Coconut Rice

Coconut Rice is a very flavorful and festive dish.By festive,i mean it is cooked and offered to God during Indian festivals in most of the households.Well my mom never made this dish neither was i aware of this fact until i visited a friends house for Ganesh Chaturti and she offered me this dish as prasad.This is a very simple dish yet its so flavorful and tasty.

Ingredients

- 1 cup long grain rice/any rice(soak it in water for 20 minutes and cook it so that grains are separate)
- 1 cup freshly grated coconut/defrosted grated coconut
- 1 Tbsp urad dal
- 1 Tbsp oil
- 4 green chillies(as per your taste)
- 2 dried red chillies
- 1 Tbsp groundnuts/peanuts
- 1 Tbsp cashew nuts(optional)
- 1 strand curry leaves(approx 10 leaves)
- salt to taste
- 1 tsp cumin/zeera seeds
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- pinch of hing/asafoetida

Recipe

- Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds/cumin seeds.Wait till the seeds splutter and add green chillies,red chillies,hing,peanuts and cashew nuts into the oil and saute them for 2-3 minutes.Now add urad dal,curry leaves and saute them altogether for another 2 minutes.
- Add the grated coconut and saute for another 3 minutes.
- Now add the rice,salt to the pan and mix all the contents well.
- Cover it with a lid and cook on low flame for 5 minutes.
- Serve hot

Most simple recipe for Chicken Biryani (Hyderabadi)

This is a very easy and a no fail recipe for a yummy hyderabadi chicken biryani which each of you must try out in your kitchen.
I am sure everyone might feel lazy to cook biryani as many of the recipes call for long duration and are a many step process.
However i have always loved making this biryani as its so simple to make and yet tastes so delicious

All it takes is to marinate chicken with lots of aromatic spices ,cook rice,layer them and recook .
Lets see what are the steps to cook this recipe.Ingredients follow.

Ingredients

- 3.5 cups basmati rice (I found India Gate Basmati rice as the best for biryanis)
- water to cook rice(atleast 8 cups)
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- whole garam masala(2 cardamom,2 cinnamon sticks,3 bay leaves,2-3 cloves,4-5 whole black peppercons)
- 1/2 cup mint leaves finely chopped
- 1/2 cup coriander leaves finely chopped
- 1/2 cup fried onions(if you dont have this,cut 1 onion lengthwise and fry them in some oil till they turn completely brown)

Marinade
- 1 whole chicken cut into small pieces(go for bone in verses boneless)
- salt to tase
- 3 Tbsp biryani masala(i use shan bombay biryani masala)
- 1/4 cup yogurt
- 3 tsp chilli powder(as per your taste)
- 1 Tbsp ginger garlic paste
- 4 green chillies
- 2 Tbsp oil
- juice of one lemon
- 1/2 cup mint leaves finely chopped
- 1/2 cup coriander leaves finely chopped


Recipe

Step 1 :
Wash the chicken pieces thoroughly and drain all the water.Mix all the ingredients under "Marinade" and marinate it in an airtight/closed container for atleast 2 hours or overnight in a refregirator

Step 2:
Soak the basmati rice in lots of water for atleast 30 minutes.

Step 3:
Drain the water from the rice,cook the rice in a large pan with lots of water.Add salt,cumin seeds,whole garam masala to the boiling water.Make sure the rice is half cooked,it should be slightly hard when you feel it.Drain all the water and it aside.

Step 4: Take a wide nonstick pan.Place the marinated chicken on to the pan and spread evenly.
Now spread the half cooked rice over the chicken and layer it evenly.
Sprinkle some biryani masala/whole garam masala , fried onions,mint leaves,coriander leaves and lemon juice over the rice.

Tip : To get some yellowish color,warm 2 Tbsp milk and add saffron to it.If you dont have saffron ,add a pinch of turmeric to the milk.sprinkle this milk over the rice.

Step 5: Place the pan on the stove,cover it with an airtight lid and cook on medium flame for 25 minutes,now reduce the flame to low and cook for another 10 minutes .Increase the flame to high and cook for another 5 mins.Put of the flame and let it rest for 5-10 minutes.
Mix the biryani before serving from bottom to top.

Tomato Paneer pulao

I just made this accidentally as I was lazy to cook a full meal and to my surprise this has bagged a place on my husbands favorite dishes list :)
Ingredients
- 1 cup rice
- 1 cup water
- 2 medium tomatoes finely chopped
- 1/2 large onion finely chopped
- 3 green chillies
- 2 red chillies (optional)
- 1 tbsp ghee/butter/oil
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 tsp coriander powder
- 8-10 paneer cubes (upto you as to how much u wanna add)
- 1 tsp kasturi methi
- salt per taste
Recipe
- Heat the ghee/oil/butter in a pressure cooker
- once the ghee is hot add cumin seeds and wait till they splutter.Now add green chillies, red chillies and fry for another minute.Add onion, bay leaf, coriander powder and fry for two minutes
- Once the onions are well cooked, add paneer cubes and fry for 3 mins.Now add tomatoes and cook for 4-5 minutes untill the tomatoes are completely cooked and form a thick gravy
- Add kasturi methi powder and cook for a minute
- Add rice and fry for another 3 minutes.add salt and water.
- Cover the pressure cooker with a lid and cook up to 3 whistles.
- Open the lid once the pressure has escaped and serve