Mutton Biriyani

I had gone into hibernating mode for a while and now trying to wake up to the world again :D... That doesn't mean I have not been trying out new dishess but just that I became a bit too lazy to put them up. Finally I feel this low calori biriyani was the right dish to make my come back ;) so to speak. I always used to feel I could never do a biriyani because it might be very complicated but now I have come to realize it is quite easy and if you can find someone to do the dishes for you after you are done nothing like this hehehehe. I hope you will enjoy making this as much as I did. All your feedbacks are welcome...... Now enjoy!!

Ingredients :

1) 400 gms mutton

2-3 tblsp curds

2 tblsp ginger garlic paste

1 tsp tblsp coriander pwd

1 tsp cumin pwd

¼ tsp turmeric pwd

¼ tsp cinnamon pwd (optional)

1 tsp garam masala

Half of fried onions

Salt to taste

Meat tenderizer – 1 tblsp (optional)

2) 2-3 tomatoes (medium size) – finely diced

3) coriander leaves – 1 bunch or as per taste

mint leaves – 1- 2 tblsps if putting dried mint otherwise as per taste

3-4 onions medium sized sliced thinly and fried till golden brown

saffron – a pinch soak in 4-5 tblsp of warm milk or water

4) 2 cups of biriyani rice soaked for half an hour

Bay leaf - 1

Cardamom – 3-4

Black cardamom – 1 (optional)

Star anise (optional)

Cinnamon – 1 ½ inch

Shahi jeera or black cumin – 1 tsp (optional)

Salt as per taste or about 1 tsp

Method:

Marinate the mutton with the ingredients mentioned in the first segment for about an hour. For the fried onions, slice 3-4 medium sized onions as thin as you can and fry them till golden brown. From this take half and crush them with hand while mixing them with the mutton.

Take a pressure cooker put in the marinated mutton and add half a cup of water and pressure cook for about 4-5 whistles or till you see the meat is as cooked as you want it to be. So when you open the pressure cooker and see if the meat is not cooked as per your tastes then you can close it again and give more whistles. So here depending on your pressure cooker you can increase or decrease the number of whistles.

Once the pressure is gone from the cooker and you can safely open you will notice that there will be some gravy in the mutton so put it back on fire and add finely diced tomatoes. You can remove the skin of the tomatoes if you don’t like it or don’t want it to be seen in the final product. I leave it one since I love tomatoes as whole. Now cook the mutton with lid open and stirring occasionally till all the water is gone and the tomatoes are nicely blended into the meat. That is it the meat part is done now we need to move to the rice part.

Bring the water for rice to a boil and add the bay leaf, cinnamon stick, cardamoms, star anise, shahi jeera and add salt. Now add the soaked rice to the water and cook for exactly five minutes after the rice starts boiling. Make sure you check the time because you don’t want to over cook the rice, it should be 3/4^th done. Drain the rice. Now take the vessel you intend to cook biriyani in and spread a layer of rice and then spread the cooked mutton on top of the rice, spread a handful of fried onions, half of coriander leaves, the whole of mint leaves and then half of the saffron milk or water. On top of this spread the rest of the rice and then add the spread rest of the coriander leaves and then the fried onions and finally the saffron. Close the vessel with its lid and then take some aluminium foil and nicely cover the lid and around the edge of the vessel so that the steam stays inside and your biriyani cooks on dum.

Put the vessel with biriyani into your gas oven and cook on 160-165 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes. Or if you do not have gas oven then put the vessel on a flat frying pan and put it on small flame for the same amount of time and for safety put a heavy vessel or something on top of the lid so that no steam escape.

Voi - là the biriyani is now ready, you can give it a nice mix so that everyone gets everything. Serve it with any raita or just plain curds.

Now you will notice I have hardly used any oil – that is except for the fried onions, which you get ready made also. If you live in Dubai you can find the readymade fried onions in Spinneys and Shop 'n Save. I feel if you add too much of oil the biriyani becomes a lot heavy on the tummy, but be my guest you can add ghee, butter or oil while cooking the mutton and then once you finish layering the last layer or rice you can add then too. I personally felt no much of taste difference without using them. Secondly I have not added any red chilly or green because my daughter doesn’t like spicy stuff so if you like spicy you can add a mix of both while cooking the meat.

Aloo Sabzi

Potatoes are one of my favourite foods. And this particular recipe that I am sharing was created because of a smell that I got in our building (I had shared earlier that I love recreating smells that I like or taste). The dish is very very simple at the same time the outcome I am happy to say is yummilicous :)... So here it goes.



INGREDIENTS:



Potatoes: 2 large or 3 medium cubed

Jeera : 1 tsp

Crushed red chilly or paprika : 1 1/2 tsp or as per taste

Turmeric powder : 1/2 tsp

Asafoetida : a pinch

Coriander leaves : half a bunch or more again as per taste

Oil : 2 Tblsp

Salt : to taste





RECIPE:

In a non stick pan heat the oil and add asafoetida and jeera. Once jeera stops crackling add the potatoes, add turmeric powder and salt. Stir and close the lid on the pan.

Every few minutes stir so that nothing sticks to the base. When the potato is 3/4 done add the crushed paprika and half the coriander.

Mix well and again close the lid. If you want the potato more crispy add more oil. Once the potatoes are cooked through add the rest of the coriander and mix well. That is it. It is this simple and hardly any spices!

You can try the same recipe and add frozen peas brought to room temperature when the potatoes are 3/4 cooked. That also goes well. You could add crushed few shallots with paprika and cook the same thing and that too comes out well.

Enjoy.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Though I am calling it chicken tikka masala I am not sure technically if I can call it that :).... But ya more or less the recipe is the same with few changes ofcourse. But wanted to try this recipe since my hubby's british colleagues all talk about this dish which I believe is one of the most if not the most famous Indian dish in UK. So here goes my trial. I am using thigh pieces (becuase that is my favourite piece in a chicken :D) in the recipe though one could use chicken breasts. Also you should use tikkas for the recipe but I am sort of pan searing it.

INGREDIENTS:

Chicken : 6-8 thigh pieces
Onion : 2 large chopped finely
Tomato : 1 large or 2 medium size chopped finely
Ginger : 1 inch
Garlic : 8-10 pods
Shallots : 3-4
Cardamom powder : 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon powder : 1/4 tsp or 1" long stick
Curry leaves : 1 string
Mace : a small piece
Garam Masala : 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder : 1 tsp
Cumin powder : 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder : 1/2 tsp
Red chilly powder : as per taste
Coconut milk : 1 cup (thick milk)
Coriander leaves for garnish
Oil : 1 Tblsp
Water : 1/2 cup


PREPARATION:

Make a paste of ginger, garlic, shallots, mace and curry leaves. Marinate chicken in this mixture for about an hour. Make deep gashes on the flesh of chicken. Here again the choice of retaining the chicken skin or taking it out is up to the you. But if using skin don't add any oil but instead directly put the chicken into a hot non stick pan and saute in its own oil and once done take out the chicken pieces and make the curry in the oil that was already in the chicken and now will be in your pan.


RECIPE :

Heat oil in a pan and add cinnamon stick at this point if using stick otherwise add later with rest of the masalas. After a couple of minutes take out the cinnamon stick and add the marinated chicken. Saute till 3/4 done and take out the chicken in a dish.

Now in the same oil add the chopped onions and stir till the onion is translucent. Add the turmeric powder, coriander powder, cummin powder, garam masala powder, red chilly powder and cardamom powder. Mix till all the powders are nicely blended and the raw smell is not there, do this on a low flame.

Add tomatoes and saute for few minutes. Now to this gravy add the cooked chicken pieces and let them simmer for few minutes. Once the tomatoes are blended well add the water to make a nice gravy

Finally add coriander leaves and mix well and pour in the coconut milk. Just allow the coconut milk to warm through gravy and never boil the dish after adding the coconut milk.

Enjoy the delicious chicken with chappathis or rice!

Palak Paneer

Palak is something I try to add on to the menu every once in a way whether it is in combination with chicken, aloo, paneer, like a thoran (a kerala dish with coconut) or even palak puri. Generally I do not like to make a paste of it but like roughly even in dishes that call for it to be made it into a smooth paste I still like to make it coarsely ground and not a complete smooth paste. Today I am going to post Palak Panner, which means palak has to be in gravy so making it you can have palak in this dish in smooth paste or coarsely ground paste according to your personal choice.

INGREDIENTS:

Palak or spinach : 1 or 2 bunches (according to how much gravy you want)
Paneer : 250 gms cut into cubes of 1 inch
Onion : 1 finely chopped
Ginger paste : 11/2 tsp
Garlic paste : 11/2 tsp
Jeera : 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder : a pinch
Green chilly : 2-3
Red chilly powder : according to taste
Tomato : 1 chopped
Salt : To taste
Oil : 2 Tblsp


PREPARATION :

Marinate the paneer in 1 tsp of ginger and 1 tsp of garlic paste, salt and turmeric powder for about half an hour or more.


Wash and roughly chop palak. Heat a kadhai and put the spinach in it keep the kadhai on high flame for about 2-3 minutes with lid on. After which switch the gas off and run cold water through the spinach and keep aside.

RECIPE:

Heat about half the oil in a non stick pan or tava and put the paneer in single layer and cook on both sides till golden brown. Once golden remove from and keep aside.

Heat the remaining oil in a non stick pan. When the oil is hot add jeera and once that finishs crackling add the remaining ginger-garlic paste. Saute on low flame till the raw smell goes. Add onions and saute till it turns opaque.

Add green chillies and red if adding, salt and tomatoes, cook for 2-3 minutes. In a blender add this mixture and spinach and either coarsely grind it or make into smooth paste. Pour it back to the pan and bring to boil.

Add golden paneer and simmer for 4-5 minutes. If you like you can add little bit of amchur or lemon juice. You can garnish this dish with juliennes of ginger and green chilly slit.

Kaju Mushroom Curry

This is a vegetarian version of my pepper chicken for those who do not eat the bird to enjoy the similar taste :D.


INGREDIENTS:

2 cups button mushroom quartered or halved
1 tsp fresh Ginger paste
1 tsp fresh Garlic paste
2-3 tsp coarsely ground black pepper corns
1 tbsp oil
3-4 tblsp cashew nuts
2 large onions
1 tbsp lemon juice (optional)
1 green chillies slit
salt to taste
coriander leaves for garnish

PREPARATION:

• Add salt to the cut mushroom and keep aside for 5 minutes in a bowl. The salt will release the moisture in the mushroom at that time add ginger garlic paste and the coarsely ground pepper to the bowl. Mix well and let it marinate for about half an hour. The success of this dish is in the coarsely ground pepper so powder pepper is out.

• Boil cashew nuts and onions coarsely chopped in about ¾ cup of water. Cool and grind it to a smooth paste.

RECIPE:

Heat oil in a non stick pan (hence only 1 tsp of oil) and saute the marinated mushroom for 2-3 minutes, add the green chilly saute for another couple of minutes.

Add cashew nut onion paste at this point. Mix well, add water if needed or how much gravy you need.

After the gravy heats through and starts bubbling lower the heat and keep the dish coverd for 2-3 minutes.

If adding add lemon juice add at this point and switch the gas off. Otherwise just garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Tangy Crispy Bhindi

Again something that I tried because I wanted something different with one of my favourite veggie - bhindi :)... But ofcourse this is not a dish for the calorie conscious ppl but for those who would enjoy tangy taste.

INGREDIENTS:

Bhindi / okra / ladyfinger - 1/2 kg (preferably small sized)
Onion - 1 thinly chopped
MDH Kictchen king masala - 3-4 tsp
Besan - 2 tblsp
Turmeric - a pinch
Jeera - 1 tsp
Oil - 4-5 tblsp (you can add as much as you want to make it as crisp as you like)
Salt - to taste

PREPARATION:

Mix the MDH kitchen king masala and salt with okra in a bowl and leave aside for sometime. After a while the okra will leave water because of the salt, at that time add besan and keep aside for 5-10 minutes.


RECIPE :

Slit the okra in four or more parts depending on the size of the okra. If the okra you bought is the big kinds then half it first then slit in strips.

Heat oil in a pan add jeera when the oil is hot. After it stops sizzling add onion and saute well. Then add the marinated okra and continue to fry.

Add more if you want the okra to be more crispy and fry as much crispy as you would like. Once done you could drain it into a kitchen paper if you have used more oil.

Tip: You could enjoy this dish like this with chapathi or rice or even add a dash of lemon to it.

Sweetcorn and Peas Rice

This is one of the concoction that was made because of my daughter's liking for the main ingredients and also because it is a simple dish in itself. It goes well with raita - any kind of it! So one can infact serve in parties too.

INGREDIENTS:

Rice (basmati preferred) - 1 cup
Frozen sweetcorn - 1/4 cup
Frozen or fresh peas - 1/4 cup
Onion - 1 number thinly sliced
Jeera - 1 tsp
Cinnamon - 1 inch length
Green cardamom - 2-3 numbers
star anise - 1 whole (optional)
Bay leaves - 1-2
Garlic - 1-2 pods
Water - double or little less than double the rice depending on the rice
Oil - 1-2 tbl sp

PREPARATION:

Since we are using frozen sweetcorns and peas, put them in hot water first and bring to room temperature and drain well. Wash rice and drain that also and keep aside. Boil the water to be added.

RECIPE:

1. Heat oil in a pressure cooker and then add the bay leaves, cinnamon, star anise, cardamom. After a couple of minutes add Jeera. Once they stop splutteringthe garlic chopped, lower the heat and saute till the raw smell of garlic goes.
2. Add sliced onions and fry till they become translucent. Now add the drained sweetcorn and peas, fry few a few minutes and add the rice. Add salt and stir till all wetness is gone.
3. Pour in the boiling water. Give it a good stir and put the top of the pressure cooker. Give one whistle and switch it off. Now depending on your rice and pressure cooker you can change the number of whistles you give.
4. Once the pressure is fully gone, open the cooker. You can take out the akkha garam masala at the point from this so that it doesn't come into the mouth. Mix the rice gently and serve hot.