Monday, May 25, 2015

Yellow lentill cooked with rice or moong daal khichdi

Yellow moong daal khichdi is one delicacy which has been underestimated and under appreciated by many . As in india  we eat "khichdi " usually when we get sick, most of the times. To avoid heavy food when sick i guess.

But me and hubby love it and relish "khichdi" usually on sundays dinner time , for more than one reason . Its light on stomuch at night , its tasty , its easy to cook .

Ingredients 
1/2 cup moong daal washed
1/2 cup white rice washed
2 green chillies slit and chopped fine.
1/2 tsp of jeera /cuminseeds 
oil to cook just 1 tbsp 
Pure Ghee to serve

Method
In a cooking pot fry cumin seeds followed by green chillies . do not fry for long , immedietly thrown in rice and moong daal and fry them for a minute,then add salt to taste and 2-3 cups of water to cook them.

We like our khichdi to be watery . So i keep checking water consistency when rice and lentil are cooked .If its dry then pour more water to make it thick watery . 
Re-check for salt .

Serve very hot with ghee or clarified butter , papad and hot red pepper garlic chutney . Enjoy !


Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Malai kofta

Serves 4
Preparation time  30 minutes
Cooking time  30 minutes

Ingredients
For making koftas
4-5 medium size potatoes
1 tsp of ginger and garlic paste
1 green chilli chopped
150 gm of paneer
Bread crumbs 2 Tbsp
2 tbsp of corn flour
Cashew to garnish (optional)
Salt to taste

For making curry
1/2 cup of cashew soaked and grinded to paste consistency
1 cup of semi skimmed milk
1 tsp of kasoori methi
1 medium sized onion grinded
1 tomato big size check for sourness grinded( tomatoes, if less sour then use 2)
Freshly grinded coriander powder 1 tbsp
1 tbsp of ketchup
1 tbsp of ginger  garlic paste
1 tsp of garam masala
Salt to taste
Butter to fry about 3 Tbsp

Method

To make kofta
Peel and mash potatoes.
Mix ginger garlic paste .
And green chillies.
Add corn flour .
Add bread crumbs.
Mash everything well .
Make cylinder or round shape patties .
Insert half cashew on top of koftas to garnish them . (I was out of cashews so i didnt garnish)
Deep fry them in high flame untill golden brown .

To make kofta curry
In warm butter fry onions untill light golden .

Put ginger garlic paste and fry for a minute.

Put grinded tomatoes and fry untill it leaves oil or leaves raw smell .

Put fresh coriander powder next .

Followed by ketchup.

Thrown in cashew paste ,mix .

Pour milk , and boil .

When it start to boil thats the time when you put kasoori methi and garam masala powder and just cook for 2 minutes . Turn off heat and close lid .

Serve curry and add koftas on top . Serve hot .
I sprinkled some jeera powder on top just to have little punch ;-)

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Cheese cracker

Cooking time 1 minute
Preparation time 10 minutes

Ingredients for making 12 crackers
A pack of Savoury crackers
Mozrella cheese about 1 cup
Finely chopped onions about 1/2 cup
Fresh coriander leaves to garnish
Salt and fresh black pepper to taste (optional )

Method
1. Grate cheese 1 cup.
2. Chop onion fine.
3. Sprinkle some  onion in each cracker followed by little salt and pepper.
4. Sprinkle some cheese on top .
5. Heat in pre heated oven for 1 minute just to melt cheese.
   Or for those of you who dont use oven . Can make an empty pop very hot
   And turn it upside down o  crackers , make sure all your crackers are i side   the pot . Be safe.
6. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve .

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Broiled Chicken in BBQ sauce

Ingredients (serves 2 adults and 2 kids for dinner or lunch)

Cooking time 30 minutes

1 whole small chicken with skin
2 full tsp of salt
1 tsp of freshly grounded black pepper.
2 tsp of dried thyme
1 lemon juice
1 Tbsp of ginger garlic paste ( 60% garlic 40% ginger)
3 Tbsp of BBQ sauce ( i use Heinz BBQ sauce)
2 tbsp of olive oil
lemon zests for garnishing

Method
1.Marinade chicken for 2 hours using all above ingredients except oil .

2.Broil chicken for 20 minutes in pre heated oven at 180 degrees with olive oil .
or alternatively
3.apply olive oil on chicken and place your whole chicken in baking tray and place tray in an empty pot , close the lid.

4.Initially give very high heat for 10 minutes .

5. Transfer your pot in medium high and cook for another 20 minutes .

and your chicken will be ready to eat .  what i liked about this way of cooking is, chicken has so many flavours from inside,and texture is so soft and tender , even breast turns out to be very tender. you will love smoky flavour mixed with herb and mild flavour of garlic, fresh pepper lemon. it will just melt in your mouth . you must try this receipe .

Saturday, May 2, 2015

Kacche gosht ki dum biryani

Ingredient

2 very Large  onions sliced thin and fried in oil untill light brown .

For meat tenderizer
500 gm of goat meat 2 inches pieces
2 Tbsp of papaya paste (meat tenderizer)

For meat marinade
1 tsp of turmeric powder or haldi
1 tsp of salt
1Tbsp of green chilli
2 Tbsp of yogurt
2 tsp of garam masala
3 tsp of biryani masala or mutton masala
2 Tbsp of ginger garlic paste
2 tsp of red chilli powder
1/2 tsp of nutmeg powder
2 tsp of coriander powder
handful of mint leaves cut fine
handful of coriander leaves chopped
Handful of fried onions 

Ingredients for cooking rice 

For 500 gm of meat take 500gm of long grained basmati rice 
Boil 3 cups of water with 2 tsp of salt

Wrap up whole masala ingredients

2-3 tez patta 

1 tsp of cumin seeds /jeera 

1 Tbsp of coriander seeds

1/2 inch of cinnamon stick 

3 small cardomoms
1 big cardomom 
5-6 black pepper 
3-4 cloves


Other important ingredients for top most layer in sequence  

Handful of fried and crisp onions .

2 Tbsp of ghee or clarified butter .

Handful of mint leaves 

Handful of coriander leaves 

kesar soaked in warm milk for an hour 

1 tsp of garam masala 

1 tsp of biryani masala 

 


Method

1.Apply meat tenderizer or papaya paste on meat , 1/2 tsp of salt and keep it overnight in the refrigerator.

2.Marinade goat meat with all above ingredients for 2 hours in a refrigerator.

3.Method to Cook rice 

         A )Wrap above ingredients in one small cloth tie and leave it into boiled water .

        B)Let it boil for 2 minutes then put rice .This allows rice to be cooked in whole masala flavour . 

        C)Cook rice untill 40 % done .
        D)  Drain them and keep. 

4. Take large cooking pot and make layer of marinated meat . 

5. Make another layer of cooked rice . 

6. Put all ingredients for top most layer .

7. Close lid tightly with dough from all sides .

8. Put a flat pan on medium low fire and put your biryani pot on it . 

9. Let your biryani cook for 50-55 minutes then turn off heat and let it sit for 20 minutes in closed container . 

10. Serve with raita and red chilli  garlic chutney . 

Note : its extreamly important to tenderize meat before cooking then only its going to cook nice ,tender and juicy .