INDIAN FRIED RICE RECIPE

Ingredients:

400 gm Rice
100 gm Ghee or butter
65 gms onion
2 gms cinnamon
2 gms Bay leaf
1 gm peppercorns
6 gms Salt

How to make fried rice:

• Heat the ghee in a large saucepan and add the finely sliced onion.
• Fry till golden brown, remove from the pan and keep aside.
• To the hot fat, add the washed and drained rice and the spices.
• Keep stirring and fry for 4-5 minutes till the rice appears glazed. Add salt and boiling water an inch above the rice.
• Boil and simmer till the water is almost absorbed and then put into a very slow oven at 250 degree and leave for 20-25 minutes till the rice is cooked.
• Serve garnished with fried onions. Hard-boiled eggs cut in slices may also be used as a garnish.

Vegetable Biryani recipe

Ingredients for Vegetable Dum Biryani

• Basmati rice - 1 cup (washed, cleaned and soaked in water for ½ hour)
• Desi ghee - ¼ cup
• Oil - ¼ cup
• Curd - ¼ cup
• Cumin seeds - ½ tsp
• Turmeric powder - ¼ tsp
• Green chilly - 2 (sliced lengthwise)
• Coriander powder - 1 tsp
• Red chilly powder - less then ¼ tsp
• Salt - 1.5 tsp
• Saffron - 20-25 threads
• Cashew nuts - 2 tbsp
• Raisins - 1 tbsp

Ungrinned spices:

• Cinnamon - ½ inch piece
• Black cardamom - 2
• Nutmeg (jaifal) - 2 pinch
• Bay leaf - 1
• Clove - 4-5
• Green cardamom - 3
• Black pepper - 8-10

Green vegetables

• Cauliflower florets - 1 cup
• Green coriander - 2 tbsp (finely chopped)
• Capsicum - 1 (cut into 1 inch thin pieces)
• Carrot - 1 (cut into 1 inch thin pieces)
• Beans - 10-12 (cut into 1 inch pieces)
• Potatoes - 2
• Tomato - 2
• Mint leaves - 10-12

How to make Veg Biryani

Boil rice firstly for making veg biryani. Boil 5 cups of water in any utensil. Add bay leaf, cloves, cinnamon stick, and peeled black cardamom in water. When water starts boiling add rice in the water and cook the rice 80% only because they will be pressurized later.

Rice gets cooked completely during this process.

Meanwhile fry vegetable in a pan. Heat oil in a pan and firstly fry potatoes on high flame. Slice them length wise. Fry until they get light brown color. Add cauliflower florets and carrot in the pan for frying. Fry on high flame for 1.5 minute only and take then out. Fry capsicum for 1 minute only and take it out in plate (Keep the vegetables crunchy, don’t fry them too much)

Now strain the rice with help of a sieve. All excess water will be drained out in the utensil kept below. Keep the sieve filled with rice on other place so that they get cooled quickly. Remove bay leaf and cardamom skin from the rice and make them cool.

Prepare masala in the same pan used for frying vegetables. Roast cumin seeds in hot oil. Add ginger paste, green chilies, turmeric powder and coriander powder and roast a little. Cut tomatoes into small chunks and add in the masala. Cook until tomatoes get mashed properly. Add salt, red chilly powder and coarsely grinned gram masala (2 cloves, black pepper, ½ inch cinnamon stick, green cardamom) in the pan. Roast the masala. Now add curd in the masala and roast for few minutes more. Masala is now ready. Now add fried vegetables in the masala and mix nicely. Vegetable for biryani is ready. Rice has also come to room temperature.

Dum (pressurize) the biryani:

Take one big and heavy utensil, add 1 tsp ghee and layer half of he rice. Now layer the prepared vegetables on top of the rice and spread it evenly. Layer rest of the rice on top the vegetables and spread them evenly. Sprinkle cashew nuts and raisins on surface of the rice, add green coriander and mint leaves too. Pour 4 tbsp melted ghee from top. Soak saffron in 2 tsp water and sprinkle it on top of the rice. Now cover the biryani tightly and properly and dum (pressurize) it for 15 minutes.

Open the lid of utensil and mix all ingredients nicely. Hot and tasty veg biryani is ready. Serve biryani with curd, chutney or raita.

Suggestion:

If you prefer eating onions, then take 2 onions chopped thinly and fry them as well. Layer the onions on top of the rice. Rests repeat the same procedure. Mix all ingredients and veg biryani is ready.

Egg Biryani

                                  Egg Biryani

Ingredients :

• Basmati rice - 2 cups
• Water - 3-1/2 cups
• Eggs - 6
• Onion (thin-sliced) - 1
• Ginger paste - 1 tsp
• Garlic paste - 1 tsp
• Green chili (thin-sliced)- 2
• Cloves - 3
• Black pepper - 7
• Bay leaves - 2

• Brown (big) cardamom - 1
• Green cardamom - 2
• Red chili powder - 1 tsp
• Coriander powder - 1 tsp
• Garam Masala Powder - 1 tsp
• Cinnamon sticks (thin) 3-4
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Vegetable oil - 4 tbsp
• Salt to taste
• Chopped coriander leaves

Method :

• Heat oil (3 tbsp.) in a pan.
• Add cumin seeds, green and brown cardamom, cinnamon sticks, cloves, black pepper and the bay leaves.
• Fry for a minute. Reduce the heat.
• Add sliced onion, green chili, ginger garlic paste and fry until light golden brown.
• Add red chili powder, coriander powder, garam masala and salt. Mix well.
• Add rice and water. Stir well. Cover it and cook for 20 minutes on medium heat. Slowly toss the rice upside down once, while its getting cooked.
• Meanwhile keep three eggs for boiling.
• Take the remaining three eggs and beat in a bowl. Add salt to it and beat again.
• Heat oil (1 tbsp.) in a pan. Pour the beaten eggs. Continuously stir it and cook until golden brown.
• Cut the boiled eggs into rings (thin slices). Arrange in the corners of the serving dish plate.
• Once you are done with the rice, add the scrambled eggs to the rice and slowly mix it taking care that you do not break the rice grains.
• Put the rice in the centre of the serving plate.
• Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

                                  Vadakari

Vadakari

Ingredients For Masala:

Onion	2
Tomato	2
Bay leaves	1
Salt	To taste
Coconut Milk	1 Cup
Coriander leaves	Few

Grinding Ingredients For Masala:

Ginger-Garlic Paste	2 tablespoon
Fennel Seeds(Sombu)	2 teaspoon
Turmeric Powder	1/2 teaspoon
Green Chillies	2
Red Chilli powder	1/2 teaspoon
Cinnamon sticks	1
Cardamom	2
Cloves	3

Ingredients for Vada:

Bengal Gram(Channa dal)	1 Cup
Salt	To taste
Oil	For Frying

Method:

• Soak the Chana dal in water for 1 hour. 



• After 1 hour, drain the water from channa dal and take 1 handfull of soaked dal, keep it aside and grind the remaining channa dal in mixer to a coarse paste without adding water. Take he coarsed paste and add the channa dal that is kept aside and mix well. Keep this ground paste aside



• Lets prepare the masala now. Take the grinding ingredients for masala in a mixer



• Grind the ingredients to a nice paste by adding a little water



• Take 2 teaspoon of the ground masala and add it to the ground vada flour



• Mix the vada flour with salt and masala. Here we are adding masala to give the vada a nice flavour



• Heat oil in pan, when the oil is hot, put a pinch of vadai flour and it it raises immediately, then the oil is hot enough. gently drop small balls of vada flour like we do for pakoda.



• Fry the vadas in oil on both the sides and then when the bubbles ceases, gently take the vadas and keep it in a bowl with a tissue paper to drain the excess oil



• After the vada cool off, broke it in halves and keep it ready 



• Heat some oil in a pan, and add broken bay leaves



• Add the finely chopped onions and add a pinch of salt. Fry the onions till it turns transparent.



• When the onions becomes transparent, add the finely chopped tomatoes. Now add the required salt for the vadakari so that the tomatoes fry completely and becomes puree



• Now add the ground masala, one half of the coconut milk and 1 cup of water and mix well



• When the mixture starts to boil, add the broken vada pieces and mix well



• Allow the mixture to boil and then add the remaining coconut milk and mix well



• When the vadakari starts t boil, garnish with coriander leaves and remove from flame

• The yummy vadakari is ready to serve with Idli/Dosa/Pongal

Tips:

• We should not grind the channa dal smoothly. The batter should be coarse. So we can take 2 teaspoon of channa dal separately and grind the rest to a coarse paste
• We can add little mint leaves after the tomatoes are cooked which will give a nice aroma to the vadakari
• Green chillies is optional but it brings a unique flavour to vadakari in addition to red chilli powder. But if you dont prefer green chillies, we can just add red chillies or red chilli powder
• We dont need to make patties with the vada flour. We can just take small quantities and then drop in oil and fry it as anyway we are going to break the vada into pieces
• If you are diet specific, we can avoid frying vadas in oil. Instead we can make thin patties and deep cook it in a tawa by adding little oil
• The masala ingredients for grinding mentioned above gives a good aroma. But if you dont want too much masala, we can reduce the quantity of fennel seeds and ginger-garlic paste 
• If, after cooking, you feel the gravy is too thick, you can boil some water and add it to the gravy and heat the gravy again. Do Not add cold water to the gravy to make it dilute as it spoils the taste
• If you are health specific and do not want to add coconut milk, then we can add 1/2 cup of coconut milk and remaining 1/2 cup normal milk. But coconut milk gives a good flavour to the vadakari
• If you feel squeezing coconut milk is hectic, we can also grind 1/2 cup of grated coconut with the grinding masala ingredients

Cauliflower Poriyal/Cauliflower Masala Curry

Ingredients:

• Cauliflower – 1 (small size)
• Onion – 1 chopped finely
• Tomato – 1 chopped
• Cinnamon stick – 1/2″
• Cloves – 2
• Cumin seeds – 1tsp
• Ginger garlic paste – 1tbsp
• Red chilli powder – 1tsp
• Salt – to taste
• Coriander leaves – 3 or 4 strings
• Oil – 2tsp

Masala to Grind:

• Coconut – 1 1/2 tbsp
• Fennel seeds – 2tsp
• Cumin seeds – 1tsp
• Green chilli – 1

Method of Preparation:

1. Separate cauliflower into small pieces.
2. Immerse the cauliflower florets in hot water with some salt.
3. Grind the masala to paste and mix it with the drained florets and keep it aside.
4. Heat oil in a pan add cinnamon sticks, cloves, cumin seeds and chopped onions.
5. Fry them till it becomes translucent and add ginger garlic paste and toss it for 2 minutes.
6. Then add the chopped tomatoes followed by  salt and cook them till they are smashed.
7. Now add the florets mixed with ground paste and add the red chilli powder.
8. Fry till they become soft and add the coriander leaves.

1. 

KARUVEPPILAI KUZHAMBU | CURRY LEAVES RECIPES

      KARUVEPPILAI KUZHAMBU | CURRY LEAVES RECIPES

Ingredients:

Tamarind	1 small lemon sized
Curry leaves	1/2 cup,tightly packed
Sāmbhar powder	1 1/2 tblsp
Turmeric	1/4 tsp
Small onion/Shallots	5-7 nos.Finely chopped
Garlic	10-12 flakes,chopped
Salt	As needed
Jaggery	small piece
Pepper powder	1/4 tsp

To temper:

Gingely oil/cooking oil	2 tblsp
Fenugreek seeds/vendhayam	1/4 tsp
Mustard/Kadugu	1 tsp
Urad dal/ulutham aruppu	1 tsp
Toor dal/Thuvaram paruppu	1 tsp
Jeera/Jeeragam	1 tsp
Curry leaves	Optional

 

Method:

1. Wash curry leaves and grind it with little water to a smooth paste.
2. Extract tamaring juice from tamarind.
3. Heat kadai with oil and add all the tempering items in order and fry till golden colour.
4. Add the finely chopped onion and garlic and fry till golden brown.
5. Add the tamarind extract,ground curry leaves,turmeric,salt,sambhar powder(replace with red chilli and dhaniya powder if u dont have home made sambhar powder).
6. Add enough water and boil till oil separates and floats on the top.Add  jaggery and pepper powder lastly and give a boil.
7. Mix with rice and ghee/sesame oil and enjoy!!Tastes best with Idly dosa also and will not get spoiled soon ,so ideal for travelling!!

       Hyderabadi Mutton Biryani Recipe

Hyderabadi Mutton Biryani is the authentic preparation of goat meat cooked with the basmati rice. This biryani is one of the most famous and tastiest biryani’s in India. This particular biryani is flavored with the rich Indian spices, brown onions, coriander and mint leaves.

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 50 minutes
Servings: 4-5 persons

Ingredients:

• 2 cups basmati rice
• 1/2 kg goat meat on bone
• 4 onions thinly chopped
• 4 tomatoes pureed
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cloves
• 3-4 peppercorns
• 1 dried red chilli
• 1 black cardamom
• 1 inch ginger minced
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 6 green chillies silted
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp garam masala powder
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 cup brown onions
• 1 tsp cardamom powder
• Fresh coriander leaves chopped
• Few mint leaves chopped
• Salt to taste

For the marinade you need:

• 1 cup thick yogurt (curd or dahi)
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tbsp brown onions
• 2 tbsp coriander chopped
• 1 tbsp mint leaves chopped
• Salt as per the taste
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp ghee

How to make Hyderabadi Mutton Biryani:

1. Wash and clean the mutton 3-4 times thoroughly in the water.
2. Chop them into some pieces. Few pieces should be with bone and few boneless.
3. Combine all the ingredients of marinade in a bowl. Mix well and add the pieces of mutton.
4. Mix well and keep this marinated mutton aside at least for 30 minutes.
5. Wash and boil the rice in 4 cups of water.
6. Add little bit of salt and mix well. Boil until rice are 3/4th done.
7. Heat the pressure cooker and add oil.
8. When the oil heats then add cumin seeds, leave to crackle.
9. Add whole garam masala and saute for a couple of minutes on low flame.
10. Add green chillies and ginger-garlic paste.
11. Saute for few seconds and add onion.
12. Fry onion for 2-3 minutes.
13. Add the puree of tomatoes along with the marinated mutton.
14. Cook for 5-6 minutes by stirring continuously.
15. Now the mutton will start leaving its water.
16. At this moment add 1-1/2 cups of water.
17. Adjust with the salt and other spices.
18. Cover the pressure cooker with its lid and wait for 6-8 whistles.
19. Heat the pan add half quantity of the cooked mutton.
20. Make one layer of rice.
21. Sprinkle some brown onions, cardamom powder, garam masala powder, coriander and mint leaves.
22. Now spread the remaining mutton, then rice and make the layers of remaining ingredients.
23. Cover the pan and leave to cook for 4 more minutes.
24. Serve hot with raita and roasted papad.

Chef Tips:

1. You can use chopped tomatoes instead of tomato puree.
2. The whistles of pressure cooker depends upon the kind of meat you have, it means if the meat is hard then get more whistles, if it is soft then less whistles. Ultimately you meet should be tender and cooked well.
3. For making brown onions, you just need to cut the onion into thin slices, shuffle and deep fry in hot oil until golden brown in color, remove on oil absorbent paper.