wonderful baker and all her baked goodies are super duper.

When Priya came up with the idea of rendez vous for newbies I was really happy and excited.
Coming to the recipe,its a village style chicken recipe which is a stew like preparation popular in Southern part of Tamilnadu.This saaru/stew goes very well with Idly,dosa,idiyaapam and even plain white rice.

1)Tell us about your blog and you?
I am Nalini Suresh,full time home makerlives in U.S with my hubby and 2 kids.I blog under Nalinis Kitchen which is 2 years old.

2)Before and after blogging, tell us what blogging changed your life?
I always have a passion towards cooking and like to do lot of experiments in the kitchen.So I dont feel any changes after I start the blog except the interest towards photography and props hunting.

3)When and what motivated you to blog about food?
Couple of my friends motivated me to start a blog after tasting my foods and my hubby dear supported me to start a blog.He helped me a lot to create the template and buying props.All the credit goes to him.

4)There are a tons of blogs/pages on food these days, what accordingto you is the speciality of your blog and the food you cook?
I cook simple,healthy South Indian vegetarian and non vegetarian food and eggless baking.Most of my recipes are with stepwise pictures which would be very helpful for the beginners.

5) When it comes to cooking, who is your inspiration?
Of course its my mom.Being a full time working mom she cooks and feed us delicious and the same time a healthy food.She has lots of interest and passion towards cooking and trying out new recipes.

6)Every newbie blogger faces tons of challenges when its comes to blogging, tell me about one of the challenges you faced and how did you overcome it?
I have lots of technical issues in my blog which I cannot fix it.My hubby dear and my friend Revathi helped me a lot to come out this issue.
Next thing is I was not aware of the social medias like Facebook,Pintrest.Sangee of Spicy treats helped me a lot.

7)What is your best recipe and your favourite recipes you have blogged till now?
All my recipes are favorite,the best ones are karivepillai kulambhu,kathirikkai konda kadalai kulambhu,Pepper chicken,mutton sukka and my natives special sweet Asoka Halwa.

8)Few tips about food photography?
Take pictures in the natural light with a decent and neat presentaion.
Dont use flash and try to take pictures in a day light.
Try to take pictures in different angles.

9)What is your budget for the props,do you have any or else do you manage with your household stuffs?
I dont have any bugets but I make sure the buget wont go beyond 10USD.I have interest towards buying the culinary gadgets and crockery before blogging,so I use some of my household stuff also.
But now the interest has become more and whenever I go for shopping never forget to get a small prop for my blog,it doesnt matter if its a big mall or dollar store.

10)How do you plan your blog posts? Do you post rarely,regularly or once a week?
I try to post 4-5 recipes per week but these days with a year old active girl at home its really difficult to post like before so i limited to 2-3 posts per week.

11)Do you have any other passions apart from food blogging or blogs you own?
Yes,I do embroidery,knitting and painting.But these days with my lil one its hard to find time to do,so I do it rarely.


Village style Chicken Stew/Kozhi Saaru

Ingredients:
Chicken(with bones)-1lb(450 gms)
Onion(finely chopped)-1
Green chilly-2
Turmeric powder-1/4tsp
Red chilly powder-1tsp
Curry leaves-1 sprig
Coriander leaves(chopped)-for garnishing
Oil-2tbs
Salt-1+1/2tsp

To saute and to grind:
Shallots-10
Tomato(medium size)-2
Ginger-1 inch piece
Garlic-4-5 cloves
Red chilly-3-4
Coriander powder-1tbs
Coconut(grated)-3tbs
Cloves-3
Cinnamon-1 inch piece
Fennel seeds-1tsp
Cumin seeds-1/2tsp
Black pepper-1tsp
Poppy seeds-1/2tsp

Method:
Wash and clean the chicken and cut into bite size pieces.Add the turmeric,red chilly powder and 1/2tsp of salt to it and mix it well.
Keep it aside.


Heat a pan with 2tsp of oil,crackle the fennel and cumin seeds then add the other whole spices.Now add the shallots,garlic and ginger,saute it till transparent.

Now goes in the chopped tomatoes,cook it until mushy,finally add the grated coconut and coriander powder,give it a mix.Put off the fire.Let it cool down completely,grind it to a fine paste.

Heat the pan with the remaining oil,once the oil becomes hot saute the onion,curry leaves and green chilly till transparent.Add the chicken pieces and saute till it changes the color.

Now add in the ground masala paste,salt and mix it well.Add 3 cups of water to it and cook it covered in a medium flame till the chicken becomes tender and soft.

Finally sprinkle the chopped coriander leaves and put off the fire.


This curry needs to be slightly watery so adjust the cocnsistency accordingly.

If you want to use ginger and garlic paste omit the whole ginger and garlic while sauting and use it while making the curry,after the onion is sauted.