Fried Phool Makhana / desi popcorn

Phool Makhana is new to me. I had makhana curry in a punjabi restaurant  and loved the taste. Brought this makhana from a indian grocery store. And while browsing Vah chef videos came across this quick, easy and tasty snack. It just took 5-10 minutes to make this desi popcorn and calls for very few ingredients.

Ingredients:-

Phool Makhana 1 cup
Ghee 3 tbsp
Salt as per taste
Red chilly powder 1/2 tsp

Method:-

Mix Ghee with salt and red chilly powder.

Take a pan. When hot add makhana. Saute for 5 minutes and to check if makhana is fried, take one into your mouth and when you bite it you should hear the sound.

Add ghee mixture and mix well. Take out immediately from the stove and serve warm.

Hyderabadi Haleem

 

 When i was kid we used to eat haleem once or twice during ramazan and in my mom's friend's kids marriages. I remember my mom too made this at home. Now during ramazan you get to see many irani cafes and small restaurants sell haleem. At some outlets one has to stand in a queue to buy haleem.  They are many famous restaurants who sell haleem like Pista house, cafe 555, Shah Ghouse, cafe bahar, sarvi, paradise and bawarchi. 

I ate haleem 3 years back before coming to Canada and my fb page is getting flooded with haleem pics this year. I was going into self pity mode. Then i thought let me check if my favourite chef did any video of haleem.  Woh allll he did chicken and mutton haleem videos and he makes it so simple too. I love Vah reh vah chef and he is a boon for the people who are living outside and don't have access to hyderabadi food in particular street food. I may be wrong in saying haleem as street food but the haleem outlets can be found in each and every corner of the gallis in hyderabad. 

Making haleem is a tedious process and it does take much time. But the end results will be superb and worth the time invested in making this. This is a quick method of making haleem from sanjay thuma of vah reh vah chef. Here goes the recipe and the ingredients:-

Ingredients:-

Lentil and masala powder 

Kabab chinni 10

Pepper 10

Cinammon 1 inch

Cloves 2

Shahi zeera 1/4 tsp

Green cardamom 3

Cummin 1/4 tsp

Udad dal 2 tbsp

Seasame seeds 1 tbsp

Moong dal 2 tbsp

Masoor dal 2 tbsp

Channa dal 2 tbsp

Almonds 10 

Oats 3 tbsp

Broken wheat / dahlia/godum rava 1/2 cup

Make powder of all the above

Chicken bone less

Ghee 5 tbps

Green chillies 5

Onion 2

Ginger garlic paste 2 tbsp

Curd 2 tbsp

Chicken stock 2 cups

Mint leaves chopped

Coriander leaves chopped

Lime juice 1 tbsp

Boiled egg

Cashew

Salt to taste

Slice onions and deep fry them.

Method:-

Take ghee in a cooker. Add ginger garlic paste. Saute until ginger garlic paste loose its raw smell.

Now add chicken. Mix well. Add chicken stock. Add fried onions and keep some aside for garnishing.

Add curd,green chillies,chopped coriender and mint. Add salt.

Mix well. Now add the lentil and masala powder. Mix while adding the powder.

Let it come to boil. Mix throughly. Cover the cooker with the lid and cook for 2 whistle.

After 2 whistle reduce the flame to slow and cook for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes with a potato masher mash the chicken.

Mix throughly, adjust salt.

Once you get the right consistecny add the rest of the ghee and lime juice.

Serve haleem with egg,fried onions and cashew.

Believe me this is very simple, only hard part is mashing with the potato masher. As you mash it while it is getting cooked, there are chance of the steam hitting your hand so be careful. What i did is i switched off the stove, placed the cooker on the floor and i mashed it with potato masher, it doesnt take much time as chicken is cooked for 45 minutes.

My other hobby

Today for a change i am not posting any recipe but i am posting pictures of my other hobby that is crochet. I learnt  crochet in my school and once out from school i never did it. But blogging is a platform where you meet very talented bloggers and over a period of time you bond with them and they become your friends. One such a friend is  Crafty who re-introduced me to crochet. Intially she took pains to send me patterns and slowly with those patterns i learnt reading the patterns.

I get books from local library for the patterns and i see youtube videos for the patterns. Here are my few crochet work. The patterns are from websites,youtubes and books. The barbie dress patterns are my own.

Baingan Ka Bharta

Baingan or brinjal or egg plant is my favourite veg. Can eat brinjal in any form but sadly no one eats it. But that doesn't stop me in cooking brinjal. My most favorite  is bagara baingan and baingan ka barta. I always used to rub oil on the brinjals and roast them on the stove top. But his time i baked the brinjal. Here is the recipe:-

Ingredients:-

Brinjal (long) 1
Chopped onions 1
Chopped tomatoes 1
Green chillies 2 chopped
Garam masala 1/4 tsp
Turmeric a pinch
Coriander  powder 1/2 tsp
Ginger garlic paste 1 tbsp
Red chilly powder 1/2 tsp
Oil for frying

Method:-

Rub a tsp of oil on the brinjal. Place a tray in the oven and place brinjal on it and bake for 15-20 minutes on 350 degrees Celsius.

Once brinjal changes to the colour seen in the below picture, take it out and let it cool. Remove the skin from brinjal.

Take the rest of the oil in a pan. Add onions and green chillies until golden colour.

Add ginger  garlic paste,turmeric powder,coriander powder and red chilly powder.

Saute for 3-4 minutes.

Add tomatoes and mix well. Cover the pan for 2-3 minutes and saute again for 2 minutes until the tomatoes are well cooked.

Chopped the peeled brinjal into big pcs. Add it to the above gravy.

Mix thoroughly and sprinkle garam masala powder. Can add chopped coriander leaves and mint leaves.

Serve it with roti and sometimes i eat like that.