Baluchi biriyani

As usual 'Good Food' magazine publishes excellent recipes and I twist them to suit my home needs!

They had published a Mutton Biriyani recipe served at The Lalit restaurant - Baluchi, by chef Sameer in their January 2014 issue.

Since we are vegetarians, I switched the lamb with assorted vegetables.

I can say it was a 'hit' at home as I made it twice last week. Normally I am afraid of serving biriyani when guests come as all the 'elements' must be perfect. But this is such a sure shot recipe that 'at last' I served biryani to dinner guests!!

Oh....the aroma when the vessel is opened!!

Recipe courtesy : Good Food magazine, January 2014

Serves 4

Ingredients:

For the rice:

Basmati rice - 1 1/2 cups

Cinnamon stick - 3 inch

Cardamom - 2

Cloves - 4

Bay leaf - 1

Mace - 1

Lime juice - 1/2 tbsp

Salt

For masala:

Ginger - 3 inch, crushed

Garlic - 6 cloves, crushed

Onion - 2 large, chopped

Carrot - 1 large, cubed

Potato - 1 large, cubed

Beans - 8, cut into 2 inch batons

Cauliflower - 4 large florets, broken into medium florets
Coriander leaf - 3 tbsp

Green chilli - 2, slit

Thick Curd - 5 tbsp

Coriander leaf - 4 tbsp heaped

Salt

Chilli powder - 1 tbsp or more

Coriander powder - 1 1/2 tbsp

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Garam masala - 1 tsp

Ghee - 2 tbsp

Oil - 4 tbsp

Garnish:

Fried onion - 1 cup (use 3 large onions to get 1 cup)

Cashewnuts - 2 tbsp, fried golden 

Coriander leaf - 3 tbsp

Ghee - 1 tbsp

Saffron - 1 pinch soaked in 2 tbsp milk

Cooking rice:

Boil 2 lts of water with salt, all the spices mentioned and lime juice.

Add the washed and cleaned rice. 

Stir and cook until just done.

Drain and spread on a thali to cool.

Masala:

Heat the oil and ghee in a thick bottomed vessel.

Sauté the onion, ginger and garlic on medium flame till onion becomes golden.

Reduce flame. Add all the powdered spices and mix well.

Stir continuously (low flame) for 2-3 minutes.

Add in the carrot and potato.

Mix well and continue stirring for 2 minutes.

Add salt and 1 cup water.

Cook covered till potato is 1/2 done.

Then add in the cauliflower and beans. Stir well.

Cook covered till all the vegetables are done.

Open cover and cook till all the water evaporates.

Turn off flame and add the curd, green chilli and coriander leaf.

Mix well and keep aside.

Layering:

Grease a heavy bottomed vessel with a tight lid.

Arrange 1/2 of the fried onion at the very bottom.

Arrange a portion of the rice over the onions. Press and level.

Layer the masala vegetables over this rice.

The final layer is the rest of the rice.

Garnish with the rest of the fried onion, cashewnuts, coriander leaf, crushed saffron with milk and ghee.

Cover and place over the lowest flame for  1/2 hour.

Serve hot with raitha and salaan.

Frying onion for biriyani

3 methods can be used to deep fry Onions, used as a garnish for Biriyani.
I personally prefer Method 3.

Method 1:
Simple and straight forward.
Slice onions thinly. Deep fry in oil.

Method 2:
(not very tasty, but healthy as uses less oil)
Slice the onions thinly.
And soak it in water for 10 minutes.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a heavy bottomed vessel.

Squeeze out water from the onions, spread over an absorbent cloth (NOT tissue).

Add the dried onion to the hot oil

Fry till it turns golden brown. 

Add a pinch of sugar at this point.

Continue frying until the onion becomes nearly brown.

Turn off flame and let it remain inside the vessel.

Stir occasionally till vessel cools down.

Use as required.

Method 3:

Slice onions thinly.

Place in microwave safe bowl.

Cover the onion with oil or till all the onion gets immersed completely.

Microwave on high for 2 minutes.

Stir and microwave again for 2 more minutes.

Continue stirring and microwave  till the color starts changing.

Once it gets golden brown, remove all the onions from the oil or they will become black and inedible.

Use this oil to make your biriyani. 

Bamboo thoran

Trust the Saraswath Brahmins to come up with curries of items you hardly think of. Like bamboo shoot!

When we had lunch at my in-laws place, my mother-in-law, served us this 'special' dish and I was hooked.

Bamboo shoot is used extensively in Chinese cooking, but thinking of making a South Indian dish with it was not even in my wildest dream.

Bamboo shoot is eaten during the month of 'karkidakam' as it is supposed to strengthen the back bone / spine.

Bamboo shoot - 1

Coconut - 1 large cup

To be ground with coconut :

Option 1:

Dry Red chilli - 4

Jeera - 1/2 tsp

Garlic - 2 pods

Curry leaf - 1 sprig

Small Onion / scallion - 4

Option 2 :

Green chilli - 4

Jeera - 1 tsp

Peel the outer skin of the bamboo and chop the inside flesh into small cubes.

Boil it in ample water with salt and turmeric powder.

When it is becomes mashable when pressed, drain away the rest of the water.

Squeeze out water from the bamboo shoot and transfer into another vessel.

Grind the coconut with either option 1 ingredients or option 2.

Heat oil. Splutter mustard, red chilli and curry leaf.

Add in the ground coconut and fry till it turns golden brown.

Add in the bamboo shoot and sauté for 5 minutes on a medium flame, stirring frequently.

Serve with rice and curry of your choice.

Tender coconut pudding

This is the most easy and tasty pudding ever!!

Recipe coutesy : Mrs. Seema Sreejith 

Sweetened condensed milk (Milkmaid / Amul Mithai Mate): 1 tin

Milk : 1 tin

Sugar : 6 tsp

Tender coconut water : 1 cup

Tender coconut flesh : of 2-3 coconuts

China grass : 10 gms

Soak the china grass in 1 1/2 large cups of water for 1 hour.

Take 2 vessels.
After 1 hour of soaking, break the soaked china grass into the water and  pour into 1 vessel. Add a bit more water if you feel necessary.

In another heavy bottomed deep vessel mix together the condensed milk, milk and 4 tsp sugar.Keep aside after stirring so that the milk and sugar mixes with the thick condensed milk

Keep the china grass for boiling on one stove top.

Simultaneously, on another stove, keep the milk mixture for boiling.
Cook both on a low flame and keep stirring both the vessels constantly.

Once the china grass melts, add it to the boiling milk and cook for 1 more minute. Continue to stir constantly.

Turn off flame.

Grind the tender coconut with the coconut water and 2 tsp of sugar coarsely.

Add this to the boiled milk and china grass mixture.

Transfer into your setting dish.

Once it cools to room temperature , transfer to the fridge. NOT freezer.

Serve cold with a drizzle of honey!

Parippu / dal vada

Crispy vada served with tea. An eternal deadly combination. (especially when it rains!)
In the following recipe, you will find that I have written 'optional' or 'opt' beside many ingredients. That is because the basic recipe is the same for parippu vada. But you can adjust the other ingredients to suit your family's taste.

Do not play with the basic ingredients though!!

Here I have added spinach to the batter. That is just my addition this time around.

There are lots of additions and subtractions you can do in this recipe. So go ahead and have fun. I have noted down 3 options you can use.

Yield : 15 medium vadas

Basic Ingredients:
Chana dal / kadala parippu - nearly 1 cup

Urad dal / uzhundu - 1 tbsp

Salt - 1tsp

Rice flour - 1 tbsp + more if necessary
Chilli flakes - 1 tsp (or) 2 whole ones
Asafoetida powder - 1 tsp
Oil for Deep Frying

Additional Ingredients:

Coconut - 1 tbsp (opt)

Green chilli - 2 , chopped fine (opt)

Ginger - 1 tsp grated (opt)

Coriander leaf - 1 tbsp (opt)

Curry leaf - 4 sprigs, torn (opt)
Ghee - 1 tsp (opt)
Onion - 1 medium, chopped fine (opt)

(If you using onion in your batter, towards the last batch of frying, you might have to add 1 tsp more of rice flour, as onion leaves water into the dough.)

Can be added ingredients:
Spinach - 6 tbsp (opt) 
or
Cabbage - 1 cup packed (opt)
(add salt to cut cabbage, keep aside 5 minutes and squeeze out water)
or 
Carrot -1 large grated (opt)

Opt 1: I have used only coconut, salt, asafoetida, chilli flakes and ghee with my chopped spinach.
Opt 2: I have made parippu vada with chilli flakes, green chilli, ginger, onion, curry leaf, asafoetida and coriander leaf.
Opt 3: During pooja at home, we stick with coconut, red chilli, ginger, curry leaf and ghee.

Soak the 2 dals in water for 3 hours. 

If you are using dried red chilli , keep it soaked with the dals.

Drain well after 3 hours and grind coarsely without adding water.

Add the ingredients you are using except oil and rice flour. Mix well. 

Add rice flour (1/2 tsp at a time) to just dry out the dough a bit.The dough must be wet for you to make a ball which holds shape. You may have to use a little over 1 tbsp of it. 

If you use too much, the batter with become crumbly and you cannot make a vada patty.

Mix well and make small patties using wet hand.

Deep fry in hot oil in batches.

Keep the flame on medium as otherwise the outside will brown and the inside will remain raw.

Serve hot with tea!

Baby potato in tomato gravy

I got 1/2 kg of baby potatoes and a great recipe from my tattered blue recipe book using boiled and cubed whole potatoes. 

I have used the baby potatoes in that gravy!

Ingredients:

Baby potato - 1/2 kg

Onion - 2 large

Garlic - 3 pods

Ginger - 2 inch

Tomato - 5 large

Salt

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Chilli powder - 1 tbsp

Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 2 tbsp

Coriander leaf for garnish

Chop up the onion, garlic and ginger.

Don't bother making it too small / beautiful / perfect.

Start boiling the washed potato in salted water and cook till a knife slides in easily.

Microwave on high the quartered tomato in 1 cup water for 2 minutes. Stir and m/w again for 2 more minutes.

Heat 1 tbsp oil and fry the onion, garlic and ginger until the onion turns translucent.

Add the turmeric powder, chilli powder and garam masala. Reduce flame and fry stirring  constantly for 1 minute. Turn off flame and continue stirring for 1 more minute or the masala might burn.

Now keep aside the boiled potato, masala onion and microwaved tomato for cooling.

After everything has cooled, first grind the onion masala into a paste. Fry it in the same pan with 1 tbsp oil.

After 5 minutes, add the puréed boiled tomatoes.

Mix well. Add salt and cook for 10-15 minutes on a low flame. If you increase flame, the gravy splutters.

Add in the peeled potatoes.

Mix well, without breaking up the whole potatoes. Cook covered on low flame for a further 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve hot garnished with coriander leaf.