Amaranth Chicken Curry is popular throughout the state of Andra Pradesh. Their cuisine is known for their spicy food and hearty distinctive taste. Amaranth leaves come in shades of red, purple and simple green. They are easily available in Asian grocers and widely popular in Indian cooking. They are robust in flavor eaten raw, but when cooked they turn mellow and add an extra layer of flavor to any dish.
Midweek rush.
Have you packed your bags? Print everything you want for school now, nothing in the morning. I’ll wake you up at 6. am., if you want to finish your homework.
After making sure things are a bit organized, I send the little one off to bed, kissing him on his cheek and squeezing his chin. I come down to finish the chores, prep for tomorrow’s lunch, and stare at the dishes for a while before tackling them. Once I find myself standing in a clean kitchen, I am pleased with myself. I put on a kettle, pour some boiling water in my mug and sit down with my green tea on the sofa, taking a deep breath. My phone is in my hand.
As I sip my very green matcha tea, my mind wonders to the beginning of the day when I told myself that I would stay calm, positive and patient. Patience was in the trash when my morning began with my puppy Waffles running out in the rain and coming in, showering us with wet, dirty water. I was exactly five minutes late leaving home, which meant the traffic would be bad. After dropping the kids off, I realized the lunch box was in the car, so I drove back to drop the lunch box. I was late for my group workout class. Came home, turned on my jazz and tried to stay as positive about the rest of the day. The day flew by with not many hurdles to shake my calm.
It’s close to 11. p.m. I quickly browse through my mail, seeing a few important ones that need immediate attention. However, I decide to postpone it to the morning. As I check my social media, I get a notification on WhatsApp. I chat with a friend for a while as I take sips of my tea. Fifty minutes later, my tea is done, and I have no clue when I finished it. I’m a little annoyed that I did not get to all the stuff that I wanted to achieve today, including folding the clothes, which by the way I despise.
I wonder at times, how minutes fly and when we look back, we really did not do much. But do we always have to achieve something? It is okay not to, right? I feel like so many of us are in a perpetual state of mind, where “What’s next?” is constantly a question. Again, this is not to say that making definite goals is necessarily a poor strategy for achieving them, it’s just that we need to be aware of the dangers of obsession with planning and working.
Instead of being engrossed with what the tomorrow/ future may bring, we need to learn to love the work here and now.
Enjoying our day by day progress and realistic “checkpoints” is a much more practical way to create our future; getting lost in grandiose dreams that focus on the ultimate end is not.
So, my affirmation for tomorrow is: Control is an illusion. Let go, and live happily in the moment.
Here’s my simple Sunday chicken curry. I love my Sunday lunches, it’s relaxing: no plans, no agendas. Just relax, cook and enjoy a long lunch with the family.
This is dish very popular to the state of Andhra. They use greens in their curries often and most of their curries are spicy and full of flavor. Using bone in chicken is key here to get the most out of this curry. If you can cook this in an authentic clay pot, even better. But, a heavy bottomed pan is absolutely fine too. I’ve used purple amaranth because I found some fresh ones in the store, but you could use the green ones which is widely available. It is relatively a simple dish which requires marination and then it comes together quite quickly.
Happy Cooking!
- 2 pounds bone in chicken, cut to 2 inch large pieces
- 2 tbsp fresh ginger garlic paste
- ⅓ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 2 tbsp red chili powder, the spicy kind
- 1 tbsp coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 tablespoon flaky salt
- 3 tablespoon vegetable oil
- Juice of 2 limes
- 3 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 2 tablespoon channa daal
- 10 curry leaves
- 3 thai green chillies thinly sliced
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 1 large tomato, finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 cups packed amaranth leaves, washed and chopped
- ⅓ cup chopped cilantro
- In a large vessel, add the washed chicken. Add the ginger-garlic paste, turmeric powder, chili powder, coriander powder, garam masala, salt and vegetable oil. Mix well and add the lime juice, and marinated for at least 30 minutes.
- In a heavy bottomed pan, add oil. Let it get hot and then add the cumin seeds, channa daal and let it pop. Add the curry leaves and green chilies, saute for 30 seconds and add the onion. Fry it for a minute, add the tomato, salt and fry for another minute. Add the marinated chicken to the onion-tomato mix and toss it well. Let it come to a boil. Do not add water. Cover and cook for 15 minutes.
- Once the chicken is 90 percent cooked, add the amaranth leaves and mix everything very well. Cover, simmer and cook for another 10-15 minutes. After the chicken is completely cooked and the greens are completely wilted, open the lid and let it thicken for 5 minutes. Add the chopped cilantro, turn off the heat and serve hot with some plain rice.
Thanks for reading. Have a great day.
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Loved, loved this post Asha! And the photography had me drooling…..beautiful 🙂
Thanks so so much Bina.
xo
First, this is so beautiful and sounds absolutely gorgeous. Second, I hear you!!!! I’m having that day today…I didn’t tick all of the boxes…but is it so bad? Hard not to be hard on ourselves when we don’t get everything done. Anyway, I will see you at the Soe & Ingrid dinner in early April — did you know that? I can’t wait to give you a big hug!!! Until then, lots of love!! xoxo
ve any suggestions pf where to find the amaranth leaves? I looked online. No luck. Not to many Asian markets where I live.
Amranth leaves are mostly found in Asian markets or Indian grocery stores. Beet greens, mustard greens, chinese spinach, swiss chard, all work well for this recipe.
What a droolworthy chicken curry! Those red amaranth leaves look really beautiful.
Life’s very simple but sometimes it really hardens & throws us out of track …. but the best part is, some how we scroll & drag & scream & atlast we will be in track…… but always we have to be ready for the next throw ??……. Ur a great Mom & good person, keep it going Girl ??…. As per the recipe goes, as always great photos & a yummy recipe to try out …. Have a great day !!!!!
Things can sometimes get away from us, can’t they? But the important stuff always gets done. Eventually. Good dish — thanks.
I love your story telling writing style Asha. It’s like reading a novel and I can picture the scenery based on the images you post on Instastories! I love it. I gotta try this matcha tea dude. Second, this chicken looks amazing, your pictures are always stunning. You know so many different chicken dishes!!
Beautiful chicken curry Asha! I love reading your post, it makes me visualize the whole scene…you have the karishma of emanating the positive energy gal!! Keep up the good work!
Loved reading the post and those pictures are wonderful! I can totally relate to this and bet many could! Isn’t it amazing how 5mins delay can make a huge difference during morning rush hour!
Need to try this out next time I can get my hands on Amaranth. Being from AP, I never tried chicken with thotakoora. Back at home, We are big fans of gongura (sour leaves) with meats.
Have a great day Asha! Your posts always bring a smile on my face!
Gorgeous post Asha! Lovely pics as always… and yes I agree with you! Sometimes we just ought to let go, and relax, and not worry about what all tasks we need to complete sigh! Thanks for the reminder and the beautifully written post 🙂 much love.
Oh I really want to try this dish. but just wondering when you say amaranth leaves…is it what we call lal saag? We had it for lunch the other day..would love to use it in this dish! And yes, living in the moment is the need and yet despite knowing it, we just dont follow it as much as we should! You are so right..control is an illusion! Enjoy the weekend!
I love Sundays and all Sunday meals. This chicken and that rice in the background…looks insane! Totally mouthwatering…
I agree with you – live in the moment, don’t stress so much, and try to just live, be good and happy. : )