Chicken Dum biryani

I must admit recently I have started losing my touch at making nonveg dishes :) even my DH has made that clear to me.I was all geared up to prove that i haven't lost and what better way to impress folks than a chicken biryani.

This is an old post that I'm redoing because of an email i got which i totally didn;t understand.

King fish Biryani|Christmas Meal Recipes

King fish or vanjiram or seela meen is a delicacy in any cuisine.My earliest memories of fish biryani was when my dad used to make them a couple of years ago i really miss it.This year my mom was around and this with her signature moong dal/parupu payasam is what i wanted her to make for me.There's nothing better than getting fed by our mums!They are the bestest ever!

Channa/Chick peas Pulav

My DH told me once they had a super channa biryani at his office lunch.I have seen many recipes online but never had the itch to try it though until recently.Ever since i tried it I make it atleast once a week because its so easy to pack off in lunch boxes and most importantly my LM loves her pulses and chickpeas are her fave!

This is just a quick mix and toss ready to go rice.I feel working with pulses are so easy as much health they can impart too.Suddenly as  I write this I'm thinking if this should be called pulao or biryani?Whats the difference anyone who knows pls let me know.

You can just pack it off with a raita and some fried potato or bhindis and it tastes super good.

You need
Cooked rice 2 cups(basmati or normal rice)
Cooked chick peas 1 cup
Ghee 1 tablespoon
Whole spices - cardamom 3,cloves 4,cinnamon stick 2 small pieces
Fennel seeds/saunf - 1 tsp
Oil 1tablespoon
Onions 1 large
Tomato 2 medium
Ginger 1 inch piece chopped finely
Curry leaves 2 sprigs
Green chilli 1 slit
Coriander powder 1 n half tsp
Sambar powder 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Chopped coriander/cilantro leaves 2 tablespoons

• Heat oil in a pan, add the curry leaves, followed by whole spices, and fennel seeds.
• Now add the green chilli and onions, let this fry well.Then add the ginger and allow to cook well.
• Add the tomato and allow to mash well add some water if needed to make a smooth paste like mix.
• Add the cooked chick peas and let it cook along with the tomato.
• Add the coriander powder and sambar powder along with salt and let it fry well for a minute.
• Add the cooked rice and mix well.
• Sprinkle some chopped coriander leaves just before serving.

• Serve hot with raita and bitter gourd pakodas and papads.

Sending this to MLLA 60 hosted @ One Hot Stove which is Susan's event.

Channa/Chick peas Pulav

My DH told me once they had a super channa biryani at his office lunch.I have seen many recipes online but never had the itch to try it though until recently.Ever since i tried it I make it atleast once a week because its so easy to pack off in lunch boxes and most importantly my LM loves her pulses and chickpeas are her fave!

Chicken biryani with green spices - My 200th post

It was around this time last year that I started blogging actively since I don't have a proper date I first actively started blogging, I decided to celebrate my 100s(I registered this blog account in 2006) and I reached 200 posts today. I want to celebrate my joy with this flavourful biryani to all my virtual world friends who make me come back to write every post.

When I reached my 100th, i was sceptical if i could go on, and this is a feat i could achieve only because of all the encouragement i receive from my lovely bloggy friends and The Lord almighty above. I remember the simple hymn ' All things bright and beautiful .... ' we learnt in school just a simple song that reminds us that all things small or big were made by the Great God.

I like to try out different biryanis often so much so that I usually never stick on to the same one. I found this recipe( altered to my tastes) long back while I was in London(I think everyone knows that I didn't have blender/mixie there)I used a mint chutney out of a jar to make this biryani except for the color(the mint from the jar gives you a blacking shade than a greenish one) everything used to be perfect.

You need to do this in 3 steps :

Marinade 

Chicken 1/2 kg 

Yogurt 2 tablespoons

Red chilli powder 1 tsp

Coriander powder 2 tsp

Garam masala 2 tsps

Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp

Aniseeds/ saunf 1 tsp

Ginger garlic paste 2 tsp

Salt to taste

• Marinate the chicken for about half hour or more for best results.

Grind

Large handfull of coriander leaves and mint leaves with a little water

Biryani

Basmati rice 2 and half cups soaked for about 1 hour

Water 5 cups

Whole spices 

• cardamom 5 
• cloves 5 
• cardamom 2 pieces
• star anise 1 

Green chillies 2 slit at the top

Cashews and raisins optional few of both 

Curd 2 tablespoon

Onions 2 large chopped finely

Tomato 2 large finely

Oil/Butter/Ghee 3-4 Tablespoons

Lime juice 2 tablespoons

• Heat oil in a wide mouthed dish/vessel(whichever you want to prepare the biryani in), add oil/butter and add the whole spices in.
• As the spices pop, add green chillies and onions.Let it fry well until dark brown and caramelized.
• Add the marinated chicken and cook well in the chicken's own juices.
• Add the green paste and let it coat the chicken well.
• Add the chopped tomatoes and cover it so the tomatoes breakdown soon.
• Add the curd to this and stir well.
• Drain the rice and add the basmati rice to this.
• Add the water and check for salt now.Add the lime juice to this water.If you find the spices less add garam masala to your taste now.
• Cover the vessel now and let it cook for 12-15 mins on medium flame.

Serve yummy flavourful biryani hot with raita and papads.

Chicken biryani with green spices - My 200th post

It was around this time last year that I started blogging actively since I don't have a proper date I first actively started blogging, I decided to celebrate my 100s(I registered this blog account in 2006) and I reached 200 posts today. I want to celebrate my joy with this flavourful biryani to all my virtual world friends who make me come back to write every post.

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!"

Chicken Biryani - with home ground spices

Is anyone ever satisfied that they have the perfect biryani recipe.....until i made this biryani, i was always trying to better my biryanis but i think i have reached my perfect biryani recipe with this one!

I usually think that making freshly ground spice powders are a bit tedious.But recently i can definitely see the difference the freshly ground spices make to the dishes.
Hence forth, i know I'm not going to be using any ready made powders for my biryanis in a while :) or ever!

Home made garam masala powder

For the ground spice mixture : roast the following in a pan and grind to a fine powder
Cinnamon 3/4 large pieces
Clove 10/12 numbers
Cardamom 6nos
Aniseeds/saunf 1tbsp
Star anise 2 pieces
Pepper 1tsp
Dhaniya seeds/Coriander seeds 1 n half tsp

For marinating the chicken: 

Chicken half kg and a little more 

Yogurt 2 tablespoons

Ginger garlic paste 1 tsp each ground separately

Chilli powder 1tsp

Above spice powder 1tsp

Salt to taste

• Marinate the chicken for about an hour(or atleast for half hour) in the above marinade.Refrigerate until you cook it.
• Add about 1 tsp of oil in a frying pan and add the marinated chicken with the marinade and cover and cook until the chicken is soft.

To make the masala/wet gravy for the biryani
Ghee/oil 3 tablespoons
Onions 2 large
Tomato 3 medium/2 large
Ginger garlic paste 1 tablespoon
Green chillies 2 slit at the tops
Generous Hand full each of coriander leaves and mint leaves chopped finely
Lime juice of half a medium sized one
Saffron few strands soaked in quarter cup of milk
Yogurt 2 tablespoons
Ground spice powder 2 tsp
Salt to taste

Basmati rice 3cups soaked and drained after half an hour
Water 5 and half cups

• Heat oil/ghee in a wide mouthed vessel, add one or two pieces each of cinnamon and star anise and then add the onions and let it fry until a deep brown.
• Add ginger garlic paste and saute well.
• Add the tomatoes and let it cook completely until mashed well.Add the yogurt to this and mix well.Add the chopped mint,coriander leaves and green chillies let them fry well.
• Add the cooked chicken with the oil and juices all from the pan into this and let this cook well.
• Add the basmati rice and saute well until dry and then add the ground spice powder.
• Add enough water for the rice to cook and add the saffron soaked milk.
• Add salt to taste and if you feel the spices are less add more of the ground spice powder.
• Add lime juice and cover and cook for about 11-12 minutes until all the water gets absorbed and the rice is nice and fluffy.Garnish with chopped mint leaves and coriander leaves.
• Serve hot chicken biryani with raitha and pickle.

Note:

1. you can use hard boiled eggs instead of chicken and make an egg biryani using the same above steps.Just skip the marinating the chicken part.
2. I have added a little more of ghee and oil as this keeps the biryani nice and juicy and moist.You can reduce the quantity as per need.
3. If you need a more spicy or hot biryani you can add more green chillies or chilli powder while adding the ground spice powder.

Sending this to

Chicken Biryani - with home ground spices

Is anyone ever satisfied that they have the perfect biryani recipe.....until i made this biryani, i was always trying to better my biryanis but i think i have reached my perfect biryani recipe with this one!

Mughlai Veg Biryani

I was so bored of making the same old pulav and i wanted to fine tune my vegetarian biryani.I had never even tasted this dish so I didn't even know what to keep on looking for.I was on this mad hunt for an unknown recipe i finally realised!

I landed up on some recipe and thought the ingredients were decent and made something which turned out pretty good.

You need
Chopped Vegetables(carrots,beans,cauliflower,peas,potato) chopped 2 cups (or lesser)
Basmati Rice 2 cups
Water 5 cups
Garam masala powder 1 tsp
Coriander powder/dhaniya powder 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Saffron flavored milk 1 tablespoon (i used orange color)
Butter/ghee 2 tablespoons + 1tablespoon
Garam masala whole-cardamoms,cloves,cinnamon few each.
Onions sliced finely 1 large
Fresh mint leaves and cilantro to garnish

To make a paste you need
Almonds 5-10(soaked in warm water and peeled)
Ginger garlic 1 tablespoon
Onion 1 small
Mint leaves a handful
Yogurt 2 tablespoons

• Soak the rice and set it aside.After about 30 minutes drain the rice and fry it in a tablespoon of oil/butter.keep aside.
• Heat oil in a heavy base pan, add the whole garam masala and let it pop.Now add the onions.
• Add the vegetables and fry it well until soft.
• Add the ground paste to the pan and fry well.Let the vegetables absorb the juices of the paste.
• Add the dry masalas and fry until the oil leaves the sides.
• Add the rice and stir well.Add salt to taste and add the water and cover the vessel and cook for 12-15 minutes until rice is soft and tender.

• Serve hot with raita.

Sending this to Lets Cook@Tickling Palates.

and HCC@Edible Entertainment and Smita's HCC

Mughlai Veg Biryani

I was so bored of making the same old pulav and i wanted to fine tune my vegetarian biryani.I had never even tasted this dish so I didn't even know what to keep on looking for.I was on this mad hunt for an unknown recipe i finally realised!