Pedakka's Chicken Fry

Pedakka's Chicken fry is one of my all time favorite recipes which I cook every now and then. My last year India trip gave me chance to learn some family favorites from my sisters, mother and Pedamma (mother's older sister). A little info about my Pedakka, Laxmi Akka is a great cook, likes to feed the whole family, we call her "Annapurna Thalli" one who feeds sumptuously. What ever way she cooks turns out so delicious. She tells us lot of tips and tricks in cooking and home remedies. She is like an encyclopedia for me, I always refer to her and my mother.

This Chicken fry recipe is one from her recipe bank which I am darn sure that if you cook it her way turns out so good you will receive all the applause for it!! I promise you will never regret making this chicken fry at potlucks or gatherings. A simple yet tasty mouthwatering recipe is very appropriate for the coming Easter! I made this for our Sunday afternoon lunch last week along with Knorr's ready to cook Moghlai Biryani. If you ask me to review about this ready mix I will say its 1 out of 5, It is nothing compared to their Hyderabadi Dum Biryani ready mix they have.

Chicken Fry

Source: My Pedakka
Cuisine: Andhra Cuisine
Prep time:10 mins
Cooking time: 30-40 mins
Serves: 2

Ingredients:

1 pound Chicken thighs and legs

1 C red onions, diced

4 green chillies, cut lengthwise

2 bay leaves

2 inch cinnamon stick

2 cloves

2 cardamom

½ t turmeric (haldi)

2 t red chilli powder(adjust according to your spice level)

1 t paprika powder for color

1 t garam masala

2 t Dhana -Jeera powder (cumin-coriander powder)

2 t ginger garlic paste

7-8 curry leaves

2 T cooking oil, I use olive or canola oil

salt as per your taste

¼ C water

non-stick pan or kadai for cooking

Method:

• First and foremost cut the chicken into bite size pieces excluding the leg portions. Add turmeric powder to it, mix well and rinse with water.
• Heat oil on medium high, add bay leaves, 2"cinnamon stick, cloves and whole cardamom, let it fry till the aroma of the spices come out. To this add curry leaves, length wise slit green chillies and onions. Fry till the onions turn light pink in color.
• Add the cleaned and rinsed chicken pieces, fry for another minute so that all the spices and onions mix well with chicken.
• Add water, salt and place the lid, reduce the flame to medium low and let the chicken cook. it may vary from 10 to 15 mins. You will notice the chicken turns white and opaque then open the lid, turn the flame to medium high.
• Now add the ginger-garlic paste, cumin-coriander powder, garam masala powder, red chilli powder. Let the chicken cook still further till the water evaporates and lastly add paprika powder.
• By now the fry would turn dark brown in color and the chicken will be golden brown in color. You will know when its done! You won't resist to taste it at this stage. Check for salt and spices and add accordingly. If it is too spicy sprinkle some freshly squeezed lemon juice on the chicken fry.
• Enjoy this with any Biryani. I made Moghlai Biryani from Ready to cook Knorr Mix. If you are interested, you can make simple Green Peas Pulav or Egg Dum Biryani from my blog (click on the titles to check the recipes).

I am dedicating this post to my favorite Pedakka! Thanks akka for all your yummy recipes, love ya!!

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Chicken Fry with Green Peas Pulav Rice

Chicken fry inspired by Cinnamon trails

Chicken Fry

After getting inspired by seeing Cinnamon's mouthwatering Chicken fry the other day, I immediately planned the same for my Sunday lunch with green peas pulav. Today we had a treat having the chicken fry with some onion-cilantro-yoghurt's salad/raita with a can of cold diet pepsi. Yeah I have soda when I have something non-veg dish cooking, thats helps with digestion (my funda). Hope you will enjoy this nice, tasty and juicy chicken fry. Keeping it short and sweet though, here is my adapted version of Cinnamon's chicken fry followed by green peas pulav recipe.

Source: Adapted from Cinnamon trails
Cuisine: Andhra, South Indian
Prepration & Marinating time: 30 mins
Cooking time: 30 mins
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
1 pound of chicken thighs
1 medium size onion, sliced
2 green chillies, cut length-wise
2-inch cinnamon sticks (2)
4-5 cloves
2-3 bay leaves
1 tsp turmeric powder
1-2 tsp chilli/cayenne powder(paprika)
freshly greated nutmeg
1 tsp garam masala powder/spice mix
1 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
2 tbsp cooking oil
5-6 cashewnuts, halved and toasted for garnishing
1 tbsp chopped cilantro, for garnishing
salt as per taste
Grind to smooth paste:
1 small onion, roughly chopped
½ tomato, roughly chopped
2 green chillies, roughly chopped
1 inch ginger
2 cloves of garlic

Method:

1. Clean the chicken and cut into bite size pieces or as per your requirements, you can keep the whole chicken thighs as it is.
2. Marinate the chicken with turmeric powder, chilli powder, salt and the prepared paste for at least 15 mins.
3. Heat oil in a large skillet, to this add the bay leaves, jeera/cumin seeds, cinnamon stick and cloves, fry for a minute.
4. Add the sliced onions, green chillies and saute till the onions are translucent. To this add only the chicken pieces and fry them covered till they look cooked or for 10 mins.
5. Afterwards add the remaining marinated paste, mix well and add the garam masala powder/spice mix, grate the nutmeg on top.
6. Saute on medium high till all the moisture evaporates and the chicken pieces starts to caramelize, keep on frying till you get the desired color and flavor. Do check the spice level and salt, add if required.
7. Garnish it with toasted cashew nuts and chopped cilantro.
8. Serve with hot rice or any pulav/biryani.

Note:adjust your spice level accordingly while using green chillies or chilli powder.

Chicken fry served with green peas pulav

Green Peas Pulav

This green pea pulav recipe I learned from my Mother, who has inspired me in lot many ways and is a superb cook. I made a genuine attempt to bring in the same flavors as of my Mother but as is said, "Maa ka haath ka khane main kuch alag hi jaadu hain" But her formula works with ginger-garlic paste. This is a very simple and easy recipe to lay your hands on!

Source: My Mother
Cuisine: Indian
Prepration time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 20 mins
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
2 cups of Basmati rice, wash and soak for 10 mins
1 red onion, sliced
2 green chillies, cut lengthwise
½ cup fresh/frozen green peas
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
1-inch cinnamon stick
2-3 cloves
2-3 bay leaves
1 tsp garam masala powder/spice mix
1 cup whole milk or 2% milk
pinch of saffron strands (optional)
5-6 cashewnuts, halved
3 cups of water
salt as per taste

Method:

1. Wash and soak the basmati rice for 10 mins approx.
2. Heat oil in a medium size sauce pan, to this add the bay leaves, cinnamon stick, cloves jeera/cumin seeds and cashew nuts. Fry for a minute or till the nuts change to golden color and add the sliced onions, green chillies.
3. Saute and add ginger-garlic paste, season with some salt, garam masala/spice mix, green peas and mix well all the ingredients. Lastly add milk to it.
4. Stir in the rice and add water. For every 1 cup of uncooked basmati rice we have to add 2 cups of water, since we already added 1cup of milk to it we now add the remaining 3 cups of water.
5. Stir, check the salt in it and cook on medium high heat uncovered for 10 mins and then cover and cook for another 5 mins.
6. Once cooked fluff the pulav with fork and serve hot.

Chicken fry served with Green peas pulav, raita and lemon slices

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Curried Chicken Teriyaki Noodles

Curried Chicken Teriyaki with egg Noodles

I have this craving for "Anything Teriyaki" since I first tasted this dish at Chinese buffet. They had many varieties of chicken dishes like, ginger chicken, sesame chicken, orange chicken, barbeque chicken, honey chicken but I liked teriyaki chicken the most for its unique asian flavors. My version of teriyaki chicken is with egg noodles and few veggies and some dash of Indian flavors as I like my chicken to be little spicy.

You will find most of my recipes little spicy and hot as I love hot food. One can substitute the chicken with prawns/shrimps, tofu/soya chunks/mealmaker (for vegans). This is very quick and easy recipe for a lazy dinner; if you are really tired to cut those veggies, you can simply opt them out or use frozen vegetables, any which way works out great!

Source: My own
Cuisine: Japanese cuisine
Marination time: 1-2 hrs
Prep time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 20 mins
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
1 ½ pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts
225 gms/ 8 ounces of dried egg noodles
6 baby carrots, thinly sliced on diagonal
1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 medium onion, sliced you can use green onions too.
3-4 shallots, thinly sliced
1 cup baby corn
1 tsp cayenne pepper/chilli/mirchi powder
Salt as per taste
1 tbsp of sesame oil
2 tbsps cooking oil
For marination:
5 tbsps teriyaki sauce
2 tbsps worcestershire sauce
1 tsp of dijon mustard
1tsp black pepper powder
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ medium size onion, diced
2 green chillies, chopped
3-4 curry leaves, torn
2 tsps salt

marinated chicken breasts

baby corn, carrots, green bell pepper, onions and shallots

chicken strips marinated in the sauce for 1-2 hrs

Method:

1. For marination in a bowl add teriyaki sauce, dijon mustard, worcestershire sauce, minced garlic, chopped green chillies, diced onion, salt, pepper, torn curry leaves and mix well. To this add chicken breasts.
2. Flip the chicken breasts in the sauce, so that its submerged in the sauce, cover it and marinate for 1-2 hrs in the refrigerator and then slice the chicken into 1/3 inch thick strips, keep aside.
3. Meanwhile cook noodles in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender. Drain well; return to pot. Add sesame oil and toss to coat.
4. Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat, add the marinated chicken pieces and sauté until no longer pink, about 2 minutes.
5. Add sliced red onions, carrots, green pepper and baby corn and add the leftover marinated sauce. Stir-fry until vegetables are crisp-tender and chicken is cooked through, about 2 minutes longer.
   
6. Add cayenne pepper, salt and stir then add the cooked noodles and toss to blend well.
   
7. Serve hot.
   

curried chicken teriyaki with egg noodles

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