Seekh Kabab Handi

Seekh Kabab Handi

      " Seekh kababs " are the succulent  kebabs made from minced meat, herbs and spices which are put on the skewers and grilled till golden brown. I had posted the recipe earlier, for recipe Click Here
     I had made those kebabs numerous times but just as a starter and never thought of using it in curry, but when I invited my friends for an in-house party at my home , it got me thinking to make something different than I usually cook and wanted to woe my guests with some different and unusual yet easy to make and delicious preparation .

            I had come across this dish through youtube and found it very interesting, thought of trying it and it came out so delicious that I prepared it again over on Eid.

    I made it from frozen  seekh kebab due to time constraint  but seekh kabab can be made a day before or can be made using  readymade frozen ones. Its made in Handi or clay pot which gives a very unique earthen flavor to the dish ,but can be prepared in normal pan as well.

Seekh kabab handi with Malabar paratha  and Ghee rice

Chicken Goli Biryani ( Chicken balls cooked with rice and spices)

Chicken Goli Biryani
 

  Chicken Goli Biryani is a biryani made with chicken balls cooked with rice a and spices. Here we use chicken mince to make balls and the rice is cooked in chicken stock .

Ingredients

Chicken mince  500 gms
Long grain /Basmati rice - 1 1/2 Cups (Soaked for 30 minutes)
Red Chili powder    - 2Tsp
Turmeric powder   - 1/2Tsp
Coriander powder  - 1Tbs
Garam masala   - 1Tbs
Ginger garlic paste  - 1Tbs
Onions Medium    - 2 Sliced
Yogurt      -  1 1/2 Cup
Green chilies  - 2-3 slit into half and 1 chili finely chopped
ginger finely chopped   - 1"
Salt               - To taste
Shahi jeera /Cumin seeds  -1 teaspoon
 Black Cardamom - 2
 Mace  2 blades
 Green cardamoms -  6
 Cloves - 6-8
Cinnamon Stick  - 2
Bay leaves     - 2
Ghee - 4Tbs
coriander leaves - 1/4 Tbs Finely chopped
 Fresh mint leaves -  1/4 Tbs Finely chopped
A pinch of Saffron soaked in warm milk/water
Chicken bones (for stock) 1 kilogram


Directions

• First will prepare the chicken stock, for that wash and boil chicken bones in one and a half litres of water with 1Tsp of salt for 15-20 minutes. Strain and discard the bones.
• You can also use chicken bullions in case of short of time. Add 3-4 bullions in same amount of water mentioned above.
•  Drain the soaked rice and boil in chicken stock with bay leaves , 1/2Tsp shahi jeera until 3/4 done. Drain excess stock and set the rice aside.
• Take half a cup of yogurt in a bowl, add two tablespoons each of fresh coriander and fresh mint,red chilli powder .
• Mix the chicken mince with salt, two tablespoons of coriander leaves, half the green chillies and chopped ginger. Mix well and refrigerate the mixture for thirty minutes.
• Take out he chicken mixture from the refrigerator and make walnut-sized balls of chicken mixture. In a frying pan heat two tablespoons of ghee and lightly cook balls in it only to sear the edges. 

•  Dissolve saffron in hot milk and keep aside.
• In a pan heat the remaining ghee ,add shahi jeera/ cumin seedsand let it splutter. 
• Now add mace, green cardamoms and cloves ,cinnamon, black cardamom and sauté for 1 minute until fragrant.
•  Add onions and sauté till golden brown. Add ginger garlic paste and the remaining slit green chillies.
• Add turmeric powder and coriander powder and stir fry for 30 sec.
• Stir in the yogurt with red chilli powder . Add chicken balls and one cup of stock and salt to taste. Cook till gravy is reduced.
• Now in a heavy bottomed deep utensil or degchi or clay pot form the layers of half the chicken ball with gravy followed by a layer of half cooked rice and sprinkle a little yogurt coriander mint leaves mixture. Sprinkle a little garam masala and saffron water . Continue with maki layers with the remaining chicken ball gray and rice along with garam masala and saffron milk.
• Now seal the pot with a lid and close the lid with dough by sticking it on sides of the lid OR cover with a moist cloth and seal the pot with lid and cook in dum in a very slow flame until done.
• The dum can also be done in an oven. Preheat oven to 180 °C.  Cook in the preheated oven for fifteen to twenty minutes.
• Serve hot with raita of your choice.
• Enjoy!!!!

 

Hyderabadi Mutton Dum Biryani

Hyderabadi Mutton Dum Biryani

   As in my earlier post about biryanis ,I  had mentioned the types of biryanis. Though there are many versions of biryanis depending on the regions and history behind them, Hyderabadi  dum biryani is the most famous or can we say "the king of biryanis ".
  I am totally obsessed with the biryanis, and for that matter my husband also shares the same thought. Nothing can beat the aroma of a perfectly cooked biryani with every rice grain separated and the meat cooked succulent and tender. We take biryanis very seriously ,our obsession for biryanis is so much that whichever city we move or visit, we make sure to dig out the restaurant  with best serving biryanis. Though I make biryanis at home quite often but still the craving for a restaurant style biryani remains.
     The biryani for me is where the rice and meat is cooked in dum. So many restaurants having biryanis in their menu just disappoint us when we see the dish coming out of the kitchen being not biryani but the pulao. While preparing pulao all the  ingredients including meat ,masala and rice are cooked all together until the rice and meat are cooked ,where as for preparing an authentic biryani the rice MUST be cooked separately until 3/4rth done and then drained out from water and is then layered along with marinated meat (cooked or uncooked) continued with cooking it on "Dum"  traditionally done by cooking over coals below and above the utensils used.

     The hyderabadi dum biryanis is cooked using "Dum Pukht" method. Dum  means to ‘breathe in’ and pukht to 'cook' . Dum pukht is technique of  cooking  in which food to be prepared is tightly sealed usually with dough in a heavy claypot or handi and cooked over a slow fire which allows the food to cook in its own juices and steam thus retaining all the aromas of the herbs and spices used giving the maximum flavor to the dish. Hyderabadi biryanis is usually served with mirch ka salan and raita.

photo resource:Flikr

Sevaiyan Ka Muzzafar

Sevaiyan Ka Muzzafar

Eid Mubarak to all my dear friends and readers. On this auspicious occasion was planning to make as usual Sheer Khurma  which I had posted the recipe long back but then bumped on a recipe by sanjeev Kapoor and thought of giving it a try...Made it as per the directions and it was a disaster. The vermicelli was not at all cooked ,the syrup was runny with crunchy uncooked vermicelli altogether a complete mess.
  somehow I twisted the recipe and the version I came out was just Yummy, Hope you all will like it too.

Classic Thai Chicken Satay

Classic Thai Chicken Satay

  Thai Chicken satay are these skewers of  meat you will find in every nook and corner in Thailand. A very  common and very famous street food found abundantly sold be street vendors all over. The aroma of grilling satay will lure you when you walk down in any street or any lane in the country. It is most loved street food in south east Asia be it Thailand or Malaysia. Thin Strips of chicken  are marinated in a special Thai  marinade paste which is sweet and spicy ,its then skewered in wooden skewers and grilled on the BBQ or broiled in the oven. It is usually served with homemade peanut sauce for the ultimate combination. It is easy to make and great to serve in parties which will surely woe your guest. 

Exploring Biryani

It would be an exaggeration if someone from Indian origin would ask what "Biryani" is .It is so popular among  people not only in india but in most of south asia and even middle eastern parts of world where it is known as beryani  and many more other names.

The name Biryani is derived from the Persian word beryā(n) meaning "fried, roasted". It originated in Turkey or Persia and was brought to South Asia by the Muslim traveler’s and merchants. We find different varieties of Biryani in India. Each and every region has adapted accordingly and got their own specialty,slightly differentiating it from the base one which was brought by Persians.

      Biryani is a rice based one pot meal consisting of layers  of partially cooked rice and meat which are layered alternately and then sealed and cooked on a low flame which is termed as "Dum" . Biryani is usually  made with long grain rice such as basmati  along with mutton,chicken, seafood or any meat and also with vegetables and lots of aromatic spices such as cloves, cinnamon, cardamon, bay leaf, nutmeg, coriander and many more which makes the dish very flavorful and aromatic.In southern parts of India biryani is made with short grain rice known as khyma which is usually used to make thalassery biryani.

There are generally two methods of preparing Biryani

 Kacchi  Method

 This is a method of  preparing biryani where the raw marinated meat is cooked with partially cooked rice.  The layers of marinated raw meat which is usually at the bottom of the cooking pot continued with the layer of rice,flavoured with saffron ,fried onions  etc. are then sealed with dough  & cooked on a slow dum process,which ensures that the dish cooks in its own steam.The best example of such kind of  preparation is Hyderabadi Biryani.

  Pakki Method

 In this kind of preparation the rice and meat are partially cooked separately and then layered and  sealed same as the kacchi method and cooked on a dum .The best example of it is Thalassery  Biryani.
 Every region has its own biryani recipes, the most known biryanis by region as as follows
Biryanis by region
 Hyderabadi biryani
 Thalassery biryani
 Lucknowi biryani
 Bombay biryani
 Calcutta biryani
 Vaniyambadi biryani
 Bhatkali biryani
 Memoni biryani
 Dindigul biryani
 Beary biryani
 Palakkad Rawther biryani
 Bengalooru biriyani
 Karachi beef biryani
 Sindhi biryani
 Kalyani biryani

And some International variants known are:
 British biryani
 Burmese biryani
 Middle East
 Thai biryani
 Sri Lankan biryani (Buryani)
 Iranian beriani
 Malaysia and Singapore
 Filipino dish
 Mauritian biryani
 Nasi kebuli

Courtesy Wikipedia

Though I have cooked some of these biryanis, Still there is long way to go....

Some o the biryanis prepared by me....

Egg Biryani

Hyderabadi dum biryani

Chicken Goli Biryani

Gucchi (Mushrom) Biryani

Keema Biryani

 

Enjoy!!!!! and keep cooking

Amritsari Bhatti Da Murg

Amritsari Bhatti Da Murg

A road down the memory lane,This dish reminds me of my good old days spend in South Africa, As it was my first encounter with the people and world other than India, it was and will be always special and close to my heart.Still remember those days when we only had bunch of Indian families around to get along . We didn't had access to any Indian channels and have to settle down only with the channels broadcasted by SABC . They used to broadcast  a half hour show where in they used to tell more of Indian culture ,Bollywood movies, songs continued with an Indian recipe by 5 star chefs. This was the only show which I used to wait for  every week. This is where I saw the recipe of Bhatti da murg and penned it down and tried it. We didn't have a tandoor but being an ardent non veg fan always got hold of barbeque grill wherever we moved. Thanks to the BBQ ,we never missed the tandoori dishes ever even staying abroad.
   Amritsar cuisine is very unique and famous all over ,amritsari kulcha, amritsari fish, amristsari daal are just the few delicacies to devour the  taste of amritsari tradition tempered with punjabi flavors Bhatti da murg sure calls for attention.

Marble Chocolate Cupcakes

Marble Chocolate Cupcakes

 simple yet ultimate marbled vanilla chocolate cupcake .Which can be prepared under 5 minute and baked  within 20-22 minutes. No hustle of making two different batters, just have to mix cocoa powder to the existing vanilla batter and you are ready to bake. You may also like the marbled mango and chocolate cupcakes 

 

 

 

Eggless Mango Cupcakes

Eggless  Mango Cupcake

The mangoes are almost invisible in the market nowadays, still few  can be seen selling them in small carts and I grabbed the opportunity of buying them. As I mentioned earlier that I am not a big fan of eggless baking but still want to try baking eggless .

  In my earlier posts regarding mangoes ,I had posted the eggless mango and chocolate-marble cupcakes  which was eggless, thought of trying it with plain mango . It came out soft and fluffy .Try using Alphonso mangoes ,I couldn't find them so used kesari instead. You can also use canne mango pulp.

Ingredients

11/4 Cups All Purpose Flour/Maida
1.5Tsp Baking Powder
1/2Tsp Baking Soda
1/2Tsp Salt
1Tsp Cardamom Powder
1Cup Mango Pulp /Puree
1/2Cup Cooking Oil or Butter
2/3Cup  Sugar
1Tsp Vanilla Extract/Mango essence


Directions

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• In a bowl sift all the dry ingredients and keep aside.
• In another bowl mix all the wet ingredients i.e  Mango pulp, essence and cooking oil together.
• Add the dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until well incorporated.
• Line the muffin pan with cupcake liners. Divide the batter equally into the cupcake liners until 2/3 filled.
• Bake the cupcakes for 18-20 minutes or toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean.
• Take out the cupcakes from the muffin pans and allow it to cool.
• Enjoy!!!!

 

Chettinad Chicken Curry

Chettinad Chicken curry

Chettinad cuisine is the cuisine of the Chettinad region of Tamil Nadu state in South India.The chettinad cuisine is supposed to be the one of the spiciest in India and is famous for its use of a variety of spices. The Chettinad people love to use fresh masalas in their preparation which gives it a unique aromatic flavour. I love spicy food and so do my husband ,We hail from a place which  is famous for eating too much spicy food.  We had always tried chettiand dishes in our favourite restaurant "Anjappar" which is famous for bringing the food from famed chettiars to the whole world.
     I never tried making chettinad cuisine at home until few days back when I was just going through
my recipes diary  and got hold of  this recipe which was penned down long back from sanjeev Kapoor's famous TV show ,which I always use to watch and use to write down the recipes I liked.

Disco Fried Egg (Mumbai street food )

Disco Fried Egg (Mumbai street food)

The name itself  will attract you to see the post right?...Sounds something different, That's what happened with me when I got bored with the usual bread omelet stuff and was looking for some new breakfast recipes done with eggs and I bumped upon a you tube video with a heading saying " Disco fried eggs"  and it got me curious to watch and after watching it looked so tempting that  I decided to have it made in my kitchen the very next morning. Asked hubby dear to bring some fresh pav while heading back to home from office .
       Disco fried eggs has nothing to do with dancing eggs(LOL) ,Its basically an omelet made using spice powders and pav directly placed above the eggs and cooked. A nice alternative t the old omelet and toast. An Indian style masala omelet . A great  quick fix for breakfast ,lunch or even dinner if you are in jiffy and too lazy to cook.
  

Mangode (Split green lentil Fritters )

Mangode (Split green lentil Fritters )

  Mangode are crispy green gram fritters which are very famous in northern pars of India ,These are the perfect snacks to munch on monsoon days. As monsoon has arrived and  so as long cloudy day following with drizzling evenings just calls for a hot snack with your hot cuppa  tea.
   There's a famous mangode wala  near my moms place ,which serves these crunchy snacks wit hot yogurt chutney and I always make sure to visit this place whenever I go to my mom's place. Its difficult to get hand on this irresistible munchies.
     Mangodes  are made with  split green gram which has husk .these makes the fritters more crunchy.
Hot fritters with hot cup of tea and a book to read, what more  can you ask for on those lazy evenings.

Chocolate Ganache Tarts

Chocolate Ganache Tarts

One more chocolate dessert from my kitchen. Yes this buttery melt in your mouth crust with  gooey dark chocolate ganache filling will surely make any chocoholic drool. This is a serious dessert for serious chocolate lovers and is very simple to make. The work to be done here is making tartlets on first place which you can make ahead followed by making ganache . So what are we waiting for..lets jump on to the recipe.

Sabudana Vada (Crispy tapioca fritters)

Sabudana vada

   
     Sabudana vada, is a traditional deep fried snack from Maharashtra usually eaten in fasting days. These are crunchy from outside and soft from the inside which just melts in mouth. Its usually served with green chutney but I like to serve it with yogurt peanut chutney .The contents are just the same as Sabudana khichdi I posted in my earlier post. The difference being ,in this dish boiled potatoes are used and in more quantity ,roasted peanuts are also used in generous amount which gives a nice crunch to vadas .

What can be more better than a cuppa hot tea in this monsoon .....

Ingredients


     Sabudana 1 Cup (tapioca, sago, soaked in water and drained 3-3 hrs.)
    Green chilies 2-3 Medium, finely chopped
    Boiled Potatoes 2-3 medium
    Peanuts 1⁄2 Cup, (Roasted and coarsely pounded)
    Cumin seeds 1 Teaspoon (jeera)
    Sendha Namak(fasting salt) or Salt  To Taste
    Oil 2 Tablespoon
    Lemon juice 1 Tablespoon
    Finely chopped Coriander 1Tablespoon
Directions

• Wash and soak the sabudana for five minutes then drain the water and keep aside at least for 2-3 hours.
• To this add mashed boiled potatoes, chopped green chilies, salt, cumin seeds ,roasted ponded peanuts. chopped coriander and lemon juice and mix well until all the ingredients are incorporated well.
• Divide into equally lemon sized balls, flatten between palms of your hands.
• Heat sufficient oil in a pan or kadai and deep fry the vada till golden brown.
• Serve hot with your choice of chutney.
• Enjoy!!!!

 

Sabudana Khichdi

Sabudana Khichdi

Sabudana khichdi, is a traditional fasting dish, very popular in Maharashtra. It can be seen in many maharashtrian mess or restaurants serving maharashtrian food. Very delicious and easy to make.

Triangle Ajwain Paratha

 Triangle Ajwain Paratha

A very basic paratha flavored with ajwain (carom seeds) , made in triangular shape. it goes very well with vegetarian as well as non veg dishes. We had it with Paneer methi malai .

Ingredients

• 11/2 Cups Wholewheat flour
• 1/2Tsp salt
• 2 Tsp ajwain/ carom seeds
• Warm water for kneading
• 1Tsp cooking oil or ghee
• Cooking oil for shallow frying

 Directions

• In a bowl mix the flour, salt, carom seeds and 1 Tsp cooking oil. 
• Add the water, little at a time to make a smooth, soft dough .Set aside for 15-20 minutes.
• Divide the dough into equal sized balls and roll between your hands till they are smooth.
• Lightly  sprinkle flour over each ball  roll each ball into a circle of 5" diameter. 

• Add few drops of oil or ghee over the rolled roti,then fold it into semicircle and again fold it to make a traingle. Roll it into thin paratha.

• Heat a griddle or tawa and cook the parathas on both sides ,roast till golden brown using ghee or oil.

• Serve hot with your choice of curry ,pickle or raita .