Goli Biryani

Ingredients:
Minced meat: 1.3 lb ,Chicken stock, Basmati rice: 1.5 cup, bay leaves: 2, Ginger: 2 inch, whisked yogurt: 1.5 cup, chopped cilantro, chopped mint leaves, chili powder: 1 tsp, turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp, green chilli (chopped), saffron: pinch, warm milk: 1/2 cup, cumin seeds: 1 tsp, mace: 2 petals, green cardamom: 8, cloves: 8, chopped onion: 2, garlic (paste): 8, coriander powder: 2 tbsp, garam masala: 2 tbsp, oil to saute

Method:
1) Boil the rice in chicken stock with bay leaves and salt till almost done. Drain excess water and set aside
2) Julienne half of the ginger and make a paste of the rest
3) Mix 2 tbsp each of cilantro and mint leaves to half cup of yogurt. Add chili powder and turmeric powder to the remaining yogurt.
4) Mix minced meat with salt, 2 tbsp cilantro, green chili and chopped ginger. Mix well and refrigerate for 30 mins
5) Make koftas of the meat mixture and cook in oil to only sear the edges.
6) Dissolve saffron in warm milk and keep aside
7) Heat oil in a pan and season with cumin seeds. Add mace, green cardamom and cloves. Add onion and saute till golden brown.
8) Add ginger paste, garlic paste and green chili. Add coriander powder.
9) Stir in the chili-turmeric yogurt mixture
10) Add koftas, 1 cup chicken stock and salt
11) Cook till done and gravy tickens
12) In a pan, put half of the kofta gravy to form a layer. Cover with a layer of rice.
13) sprinkle cilantro-mint yogurt mixture. Sprinkle half of the garam masala, ginger julienne and dissolved saffron
14) Repeat layers, finishing off with a layer of rice.
15) Sprinkle garam masala powder, ginger julienne and salffron milk over the rice
16) Cover with a moist cloth and seal the pan with a lid. Cook in a pre-heated oven for 15-20 mins

Server hot with a cold Raita

Fatafat Jalebi

Jalebi is something we used to relish as kids. When visiting grandparents, breakfast normally comprised of garma-garam (piping hot) jalebis and samosas. Unfortunately, 15 years in the US and have not been able to find any store selling the kind of jalebi that I like, until I stumbled on the recipe below. This takes me back to my childhood and hoping you will go to your favorite place too after trying this.

Maida (flour) - 1 cup
Cornflour - 1 tsp
Baking Powder - 1 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/4 tsp
Yogurt - 1/4 cup
Water - 1/2 cup or as needed
Yellow color - a pinch

For Chashni (sugar syrup):
Sugar - 2 cups
Water - 1 cup
Cardamom - 2
Saffron - a few strands

Restaurant style ketchup dispenser

• Sift together Maida, baking powder, bakinf soda, and cornflour
• Now add yogurt along with the yellow color and mix it nicely
• Add water and whisk nicely so that there are no lumps
• Pour the prepared mixture in the ketchup dispenser.
• In a separate pan, combine sugar and water and place it on heat. Add cardamom, saffron and bring to a boil making a 1 thread consistency. 
• Make jalebis by pressing the dispenser lightly in a pan of heated oil
• Oil temperature is very important when frying these, the oil should be on medium heat. It took me a couple of tries to understand this.
• Once Jalebis are fried, put them in the sugar syrup.
• Let is soak for a few minutes
• Garma-garam jalebis are ready to enjoy

Kachori Aaloo

Aloo - 3, large, boiled and peeled

Green chilies - 2 -3

Ginger - 1"

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Amchur powder - 3/4 tsp

Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup, chopped fine along with stalks

Salt to taste

Grind to a fine powder:

Cloves - 4-5 (do not skimp on cloves)

Green cardamom - 1

Black cardamom - 1

Coriander seeds - 1/2 tbsp

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Black pepper corns - 1/2 tsp

Cinnamon stick - 1/2"

For tempering:

  Oil - 1/2 tbsp

  Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

  Dry red chilies - 1, tear into two pieces

  Bay leaf - 1

  Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp

• Roughly crush the boiled potatoes with your hand. Set aside. (do not chop them into perfect cubes using a knife)
• Grind the spices listed above to a fine powder. Set aside.
• Coarsely crush ginger and green chilies in a mortar pestle. Set aside.
• Heat oil in a heavy bottomed vessel till hot. Reduce flame to medium, add cumin seeds and allow to splutter. Add red chilies, bay leaf and asafoetida and saute for a few secs.
• Next add the green chilies-ginger paste and turmeric powder and mix. Immediately add the crushed potatoes and mix. Add 5-6 cups of water or enough water such that the potatoes are immersed in it. 
• Add salt and three fourth of the coriander leaves (along with stalks) and mix. Bring to a boil, reduce flame to low medium, place lid and cook for 45 minutes. Keep stirring once in a while so that the curry does not stick or burn at the bottom. If required, add more water for a liquid consistency during the cooking process.
• Add garam masala powder and amchur powder and mix well.
• Turn off flame and remove to a serving dish. Garnish with chopped coriander and place lid and allow to rest for a few minutes before serving.
• Serve warm with khasta kachori or puris. If serving with puris, you can make a slightly thicker gravy by reducing water content.

Butter chicken

For the marinade: Yogurt, ginger-garlic paste, garam masala, oil, salt, red chili powder, vinegar

For the gravy: Oil, Small Cardamom, Mace, garlic, tomato, butter, ginger julienne, green chili julienne, garam masala, salt, red chili powder, honey, cream

Marinate the chicken for about 3-4 hours. After marinate, broil chicken in the oven till it is reddish-black in color.

Gravy:

Heat oil in a pan and add small cardamom, mace and chopped garlic. Saute it for a min, then add chopped tomatoes. Saute till the raw smell of tomato goes away. Cool it and then blend with water as needed to make a smooth paste.

Melt butter in a pan and add the ginger and green chili julienne. Saute for a min and then add the tomato puree made in above step. After Sauteing for a little bit, add garam masala, salt and red chili powder.

Once the spices are mixed, add the chicken pieces. Along with that, add some honey.

Close the lid and let it all cook for a bit. Once done add cream and let it simmer for 5 mins.

Butter chicken is ready to be enjoyed with Naan/Rice.

UP style Gujhiya

I recently made gujhiya for teej. A friend tried it and wanted to know the recipe, so here it goes :)

Ingredients:
For mixture:

Khoya/Mawa
Sugar
Dry fruits (as you like)
Elaichi powder

For dough:
Maida
Oil
Milk

Oil for frying

Method:

For the mixture: saute grated khoya till it turns light brown in color. You will see some lumps and that is totally fine. Let the khoya cool down and add sugar, dry fruits and elaichi powder. Set aside.

For the dough: add oil to maida as moyan and mix well. You should be able to form laddoos of the flour. Then add milk and knead it to make a soft dough.

For the gujhiya: roll the dough into small pooris and stuff the mixture. Seal the poori using a mix of maida and water. You could make a design with hands on the sealed edge or use a gujhiya cutter like I do. Your gujhiya is now ready for frying. Make sure the gujhiya does not dry up before frying. To avoid that, clover the gujhiya with damp cloth/paper towel.

Awesomely yummy gujhiyas are ready :)

Goshtaba

We had a Kashmir-i family as tenants one time and I had this dish in their house for the first time, and boy, became a fan of the Kashmir-i cuisine. Goshtaba is the traditional preparation from Kashmir and is actaully meatballs in a yogurt gravy. The curry is heavily seasoned with saunf (fennel seeds) and so are the meatballs.
Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:
Ground meat (any kind): 1 lb, Ground Saunf (fennel seeds): 3 tbsp, Saunth (ground dried ginger powder): 1 tbsp, Garam Masala: 1 tbsp, Ginger & Garlic paste: 2 tbsp, Whole garam masala (cloves, black cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaves): 1/4 cup, Heeng (asafoetida) : 1/2 tsp, Eggs: 2, Yogurt (whisked nicely): 1.25 lbs, Butter: 0.25 lb, Salt: to taste, Oil to Saute

Method:
1) Mix ground meat with 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tbsp saunf, 1/2 tbsp saunth, 1/2 tbsp garam masala, eggs, ginger-garlic paste and butter. Mix well till the mixture becomes very light
2) Put about 3-4 cups water in a boiling pot and let it boil. Add remaining garam masala (both ground and whole), saunf, saunth and salt.
3) Make small balls of the meat mixture and put in the boiling water mixture. Keep boiling them till they are done.
4) Put oil in a sauce-pan. Add heeng and and when it splutters, add the whisked yogurt.
5) When it boils, add the meat balls and also the water. Let is cook till the curry becomes thick

Goshtaba is ready to be served with Naan or Rice!

Shaam Savera

This was a dish Mom and I made when I was in 11th or 12th and I made this after sooooooo many years last week.. and it was yummy.. hubby darling loved it completely and has asked me to make it sometimes :)
Here goes the recipe for you to delight a loved one:

For the kabab:

1)    Mash paneer nicely and keep aside 

2)      Boil spinach and chop it finely. Add cornstarch, salt, red chili powder and minced garlic

3)      Make small katoris of the spinach mixture, put a paneer ball in it and cover it to make a kabab

4)      Shallow-fry it till the kababs are done

For the gravy:

1)      Put butter in pan with minced garlic and minced ginger

2)      Sauté a lil and then add tomato puree

3)      Mix it well, and add red chili powder, salt and garam masala powder

4)      Add some water and let it come to a boil

5)      Once gravy is near to done, add cream/milk

6)      Bring to a boil

Add kababs to gravy and serve

Baked Cabbage Kofta

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Koftas, but avoided them 'coz of the greasiness involved with deep-frying them. One time, I had cabbage in my fridge that was screaming to be made into Koftas and that is when I thought why not try making koftas that are baked. And Viola.. it turned out real good! Here goes the recipe

Preheat oven to 400 def F
Heat a nonstick pan with some oil and add jeera.
When jeera splutters, add semi-finely chopped cabbage and salt.
Cook till cabbage dries and reduces 50% in volume.
Cool the cabbage and add yogurt, bread crumbs, corriander powder, garam masala powder, turmeric powder, red chlli powder, and salt.
Make kofta sized balls of this mixture and keep it in the fridge for about 20-30 mins for it to set
Bake in the oven till the koftas are brown in color. Make sure to turn them in between, so that they do not over-brown on one side

For the gravy:
In a pan heat oil, add jeera.
On spluttering, add onion and green chillies
Add some garlic paste
Once onion turns golden brown add tomatoes and ginger
Add chilli powder and kasoori methi
Blend the mixture to a fine paste
Return to pan and cook till the rawness goes away
Add salt to taste and bring to a boil
Once the gravy is done add the koftas to it.
Tip: you could add the koftas at the time of serving so that they do not become soggy

Aloo Posto

I first heard of this recipe on a reality show with Aamir Khan and Saurav Ganguly. Aamir was invited to Saurav's house for dinner where he was served Posto.. the name and all the praises they had for this dish attracted me to find the recipe and try it out. Excitingly, it was REALLY delicious and fairly simple to make. Here is the recipe, try it out yourself to taste the scrumptious-ness.

Potato - 6 medium, cubed
Poppy seeds - 12 tbsp  (poppy seeds are called Posta dana in Hindi and Posto in Bengali, the origin of this dish)
green chillies, turmeric powder, jeera seeds, dried red chilli, salt - to taste

Grind the poppy seeds to a powder and add enough water to make a nice thick paste.
Put oil in a nonstick pan and add jeera seeds along with dried red chilli
Put the potatoes in the pan and saute till they get a golden-ish tinge
Put turmeric paste and salt to tenderize the potato
Once the potatoes seem slightly done, add the poppy seeds paste. Add enough water to coat all the potato pieces in this paste. Add chopped green chillies
Cover and cook till all the water evaporates and the potatoes are cooked
Once done, sprinkle chopped coriander and serve hot with chapati or daal-chawal.

Savory bread pudding

Ok it's been a long time that I posted something here. Just that life has been REALLY busy with hubby dear joining part time MBA program :( That also attributes to the fact that I have less of him at home to try out my creations.
Anyways, this weekend I was clearing out my fridge and found some bread that needed to be taken care of. Did not want to make the regular French-Toast or the bread pudding, so tried my hands at experimenting something. And to my happiness, husband dear liked it A LOT. I share the recipe below for you to try and possible make your loved one happy too. :)

Ingredients:
Left over bread
Oil
Onion
Garlic paste/crushed garlic
Sausage
Any kind of greens (I used the frozen turnip green package)
Coriander powder
Garam Masala powder
Red chili powder
Serrano pepper/Green chillies
grated cheese (as per taste)
Chicken bullion
Eggs
Milk

Steps:
1) Chop onions into medium sized pieces. remove the sausage from the casing and dice that as well
2) In a pan put some oil and saute the onion a lil while. Add garlic and saute some more time
3) when onions turn a lil golden, add the greens. Saute till the greens become a lil tender.
4) Add the sausage pieces, chicken bullion, and all the other spices.
5) Add chopped chillies and saute till mixture looks done
6) Grease a baking pan and make a layer with cubed bread pieces.
7) Add cheese and then add the sausage-greens mixture.
8) Beat eggs with milk (it should be enough to soak the bread pieces completely - for a proportion use 1 cup of milk for 6 eggs) and pour it over the sausage mixture.
9) Refrigerate this between 30 mins - 1 hr for bread to get completely soaked in the egg-mil mixture.
10) Remove from fridge and bake in a pre-heated (350 F) oven for about an hour or till the top become golden in color.

ENJOY your savory bread pudding :)

Moni Didi's Yummy DUM Biryani

Ingredients:
1 kg mutton
2-3 spoons garlic paste
2-3 spoons ginger paste
1/2 kg onion finely chopped
1/2 kg onion chopped long
2 tomatoes finely chopped
appox. 400grms of curd
1 full packet of SHAN BIRYANI MASALA
5-6 full green chili with slits
3-4 spoons of oil
4-5 cup rice
Whole Garam Masala
2 spoons of ghee
Freshly chopped Coriander and Mint leaves

Method:
1) wash 1 kg mutton and put it in a big bowl. Add garlic paste, ginger paste, finely chopped onion, tomatoes, curd (you could put more curd and less tomatoes),SHAN BIRYANI MASALA, slitted green chillies and oil.
2) mix everything nicely and put at least for 6-8 hours in the fridge.
3) Fry long cut onion and till brown and keep aside.
4) soak the rice in water for about 30 mins.
5) After u take out the marinated mutton from the fridge, put it in a kadhai. No need to put oil. Cook it without adding anything for about 30 mints. Mutton should be tender but not overcooked.
6) cook the rice with gram masala..remember that it should be just half cooked.
7) first put 2 spoons of ghee in a nonstick pan, then put a layer of cooked mutton, put coriander and mint leaves, put fried onions above that, put a layer of cooked rice. Repeat this one more time.
8) while making the layers u can put sliced tomatoes and fresh slitted green chilies.
On top of the layers put coriander and mint leaves and fried onion.
9) Cover the pan nicely and DUM the biryani for at least 20 mins.
10) Serve hot with Raita

Andar-Bahar Seekh Kabab

Ingredients:
400 gm: minced meat
1/2 cup: Corn kernels (crushed)
2 nos. Spring Onions (finely chopped)
8-10 cloves: Garlic (4 cloves crushed)
4 tbsp: Coriander Leaves (finely chopped)
1 tsp: Red Chili Flakes
To taste: Salt
2 tsp: Coriander Powder
To taste: Black Pepper powder
1 tsp: Garam Masala powder
2 nos. Eggs (boiled, shelled and grated)
200 gm: Paneer (mashed)
1/2 tsp: Sugar
Oil for grilling the kabab

Method:

1. For the kebab, mix minced chicken, corn, spring onions, crushed garlic, green coriander, red chili flakes, salt, coriander powder, black pepper powder and garam masala. Also mix in grated boiled eggs.
2. For the paneer, mix the paneer with crushed sugar, coriander powder and black pepper powder.
3. Put paneer mixture on a seekh kebab and cover with chicken mince mixture. heat a tawa and grill seekhs turning regularly and basting with oil. When done, cool and cut into 3 long pieces of different sizes.

Black Forest Cake

Ingredients

* 1 2/3 cups cake flour
* 2 eggs
* 4 ounces kirsch (brandy)
* 12 ounces buttermilk
* 16 ounces heavy whipping cream
* 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 3 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
* 1 ounce semisweet baking chocolate
* 4 ounces shortening
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* salt - 1 pinch
* 8 ounces butter
* 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 3 teaspoons kirsch
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon coffee (very strong)
* 14 ounces sweet cherries in heavy syrup, drained
* 12 ounces sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Direction

1. In a mixing bowl, combine cake flour, baking soda, cocoa and one teaspoon salt through a sieve, mix well and keep it aside.
2. Take cream shortening in a medium sized mixing bowl and add sugar to it. Stir continuously till the mixture becomes light and fluffy. Add eggs along with the vanilla essence into it and mix thoroughly.
3. Add the above mixture into the flour mixture, along with 8 ounces of buttermilk (alternatively). Mix well till all the ingredients are blended completely.
4. Take two 8 inch round pans and place parchment circles at the surfaces and pour the prepared cake mixture into it. Bake both the pans in a 350 degrees preheated oven for at least 35-40 minutes or till it is completely done. Do the toothpick test to check whether the cake is baked fully before taking it out.
5. Let the baked cakes cool completely on a wire rack. Once this is done, slice the cakes from the center horizontally. Pour 2 ounces kirsch each on the cut side of both the cakes and set aside.
6. Beat the butter in another bowl till it becomes light and fluffy. Add a pinch of salt, coffee, remaining buttermilk, confectioners sugar and mix well.
7. Take one layer of the cake on a plate and spread 1/3 of the filling on it evenly. Place 1/3 of the cherries on top of it and place another layer of cake above it and repeat the same procedure.
8. Once all layers are been filled, make a mixture with 3 teaspoons kirsch and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and pour over the cake. Prepare icing by whisking cream in a bowl and adding it to the uppermost layer. To decorate the cake, sprinkle chocolate shavings on top of the cake.

Black Forest Rasgulla Cake

Saw this recipe on MasterChef India and found it kinda interesting. Plan to try it soon

Rasgulla as it name suggest ‘Ras’ and ‘gola’. Ras is water syrup and ‘gola’ is a formation of milk. Let see gola part first from Ras gulla.

Ingredients

Milk – 1 liter
Lime juice- 2 spoon
Arrow Root- 1 table Spoon
Sugar – 300 gm

Method

The main ingredient to make rasgulla is chenna. It can be bought from dairy or can be prepared at home. In masterchef participates were provided ready made chenna. But we will tell you how to cook chenna at home.

Prepare Chenna at home.

First you need to boil the milk in some heavy metal base utensil. Once milk start boiling squeeze few drops of lime juice into milk .This way milk will start curdling. When milk curdled completely then you will see water will separate from coagulated part of milk.

Now wrapped this coagulated component in cheesecloth and drain extra water from it.

Chenna is ready to use in Rasgulla.

Now spread chenna in a flat surface pan or thali and mix arrowroot and baking powder well. Now knead this mixture and turn into a dough. This dough is ready to make Rasgulla. Now make small balls out of it.

Sugar Syrup (chashani)

Take 300gm Sugar into a pan and pour 1 liter of water and put this pan on flame. When it starts boiling put already prepared small balls of chenna into sugar syrup. Let it cook for 15-20 minute. Rasgulla will soak syrup and become large in size. Now put off the flame let it cold for a while.

Your Rasgullas are ready!

Cautions

Remember Smita dugger how her rasgulls were dismantling in Syrup. To avoid such situation keep in mind the expert comment of Chef kunal, ‘Do not put chenna balls into too watery syrup other wise it will not hold in syrup and they will melt in syrup’.

Blue Berry Jam.

Ingredients
Blue Berry ½ kg
Sugar 250 gm

Method.

Take a small batch of blue berry.
You need to wash the berries in a colander.
Now remove bits of stems, leaves and mushy berry.
Manually crush the berries or run the blueberries through a blender until you get a smooth consistency.
Now add sugar and mix the blueberries with the pectin and cook to a full boil.
Now set the mixture in a pan or jar and wait till it gets cold.

Blue Berry jam is ready!

Black Forest cake

It is basically a German dessert .In masterchef they make egg less Black forest cake. The Masterchef cake was different from ordinary black forest cake as they replaced traditional cherries with fruits and rasgullas.So lets have a look how they prepare it.

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour – 2 cups
Baking Powder – 1 teaspoon
Baking Soda – 2 teaspoons
Unsweetened Cocoa Powder – 3/4 cup
Rasgulla ( pieces) 8-10
Orange (pieces) ½ cup
Sweet lime (pieces) ½ cup
Sugar – 2 cups
Milk – 1 cup
Butter- 1/2 cup
Chocolate -125gms
Fresh whipped cream -250 gms
Melons 8-10 pieces
Blue berry jam 300 gms

Method

Melt butter in a pan on a very low temperature.

Remove the butter from the flame and let the butter cool.

Sift Maida, cocoa powder, baking powder, cooking soda and salt together. Make sure your mixture should not be lumpy.

Grease a baking tray with little butter. Dust it with Maida and keep it aside.

In another bowl beat butter then slowly add the dry mixture while beating well in one direction. Keep beating until the entire dry mixture is fully incorporated.

Now add the milk slowly and beat for a minute.

Pour the mixture into the greased pan. You do not have to spread the mixture using a spoon, if the mixture is of the right consistency.

Place in the centre of the pre-heated oven and bake for 30 minutes. The temperature and baking time can vary from oven to oven. Hence, test the cake at around 25 minutes to see if it is done. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until a wooden tooth pick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. When it is done, let it cool for a while

Now cut the cake into 3 layers.

Chocolate scrape:

First you need to melt the chocolate in a pan.

Keep stirring constantly once chocolate begin to melt. Do not overheat chocolate as it doesn’t response very well to high temperature.

Remove the chocolate from the heat and pour chocolate on waxed sheet on top of baking sheet. Spread chocolate in a thin layer with the help of spatula.

Now gently remove sheet and allow the chocolate to sit until hardened. You can also put in a refrigerator to cool fast.

Place the cooled sheet on a steady, non-slip surface.

Now Take long knife and cut long chocolate scrape.

* If you do not want to do all this process. Then just take a bar of chocolate and grate it with the help of grater.

Assembling the cake:

Now take first layer of cake and spread whipping cream all over the layer and spread pieces of fruits and rasgullas.

Take another layer and spread the blue berry jam and fruits,

Take another layer and repeat the process of spreading whipping cream and fruits.

Finally garnish it with whipping cream and chocolate scrapes and melons.

Black Forest cake is ready!

Egg Paratha

Ingredients:
Eggs (isn't that obvious :D )
Onion
Coriander leaves (Cilantro)
Green Chillies
Black pepper powder
Wheat flour
Oil
Milk
Salt n Red Pepper to taste

Method:

• Make a wheat flour dough by adding some salt and oil along with water to the wheat flour.
• Cover the dough with a wet paper-towel for some time (this makes the dough a lil soft).
• In a bowl, beat eggs with a lil milk
• Add chopped onion, chopped cilantro, green chillies along with black pepper, red pepper and salt and keep aside.
• Make a round ball of the dough and flatten it with the rolling pin.
• Once a big circle forms, put some oil all over that and sprinkle some flour on it. Fold the circle in one-half and then fold the other half to overlap a lil. This should result in a rectangle.
• On this rectangle, spray some oil and sprinkle the flour. Fold one half and then the other to make a square this time.
• Now using the rolling pin, make a paratha out of this square.
• Put the paratha on the pan. Once a lil done from one side, flip it over. One edge would start opening (if u have made the paratha right)
• Pour the omelet mixture into this pocket. Put oil and make the Paratha nice and crispy as you like it.

Kala Chana Kabab

Ingredients:

• Kala Chana
• Onion
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Corriander Leaves
• Green Chilli
• Bay Leaves
• Black Cardamom
• Whole Cumin
• Whole Cinnamon
• Black Pepper corn
• Salt n Red Pepper to taste
• Besan (Gram-Flour)
  

Method:

• Soak the chana overnight.
• Boil it with Onion and Garlic and all of the whole spices.
• Once done, blend the mixture to a nice paste.
• Add chopped onion, corriander leaves, chilli along with ginger-garlic paste and Besan. Also add Salt and red pepper powder.
• Make round balls and then press them to shape like a patty.
• Grill it and serve hot with Mint/Corriander chutney.

Baked Spinach in White Sauce

1) Microwave spinach with some water for some time that spinach becomes soft
2) Put spinach in a grinder and make a smooth paste. Keep aside
3) Lightly heat butter in a non-stick pan. Add flour and saute on a low flame till golden. Take off the pan from heat. Gradually add milk and stir continuously to avoid lumps. Cook the sauce on a medium flame, stirring all the time till you get a thick pouring consistency. Remove from fire and add salt and pepper. Keep aside.
You could add any secondary ingredient with Spinach: Corn, Minced Chicken, Minced meat, Sausage, etc.
4) Add the spinach to the white sauce and mix well.
5) Grease a baking dish and pour the mixture into it. Cool completely.
6) Evenly spread grated cheese on top.
7) Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degree C till the cheese turns golden in colour.
8) Serve hot with garlic bread.

Tandoori Chicken (Aarti-Paarti)

We have tried this twice in a month's time and OMG..it is awesome!!

Marinade:
2 dried guajillo chiles (if you can’t find these, then use 2 chiles d’arbol, and more paprika for colour)
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
5 cloves
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 green cardamon, green husks discarded, black seeds retained
1 black cardamon, husk discarded, seeds retained
Pinch cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
2 tbsp malt vinegar or lime juice
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 cup oil vegetable/canola/peanut oil
1 cup whole fat plain yogurt
8 cloves garlic, minced (or put through a garlic press)
2″ thumb ginger, peeled and minced

1 packet of boneless skinless chicken thighs (1.5lbs usually)

1) Toast all the whole chiles and spices in a cast iron skillet until fragrant (3 minutes or so), shaking the pan or tossing the spices with a spoon. Throw into a spice grinder with cinnamon, paprika and turmeric. Grind until a fine powder.

2) In large bowl, whisk together yogurt, malt vinegar/lime juice, salt, oil and the spice mixture you just made. It should smell amazing!

3) Now here’s the thing. If you’re squeamish about chicken and salmonella etc, reserve 1/3 cup of the marinade and set aside. You can make the sauce out of this marinade. Alternatively, I just use whatever’s left after marinating the chicken, but make sure that I cook it to 160 degrees f, so that if there are any nasty bacteria in there, it’s definitely dead.

4) Prick the chicken thighs with a fork. Add the thighs to the marinade, and toss to coat. Marinate at least one hour, and at most overnight, in the fridge.

5) When you’re ready to cook, line a baking sheet with foil, and turn your broiler on. Place each chicken thigh on the baking sheet, making sure each one is coated with the marinade, but isn’t swimming in it. Reserve remaining marinade for the sauce (see step 3!). Cook chicken thigh under the broiler about 5 minutes until starting to blacken. Then turn oven down to 350, and cook another 10 minutes until meat thermometer registers 160. Remove from the oven.

6) While the chicken is cooking, pour reserved marinade into a small saucepan, along with 1/2 cup of water and 1 tsp of honey. Bring to a gentle boil over medium-low heat. Simmer until the sauce comes to 160, whisking all the time. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

7) Serve with a fresh squeeze of lime, and a drizzle of the sauce. Mum serves it with a cool potato, red onion and green bell pepper salad. I served it with a simple butter lettuce and sugar snap salad, drizzled with a totally off-the-top-of-my-head dressing: yogurt, 1 clove garlic, coupla big tablespoons of pickled ginger (the kind you get with sushi), salt and pepper. Cooling, sweet and great complement to the spicy chicken!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Rasaj

Mix garam masala, dhaniya pwdr, red chilly, turmeric and salt to Besan.
Add water to make a pancake like mixture
Put a lil oil in a non-stick pan and add this mixture when oil is ready
Saute it to get to the consistency of Halwa
Once done, spread it out on plate like Singhara halwa.
After it it cooled, cut it in desired shape and fry it.
Make onion-tomato gravy with ground onion and add this rasaj pcs when gravy is ready.
Enjoy hot!!

Phara

Soak chana daal in water overnight
grind it with garam masala, dhaniya pwdr, garlic, green chilly, salt, pepper-corn
Boil water with salt and red-chilly pwdr
From roti dough, make a lil thick rotis. Put the chana daal mixture into that. Fold it into half, but do not close it.
Drop this into boiling water. Pressure cook with one whistle if necessary.
Serve hot!!

Chana Chutney

mix 1/2 cup grated nariyal with 1/2 cup of chana and blend it. Saute curry leaves, mustard seeds and put the nariyal mixture to it. Add salt and red chilli powder to taste.

Sewai

Saute 1 cup of sewai pieces in desi ghee.
Get 4 cups of milk to a boil. Add cardamom powder to it, with sugar and khoya. After a couple of more boils, add the sewai. Can replace khoya with condensed milk.

Dudhbaraa

mix 1/2 cup maida in 1/2 cup water. In a pan, put 1 tbsp of oil and and this mixture. Keep stirring, till this mixture condenses like dough. (Test: with a lil watery fingers, see if the dough sticks to your fingers. The dough is ready, when it does not stick)
Once it cools down, put some oil on fingers and make small balls and deep fry it.
For the syrup, put a pan on fire and mix 3 cups of milk with 1 cup khoya and sugar to taste. When this thickens, put the balls. Garnish with saffron, dry fruits and cardamom powder.

Malpua

mix 1 cup Maida + 1 cup milk to get to an omelet consistency. Add to this, grated khoya (1/2 cup), kishmish, nariyal, kaju and badam.
Shallow fry the malpua.
make chaashni out of 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water. Once this is done, add the malpua to this sugar mixture.

Sattoo Paratha Mixture

Grind chana, then add ajwain, namak, chopped onion, dhaniya patti, garlic paste, hari mirch and oil.

Chana Dal Paratha Mixture

Soak 1.5 cups of Chana Daal in water overnight.
pressure cook a combination of slight heeng + 1 tbsp jeera + Sabut mirch + Haldi + Namak + Daal + 1 cup Water.
After 1 whistle, put the cooker on low flame and after 5-7 mins remove from fire.
Blend in chopper. After blending the daal, add dhaniya patti + garlic paste.

Malai Kofta

Ingredients:

Paneer

Khoya

Onion

Tomato

Ginger-Garlic Paste

Milk

Sugar

Salt

Garam Masala Powder

Dhaniya Powder

Chilli Powder

Raisins

Cashew

Whipping Cream

Steps:

1) Mix Paneer, Khoya, Dhaniya Powder, Garam Masala Powder, Salt and Chilli Powder into a nice and smooth mixture.

2) Make small koftas out of the above mixture and fry it

3) In a pan, heat oil and put chopped onions. After the onions are transparent, add some ginger-garlic paster and saute.

4) Once the onions turn golden brown, add copped tomatoes. Add a pinch of sugar.

5) After the onion-tomato curry starts leaving sides of the pan, take it off heat and cool aside.

6) After cooling the curry, blend it in a mixer using Milk and not water.

7) Heat Oil in a pan, add the blended mixture, add salt, garam masala powder and chilli powder. Allow it to boil.

8) Once it starts boiling add, fried raisins and cashews.

9) Right before serving add whipping cream, bring to a boil and add the Koftas.

Baingan Kalaunjee

Combine Coriander Seeds + Cumin Seeds (half of Coriander) + Fennel Seeds (half of Cumin) + Onion Seeds/Kalonji (half of Fennel) + Fenugreek/Methi Seeds (half of Kalonji)

Sauté the above mixture of seeds just a little and then grind it to make a coarse powder

Add turmeric powder, salt, red pepper powder, garlic paste, cut coriander leaves, cut dill leaves per taste, along with 1 tsp oil to the above made powder and mix well.

Make slits in the eggplant and stuff it with the mixture made.

Put about 1-2 tbsp oil in a pan and place the stuffed eggplants in the pan over low flame. Cook it covered by turning eggplants occasionally till the eggplants are done completely.

Navratan Korma

Sauté shredded Cauliflower, Carrots, Beans, Bell Pepper, Cabbage with Potatoes and peas in about 1 tsp of oil. Keep aside.

Sauté dry fruits of choice with Makhana (dry lotus seeds) & keep aside.

Shallow fry cut pieces of Paneer and keep aside.

Boil tomatoes and puree it to make a paste.

Grate onions and fry them in about 1-2 tbsp of oil. When transparent, add ginger-garlic paste. When onions turn golden brown, add the tomato paste along with Garam Masala powder, Jeera powder, Red Pepper powder, turmeric powder and salt to taste, and fry this mixture till oil comes out and the mixture leaves the sides of the pan. Add grated Paneer to this mixture.

Add a mix of water and milk to form the gravy. Immediately add the sautéed veggies, Paneer and dry fruits. Bring to a couple of boils.

Garnish with coriander leaves, 1 tsp Kewra Water, and 1 tbsp of Kasoori Methi (if available).

My Ultimate Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani

This is one recipe that I am famous for in my entire circle of family n friends. People request me to make this one every now and then. So here it goes:

Ingredients:

Chicken

Yogurt

Ginger-Garlic Paste

Lemon Juice

Chilli Powder

Garam Masala Powder

Dhaniya Powder

Oil

Almonds

Mint Leaves

Corriander Leaves

Rice

Saffron

Steps:

1) Marinate chicken with yogurt, oil, salt, ginger-garlic paste, lemon juice, chilli powder, garam masala powder and dhaniya powder. chicken should be marinated for atleast 3-4 hours, but the more the merrier. :D

2) Soak Almonds in water for almost 1 hr.

3) Cook Rice to a well-done state

4) Take out almonds from water and blend it with mint and corriander leaves. Once the paste is ready, saute it with salt, well (till it leaves the sides of the pan)

5) Once chicken is marinated well, heat oil in a pan. Put the Whole Garam Masala (Bay Leaves, Badi Elaichi, Cloves, Cinnamon, 

nutmeg). After that, put chicken in the pan and fry it till its done.

6) Once chicken is done, put layers of Rice and Chicken in a pan. On the top put a rice layer and garnish with mil soaked saffron.

7) cover and let is cook for some time.

Chicken Biryani is ready to be served.

The purpose of this blog

This blog is put in place for two reasons:

1) to get all my family recipes (some of which are age-old and passed down the generations), in place together, so that I do not have to search for my notebook every time i wanna make something, nor do I have to call my mom in the middle of the night (depending on which country she is in) to ask her for the recipe.

2) to share with people the recipes I tried and my family really enjoyed.

These recipes are dear to me and really enjoy making these, and to top it, my family enjoys these too. Here's hoping you your family enjoys it too when you try any of these.

Happy Eating!!