Saturday 29 June 2024

Chicken Momos with Soup and Momo Chutney


Momo is one of my and my daughter’s favourite… and I think many of us likes momos too… being rainy season don’t want to risk our stomachs…  eating out… here is my way of making momos at home… savouring them with hot piping soup and spicy momo chutney… all to go with the season.. 

This is a special combination we get on the streets of Kolkata at many places … 

Here I have used 50 percent wheat flour and rest refined flour… I have added veggies to the chicken to make it more healthier… Oil is almost nil… we can replace the chicken with pork or prawns.. along with the veggies… 


For the Momo Chutney 

Ingredients 

2 Big Tomatoes cut into big pieces 

6 Kashmiri Chillies cut into pieces 

10 Garlic cloves 

1 small piece of Ginger 

Few stems of Coriander leaves chopped 

1 tbsp Raw Peanuts 

1 tbsp Sesame seeds roasted 

1/2 tsp Pepper powder 

Salt to taste 

1/2 tsp Sugar 

1 tbsp Vinegar 

2 tbsp light Soy sauce 

Method 

Take a pot, add the tomatoes, Kashmiri Chillies and peanuts, add 3/4 cup of water. Boil the ingredients on a medium flame for 5 minutes. Switch off the flame and add garlic and ginger, cover and let it cool down. Once in room temperature, add the ingredients in the grinder and add salt, sugar, pepper powder, vinegar, soy sauce, coriander stems and sesame seeds, grind all the ingredients well, add water as desired to get the runny consistency of the cutney. Once done keep it aside, can be kept in the fridge for a week. 


To make the outer covering of the Momos 

Ingredients 

1 cup of Wheat flour 

1/2 cup of Refined Flour 

Salt to taste 

Luke Warm water 

Ingredients 

Mix the wheat flour, refined flour and salt together, add little water at a time and knead a semi hard dough. Cover and rest the dough for an hour.. 


To make the stuffing and soup for the Momos.. 

Ingredients 

Take 2 Cabbage leaves cut them into pieces 

1 small Carrot cut into pieces 

1 small piece of Onion cut into pieces 

2 Green Chillies 

10 Garlic cloves for Momos 

6 Garlic cloves chopped for Soup

1 small piece of Ginger 

1 Stem of Spring Onion chopped 

1 stem of Celery chopped 

5 to 6 Boneless Chicken pieces 

1/4 tsp Pepper powder 

1 tbsp Soy Sauce 

1 tsp Red Chilli sauce 

Salt to taste 

1/2 tsp Chicken seasoning powder for Momos 

1 tsp Chicken Seasoning powder for Soup 

1 tsp of Wheat flour slurry 

1 tsp Oil 

1 tbsp Corn flour 

Method 

Take a food chopper, add the cabbage, carrot, green chillies, garlic, ginger and spring onion. Finely chop all the vegetables, remove the chopped vegetables from the chopper, keep one tbsp of the chopped vegetables aside, now squeeze all the water out from the rest of the chopped vegetables. Don’t throw the water extracted from the vegetables. Now put the dry chopped vegetables back into the chopper, add chicken pieces, salt, pepper powder, soy sauce, chilli sauce, chicken seasoning powder and corn flour, blend all the ingredients together well until the ingredients are well combined and forms a soft dough, remove and keep the stuffing in the fridge for 30 minutes. Take a steamer, add 3 cups of water, chopped vegetables, celery, garlic, water extracted from the chopped vegetables used in momo stuffing, salt to taste and chicken seasoning powder and the slurry. Stir well. This soup will cook along while we will steam the momos… 

Let’s make the Momos 

Take a dough and knead well, take a portion from the dough, roll the dough into a thin round disc, take a round cutter, and cut medium or small size disc from the big disc, place the disc on the plate, make a batch of 12 disc at a time, take the stuffing and mix well, take a disc, take a small portion of the stuffing, and place the stuffing in between the disc, spread the stuffing a bit, then start covering the edges of the disc… giving the momos a shape you desire, repeat the process and make all the momos… grease the steamer plate, place all the momos on the plate, cover the steamer and steam the momos for 15 minutes. While the momos are cooking, we can prepare the second batch of momos. Prepare both the batches of momos then serve. Once the momos are ready serve the momos with hot piping soup and spicy momo chutney. 







Sunday 16 June 2024

Varhadi Chicken Curry


Varhadi Chicken Curry 

Varhadi cuisine and Saoji cuisine comes from the eastern region of Maharashtra (Vidarbha region). Varhadi and Saoji are the 2 cuisines that are spicy and not suitable for faint hearted person, but still Varhadi cuisine has a milder version of spice level. 

Today we prepared Varhadi Chicken Curry right from scratch… A lovely recipe shared by my friend. The Varhadi Masala once made can be stored and can be used in making other Varhadi dishes… 

We added less Chillies because of my daughter, but more chillies can be added as per the taste. We served the Chicken with Bhakri, Rice, Chinchecha saar and Onion. 


Varhadi Masala Powder 

Ingredients 

2 tsp Cumin seeds 

1/2 tsp Sahi Jeera

6 tbsp Coriander seeds

1 tsp Mustard seeds

20 Pepper Corn 

1/4 tsp Methi seeds 

1 tsp Kasuri Methi 

2 tbsp Dried Grated Coconut (Khopra)

6 Cloves 

2 Black Cardamom

6 Green Cardamom

1 small piece Nutmeg 

1 Javtri 

1 tsp Dagad phool

1 medium stick Cinnamon 

4 to 5 Kashmiri chillies 

6 Spicy dried Red Chillies 

Method 

Fry roast all the above ingredients until light brown in colour and an aroma releases, switch off the flame and cool the masala down. Grind the masala into a powder. This powder can be stored for any gravy dish.


Wet masala 

Ingredients 

1 big size Onion sliced 

15 Garlic cloves 

2 to 3 small pieces of Ginger 

Few stems and leaves of Coriander leaves chopped 

1 tbsp Oil 

Method 

Take a pan, add oil and heat the oil, reduce the flame and add onion slices, stir fry the onion slices until light brown in colour, add the garlic and ginger. Fry for a minute, add coriander leaves and stems, stir and cook until the onions are brown in colour, switch off the flame and cool down. Grind with 1/4 cup water until the ingredients becomes into a paste. 


Varhadi Chicken Curry 

Ingredients 

750 grams of Chicken cut into pieces 

1 small Onion chopped 

Salt to taste 

1 tsp Turmeric powder 

1/2 tsp Chilli powder 

2 tbsp Varhadi Garam Masala 

Wet paste 

4 tbsp Oil 

1 cup Water 

Method 

Take a pressure cooker, add the chicken pieces, little salt to taste, 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder and water, give 2 whistles, switch off the flame, let the pressure release, separate the chicken pieces from the stock. Take a pot, add oil, let the oil heat. Add the chopped onion, stir fry until light brown in colour, add the chicken, stir, gradually add the remaining turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt to taste. Stir and cook for 2 minutes. Add the Varhadi masala, stir, add the wet paste, continue cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Now add the chicken stock, stir and let the curry simmer for 5 minutes. Switch off the flame, cover and keep, before serving add coriander leaves, serve with bhakri,  rice and onions.