Veg Hyderabadi Biryani

Simple things bring joy to life, today while I was preparing chapati (Indian flat bread), one chapati puffed up so nice and round that it rolled like a ball from my stove top and into my hands, this made me chuckle and I thought food itself likes to play with me a bit.
Riyadh is getting hotter by the day, its important to have light meals but there are days when P and I crave masala food. Last week after pondering how to curb masala desires I decided to prepare veg hyderabadi biryani, though this is not the original version recipe, it has all the flavour that original recipe calls for.

Ingredients:
1 cup basmati rice cooked with 2 cups of water for 9 mins in microwave 100% power.
1 medium sized potato cut in half length wise and then cut other way into 1/2 cms slices, forming nice half cirles.
1 large onion thinly sliced.
1 small tomato thinly sliced.
1 large capsicum thinly sliced.
1 cup cauliflower florets.
1 cup mint leaves.
3 small green chillies. The ones I used where hot Indian green chillies.
2 tbs yogurt/curd.
1 tsp turmeric powder.
1 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
2 1/2 tsp biryani masala, in case you don't have biryani masala you can use garam masala.
5-6 tbs oil.
Salt to taste
4 drops of red food grade colour. (totally optionaly, I used it just for vanity)

Method:

Soak rice for half an hour, cook and keep aside. We need rice to be cool enough before handling it, this avoids breakage. So do this in advance.

Heat 3 tbs of oil in a deep heavy bottom pan/wok and add potatoes. Sprinkle 2 tbs of water, 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder, cover and cook on medium flame for about 4 minutes or till half done. Now add cauliflower florets mix ligtly as you don't want to break fragile potato slices. Sprinkle about 1 tbs of water and cover. Cook for few more minutes till the florets are just done. DO NOT OVER COOK.
Turn off the heat and remove the veggies from the wok. Keep aside.

Put the same wok on medium heat and add 3 tbs of oil. Add onions and fry them till they are translucent. Add sliced capsicum, 3/4 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp turmeric powder. Sautee them till the capsicum is just cooked, add 1 1/2 tsp red chilli powder and 2 1/2 tsp of biryani masala or garam masala. Mix lightly and cook for 30 seconds, now add in sliced tomato, again mix lightly and cook for around 2 minutes and turn off the heat. Add in potato and cauliflower that had been set aside and mix it.
Adjust salt in veggies at this stage.

Blend mint, green chillies and yogurt for 30 seconds and set aside.

Divide boiled rice into 3/4 th and 1/4 th portions. Pour yogurt-mint mixture to 3/4 th portion and toss lightly. Add 4 drops of red food grade colour to 1/4 th portion and toss that lightly too.
Now in a large serving bowl spread layers of yogurt mint rice, red rice and veggie mixture till you run out of it.
Serve with plain yogurt or raita of your choice.

Tips:
The real flavour of this dish demands that you keep salt to minimum taste, it brings out nice sweetness of fried onions.
Do not over cook the veggies, it is important that they retain some bite in them.
Use very fresh vegetables as they really are the star of this dish.

One Pot Meal-Sambar Flavoured Khichdi

P shall not be home for dinner tonight, has some business meeting thing going on and preparing dinner for 1 is rather a boring thing to do, hence wanted to make a one pot meal but not khichdi, oh!! I simply hate that bland taste of khichdi (P loves it though) so added a lill sambar powder to make it sambar flavoured khichdi, please stay calm, it came out well :), had a nice surprise of that South-Indian flavour kick to a Gujarati dish. I also added some veggies to it as we can't skip out daily vegetable intake :).
Its easy and tasty, I think I'm gonna stick with this sambar flavour for my khichdi for long long time. Although I actually ended up making this dish for two by mistake, as soon as I doused rice and dal of that quantity I realized what crime I had committed and knew there was no turning back now. I'm sure some frustrated inventor cum cook was behind the invention of refrigerator .... :) hehe.

Soak
1 cup basmati rice
1/2 cup toor dal, together in a bowl for atleast 20 minutes.

Heat 1 tbs oil in pressure cooker and add
1/4 tsp methi seeds/ fenugreek seeds
1/2 tsp rai/mustard seeds
1/2 tsp jeera/cumin seeds

when they start to sputter add

1 sprig of curry leaves
1/4 tsp hing
2 dry red chili
2 slit green chillies
1 inch piece of ginger grated

saute for 5 seconds and add

1 1/2 cup chopped veggies of your choice, I added carrots, green beans, onions and tomatoes
2 tbs sambar powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp red chili powder
4 cups of water and
salt to taste

Drain the soaked rice & dal and add to pressure cooker. Add chopped coriander and put the lid on the pressure cooker. Cook for 3 whistles and after that 5 mins on very low flame or just for the same time it would take to cook rice in you cooker.
Serve it hot with plain yogurt or raita and papad/papadum.

I enjoyed this dish with plain yogurt and chili pickle.

                                           

Palak Masala Khichdi/ Spicy Spinach Khichdi

Imagine the wholesomeness of this dish as it has all the proteins via lentils/dal, all vitamins, minerals and fiber from spinach and carrots and all the wonderful subtle aroma borrowed from lovely indian spices...yeap thats whats for dinner tonight, lovely Palak masala khichdi and jeera chaas along with papad and aachaar.
P, loves anything with lots of veggies and is a die hard fan of rice, so I thought of making nice biryani for him but then I said lets add some protein in form of dal and make khichdi instead of biryani. It was just few days back when I was surfing for some nice palak recipes I read this recipe at foodatarian.com, find the recipe
here

Secondly after nupur announced MBP #1 Cookers
here
I had to get busy and jump in to be a good sport.

This one pot dish is easy to prepare and light to digestive system.
So here's the recipe for this tantalizing palak masala khichdi... enjoy.


Ingredients:
1 cup Basmati rice
1/2 cup Mung dal
1 bunch palak/spinach chopped and washed thoroughly
1 medium onion roughly chopped
2 green onion roughly chopped
1 small carrot peeled and chopped roughly
1 medium tomato or 1 tbs tomato paste
2 green chillies slit and cut in half
1 inch piece of ginger grated
3 pods of garlic grated
1 tsp turmeric/haldi powder
1 tsp red chili powder (i used kashmiri lal mirch powder)
1 1/2 tsp garam masala/ all spice powder
salt to taste
Handful of chopped coriander leaves for garnishing

For tempering
1 tsp oil
1 tbs ghee/clarified butter
1 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
1/2 tsp rai/mustard seeds
1 pinch asafoetida/hing
2 dry red chillies


Method:

On a medium flame heat pressure cooker, add oil, ghee and once they start to smoke add all other tempering ingredients.
Add in all veggies and ginger-chili-garlic, except palak. Add all other masalas and sautee for 30 seconds and then add in palak. Let the palak shrink in sized and then add in rice and dal
Add 3 1/2 cups of water.
Closed the pressure cooker with its lid and cook on medium flame for 3 whistles and then on low flame for 5 mins.
Let the steam subside before opening the pressure cooker.
Garnish it with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with plain curd or gujarati kadi or punjabi kadi or masala chaas... anything made of curd goes fine with this khichdi.


Tips:
If you prefer more tangy flavor, grind curd along with handful of coriander leaves and add this to khichdi just before serving.

Veg Stir Fried Rice

Now this name ie vegetable fried rice or veg stir fried rice reminds me of one thing I love about baroda, the amazing chinese food we find there. Quiet unimaginable but dingy looking small road side eatery called "lari" serves the best veg fried rice and noodles and soups and many more dishes. The key to their success - knowing their spices and knowing their customers. Usually all the dishes served on lari are quite spicy except veg fried rice, this has a subtle flavors to it.

Fried rice is a popular dish in many cuisines ranging from chinese to most of asian and even african nations. These days UK and America's too have their staples like american version of chinese food just as india has indian version of chinese food.
Last vacation I had been to one up beat restaurant called "Mainland china" located in Centre Square Mall and they served genuinely authentic chinese food, the best part, they served us with aromatic jasmine tea as a welcome drink, it was a treat to all of my senses. :)

Today the veg fried rice is for P's lunch pack. These days again he is working crazy hours so I really hope he enjoys it as much as I enjoyed making it.


Ingredients :

1/2 cup Long Grain Basmati Rice washed and soaked for min 20 mins, then pressure cooked adding exact 1 cup water.
1 small onion sliced thinly
1 small carrot grated
2 spring onions chopped including the greens
1/2 cup shredded cabbage
2 green chillies slit
1 inch piece of ginger grated/thinly sliced
1/2 tsp red chilli powder/flakes
1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
salt to taste
pinch of asafoetida
2 tbs oil

Method :
Cook rice and let is cool for atleast 30 mins before starting the stir fry process. This way rice has time to cool down and bind itself to a perfect shape which is less likely to break easily while stir fry process. Remember warmer rice means more prone to breakage almost like "don't comb your hair while they are wet- more prone to breakage".
Now take a heavy bottom pan and heat oil in it. Add cumin seeds and let them come to a crackle then add asafoetida to it.
Add green chillies and sliced ginger and fry for 10 seconds. Now add all veggies except onion greens. Stir fry for about 2 mins or till the veggies are raw but just a bit tender, specially keep an eye on onions once they are tender but retain the shape, you know its done.
Add rice gently along with onion greens, salt and red chilli flakes.



Tips:
This recipe calls in for minimum salt and spices. You should be able to taste the sweetness of carrots and onions along with natural spiciness of green chilli and ginger. Cabbage and onion greens should give the taste of eating raw leafy veggie. So remember put only half the amount of salt you usually put in any dish with same quantity of rice and veggies.

To make a healthier version you can also add in mung sprouts or any other veggies in hand such as capsicum, cauliflower, zucchini etc.

Minty Vegetable Biryani

This is a simple recipe which can be served either in lunch or dinner, also handy recipe when I'm feeling a bit lazy or short of time or just when my taste buds are demanding more. P too loves aromatic recipes like these. This time I prepared this recipe as a lunch box item for P, I'm so happy since he started carrying his own home made lunch to office, atleast I don't have to worry about those greasy foods he has when he goes out for lunch from office.

Ingredients:

1 Cup Basmati rice soaked for 15-20 mins
1 to 1 1/2 cups of diced veggies of your choice, I used potato, onion, cauliflower florets and carrot.
1 cup chopped mint leaves
Handful of chopped fresh coriander leaves
1 tsp garlic paste
2 green chilles slit into half
2 sprigs curry leaves
1 inch piece of cinnamon
1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera.
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 1/2 to 2 tsp biryani masala
Salt to taste.
1 tsp ghee
1 tsp oil.

Method:

Put pressure pan on medium heat and add oil and ghee, once oil is hot enough add jeera seeds along with cinnamon stick, curry leaves, slit green chillies and garlic paste. Saute for 20 to 30 seconds.
Now add diced veggies, also add all dry masala including salt, which will be for all veggies + rice. Saute for 2 mins.
At this point add soaked rice with 2 cups of water and all of mint and coriander leaves. Cover the pressure pan and cook it till 3 whistles.
Yummy biryani is ready, serve it with raita or plain curd, anything will go with this lovely aromatic wholesome dish.

I served it with cucumber raita.