Mutton Biryaani

First time today, i tried cooking Mutton Biryaani.....and luckily it resulted in a very tasty biryaani. Apparently my Fiance's favourite food is Mutton biryaani, so i had to learn it anyway. It turned out to be very good (atleast that's what the people said). By the end of the cooking process, my kitchen started smelling really good so I knew this was a success.

Alrighty...then let's start our process.........come on in..............

Ingredients:

1. 500 gms mutton

2. 250 gms Basmati Rice (wash and soak in cold water for 20 mins)

3. Meat Tenderizer - 1 tablespoon

4. Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tablespoon

5. Yogurt - 1.5 cup

6. Chilli Powder - 1 tablespoon

7. Salt to taste

8. Mint Leaves - handful

9. Coriander Leaves - Handful

10. Coriander Powder - 1 tablespoon

11. Cumin Powder - 1 teaspoon

12. Cloves - 3

13. Bay leaf - 2

14. Cinnamon Stick - 1

15. Shahizeera - 1/2 teaspoon

16. Turmeric Powder - 1/2 teaspoon

17. Garam Masala - 2 tablespoons

18. Onions - 3 medium sized

19. Oil - 6 tablespoon

20. Crushed Black pepper - 1/2 teaspoon

21. Black cardamom - 3

Method:

Marinate mutton with meat tenderizer and ginger garlic paste and set it aside in a cool place for 45 minutes. In the mean time, slice the onions and fry them until they turn golden brown. Take the meat container and add yougurt, chilli powder, few mint leaves, salt, few coriander leaves, corainder powder, cumin powder, cloves, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, black cardamom, shahizeera, turmeric powder and crushed black pepper to the meat and mix well. Now add 3 tablespoons of oil to this mixture. Take a vessel and boil 8 cups of water, add 3 tablespoons of oil, shahizeera, 1 tablespoon of garam masala and one tablespoon of salt. After the water comes to a boil, add the presoaked rice. Cook for 5 minutes on high flame or until the rice is 50% done. Take a heavy bottom pan (its important to use a heavy bottom pan so that biryaani won't burn at the bottom.) add mutton mixture at the bottom. On top of it add half of the rice, then add a layer of mint leaves, coriander leave, 1/2 teaspoon garam masala, half of the fried onions and then add the remaining amount of the rice and on top, add the mint leaves, corainder leaves, remaining garam masala, remaining fried onions. Now place this pan on high flame and cover it with a tight lid. Make sure steam does not go out. As an extra measure, put some weight on the lid, so that steam does not go out. After 10 minutes on the high flame, reduce the flame to low 2 and let it simmer for 60 minutes.

Tadaaaaaaaaa.................yummy biryaani is ready.

Serve it with Raita and Mirchi ka saalan.....enjoy peeps ;-)

Onion Pakodi (Pakora)

Onion pakodi is a tea time snack and one of my mom's favourites.

Ingredients:

1. Onions - 2 medium (cut into thin strings)

2. Gram flour (senagapindi or Besan) - 1 cup

3. Green chillies - 2 (cut into small pieces)

4. Chilli powder - 1/2 teaspoon

5. Salt - according to your tast

6. Water - 1/4 cup

7. Oil - enough to deepfry

Procedure:

In a bowl, take onions and gram flour, chillies, chilli powder and salt and mix well. Kneed this mixture for some time so that all the juices in the onions and chillies will make a thick dough and now add just a bit of water to make a smooth batter like consistency (make sure not to make it watery or runny, please avoid adding a lot of water)

Take a pan, heat oil and start dropping small amounts of batter into the oil, (make sure oil is hot enough to fry these). I prefer very small quantities of batter at a time to make the pakora's crisp. Once the pakora's become golden brown, take them out of the oil, strain them properly for excess oil and serve them hot with Mint chutney (you can get this in any Indian grocery stores) as a dip.

You can eat these pakoras as is without any dips as well.

P.S: Want to try a tasty quick dip??? Add two tablespoons of tomato ketchup to 1/2 tablespoon of mint chutney and use it as a dip. That's tangy, tasty mouth watering dip ;-)

Chicken Biryani

I invited one of my office colleagues (Victor) for the lunch recently, he liked the falvors and especially spices alot. He took some left over biryani home. The best part is Victor's dad liked biryani alot and now he asked me for the recipe. So i'm writing this post for him and to all the cooks looking for a easy recipe of "Chicken Biryani"



Note: Below recipe serves 2 people.



Ingredients:

1. Basmati Rice - 1 cup

2. Hyderabadi Biryani Masala - 1/2 tablespoon (You can buy this at Indian Groceries)

3. Chicken - 1 pound (cut into bite size cubes)

4. Oil - 1 tablespoon

5. Cloves - 2

6. Cinnamon stick - 1

7. Bay leaf - 1

8. Ginger and Garlic Paste - 1 tablespoon (You can buy this at Indian Groceries)

9. Garam Masala - 1/2 tablespoon (You can buy this at Indian Groceries)

10. Onion - Medium sized cut into small pieces

11. Chilli powder - 1 tablespoon (You can buy this at Indian Groceris)

12. Salt - As per your taste

13. Water

14. Tomato - 1 medium size cut into small pieces
15. Saffron powder - 1 pinch mixed in 2 tablespoons of water.



Preparation:

Take a pot, add rice, 2 cups of water (for 1 cup of rice, add 2 cups of water), pinch of salt, Biryani masala and mix well and cook the rice. This is just the way you cook normal rice.



Take another pan, add oil and onions, fry the onions until they are golden brown, add cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaf, ginger garlic paste, cinnamon stick, garam masala mix well and fry for 30 to 45 seconds. Now add tomato and fry for one more minute. Add chicken and mix it well with all the other ingredients in the pan, let it fry for 2 mins and then add 1/2 cup water, chilli powder and salt and let it cook until the chicken is tender and let it simmer for 10 minutes after the chicken is cooked.



Preheat the oven at 3500F. Take a baking pan, spread some rice on the pan, then some chicken and add some rice and so on..... add one layer of rice and one layer of chicken until you layer all the rice and chicken. Finally, pour the saffron mixed water on the rice as a garnish. Cover the pan with aluminium foil place it in the oven and let it sit in the oven for 15 minutes.



That's it.........yummy biryani is ready. Enjoy.



Serve it with raita. Recipe for Raita can be found in my "Khichidi and Raita" post.



Enjoy and don't forget to write how it turned out for you.

Cake Pudding

Today I'll show one of the quickest and easiest deserts to make. It is called "Cake Pudding"



Most of the times, I dont feel like eating left over birthday cake as there is no frosting left. So, i tried making a simple desert which gives a very different look and taste to our normal cake.



1. Jell-O pudding - vanial flavor - 1 pack (you can buy these in walmart at a cheaper price)

2. Jell-O Pudding - chocolate flavor - 1 pack

3. Cake - one small piece, broken into small pieces

4. Strawberries - 3

5. Whip Cream - 1 scoop



Note: You can bake the cake using the cake mix that you get at any groceries and try this recipe. You need not wait until a birthday party :-0)



Tip: Replace eggs with a cup of yogurt in the cake mix, if you want a eggless cake. All the remaining procedure is same.



Take two separate bowls, make vanilla pudding and chocolate pudding separately as per the instructions on the carton.



Take a glass as shown in the picture, put the chocolate pudding as the first layer, now second layer will be cake pieces, third layer is vanilla pudding. Now cut strawberries into two halves and place them as the forth layer. On top of it scoop the whip cream.



Put it in the refrigerator for 10 minutes and serve.



Deliciousssssssssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Enjoy.

Masala Dosa with Chutney

Best breakfast you can ever have, ofcourse you will be thirsty for atleast 5 hours after eating it:-)

Ingredients:

1. Urad dal/Minappappu - 1 cup

2. Rice - 2 cups

3. Green Chillies - 2

4. Cumin seeds - 1/4 teaspoon

5. Salt - 1/4 teaspoon or according to your taste

6. Ginger - 1/2 teapoon of small pieces

7. Oil

Preparation:

Dosa prep begins one day before your breakfast day. Soak urad dal and rice early in the morning (this is one day before your dosa eating plans). In the evening, grind urad dal and rice to a smooth paste. Make sure it has a batter like consistency, don't add too much of water. Grind cumin seeds, salt, ginger, green chillies into a coarse mixture. Add this mixture to the dosa batter and let it sit overnight.

Next day morning, when you are ready for the dosa, heat the pan and pour 1/2 cup of batter on the pan, spread it and add oil to the edges of the dosa. Fry it for 1/2 minute or until it is golden brown, turn it and again fry it for 1/2 minute. Now fill it with masala or stuffing (Preparation shown in next step) and fold it into half like a semi circle and serve it hot with Chutney.

That's it, you first part of dosa is ready.

Masala or Stuffing for Dosa:

Ingredients:

1. Potato - 1 big, boiled and cut into small cubes

2. Onion - 1/2 cut into small pieces

3. Green chillies - 8-10 cut into half

4. Cumin seeds and mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

5. Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon

6. Green peas (frozen) - 2 tabelspoons

7. oil - 1 tablespoon

8. Salt - as per your taste

Preparation

Heat oil in a pan, add cumin seeds and mustard seeds. Wait until they sputter and then add onions and fry until golden brown. Now add turmeric powder and green chillies and fry for 2 minutes. Add boiled potato cubes and green peas and salt and mix well with a spatula, so that all the ingredients are mixed well. Cover the pan with a lid and reduce t0 low heat and let it cook for 10 minutes. Stuffing is ready.

Chutney:

Ingredients:

1. Peanuts - 1 cup (roasted, unsalted, available at Walmart)

2. Green Chillies - 10 - 12

3. Tamarind paste - 1/2 tablespoon (store bought, available in Indian stores)

4. Salt - as per your taste

5. Water - 1 cup

Heat a pan and put the green chillies and fry until the green chillies loose their rawness and start forming a white color on their skin. (Easier way to do this instead of using a stove, take a microwave safe plate, put the green chillies in it and pop them in the microwave for 2-3 minutes.... easy) Now, add all the ingredients including the green chillies in a mixer and make a smooth paste. Chutney is ready.

Enjoy, your masala dosa with chutney.... and dont forget to thank me once you make this yummy breakfast ;-)

Pav Bhaji

Today, I spoke to one of my best friends in India and guess where she was??? The famous "Gokul Chat" in Koti.

That's it, at that very moment all the memories of India flashed in front of my eyes. And especially the tasty and savoury chat we used to eat at Gokul.

Hmm, can't get those days back now but I've decided to revive atleast few memories and the first step towards this was to eat "Pav Bhaji". This is one of my favourite snacks. I can eat it any time and anywhere, even if my stomach is full.

So, let's see the way to prepare it.

Ingredients:

1. Potato - 1 big, boiled and cut into small pieces

2. Tomato (canned and diced) - 1/2 cup

3. Butter - 4 tablespoons

4. onions - 1, cut into small pieces

5. Green Peas (frozen) - 1/2 cup

6. Chilli powder - 1/2 tablespoon or according to your taste

7. Salt - according to your taste

8. Chaat masala (store bought) - 1/2 tablespoon

9. Pav Bhaji Masala (store bought) - 1 tablespoon

10. Bread - 2 slices

Preparation:

Heat butter in a pan, add onions and fry until they are golden brown. Add tomato and mix well and let it sit on medium heat for 3-4 minutes. Once the butter starts oozing on top, add chilli powder, salt and green peas and mix well. Now let it simmer on medium heat for 5 minutes and use a spatula to mix occaisonally in order to stop it from burning.

Add boiled potato cubes and mix well so that masala is well coated on the cubes and now add chaat masala, pav bhaji masala and let it simmer on medium heat for 1-2 minutes.

Now, take a potato masher or a spatula and mash the potato cubes in the pan itself until the cubes become a paste like consistency.

Now, mix everything well with the spatula and cover the pan with a lid and let it simmer on low heat for atleast 3-4 minutes.

Add onion and coriander leaves for garnish if needed.

And for the bread, take two slices and toast it in the toaster or on the frying pan and then add a little bit of butter on both sides.

That's it. Pav Bhaji is ready.... Let's dig in. Can't wait to eat.

Sambhar

Aahhh!!! This is my favourite. I can eat alot of rice just with Sambhar.

Ofcourse this is one of the reasons why I'm putting on a lot of weight ;-)))

Ingredients:

1. Toor dal / Kandhi Pappu / Yello pigeon peas / Lentil - 1 cup

2. oil - 1 tablespoon

3. Mustard seeds - 1/4 teaspoon

4. Cumin seeds - 1/4 teaspoon

5. Drumsticks - 4 pieces (frozen, store bought)(available in Indian Groceries)

6. Tamarind - 1 pod soaked in 1 cup of water

7. carrots - 1 cut into bite size chunks

8. salt - as per your taste

9. chilli powder - 1 tablespoon

10. Sambhar Powder - 1/2 tablespoon (store bought, available in Indian Groceries)

11. Water - 5 cups

12. Onion - 1 cut into 4 big chunks

13. Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon

Preparation:

Wash and pressure cook Toor dal for 3 whistles and then mashed to make a paste like consistency.

Take another pan, pour oil and let it heat. Now add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and wait until they sputter. Add onion chunks and turmeric powder and mix well. Fry the onions until they turn golden brown. Add drumstick pieces and carrots and fry for 2-3 minutes.

Now add the tamarind water, salt, chilli powder, sambhar powder, water and let it boil.

After 7-8 minutes of boiling, add the cooked dal. Mix well. Let it simmer for 15 minutes.

Your sambhar is ready.

Server it with Rice. Enjoy!!!!!!!