Green masala chicken biryani

We love Biryani except my younger daughter, we are so used to eat non-veg but my little girl is vegetarian. Our favourite most biryani is the one and only Hyderabadi Dum biryani. We eat biryani atleast once in a week mostly its on Sundays. If we didn't eat biryani on Sunday we make it a point of eating a restaurant brought biryani. Here in Canada i didn't find any good restaurants which serves good hyderabadi biryani similar to Paradise, Bawarchi, Pista house or any biryani joints of Hyderabad.

 Having said this we get pakistani biryani. The taste of biryani is quite different and it is not as spicy as hyderabadi biryani. There is one joint which serves awesome biryani. Most of the times we grab two packs and warm it at home and eat it.
The biryani i ate here had lemon pieces and i was desperate to know why they have used the lemon pieces than the juice. I always used to say to husband what would be the ingredients used to make this biryani. Once i came across a website by name Pukka Paki by Sumayya Jamil and when i was browsing the menu i found this Green Masala Chicken  Biryani. I was impressed by the ingredients used and the procedure. I felt the procedure is lengthy but worth giving a try. I made this biryani few days back and it was awesome. The best part i liked is the chef used the lemon pieces rather than the juice of the lemon. I reduced the quantity of ingredients to match our taste. I adopted the same recipe and the procedure and omitted few ingredients. Here is the recipe and please check the original recipe here

Ingredients:-
Chicken 1 kg
Tomato chopped 1
Basmati Rice 1 kg
Oil 1 cup
Ghee 3 Tbsp
Lemon slices 4 (thin)
Clove 6
Cinnamon 2 2'' long sticks
Green cardamom 10
Pepper 15
Star anise 2
Salt to taste
                                                                    ****

Step 1

Yoghurt mixture

Onions 2
Curd 1 cup

Slice onions and deep fry. Mix the deep fried onions with curd and keep aside until use.

****

Step 2

Green masala paste

Ginger garlic paste 2 tbsp

Mint leaves 1 cup

Coriander leaves 2.5 cups

Green chillies 4

Turmeric 1/4 tsp

Chilli powder 1 tbsp

Make a smooth paste of the above ingredients

****

Step 3

Saffron few strands

Warm milk 1/2 cup

Soak saffron in the warm milk for 1 hour.

****

Step 4:-

Soak rice with cinnamon1, cloves 3, Cardamom 2 and star anise 1 for 1 hour.

****

Procedure:-

Take a deep pan with oil and ghee. Once hot add the chicken pieces and fry until they are brown in colour or until you see a brown layer on the chicken. Take them from the oil and keep aside until use.

Now in the same oil add the remaining masala (cloves,cinnamon,pepper,cardamom and star anise).

Then add chopped tomatoes and sauté until tomatoes leave oil.

Now add green masala paste. Cook until oil oozes out from the gravy.

Add chicken and yoghurt mixture along with salt. Mix thoroughly and let it cook for a while.

The gravy becomes little thick. Be careful to check that the gravy is not dry.

In the mean while add salt to the rice and cook until the rice is half cooked. Use a strainer to drain out the water from the rice.

In a thick bottom deep pan and pour the curry in it. Then add the rice on top of the curry and sprinkle saffron water and dig the lemon slices into the rice. More coriander leaves can be added here.

Close the pan with a foil and see that the vapours doesn't escape. Let it cook on medium for 30 minutes.

Serve hot with mirchi ka salan and raita. Mirch ka salan recipe is here

au revoir

Paneer Pakora

 Who doesn't love paneer??? Like all we too love paneer and i make 3-4 times curry with paneer. Now kids at home i have to give them something to eat quite frequently. So i am breaking my head to think what snacks i have to make and give them to eat. Once i made paneer samosa which i baked for the first time and before i would take pictures they were gobbled up. Few days back i made paneer pakoda and kept few aside so that i take the pictures leisurely, The recipe is simple and tasty.

Ingredients:

Gram flour/Chenaga pindi 2 cups
Rice flour 1/2 cup
Paneer 10-12 thick pieces
Baking soda 1tsp
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Green paste

Fry garlic 3-4 in a tsp of oil. Make smooth paste along with green chillies 3 and few coriander leaves.

Now slit the paneer lengthwise and stuff the above green paste. Repeat with all the paneer pieces.

Mix gram flour,rice flours,baking soda and salt with enough water. Let it rest for 10-15 minutes.

In the mean while heat the oil.

Once oil is hot put the flame to low. Now dip each paneer pieces into the batter and leave them slowly into the oil. Fry on both sides until golden colour.

Take them on a kitchen towl and serve hot with sauce of your choice.

Banana and cherry pancake

Pancakes are new to me and i tasted them for the first time when i stayed at a aunty's house in Canada few years back. She poured Maple syrup on the pancakes and they tasted awesome.

Kids are having summer holidays and they say they are bored of eating dosa and idlies for breakfast. Usually they have cereals for breakfast and on Saturday and Sunday i make dosa or idly. Now i am making dosa batter for 3-4 days in a week and it used to be easy for me to feed the kids. But now they hate to eat dosa or idly (too much of anything is boring). So my elder girl wanted to eat pancakes as she still remember the pancake she ate last at my aunty's place. I had banana and cherries, so thought of including them in the pancake. Browsed couple of sites for the pancake recipes and took the basic recipe and added my idea of cherries sauce. There are recipes mentioning about cherry sauce but i didn't follow them as they need ingredients which i don't have nor i intent to buy them. The recipe is quite simple and tasty.

Ingredients:

Maida (all purpose flour) 1 cup
Banana ripe 2
Egg 1
Baking powder 1tsp
Honey 3 tbsp
Milk 4-5 tbsp

Cherry Sauce

Cherries 10-15
Cinnamon small pc
Water

Take cherries and cinnamon in a microwave safe bowl and pour water on the cherries until the water covers the cherries. Microwave high for 4-5 minutes (mine took 4-5 minutes) Check whether cherries are soft. Once they are soft remove the seeds and mash them with a spoon. The syrup should be in pouring consistency. Discard the cinnamon.

Method:

Take banana,egg,flour,baking powder,honey and milk in a mixer and run it for 1-2 minutes.

Take a ladle full of batter and pour on not so hot tawa/non-stick pan. Let it spread by itself. Wait for a minutes and flip it over. Again wait for another 2 minutes for the other side to cook.

Take pancakes on a plate and pour the cherry sauce. Before i poured cherry sauce i poured generous amount of honey. Serve hot....

Mutton Masala

I have quite a few mutton recipes on my blog which i learnt from my mom and mother-in law. The recipe i am posting today is from Kachcha Rasta by Aditya Bal. Here goes the recipe..

Ingredients:-

Mutton 500gm
Onions 1 chopped
Tomatoe 1
 2 garlic pieces
1 inch ginger
2 cloves
1 star anise
Oil 3 tbsp
Salt as per taste
2 cups of water.

Dry masala powder

2 big elachi
2 small elachi
7-8 pepper
1 bay leaf
1tsp zeera
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1tsp fennel (sauf)
5-6 cloves
2 inch piece cinnamon
1 star anise.
 Once cool make a fine powder.


Wet masala

6-7 sambar onions
3 green chillies
3 inch ginger piece
3 garlic
few coriander leaves
1/2 cup fresh grated coconut
Once cool add 1 tsp red chilly powder, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder and salt. Make a fine paste.

Seasoning
Mustard seeds few
Curry leaves

Pressure cook 500gm of mutton with 2 garlic pieces, 1 inch ginger, 2 cloves, 1 star anise, salt and 2 cups of water.

Dry roast 2 big elachi, 2 small elachi, 7-8 pepper, 1 bay leaf, 1tsp zeera, 1 tbsp coriander seeds, 1tsp fennel (sauf), 5-6 cloves, 2 inch piece cinnamon, 1 star anise. Once cool make a fine powder.

Dry roast 6-7 sambar onions, 3 green chillies, 3 inch ginger piece, 3 garlic, few coriander leaves and 1/2 cup fresh grated coconut.  Once cool add 1 tsp red chilly powder, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder and salt. Make a fine paste.

Take a pan with 3 tbsp of oil. Add mustard seeds and curry leaves. Then add onions and once they are fry add the above masala paste and the masala powder.

Saute/fry for a while. Add water and let it cook for 10 minutes.

Now open the cooker and pour the water from the cooker into the masala gravy. Boil for another 10 minutes. Once the gravy is almost dry, add 1 chopped tomato and saute until tomatoes are soft and mashed up in the gravy.

Now add the boiled mutton and mix thoroughly. Cover the pan with lid and let it cook for another 2 minutes.

Serve hot with rice or roti.