Egg Biryani

Biryani is something everyone likes.And eggs are everyone's favourite period.Noone will ever say no to an egg and 'sunday ho ya monday roz khao andey!"(means have an egg daily).This is the dish you want to have when you are super lazy and still feel like having something really spicy and yummy.

I cooked the egg biryani in my Indina pressure cooker and it did not blow up in my face!"

This is my best pal in the kitchen, the pressure cooker is really a boon to India.Looking at my kitchen over flowing with vessels and cutlery i wonder why I need so much, when i well managed close to a year with just 4 vessels one among them being my prized Hawkins pressure cooker.I have a bigger one which i hardly use because this lil one is so handy to use and wash up.I used to do everything in this lil guy while i was in london my day used to start with it and end with it.Like the ad ' Hum Hawkins ke bina chal nehi sakthe" ( its impossible without a Hawkins.)

This is a simple recipe i found on some random website long ago and I have added my changes to it to suit my taste.

You need

Basmati rice 1 and half cups (soaked for half hour and drained)

Water 3 cups 

Hard boiled eggs 2

Onions 1 large/ 2 medium sliced finely

Tomato 2 large

Ginger garlic paste 1 heaped tsp

Green chillies 2 slit at the tip

Curry leaves 2 sprigs

Coriander leaves a small bunch

Chilli powder 1 tsp

Dhaniya powder 1 tsp

Garam masala 1/2 tsp

Fennel seeds 1 tsp

Whole garam masala spices cardamom,cloves, cinnamon, 2 3 each

Salt to taste

Lime juice 2 tsp

• Keep the hardboiled eggs ready and make pricks with a fork on all 4 sides of the eggs.
• Heat oil in the pressure cooker, add the whole garam masala, fennel seeds, curry leaves, green chillies and stir well.
• Now add the sliced onions and fry till brown.Add the ginger garlic paste next.
• Add the chopped tomatoes fry well until the tomatoes smash well.
• Add the chilli powder, dhaniya powder,garam masala and cook well until the raw smell goes away.
• Now add the drained basmati rice let it turn translucent.
• Add the eggs and let the spices coat the eggs well, once thats done add the water and add salt to taste.
• Add the chopped coriander leaves and lime juice.
• Cover the cooker and cook on medium flame for 12-15 mins or for 2 whistles.
• Let the pressure release completely and fluff the rice up with a fork.
• Serve hot with papads and raita. 

Tips:
- Water content may vary from brand to brand.I add 2 cups of water for the rice to cook nice and long.
- Cooking time varies from cooker to cooker and the heat you set the cooker on.
- Pricking the eggs help the masala to get into it.



Sending this to I cooked in my pressure cooker , One pot meal

Egg Biryani

Biryani is something everyone likes.And eggs are everyone's favourite period.Noone will ever say no to an egg and 'sunday ho ya monday roz khao andey!"(means have an egg daily).This is the dish you want to have when you are super lazy and still feel like having something really spicy and yummy.

I cooked the egg biryani in my Indina pressure cooker and it did not blow up in my face!"

Plantain fritters/Pazham bhajji

Ask any south indian and this has to be among their favorite snacks :) Mine too!Pazham pori, pazham bhajji, ethakka appam --- its got more names but i like to call it kerala banana bhajji.Since we are geographically neighbours we also share a common tea time snack!

I make this easy snack whenever these plantains find their way into my kitchen.My daughter is against trying new stuff so if i take the whole plantain or cut into round slices (like how my mom used to give it to me) she will just refuse to eat it.So i need to redress the plantain in this form to get her to eat it.Call it - Food makeovers - Pleasures of motherhood :)

These plantains are really healthy much more than our regular bananas.My keralite friends tell me that they even give these plantains in a  dry powdered form to toddlers.

To make this you need

Ripe Plantains/nendram pazham 1
All purpose flour 2 tablespoons
Rice flour 2 tsp
Salt a pinch
Sugar to taste 2 tsp(optional)
Turmeric powder a pinch
Baking soda a pinch (optional)
Oil to deep fry

• Slice the plantains into round slices or into long wedges or you can use it on the whole too.
• Mix the all purpose flour and rice flour with salt,sugar and turmeric powder.Add lil water to make a not too loose batter such that it coats the plantain slices.
•  Heat oil and drop the coated plantain pieces one by one and fry until golden brown on both sides.

Serve crispy hot pazham pori/bhajjis with tea :) 

- The rice flour is meant to make the outer coating crispier.

- Baking soda can be omitted, if added it will give you a nice puffy outside.

- Sugar is optional as the plantain is sweet enough i omitted it.

Sending this to  What is with my cuppa?and Nupur's page, Recipes with fruits, 30 min challenge

Plantain fritters/Pazham bhajji

Ask any south indian and this has to be among their favorite snacks :) Mine too!Pazham pori, pazham bhajji, ethakka appam --- its got more names but i like to call it kerala banana bhajji.Since we are geographically neighbours we also share a common tea time snack!

Maggie Egg noddles

Someone likes to have noodles every day for breakfast,lunch and dinner...yes my LM but she likes it just plain with no vegetables!This is my answer to her request :) Egg noodles and everyone's happy that way.

Maggie noodles must the most popular item on every shopping list in India.How many ever articles we read or see that it isn't healthy, who cares we still keep buying them and so true to the name 2 minute food!

My lil one hates onions,tomatoes and i can shamefully add all the other vegetables too.Very recently she has started liking capsicum and peas.She loves her pulses too so I guess I have to let her develop her liking to vegetables gradually as she grows up.

To make this easy breakfast or anytime food you need

Maggie noodles 2 blocks
Chop all the below very finely
Onion 1 small
Tomato 1 small
Capsicum 1 half
Carrot 1 small
Peas a handfull
Beans 2 /3 
Eggs 2 beaten with salt and pepper
Oil 2 tablespoons
Garlic pod 2 crushed

• Heat oil in a pan, add garlic, immediately add the onions or the garlic will burn.
• Add the tomato once the onions are half fried.
• Add all the vegetables and let them cook until soft.Add the taste maker masala and stir well.
• Add water as per instructions, once the water is boiling add the beaten egg and mix well.
• Add the noodles and let it cook until done. 

Enjoy hot egg noodles with tomato sauce on a lazy sunday morning!

Happy morning :) 

Tips : 

-  I read somewhere that the noodles shouldn't be cooked directly with water like in the instructions on the back of the packet.I do that sometimes - boil water and let the noodles cook for about 2 minutes and discard that water.Then mix the vegetables and rest of the stuff you feel like.

- Beating the egg and passing it through a sieve will give u beautiful strands of egg :) 

- Since we are making noodles, the vegetables don't need to be cooked excessively.

- You can also use normal noodles instead of instant noodles.

Sending this to Breakfast Club

Maggie Egg noddles

Someone likes to have noodles every day for breakfast,lunch and dinner...yes my LM but she likes it just plain with no vegetables!This is my answer to her request :) Egg noodles and everyone's happy that way.

Chocolate puddings with marshmallows

Its that time of the year when chocolates and strawberries become the symbols of love and friendship.

Happy Valentines' Day to you all :)

I've been wanting to try out these kinds of puddings with biscuit bases which usually makes the base for cheesecakes.I do not have the patience to try out cheesecakes however so with whatever i had at my disposal i tried these.I've been saving some marshmallows for a while now to try in an instant mousse but i didn't get there, this is the closest i could get, i guess.

SInce marshmallows use gelatin it acted as the setting agent in this pudding.You can replace this with agar agar/china grass or gelatin as you please.

To make this pudding you need

(Makes 3 large cup cake liner sized puddings)

To set them in cup cake liners

For the base:
Biscuits (Digestive/Marie) 5 6
Butter 5-6 tablespoons
Sugar powder as per sweet/optional

Chocolate layer:
Milk half cup
Marshmallows 9-10
Cocoa powder 2 tablespoons

For garnish
White chocolate pieces
Strawberry pieces/candy/jam

• Powder biscuits in a blender/food processor to course powder, add melted butter spoon by spoon until you can hold the powder into a ball(like ladoos), add sugar along with this and mix well.
• Place a liner in a small bowl the same size that can hold your liner,now press this biscuit base in each cupcake liner and press it down well with the spoon.Refrigerate for an hour.
• Heat milk in a pan and add the marshmallows it will dissolve slowly now add the cocoa powder  and stir in set aside.(you can use gelatin/agar agar in this step instead of marshmallows)
• pour this over the biscuit base and cover each bowl with foil paper and leave it in the fridge for another few hours until it sets firm.
• Before serving dip the bowls in normal water so the cupcake liners will loosen from them.

• Serve delicious chocolate puddings with chocolate sauce,or strawberry pieces and jam.

Enjoy this simple easy dessert!

Sending this to Valentines Treat @ Cuisine delights and Recipe junction, Let.s cook/bake,Cook with love:spouse, Bon Vivant - quixotic fixes, Foodabulous - celebrate february, Sweet luv 

Chocolate puddings with marshmallows

Its that time of the year when chocolates and strawberries become the symbols of love and friendship.

Happy Valentines' Day to you all :)

Lentils Fritters/vada

Its been a while since i made any snacks for tea.Making tea itself is a challenge at times when baby is awake so this weekend i decided to make some snack.I had some urad dal left from my stuffing for the puris and some boiled channa/chick peas.So i thought let me do something :) I keep doing such things which is how the blog came up :D

I mixed both the lentils and made a semi wet course mixture and added some spices the end result was pretty much pleasing :) a good accompaniment for the evening tea!Besides being a healthy food, urad dal is really healthy for women.

Usually for all MM i really struggle to come up with even a single entry but this time i;m glad i could prepare 2 dishes.This one is for MM too the magic ingredients being urad dal and lime.

You need

Urad dal half cup soaked for 2 hours
Chana/chick peas half cup or less cooked
Chilli powder a pinch
Green chilli 2
Cilantro a small bunch
Lime juice 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Ginger garlic paste 1 tsp
Oil to deep fry

•  Blend the lentils into a course semi wet mixture such that we should be able to make vadas out of it.
• Make a paste of the cilantro,ginger garlic paste, lime juice and green chillies.Mix this into the lentil paste.
• Make round vadas and heat oil, drop 3 4 vadas at a time and fry until golden brown.
• Serve hot with sauce/chutney and tea.

Enjoy your tea with some delicious vadas!

Sending this to MM , Dish it out - Lentils & garlic & Cook's Joy , What is with my cuppa & Nupurs page, MLLA @ Lisa's Kitchen

Lentils Fritters/vada

Its been a while since i made any snacks for tea.Making tea itself is a challenge at times when baby is awake so this weekend i decided to make some snack.I had some urad dal left from my stuffing for the puris and some boiled channa/chick peas.So i thought let me do something :) I keep doing such things which is how the blog came up :D

Book Review - Skinny Spices by Erica Levy Klein

A cookbook with a deceiving name?No,isn't just another cookbook with fancy pictures and recipes,
Skinny Spices (SS) gives you all that you need to know about spices and herbs that can make your boring salads and less-sweet desserts more appealing , tastier and healthier.

Lets hear what the author has to say about the book -

"Skinny Spices is the first and only book that looks at spice blends exclusively as a dietary aid and a boon to healthy and nutritious eating. Take a moment to skim over it briefly, and you’ll find more than 50 fast, easy-to-prepare recipes for blends of spices and herbs that will produce dozens of mouthwatering gourmet dishes from appetizers and entrees to sweet treats and desserts."

The book has been re-released as an ebook making it so very convenient for the next gen technical geeks to just skim over the recipes and spice blends and then create your own to suit one's palate.

• All tested and tried recipes which are computer analyzed for counts, so you know exactly what you are cooking and eating.
• You can search for keywords and bookmark pages just like a book.
• Everything about spices their history,storage,preparation (no cooking involed at all),measurement equivalents,gadgets/gizmos to prepare spices,and much more than you can ever imagine is mentioned in this ebook.

And whats more it has a eSpice Cabinet - a searchable spice database and recipes using them,how awesome is that now!All in all its got everything you ever needed to know about your spices!The espice Cabinet has 25 of the world's top spices and herbs organized for the readers' convenience.You can just click on any herb/spice of your choice and see the selection of recipes for each of the spices and the nutritional data of the dish :) and many handy tips about each spice/herb,Isn't that simply wonderful!


SS showcases not only the individual spices and herbs but also 50 amazing spice blends and world cuisine recipes to demonstrate how to use them.

All in all, Skinny Spices is a good read and you can get ample pointers to note down about spices/herbs and some recipes to try from in there!

You can get a copy of this ebook on Amazon here and Barnes and Noble here.

Have a fun read and Happy cooking :)

Book Review - Skinny Spices by Erica Levy Klein

A cookbook with a deceiving name?No,isn't just another cookbook with fancy pictures and recipes,
Skinny Spices (SS) gives you all that you need to know about spices and herbs that can make your boring salads and less-sweet desserts more appealing , tastier and healthier.

Prawns Pulav

My love for seafood biryani started way back when i was school.And it was my dad who first prepared a fish biryani!(yummy juicy fillets of kingfish in flavored rice...i shall share that recipe later when i get a chance to!)

This prawn pulav is just too good and makes every one happy!

I have tried making this all together in the cooker or a single vessel but it doesn't come as good as mixing it separately.

You need

Basmati rice 1 cup (cooked and cooled)

Prawns 20 numbers or as much as you need

For the masala

Oil + butter 2-3 tblspns

Whole garam masala spices 4 5 pieces each(cloves,cardamom,cinnamon)

Onions 2 large chopped finely

Tomato 2 large 

Ginger garlic paste 2 tsp

Mint leaves 1 small bunch 

Cilantro 1 bunch

Red chilli powder 1 tsp

Coriander powder 1 tsp

Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp

Garam masala powder 1 tsp

Salt to taste

• Marinate the prawns with salt,pepper powder,turmeric powder,ginger garlic paste,coriander powder,red chilli powder for about half hour and shallow fry it and keep it ready.
• Cook the basmati rice in which ever way you are comfortable.It should be about 95% cooked not completely cooked else while we mix the masala the rice will break.(in a pressure cooker or drain it after cooking it in hot water)

• Heat oil in a pan, add the whole spices let it pop, then add onions and allow it to turn brown.
• Add ginger garlic paste and fry well.Add the chopped cilantro and mint leaves(keep some for garnish at the end too)
• Add the tomatos and a pinch of salt so the cooking speedens.
• Next add the turmeric,dhaniya and garam masala,chilli powder and fry well.
• Add the prawns to this masala and let it sit for a while until the masala has nicely coated the prawns.
• In a big vessel, mix the rice and prepared prawns masala.Garnish with chopped leaves or butter fried nuts,raisins.

• Serve hot with raita and papads.

Notes:
-If the basmati rice isn't almost cooked the pulav may get mushy on mixing.
- Prawns have to de-veined and cleaned well before cooking.
-Cooking time of prawns is just until the translucent raw prawns turn pinkish orange thats about less than 5minutes.

Enjoy!

Prawns Pulav

My love for seafood biryani started way back when i was school.And it was my dad who first prepared a fish biryani!(yummy juicy fillets of kingfish in flavored rice...i shall share that recipe later when i get a chance to!)

This prawn pulav is just too good and makes every one happy!