Let's spice it up!

Don’t you just love that fiery blast to your senses when you eat spicy foods? Well, that’s not all they do — many spicy ingredients supply key vitamins and minerals that are required for maintaining a good health

Sorrel leaves and chilli pulav:

Ingredients:

4 bunches sorrel/gongura
¼ cup of ginger, peeled and chopped
¼ cup of garlic, peeled and chopped
5-6 curry leaves
3 onions, chopped
¼ cup of pudina
10-15 green chillies
tsp mustard seeds
1 dry red chilli, for tadka
1 tsp jeera
Fried cashews
1cup rice
¼ cup beans and peas, boiled
¼ cup spring onion, chopped
2 tbsp capsicum, chopped

Method:

Cook rice and keep it aside. In a pan, take oil, add ginger, garlic, curry leaves and onion. Sauté till onion becomes translucent. Now add sorrel/gongura and let everything cook. Once cooked, cool down and grind it by adding pudina and green chillies. In a big pan, take some oil. Splutter mustard seeds, dry red chilli and jeera. Add spring onion, beans, peas and capsicum. Cook till capsicum is little soft. Add the gongura paste and mix well. Add cashews and cooked rice. Mix well and let it simmer till the flavours set in with the rice. Switch off the flame, garnish with some cashews and serve hot with raita.

Khumb chicken curry:

Ingredients:

½ kg chicken
100 gm mushroom
4 tbsp onion paste
1 onion, chopped
6-7 green chilli, chopped
2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
3 green cardamoms
3 cloves
1 bay leaf/tez patta,
½  inch cinnamon
½ tbsp kasoori methi
1 tbsp dhaniya powder
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tbsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
1 tbsp garam masala
¼ cup kaju-magaz paste (boil 4 tbsp kaju/cashew, 4 tbsp magaz/musk melon seeds with ½ cup water for 5 minutes. Cool and grind it to a fine paste.)

Method:

Heat oil and add cardamoms, cloves, bay leaf and cinnamon. Add onion paste and sauté for two minutes. Now add chopped onions and ginger-garlic paste. Sauté the mixture on medium heat for five minutes. Add chicken, chilli powder, salt, turmeric powder, dhaniya powder and mix for 8 to 10 minutes. Now add mushrooms, kasoori methi and sauté it for two minutes. Add ½ glass of water and cook until chicken is soft. Now add garam masala, kaju-magaz paste, green chilli and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes. Serve hot.

Garlic and chilli baby potatoes:

Ingredients:

1/2 kg baby potatoes, boiled and peeled
3 tbsp oil
3 tbsp garlic chutney made by pounding garlic, salt and chilli powder in mortar and pestle
Water
1 tbsp dhaniya-jeera powder
1 tsp jeera
1 tsp garam masala

Method:

In a thick bottom pan, heat oil and add jeera. Once it splutters add the garlic chutney and mix for a minute. Now add boiled potatoes mix well until the potatoes get coated with the garlic. Add water, mix and cover it to cook for five minutes on low flame. Now add dhaniya-jeera powder and garam masala. Mix well and leave it to simmer for a couple of minutes and garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot as a side dish with roti or rice.