Gondhoraj Chicken Bhappa

‘Gondhoraj' in Bengali means the king of smell. It's a type of a lebu / lemon, which is aromatic and it is different in size, shape and taste. The smell is very refreshing and mesmerizing.

It is best had with Korai r Daal and Aloo Posto served with hot steaming rice. Now a days many different dishes are made using Gondhoraj Lebu.

The lemons, lemon leaves and Bhut  Jolokia used are from the plant growing in my house. 

Here I have made Chicken Bhappa my style with Gondhoraj Lebu and it's leaves. Since I used bhut jolokia, I didn't add green chilli paste as bhut joloki is very spicy. 

Ingredients 

1 kg Whole Chicken 

1 Onion sliced

3 Green Chillies slit 

2 Bhut Jolokia sliced lengthwise 

5 Gondhoraj Lemon leaves

4 to 6 wedges of Gondhoraj Lime 

Some Coriander Leaves for garnishing 

Paste of 1 medium size Onion, 1 small piece of Ginger and 5 Garlic 

Paste of 2 tbsp Coconut grated and 2 tbsp of Poppy seeds ground with 2 tbsp of Curd 

1 tbsp Juice of Gondhoraj Lebu 

Salt to taste 

1/4 cup + 1 tbsp Mustard Oil 

Method 

Take a whole chicken, after washing the chicken, wipe the chicken with a paper towel. Poke the chicken with a fork. Apply little salt on the chicken properly and keep it aside for 15 minutes. Now add the Onion - Ginger - Garlic paste. Rub it well on the chicken. Keep it aside for 15 minutes. Add the coconut - Poppy seed paste, lime juice, salt, 1/4 cup of oil, sliced onion, 2 green chillies, some slices of bhut jolokia and lemon wedges. Apply all the ingredients well on the chicken as well as in the inside part of the chicken, let it stand for an hour. Take a pressure cooker, place the chicken and its marinated juices into the pressure cooker. Pour in 1 tbsp of the mustard oil. Place the green chilli and the remaining slices of the bhut jolokia on top of the chicken. Cover the lid of the cooker. Let it cook on a low flame until 5 whistles. Let the pressure release. Garnish it with some coriander leaves. Serve it with hot steaming rice. 

Putu Ayu Ketan Hitam (Black Glutinous Rice and Coconut Steamed Cake)

It's an Indonesian steamed cake recipe. It's can be served as snacks and believe me it is moist, healthy and super tasty.

I have followed Anna dina's blog for this recipe, but I have reduced the quantity of the ingredients to half and recreated the recipe as per my convenience.

The Black Rice was one of the ingredient that I had received as prize from Original Indian Table in collaboration with Commeat. I have plated it on a Tapas plate which again was one of the prizes I had received from Le Creuset...

I made the rice flour at home. I took 125 grams of rice and ground it. Then sieved it. I have used dried grated coconut, but the fresh coconut is more preferred.

Black Rice known as forbidden rice, it is less popular than the other rice varieties, it is also an ancient grain that has been eaten in Asia for thousands of year. It has a powerful disease-fighting antioxidants, and it also contains dietary fiber, anti-inflammatory properties, and has the ability to help stop the development of diabetes, cancer, heart disease and even weight gain.

For the Coconut Layer

Ingredients

50 grams grated Coconut

3 drops of Vanilla Essence

A Pinch of Salt

1 Pandan Leaf

Methods

Add the coconut, salt, vanilla essence and pandan leaf into the bowl. Mix the ingredients and steam it for 2 minutes. Let it cool. Discard the leaf and keep it aside.

For the Cake

Ingredients

120 grams of Black Glutinous Rice Flour

60 grams Caster Sugar as per the sweetness required

A Pinch of Salt

1 Large Egg

100 ml Coconut milk

1 Pandan Leaf

Oil for greasing

Method

Boil coconut milk with pandan leaf. Let it cool then remove the leaf from the coconut milk. Boil a liter of water in a pot. Grease the putu ayu moulds or mini bundt moulds with oil. Put 2 tsp of the coconut into the mould. Press the grated coconuts well until it sets. Keep the mould aside.

Remove the pot of hot water from the flame. Take another bowl which can fit onto the pot. Add the egg, sugar and salt into the bowl. Beat on low speed until the sugar dissolves. Increase the speed of the beater and  beat until the batter becomes thick and pale. Add the flour in the batter in batches. Beat it further till the flour has mixed well. Now gradually add the coconut milk little at a time and continue to beat the batter until the ingredients are well incorporated.

Fill the moulds with the batter until full till the edge, steam it for 15 minutes or till the cake is done. Let the cake cool down before remove it from the moulds.

Achari Machli Bhappa...

This is a fish preparation, very easy to make, spicy and scrumptious. You can serve this dish as a starter or have it as a side dish with hot steaming rice. The fish is marinated in fresh homemade achari masala. We all have left over oil from the pickle, and we discard them, but I use it up in creating other dishes, so here I have used achari oil from the pickle which gives extra punch to the dish. 

Ingredients

1 medium size around 500 grams whole Fish - Indian Salmon / Rawas,  Barramundi / Bhetki or Snapper / Rani Machli

2 tbsp Garlic and Green Chilli paste (4 Garlic and 3 Green Chillies)

6 Garlic cloves crushed

Juice of 1 Lime

1 small Tomato for Garnishing

Few Coriander Leaves chopped

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

1 tsp Coriander seeds

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds

1/2 tsp Fennel seeds

1/2 tsp Carom seeds

1/4 tsp Fenugreek seeds

6 Red Chillies

1 1/2 tsp  Turmeric powder

Salt to taste

2 tbsp Pickle Oil

 

Method

Clean the fish well, the fish has to remain in 1 piece. Give 3 slits on the fish. Keep the fish on a foil paper. Apply salt and 1tsp turmeric powder on the fish and keep it aside for 10 minutes. Meanwhile add mustard seeds, coriander seed, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, carom seeds, fenugreek seeds 1/2 tsp turmeric powder and 4 red chillies into a grinder and grind the seeds into a powder. That makes our achari powder. In a small mixing bowl add the achari powder, lime juice, garlic - chilli paste and oil, mix it and let it stand for 5 minutes, apply the achari paste properly all over the fish, push the crushed garlic into the cuts of the fish and add 2 dry chillies. Cover the fish with the foil paper. Leave it to marinate for 30 minutes to an hour. Steam the fish in a preheated oven for 20 minutes at 200 degrees celsius or you can steam it in a steamer till the fish is cooked. Garnish it with coriander leaves and tomato. Serve it hot.