kozhy curry & mung dal

part two of sunday's lunch dishes, chicken curry and mung bean dal. i now have 4 indian cookbooks (two more are on their way...), the chicken curry is from das sreedharan's simple ways to success indian. i couldn't find his recipe online, but you can find one that looks similar here.

whole spices, bay leaf, curry leaves (my addition), cloves, anisseed (saunf), cinnamon stick and black cardamom.

ground spices from top, ground almond, garam masala, chilli powder, turmeric and coriander.

garlic and onions...

...that went into the pan first with whole spices.

then added the ground spices and the chicken. the recipe says to use smaller pieces but this was the chicken i had so i went with the whole piece, and the recipe does say that "using chicken on the bone will give the sauce a richer flavor".

as you can see the pan is very crowded. i had decided to use the wok shape pan for this as i thought that it would work on ceramic stove as well. once again i was reminded why i would like to have a gas stove, the wok shape just won't heat up as well on ceramic stove...i had to take a regular pan with a lid and pour everything in it to continue with the simmering. will i remember this next time i want to use the wok pan...

the result was very tasty, spicy but not hot as i didn't put in as much chilli powder as the recipe called for. i now regret not cooking rice with this meal, the rice would have soaked up all that delish gravy.

now, drums please! my pressure cooker makes its first appearance... the booklet that came with the cooker says to start simple, like boiling potatoes. i felt brave and went with mung beans (well, now that i got over the "first time" i think mung beans ARE simple, too).

measure the amount of beans the recipe calls for, add water and close the lid...

...wait for 8 minutes, patiently (hah!)

and the beans are done!

for this i used wendy hobson's recipe from 1000 classic indian recipes. why the llink says the book is by carolyn humphries i don't know, my book has the exact same cover and wendy hobson's name on it...anyways, the recipe is called whole moong beans, i can't find it online.

the recipe calls for cooking the beans separate in water with a pinch of turmeric, and the tarka (seasoning)separate. the tarka had cumin seeds, onion, ground chilli powder, turmeric, ghee / oil and canned tomatoes.

started by sauteing the cumin seeds and the onion and it seems that at this point the stove was really crowded with pots boiling away and i forgot to take pics...

...here is the finished dish.

two more dishes tomorrow...