Monday, September 21, 2009

Recipes from the Taj - Kombdicha Rassa (Maharashtrian style Chicken Curry)

A few years back, I had to go for dinner at a place where I didnt know too many people. It was one of my dad's friend who was hosting a big dinner at his house, for a whole lot of people. I am terrible at making general polite conversation with people I dont know too well and was wondering how I would get thru the evening...

I tried to keep myself busy by flipping thru the various magazines when I saw this book there

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It was a book of Chef's recipes from the Taj group of hotels, featuring non-vegetarian recipes. The foodie in me went drooling over the recipes and pictures, but I was surprised that this book was here, considering this was a strictly vegetarian household. It happens that my dad's friend was a frequent visitor to one of Taj group hotels in Sri Lanka and they had come out with this special edition and gifted it to him

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He did eat chicken once in a way, but his wife never did and they never cooked / brought anything non-vegetarian at home...
The great thing was that the lady there asked me if I liked that book and I said its really interesting...She promptly asked me to take it, because if it was spotted by anyone from her family, they would not be too pleased seeing a book on non-vegetarian cooking in a strictly vegetarian household

Rassa

This book has some really awesome recipes and I have tried quite a few...
I bought a packet of goda masala from my last trip to Bombay and have been trying a lot of Maharashtrian recipes with it... I love the flavour and this recipe used goda masala...Had this with steamed rice and a cucumber raita for lunch on Sunday...

This recipe is from Panchratna at Taj Residency, Nashik by chef Ratnakar Prabhu

What you need

200 gm chicken
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
1/2 tsp green chilli paste
100 gm dry coconut / kopra
1 tsp coriander seeds
2 red chillies
1/2 tsp sesame seeds
2 tbsp oil
1 small onion
pinch of turmeric powder
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tbsp yoghurt
whole garam masala - 2 cardamoms, 1 piece cinnamon, 3 cloves and a bay leaf
1 tsp goda masala
1 tsp coriander leaves
salt
1.5 cups water

What you do with it -

Cut the chicken into pieces and wash well
Chop onion into small pieces
Marinate chicken pieces with half of the ginger-garlic and green-chilli paste
Keep aside for at least 30 mins
Heat oil and add the whole garam masala (not powdered), remaining ginger-garlic and green chilli paste and onions
Fry till onions are brown

Add marinated chicken pieces, salt, chilli powder, turmeric, goda masala
Stir till the pieces are coated with the powders
Add the water and saute till its cooked

Grate the dry coconut. Roast coconut, coriander seeds, red chilli and sesame seeds and grind to a paste with as little water as needed

When the chicken is cooked, add yoghurt, ground masala and sprinkle some goda masala
Garnish with coriander leaves.
Serve with steamed rice

14 comments:

Miri said...

What a brilliant find!! That chicken curry looks really good!

Home Cooked Oriya Food said...

So sweet of the hostess to let you have it... I love such stories - touches my heart! Lovely dish too!

Vani said...

Oh I love goda masala too. My current fave is the Kolhapuri one, though I'm all out of it right now. The chicken curry looks so very good, Arch! Perfect with hot steaming rice.

Cham said...

I don't have goda masala but this dish is dam tempting!

Sharmila said...

I do get goda masala here and love eveything spicy. Am going to make this soon. :-)
Thanks for coming over Arch and leaving nice lines. :-)

SJ said...

Came here to get the alo mutter recipe - I have made it 3 times already and the tomato saar too many times to count!

Cham said...

I prepared this chicken yest without goda masala, came out tasty and loved the nutty flavor, thanks for Sharing Arch!

Naina said...

Loved your blog! So many of my favorite konkani recipes (i'm a konk married to a maharshtrian). I think i will give the Kombdicha rassa a try coz it looks and sounds yummylicious.

amna said...

your dish looks just like the one in the book :) and btw, that book looks very very interesting!

Anonymous said...

Arch - what's goda masala? Do you get it in Blr? - Shilpa Pai

Deepali said...

Arch, Tried this recipe yday and wow...what response !!! thanks

Bbq ideas said...

Nice info on such a recipe ! At last I came across such a info on recipe of dish I love to eat but never tried to cook by my self and rather ordering from restaurants but now i will surely try this in my kitchen.

Unknown said...

It's funny how life works! My mom got the vegetarian version of the Taj Chef's cookbook because her co-worker was non- veg and told her to take the veg book. We cook from it all the time and the recipes are delicious.

Anonymous said...

I have had the Taj cookbook for many years now, and I finally was able to cook this over the weekend. I am in the US, and goda masala isn't terribly common, but a friend found me some. I have wanted to cook this dish, since I have had it many times at the Royal Orchid Central in Pune.

The recipe here explains when to add the water, which the Taj cookbook did not! Also, the book says 500ml water for 200g chicken. That is too much water. The recipe as listed here says 1.5 cups, which is approx 330ml water. That is more sensible. Great recipe.

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