Chicken Bihari Kebab

For the longest time I used to think that Bihari Kebab is only made out of ground beef. During my last visit to visit Mahesh's(my husband) parents in Atlanta, we went to eat at a restaurant called 'Lukma'. Mom ordered Chicken Bihari kebab and it was just delicious.

I returned to Austin but the taste just haunted me and I had to give it a try on my own. So I started reading online and I found there are several ways to make them with beef.

This is a recipe with some of my personal favourites in grilling ingredients that I tried with and found very pleasing results.

Ingredients:
2 lbs Chicken breast fillets cut in thin strips length wise

Marinade ingredients:
1/4 cup yogurt
1/4 of raw medium size raw papaya
1 tbsp amchur
1/2 lime freshly squeezed
1.5 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp red chili powder
2-3 green chillies
2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp Shaan Bihari Kebab Masala
Salt to taste

Preparation:
Cut the onions in wedges and saute them in a pan until they turn golden brown
Let the onions cool down, and then in a blender, grind the onions, green chillies, ginger, garlic and yogurt(for providing the liquid consistency while grinding)
Once that becomes a paste, add the raw papaya cut into pieces and blend.

For preparing the marinade, add the contents from the blender in a long dish (so the chicken pieces can sit lengthwise), add the rest of the marinade ingredients, add the meat.
Cover with a lid, and refrigerate overnight.

Cooking on a grill:
Make sure the heat is mild/low, as the breast pieces are very delicate and will burn off easily.
Take some skewers and arrange the meat in length.
Before putting on the grill, make sure there's plenty of marinade on all sides, especially the bottom of the meat.
Spray some oil for protective coating and effective cooking.
Let the meat cook on the bottom, do not turn the meat until the bottom is done completely else the marinade will not come off with the meat when you turn.
Cook to completion.

Cooking in a conventional oven:
Most kebab dishes taste good on a grill, however in this case, I found cooking in the oven more effective as we can carefully regulate the heat and broil it when needed in controlled conditions.
All the instructions are the same for placement of the meat and grilling, except the temperature conditions.
I cooked the meat on lo Broil settings until the 1st turn of the kebabs. For the second turn, you can put it in high broil as the breast meat cooks very fast. Really, what you are broiling at this point is the marinade.

Serve with yogurt raita or fresh onions and lime.

Besan Chutney

Surprisingly not many people know about this recipe or dont make it often in south indian families.. However I grew up on this and LOVE it a lot!

Ingrediants (for 6-8 people):
1 medium onion cut in length
1 chopped tomato
1/2 tbsp minced ginger
1/2 tbsp minced garlic
4 fresh green chillies
3/4 tbsp turmeric powder
1 cup besan (gram flour)
handful of chopped coriander for garnish

Chonk/Popu : 1 tbsp cumin, 1 tbsp dry mustard seeds, 2 tsb urad dal, 4 curry leaves

Preparation:
Heat some oil in a pan.
Add the chonk ingrediants and let splatter
Add the onions, green chillies, ginger, garlic and stir until onions turn golden brown
Add tomatoes, cover with a lid and let cook till its a paste
Add turmeric powder and some red chilli powder if you need some more spice
Add 3 cups of water and set it to boil for approx. 10 minutes on medium-high heat.
Meanwhile, make a fine smooth paste of besan in 1/2 cup of water. Make sure there are no lumps big or small.
Add the besan paste to the boiling contents and stir.
cook for 5 minutes and set aside.

Garnish with shopped coriander leaves.

Time saver tips:
Substitute ginger and garlic with readymade ginger garlic paste bought from a store.

Serving suggestion:
Tastes best with hot idlies or dosas.

Peanut coriander chutney

Ingediants:
1 cup raw peanuts
2-3 twigs of dry tamarind (seeded or unseeded)
3 fresh green chillies (you can add 2-3 more depending upon your spice tolerance)
1 cup fresh coriander leaves
Chonk (popu): 1 tbsp cumin, 1 tbsp dry mustard seeds, 2 tsb urad dal, 5-6 curry leaves, pinch of hing (asafoetida), 1 dry red chilli broken into pieces (optional)

Pre-preparation:
Soak the tamarind for 15 minutes.

Preparation:
Roast the peanuts on medium heat to just when they start releasing a nice roasted smell, and turn slight yellowish brown. Do not let them burn to a complete brown or they lose flavour.
Cool the peanuts to a room temperature.
Extract the pulp from the tamarind by gently kneading it with your hands.
In a blender, grind peanuts, tamarind, green chillies, coriander to a fine paste
In a frying pan, heat oil and add the contents for chonk and let them splatter.
Transfer the peanut paste to a serving dish, mix the chonk and cover with a lid to retain the chonk floavor.

Garnish
Decorate with chopped coriander leaves.

Time saver tips:
Replace raw peanuts with "dry roasted unsalted peanuts" that you get from most stores.
Replace the tamarind with readymade tamarind paste.

Peanut Garlic Chutney

This is an alteration of the Peanut Chutney for all the garlic lovers!

Ingediants:
1 cup raw peanuts
2-3 twigs of dry tamarind (seeded or unseeded)
3 fresh green chillies (you can add 2-3 more depending upon your spice tolerance)
3 peeled garlic cloves
Chonk (popu): 1 tbsp cumin, 1 tbsp dry mustard seeds, 2 tsb urad dal, 5-6 curry leaves, pinch of hing (asafoetida), 1 dry red chilli broken into pieces (optional)


Pre-preparation:
Soak the tamarind for 15 minutes.

Preparation:
Roast the peanuts on medium heat to just when they start releasing a nice roasted smell, and turn slight yellowish brown. Do not let them burn to a complete brown or they lose flavour.
Cool the peanuts to a room temperature.
Extract the pulp from the tamarind by gently kneading it with your hands.
In a blender, grind peanuts, tamarind, green chillies to a fine paste
In a frying pan, heat oil and add the contents for chonk and let them splatter.
Transfer the peanut paste to a serving dish, mix the chonk and cover with a lid to retain the chonk floavor.

Garnish
Decorate with a dry red chilli on the top and 2 curry leaves each side of the dry red chilli.

Time saver tips:
Replace raw peanuts with "dry roasted unsalted peanuts" that you get from most stores.
Replace the tamarind with readymade tamarind paste.

Peanut Chutney (Pallilu Pachhadi)

Ingedients:
1 cup raw peanuts
2-3 twigs of dry tamarind (seeded or unseeded)
3 fresh green chillies (you can add 2-3 more depending upon your spice tolerance)
Chonk (popu): 1 tbsp cumin, 1 tbsp dry mustard seeds, 2 tsb urad dal, 5-6 curry leaves, pinch of hing (asafoetida), 1 dry red chilli broken into pieces (optional)

Pre-preparation:
Soak the tamarind for 15 minutes.

Preparation:
Roast the peanuts on medium heat to just when they start releasing a nice roasted smell, and turn slight yellowish brown. Do not let them burn to a complete brown or they lose flavour.
Cool the peanuts to a room temperature.
Extract the pulp from the tamarind by gently kneading it with your hands.
In a blender, grind peanuts, tamarind, green chillies to a fine paste
In a frying pan, heat oil and add the contents for chonk and let them splatter.
Transfer the peanut paste to a serving dish, mix the chonk and cover with a lid to retain the chonk flavour.

Garnish
Decorate with a dry red chilli on the top and 2 curry leaves each side of the dry red chilli.

Time saver tips:
Replace raw peanuts with "dry roasted unsalted peanuts" that you get from most stores.
Replace the fresh tamarind with readymade tamarind paste.

Chonk (Popu)

Chonk is a finishing process to most indian food entrees that gives it a good flavor at the end of preparation or in some cases beginning of preparation.

Ingrediants (for a dish that serves 4):
1 tbsp black mustard seeds (sarson)
1 tbsp cumin seeds (jeera)
2 tsp urad dal (split black gram beans)

Process:
Heat 1 tbsp oil or ghee in a pan to a mild temperature
Add all the above ingrediants
Stir till they pop and mix in the desired dish that you want to prepare finally.

Enhancers:
red chillies
curry leaves (typically for south indian food preparations)
hing
Ajwain (thymol)

Fresh Coconut Chutney (Kobbari Pachhadi)

Ingrediants (serves 6):

Fresh grated Coconut (1 whole)
2 pinches of crushed fresh ginger root
ping of hing (aesofatida)
2 stems of curry leaves
3 dried red chillies (spice watchers: 1 red pepper instead)
3 fresh green chillies (spice watchers: 1 green chilli)
Chonk/Popu : 1 tbsp cumin, 1 tbsp dry mustard seeds, 2 tsb urad dal
1/4 cups of fresh squeezed tamarind paste OR 2 tsp of tamarind concentrate
1/4 cup yoghurt

Process:
In a blender, grind the coconut, green chillies, tamarind, yoghurt, ginger to a fine paste
Pour into a serving dish
In a small saucepan, add 1 tsp of oil, add the Chonk ingrediants, hing, curry leaves, red chillies
Mix this into the blended coconut and serve with dosas or idlis!

Caution: Refrigerate after use, coconut goes stale very easily if left outside.