Chicken Biryani

Basically I am a Vegetarian, but after coming to US I can't resist trying chicken dishes occasionally. Chicken Biryani is one among those irresistible chicken recipes. There are various methods of preparing Chicken Biryani ranging from the most popular Hyderbani Style to South Indian Ambur style. But here in Springfield,Missouri all the Indian students hail Preethy's Briyani. Lucky to be her room mate that I get to learn non vegetarian cooking from her. Every time she makes it, it turns out to be so perfect and she makes it look like so easy. I remember her making this biryani for nearly 50 people in our small cramped up kitchen all by herself.

A while ago, Preethy made Chicken Biryani at one of our friends place. Thanks to Mrs.Deshpande who whole heartedly let her kitchen for us to exploit.I clicked these pictures to share the recipe with you all.

I know many of my regular followers would have surprised by seeing a Non-Vegetarian recipe in my blog but there are many friends whom I know are die-hard fan of Preethy's Chicken Biryani. I just don't want this legendary recipe(esp. to the Springfield Indians) get lost and so wanted to share.

This is one of the easiest Chicken Biryani recipes I have found. It can be prepared in 30 minutes, if you have all the ingredients handy.

Here comes the recipe..

You will need :

1/2 Kg of Chicken(Boneless or with bone)

4 Cups of Basmati Rice

4 Big Onions

3 tomatoes

3 Green Chillies

2 Tbsp Ginger -Garlic Paste

2 Tbsp Plain yogurt/curd

2 Tbsp Oil

2 Bay leaf

3 Cloves

2 Cardamom

2 Sticks of Cinnamon

1 tsp butter or ghee

1-2 tbsp Biryani masala(approx)

2 tsp chilly powder(approx)

2 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp turmeric powder

Salt to taste

The Biryani can be prepared in a jiffy if you follow the sequence of steps mentioned below..(The process explained below makes you think its elaborate,but trust me its not!)

Wash the chicken and dice them into medium sized chunks. Add yogurt, A big pinch of salt, a dash of chilly powder, a tsp of Biryani masala, one Bay leaf, one Cardamom and Cinnamon to the chicken chunks and mix well. Keep aside.

Wash the rice once and add water until all the rice gets completely immersed. Set aside for soaking.

Chop the onions lengthwise and slit the green chillies.Turn on the stove and place a pressure cooker or a large heavy bottomed vessel over heat. Pour the 2 tbsp oil.

When the oil is getting heated up, prepare the ginger garlic past. Take 5 Cloves of garlic and smash each one of them with the back of spoon/knife to remove the skin off. Peel the skin off a 2 inch Ginger piece.. Chop them finely or blend them in a grinder.

Now add the Bay leaf, Cinnamon, Cardamom, Cloves to the oil. Add the onions and green chillies when it started to splutter. Add a 1/4 tsp of salt to accelerate the cooking process.

Chop the tomatoes. Add the ginger-garlic paste and stir well. The onion should have turned translucent. Add the tomatoes, turmeric powder, chilly powder, Biryani Masala and salt(remember we already added 1/4 tsp of salt)

Simultaneously, turn on another stove and place a large frying pan. Add butter/Ghee .Drain the water completely from the soaking rice. Add the rice to the frying pan and give a nice stir. Until the rice appears to be glossy. Turn off the heat and set aside.

Add the marinated chicken pieces to the tomato-onion mixture and cover it for couple of minutes. Add 4.5 cups of water to chicken masala mixture. Mix well and check for spices and salt. At this point add more of salt or spices if you want.

Once the liquid started to boil, add the roasted rice. Mix well and cover and cook in medium heat for one whistle( if using pressure cooker). If not pressure cooker, cook covered for 15 minutes in medium heat or until the rice is done.

Open the lid once the steam settled and get lost in the awesome flavors!!

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!

Puli Sundal

Puli Sundal is a very famous dish in the regions comprising Chidambaram,Mayiladuthurai and Kumbakonam.Some people call it 'Puli upma' but in our side its popularly known as 'Puli Sundal'.Though some argue that Puli Sundal is different from Puli Upma .They believe that Puli upma is made with broken rice.It is also known as the 'Quick Puliogare'.The best side dish for this Puli Sundal is nothing but raw 'Pearl Onions'.People swear that nothing beats this combo..

Other recommended side dishes are 'Sutta Appalam' (Pappad which is roasted over direct fire) or homemade fried arisi vadams(rice fryams) or any citrus pickle..

Im sharing with you the authentic recipe for Puli Sundal..My grandma taught me this..Actually ,its soo simple and there is nothing to teach much :)

Usually we prepare this for dinner and often me and my sis end up fighting for the last serving of Puli Sundal.yeah,a layer of puli sundal gets sticked to the bottom of the pan which is browned  a bit and they taste awesome..

Traditionally,its not in practice to add a bit of jaggery to the puli sundal..But we love to add about 1/2 tsp of jaggery to any dish that is made with  tamarind as base..So if you like that you can add a small amount of jaggery while adding salt.

You will need :

1 cup of rice (dry roasted for about 3-4  mins)

1 golf sized tamarind ball,soaked in 3 cups of water for 5 mins

4 red chillies,(break each one of them into small pieces)

1 tbsp of Bengal gram

1/4 cup of Peanuts

1/4 tsp of mustard seeds

A pinch of turmeric

A small piece of Asafotedia or 1/4 tsp (if in powder form)

2 sprigs of curry leaves

1/2 tsp of jaggery(optional)

2 tbsp of oil

Salt

In a large pan,heat oil.Add asafotedia,let it fry completely..throw the mustard seeds and allow it to splutter.Pluck the curry leaves off the stem and throw them in.Add bengal gram,broken chillies and peanuts.Fry for a couple of mins in medium heat.

Extract the juice of tamarind which will be about 3 cups.Pour them in the pan..Add salt and jaggery and let it come to boil.

Add the rice and keep the flame in low.Cook covered until done.

Peel some 'Pearl onions' chop them and sprinkle them over the 'Puli Sundal'.

Or just keep them aside and have a bite on it each time you dig in..

This simple and traditional recipe goes to 'Recipes for rest of us-DINNER' event hosted by Siri which is initiated by 'Ramki' of One page Cookbooks..

Rajma Chawal

Rajma Chawal (Red Kidney beans curry with Rice) is an awesome combination.Its a must-in-a-menu in every Punjabi feasts.The prefix 'Raj' in this name rajma is itself giving a kind of royalty to this dish..Long ago,I was served a biryani called 'Raja Biryani' in a restaurant called 'Rangoli' (Saravana Bhavans).Before seeing the biryani,I was thinking with what this biryani would have been made.I was wondering whether it contains various exotic nuts and dried fruits?!I was so curious until the biryani arrived.To my surprise it was actually made with Rajma(Kidney beans) and basmati rice.I guess Rajma is the 'King of beans' and hence it got the name 'Raj'ma.

Whatever the name be..it really tastes so good that we don't have to worry about its baptism.

This rajma is very tricky you know..It takes lot of time to cook well.I pressure cooked it 2 times with 4 whistles each time...

Sometimes the bean gets well cooked in just 3 whistles.It all depends on the quality of beans you get.Its best if you could get the canned red kidney beans.They don't need the soaking process and can be used on the go!

But me in the middle of an old town can't reach for canned beans :(

Eventhough I managed to make a really tasty ,rajma curry :)

This curry is so easy to prepare and calls for the usual onion,tomato, and ginger as its base.

You will need:

1 cup of Red kidney beans (Soaked overnight,pressure cooked without salt)

1 big onion ,finely chopped

3 tomatoes,pureed

1 green chilly,chopped

1 inch ginger,finely chopped

1 tsp red chilly powder

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp cumin powder

1/2 tsp garam masala

A pinch of Aji-ni-moto

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1 inch cinnamon stick

1/4 tsp of sugar

Salt as per taste

oil

Coriander leaves for garnish

Start by chopping the onions,ginger and green chilly.

In a heavy bottom frying pan,heat 1 tbsp of oil.Add the cumin seeds and cinnamon.

Add chopped onions,ginger and chilly.Fry for a couple of mins

Add the pureed tomato and all the spices except garam masala.Fry till the oil seperates.

Add the cooked beans.Add the salt,sugar ,aji-no-moto and garam masala.Mix well.Add 1/4 cup of water(water used for boiling rajma can be retained and used).

Cook covered for 4-5 mins.

Garnish with chopped coriander and serve with boiled plain rice.

Rajma curry with boiled rice served with fryams.