Chilli Chicken

Chicken Fry

Dal and Cabbage curry

Chicken/Egg/Vegetable Biryani

Ingrdients:

4 cups basmathi rice
1/2 cup curd
4-5 tbsp oil/ ghee
3 tbsp salt

Whole Spices:
10 cloves
8 green cardamom
4 cinnamon sticks
6 tsps cumin seeds/ almonds

For gravy:
3 inch peice of ginger
2 whole garlics
8 green chillis
2 big onions
2 big tomatoes
1 buch corriander leaves
3/4 th bunch mint leaves

1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp turmeric powder
8 tsps corriander powder
2 tsps chilli powder
3-4 tsps gharam masala
salt to taste

For Chicken byriyani, use 1 kg chicken, cut to medium peices and cooked

For Veg byriani use 3-4 cups of  mixed vegetables cut to small(not very small) pieces and cooked: more of green peas and carrots, and half as much beans, potatoes and cauliflower florets, and 1 capsicum if desired.

For egg byriyani use 6 full-boiled eggs or as required, cut in half

For garnishing:

10-15 big onions
1 cup raisins, or more if desired
1 cup cashewnus, or more if desired
1 bunch corriander leaves

Method of Preparation:


Marionate the chiken pieces/ eggs/ cooked vegetable with curd, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder and a little salt. Remember you will be adding salt to the gravy, so you can adjust the salt accordingly.

Wash the basmathi rice and soak in warm water for 20 mins and then drain out the water.

In the time the rice is saoked and drained, prepare the gravy:
Roughly cut all the ingredients under the 'Gravy', except mustard seeds and powder, and grind them into a paste in mixer with 3 tbsps of water.
Heat 1 tbsp oil in kadai, splutter mustard seeds, and pour the contents of the mixer and stir.
When lumps begin to form, add chilli pd, corriander pd, turmeric pd, gharam masala and salt to taste.
Stir well into a sticky paste so that curry will not spoil quickly.

Keep 8 cups of water to boil(twice as much cups of water as the cups of rice)
In an aluminium/ brass vessel, hast 3 tbs oil/ghee, add the 10 onions slicked, 2-3tbs salt andfry the onions to dark brown. The addition of salt will remove the water from the onions faster.
Drain out the oil from the onions and remove the fried onions onto a plate. This is for the garnishing.
Fry the raisins and the cashews together till the cashews turn light brown, and remove them to another plate.
Dry roast the whole spices and grind them(if you don't like to bite them whole in the rice)
Fry the rice in the remaining oil/ghee till it turns a light pinkish-brown.
Mix a little of the gravy to the rice to give it an aroma.
Add the eight cups of boiled water to the rice and add 2 tsps turmeric powder, mix.
Keep it closed and place a weight on it. Allow it to cook on medium flame, with occational stirring.

While the rice is getting cooked, add the marionated chicken pieces/ eggs/ vegetable to the gravy.
You can now add required amount of water and boil to reach a gravy-like consistency.

Assembling the dish:
Assemble biriyani in a wide vessel by placing rice, gravy with pieces, sprinkling raising, nuts and corriander leaves alternatively till all gravy and rice is used up. Garnish the top with remaining nuts, raisins and corriander leaves.
You could also serve the gravy separately, in which case you'd have to only assemble the rice, nuts, raisings and corriander leaves.
Serve with onion salard(in curd), and your favourite pickle!

Potatoe-Pea curry

Pizza

Ingredients:

Paneer-Mutter gravy and pulao

Ingredients:

Black Forest

Peanut(groundnut) butter

Yummmy! This is one spread you'd love to keep spreading! Peanut butter spread tastes absolutely delicious with bread, salted biscuits or sandwiches, and is good breakfast specially for children. Of course, it is lots of cholesterol, but spreading only a little is sufficient to add great taste to your bread.

Peanut butter spread is easy to make, the only time consuming part being the de-skinning of peanut. You could use some help there, but make sure you don't call on peanut-lovers for help!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup roasted peanuts(groundnuts)
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp sugar
1 tbs refined groundnut oil(any vegetable oil would also do)

1. Roast peanuts in 'kadai'.
2. Remove the skin from nuts.
3. While still warm, grind nuts in the jar, with salt and sugar, at speed 1 for ten seconds.
4. Mix well with a spatula. Then run mixer at speed 1, adding oil, increase to speed 2 for one full minute and then to speed 3 for 1 minute.
5. Allow to mature for at least 2 hours before use.

Tomatoe rice

Here's a quick and easy recipe that can come in handy if you're busy and need to finish cooking in 10 mins(of course, you must have rice cooked and ready!). You don't need curry to go with this. Chicken fry will go amazingly well with this dish, but, like I said, if you don't have the time, you could just have it with pickle to enhance the taste.

Ingredients:

5 cups cooked rice
2 tbsps ghee
2-4 pieces of red chilli
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tbsps channa dal
2 tbsps cashew nuts broken
2 tsps urad dal
2 tsps ginger-garlic paste
a stalk of curry leaves
1 onion chopped
2 green chillies, finely chopped
salt to taste
3- 4 tomatoes finely chopped
1/4 tsp hinge
a pinch of garam masala(optional-too much would spoil the taste)
coriander leaves

Method:

1. Heat ghee, add red chilli pieces, mustard seeds, cumin seeds.
2. When they start to splutter, add channa dal, urad dal and cashew till they turn slightly brown.
3. Add ginger garlic paste and curry leaves to release aroma.
4. Add onion and green chilli and salt.
5. When onion turns transparent, add tomatoes, and cook in medium heat till they are slightly smashed.
6. Add hinge and if needed, garam masala.  
7. Turn off the flame and add cooked rice; garnish with coriander leaves.

Marble cake

Ingredients:

Same as either the 'Chocolate cake' or 'Eggless Chocolate cake', except, use 2 cocoa tbsps instead of 3.

Method:

1. Follow the same method as either the 'Chocolate cake' or 'Eggless Chocolate cake', except, don't add cocoa powder to the batter. Divide the batter into half and stir in 2 tbsps of cocoa powder into one half.

2. Grease a baking tin with butter, and dust it with maida.

3. Alternatively add spoonfuls from each batter.

4. Using a knife, stir in circles, from center outwards, or in any fashion you like, to get the marble effect.

5. Bake in preheated oven at 180 degree celcius, for 30 mins or till a knife inserted comes out clean.

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

Same as in Eggless Chocolate cake(refer previous post), except that you have got to add 2 eggs.

Method:

Same as in Chocolate cake(eggless), except that the eggs must be added after adding sugar to the butter, and beat well.

Chocolate Cake (Eggless)

This is my first cake ever, and the first dish, too, that I baked in my very first oven (which was a gift from my parents on my first-oops!-27th birthday this year), for my very first huby- hahhaa!
My  mother was suprised at my success as she felt that chocolate cakes are hard to rise, but this turned out just perfect. I was surprised myself of the fact that an amateur like me could do it so easily!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (maida)
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp soda bicarbonate
1/2 cup butter (do not use melted butter!)
1/2 cup fine sugar(if sugar is not fine, grind it in electric grinder)
1/2 can(200 ml) condensed milk (if you don't prefer condensed milk, you could add 1 1/2 cup milk and 1 1/2 cup sugar- instead of 1/2 cup sugar-in which case, you don't have to add the 3/4 cups of water)
1 tsp vanilla essence
3/4 cup water

Method:

1. Sieve together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and soda bicarb; keep aside.
2. Cut butter, that has been just taken out of the fridge and kept for 5 minutes, into smaller pies.
3. Mix the butter with sugar in a mixing bowl, using a hand mixer(or electric mixer). Add in the condensed milk, vanilla essence and water, mixing each time an ingredient has been added.
4. To the above mixture, add the sieved flour mixture, little by little, mixing each time.
5. Grease the baking pan with butter and dust it with a little flour till the entire inside of the baking pan is covered with the flour.
6. Pour the cake mixture into the pan(lick the bowl!) and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degree Celsius(360 degree Fahrenheit) for 30 minutes or till a knife inserted into the cake comes out clean.
7. Cool and transfer onto a plate.

Beef Curry

Ingredients:

Boneless beef- 1/2 kg, diced
Potatoes - 2 medium, diced (optional)
Ginger-garlic paste - 2 tsp
Onion - 1 medium/big, chopped
Green chilli- 2, slit lengthwise
Dried red chillies- powdered, 1 teaspoon,
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder- 1 tsp
Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves- a few
Coriander leaves- a few
Garam masala - 1 tsp
coconut- grated, 3/4 cup
black pepper- whole, 1 tsp
water- 1 cup
Tomatoes- 1 big, chopped thin (not too thin)
salt- to taste


Method:

1. Pressure cook beef with turmeric powder and salt, without water, for 30 minutes.
2. Fry grated coconut with black pepper till brown and crispy(don't over fry)
3. After the coconut cools, grind it well in grinder and keep aside.
4. Heat oil and add ginger- garlic paste and curry leaves; saute till it is medium brown.
5. Add onions, green chilli, saute till onions turn transparent.
6. Add red chilli powder, coriander powder and beef; mix for about 2 mins.
7. Put the above mixture into pressure cooker, add ground coconut from above, add water till level of beef, add garam masala, more salt if required. Add potatoes. Pressure cook upto 2 whistles.
8. Add chopped tomatoes and coriander leaves and close lid for a few minutes.

This curry goes well with any roti preparation as well as rice.

Cooking and me :)

The saying goes, "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach and the way to a woman's heart is through his pocket"!

There are few men who don't care for what's on the menu. But most men live to eat! Take my hubby, for instance: the first thing he does when I open the door to him, is to take a whisk or any aroma that may be coming from our kitchen(or the neighbor's kitchen!), and ask, "Honey, what's cooking?".

It's been one and a half years since I have been experimenting dishes with my ever faithful husband being the guinea pig. Writing a blog on my cooking used to be a subject of our jokes. But somehow I was inspired to blog about my experiments since last week, so here goes....