Dum ki Biryani & Kaddu ki Kheer!

Dum ki Biryani and Kaddu ki Kheer(Bottle gourd pudding) are two famous dishes of Awadhi cuisine.I'm sending these two royal dishes to RCI-Lucknow event hosted by Lavi of Home Cook Recipes which is originally started by Lakshmi.Its so kind of her to extend the deadline untill April 6th.I adapted the Dum Biryani recipe of Chef Sudipto Battacharya,Radisson Hotel at ndtv cooks.I made some changes to suit my palate.This is my first attempt in making these two dishes and I'm happy with the result.

I thought of making a mughlai curry to go with the Biryani but due to lack of time I settled with simple cucumber raita.

These brass and bell metal bowls  are some of the treasures I inherited from my grandmas.

Okay before I start blabbering about my obsession for metal wares lets begin cooking!

Kaddu Ki Kheer 

You will need :

2 cups grated bottlegourd

1/2 litre milk

1 cup Sugar

1/2 cup Khoya

1 tbsp chopped pistachios

2 tbsp chopped Cashews nuts

few almond slices

1 Tbsp raisins

A pinch of saffron

1/2 tsp Caradamom powder

1 tbsp ghee

In a heavy bottom vessel bring the milk to boil.simmer for 10 mins to thicken the milk.

In the mean time,peel the bottle gourd,remove seeds and grate them.

Squeeze out any excess water.

Add the grated bottle gourd and sugar to the milk.Let it cook for 5-8 mins.

Parallely in a small kadai heat ghee and fry the nuts and raisins.

Mix the Khoya and dissolve them in the boiling kheer.

Add the caradamom powder ,saffron and fried nuts and raisins.Stir well and turn off the heat.Serve hot or cold!

Dum Ki Biryani

You will need:

For the rice :

2 cups Basmati rice

2 cups water

2 green cardadmoms

1 stick of cinnamon

2 bay leaves

1 tsbp rose water

1 tsp ghee

Salt

For the Vegetables :

2 cups vegetables (I used chopped potatoes,cauliflower florets,carrot,beans and onion)

4 tbsp oil

5 tsp garlic n ginger paste

2 green caradamom

2 cloves

1 cinnamon stick

1/2 cup curd

1 tsp chilli powder

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/4 cup fresh cream

1/4 tsp nutmeg powder

A pinch of fennel seed powder

salt

For Garnish:

1 Tbsp thinnly sliced ginger

2 green chillies,slit

1/2 cup mint leaves

1/4 cup coriander leaves

1 cup thinnly sliced onions

Oil for frying the onions

5 almonds

10 cashew nuts

1 tsp saffron

4 tbsp milk,lukewarm

2 tbsp ghee

Wash the bastmati rice once and soak them in enough water.Soak saffron in milk.

Heat 2 tbsp oil and fry the vegetables for 10 mins.

When the vegetables are frying,mix all the rest of the ingredients under the 'For the vegetables'  section.After 10 mins,add the fried vegetables to this curd/spice mixture.Mix well and set aside.

Drain the water completely from the soaking rice.In a deep pan,bring 2 cups of water to boil and add all the spices ,salt and ghee given under 'For the rice' section.

Add the drained rice and simmer and cook covered till done.

Heat 2 tbsp oil and fry the marinating mixture for 5-7 mins.

When its frying ,slice 1 big onion..Heat 5 tbsp oil and then add the onions..

Fry them till they become brown and crisp.

In the same oil fry the cashew nuts in low flame.

In a large oven proof bowl,layer a portion of  fried vegetable mixture and then a layer of cooked rice.Do this step until you get finished up with all the vegetable mixture and rice.Gently mix them only once.

Top it with coriander,mint,green chillies,fried cahsews and onions(reserve some for garnishing at the end),almonds,and the soaking saffron along with milk.Drizzle 2 tbsp ghee .

Cover this using a aluminium foil and cook in 250 C preheated oven for 25 mins.

Or cover them with a plate and seal the air gaps using chapati dough.

If you don't have oven,place a tawa over flame and when it got heated up,place the sealed bowl over the tawa and cook in low flame for 30 mins.

Note:Traditionally,Dum cooking involves imparting smoky flavour to the dish.If you like this flavor ,you can do it by placing a small piece of  live charcoal in the center cored onion or betel nut leaf.Place this  over the biryani and keep it covered for 10 mins.

Once removed from oven,open the biryani bowl and give a gentle stir .

Transfer in a serving dish,garnish with the reserved browned onions,cashews and coriander leaves.

I'm also sending the following dishes from my archived posts to RCI - Lucknow event,

Navratna Korma

Shahi Tukre

Malai Kofta 

This week I tried Malar's Green plantain fry.Its very different from the usual plantain fry we make at home.I liked the spicy,tangy taste in it.Thank you ,Malar for the wonderful reicpe :)

Y'day I made the lemon bread featured at Cham's Spice-club.The bread is a super hit ,Cham.Thanks for  posting it in your blog.The bread came out so perfect and my cousins were not believing that I made it :(  I had to swear them that they aren't the store-bought ones.Its so yummy-scrummy!

I used pistachio's instead of walnuts.

And also ,I tried the basic white bread from Nags Edible garden.This is my second successful attmept in baking bread.It came out so well like yours.Thanks for the step-by-step tutorial,Nags :)

Have a happy weekend!

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