Slow cooker Kolhapuri chicken

This recipe has a special place for me. Beign born and brought up in Mumbai,Maharastra many of my nieghbours were Kolhapuri Maratha's. Most of the Sundays our house used to fill up with the amazing smell of this chilli infused coconut chicken coming from nieghbouring homes..... sometimes it used to mix up with the smell of Kosha Mangsho ( Bengali Goat Curry) made by my mom and all these aroma used to make me extremely hungry.

HISTORY

Kolhapuri cuisine is well known for its bold and aromatic dishes. Traditionally, the food is spicy and full of robust flavors. Kolhapuri Chicken is a delicious example of what Kolhapuri cuisine has to offer. This Chicken curry is called Tambra Rassa". This is a curry prepared using red chilly powder to make it appear "Tambra" that is redish. Kolhapuri cusine was developed by Marathas (hindu warrior class) who had a love for mainly non vegetarian foods.
This dish is spicy, so feel free to adjust the spiciness to suit your palate.

INGRIDIENTS:

	Chicken,pieces on bone (12)	2lbs
	Sesame seeds	1 tbs
	Poppy seeds	2 tbs
	Black peppercorns	6-8
	Caraway seed powder	1 tsp
	Cinnamon	1 inch stick
	Green cardamom	3-4
	Black cardamom	1
	Clove	4-5
	Mace	1 blade
	Coconut grated	1 cup
	Whole dry chillies	8-10
	Ginger	1 inch piece
	Garlic	6-8 clove
	Olive oil	5 tablespoon
	Red chilli	3-4
	Onion ,chopped	3 medium
	Turmeric powder	1/4 tsp
	Nutmeg	a pinch
	Salt	to taste
	Fresh coriander leaves,chopped	2 tbs

DIRECTION:
Dry roast sesame seeds, poppy seeds, black peppercorns, caraway seeds, cinnamon, green cardamom, black cardamom, cloves and mace separately. Cool and grind along with dry coconut and bedgi red chillies to a fine paste, adding a little water. Grind ginger and garlic to a fine paste.
Heat olive oil in a thick-bottomed pan, add dry red chillies, stir-fry briefly, remove and reserve for garnish. Add onions to the same oil and sauté till golden brown. Add ginger-garlic paste and cook on medium heat for a few seconds.Stir in prepared coconut paste and cook til slight brown.
Put all the pan roasted ingredients in the slow cooker. Add chicken pieces, mix well and add the remaining spices,mix again and cook on high heat for 4 hrs. The masala (gravy) should be quite thick and dry. Serve hot garnished with coriander leaves, grated coconut and fried dry red chillies with steamed rice.

CHEF'S NOTE
I made this curry medium spicy,traditionally it should be more spicy. If you want to make it more authentic add more chillies.




I

Lamb Dhansak (sweet and sour Lamb curry with lentil sauce)

History : In order to escape persecution at the hands of the Muslims in Iran, a small group of Zoroastrians left their ancestral town of Paras and set sail for India.

Dhansak is a Parsi dish traditionally served on Sundays and very popular with the Parsi community around Mumbai. It is a hot, sweet and sour dish offered at feasts and made of mutton, lentils, vegetables, spices, cumin seeds, ginger, garlic etc. Dhan refers to  split beans: Chickpeas, Pigeon peas, Moong, Urad, Masoor, dried green and yellow peas. The dish may contain one or more of these Dal. Most common beans used are Lentils (Masoor) and Pigeon-peas (Toor).

Ingredient:
100g/ 0.2 lbs red lentils
1 lbs butternut squash , peeled and chopped into chunks
2 onions roughly chopped
2 chopped tomatoes
1 tsp turmeric
1½ tsp cumin seeds
1½ tsp coriander seeds
4 cardamom pods , squashed
oil
1lb lean diced lamb
1 thumb-sized piece root ginger finely chopped
4 garlic cloves , crushed
2-3 green chillies, sliced
1 tsp garam masala powder
Coriander chopped

Directions:

Grind all the spices except bay leaves to a fine powder, coat the meat and cover with cling film in the fridge for at least 2 hours, I leave this overnight.
Brown the lamb pieces in batches in a hot frying pan with a little oil and set aside on a plate.
Fry off the onions until slightly browned. Put ⅔ into the slow cooker, add the meat.
Add the remaining onions to a food processor, along with a tin of chopped tomatoes, the garlic and 1 ½ pints water and blitz until smooth. Add to meat and onions.
Add tumeric, salt, garam masala,red lentils,butternut squash and bay leaves. Stir and put on low setting on the slow cooker for 8 hours
Add coriander and lemon juice, stir well, serve.

If you refer my recipe and make  them today,Please leave me a comment how it turned out. It will motivate me to write more recipes.