Idiyappam Biryani

Ingredients:-

Idiyappam(Noolputtu)- 30 small size

Oil-4 tblspn
Onion- 3 big sliced
Ginger chopped finely- 2 tblspn
Garlic chopped- 2 tblspn
Green chillies- 8 chopped
Tomato-2 chopped
Chicken pieces- 1 pound into smaller pieces, not as regular biryani size.( You can use pieces of your choice or sausage cut or minced meat)
Shrimp-1 pound
Coriander leaves- One hand full
Mint leaves- 10to 15 leaves
Garam masala-2 tspn
Salt to taste

Directions:-

• Prepare idiyappams or get the frozen ones.
• Now heat oil in a large pan and fry ONE large sliced onion with a pinch of sugar till it become dark, brown and sweet. This takes a long time. SO be patient and do it in medium flame. Dont do it in high flame and burn them.
• Store it for further garnishing.
• Now saute the onions in residue oil with ginger and garlic.
• When onions turn translucent add one teaspoon garam masala and fry for 2 min.
• Add chillies, tomatoes, coriander leaves and mint leaves . Also add in the meat and shrimp. 
• Add salt to taste.
• Cook with the lid on for 20min till chicken gets well cooked.
• Break the idiyappams and add them to the mixture finally.
• Add the final tspn of garam masala and mix everything well.
• Garnish with some coriander leaves and caramelised onion.
• Serve hot with pickle.

BON APPETITE:)

Egg Fried Rice

Fried rice always means to me my native hometown's Calicut tower Hotel's savor. Me and my friends rarely go out ie. like once in 3 to 4 mnths and we eat out from this hotel after a movie. We share one fried rice in our first order. And if we feel necessary will go for the second order. TO be frank i was so stringent in spending money for food. I save them for other needs.The fried rice i had from there always visits my mouth and mind with the eagerness to cook and get the same flavor. And last time when i went there with my friend i knew the chef has changed and the flavor too. But none than the other i am here with my experiment which came out so successful and i want to share it with my friends on the other end reading this and trying it out.


Requisites:-(Serves-4).


Oil-1 tspn
Butter-1tblspn
ginger-garlic paste-1 tspn
Green chillies-6 chopped finely
Onion-half cup
Vegetables chopped finely- carrots, green peas, green beans- half cup each
Salt to fry them - 1/2 tspn
Rice soaked in water- 3cups
Water to cook rice-6 cups
Noodles spice mix-1 packet(of Ramen's noodles)
Soya sauce- 3tspn
Pepper corns-1 tspn
Fresh Cilantro -half a cup(If dried- 1 tspn)

Egg-5 eggs

Butter-1 tblspn

Salt to taste

Directions:-

• Heat oil and butter in a pan and add the ginger garlic paste to saute them till a nice smell is diffused from it.Also add green chillies at this stage.
• Now add the onions and stir fry them for a min.
• Add the vegetables and cook them. It may take another 10 min. Cook them with the lid off else the color of the vegetables turn pale. At this stage add some salt since it helps cooking them faster.
• Add the water and let it boil. Add the soya sauce, noodles spice mix and pepper corns.
• Once the water is boiled add the rice to it after straining the soaked water.
• Now let the rice cook till the water is fully vanished.
• Scramble the eggs in butter with some salt in another pan. Do not let them over cooked.
• Add the scrambled eggs to the rice and give a mix.
• You may serve this hot with soya sauce and chilli sauce bottles on tabletop, so that the consumers can add them according to their taste. You may also serve mashed avocado seasoned with some salt and pepper and lime juice for the sourness.
• DONE:)

BON APPETITE:)

Coconut rice

Requisites:-


Oil-1 tblspn
Mustard seeds-1/2tspn
Curry leaves
Onion finely chopped-1
Red chillies-2 crushed
Green chillies-2 finely chopped
Ginger finely chopped-1/2 tspn
Cuminseeds-1/2 tspn
Bengal gram and black gram -1/2 tspn each


Rice-4 cups
Grated coconut-1 cup
Corianderleaves
Cashews and raisins
Pepper-1/2tspn
Salt


Directions:-

• Heat a pan and as usual mix up the set of first ingredients in hot oil til lightly golden brown.
• Add in the rice and coconut.
• Garnish with coriander leaves, cashews and raisins if necessary.
• Season with pepper and salt.
• DONE.

BON APPETITE:)

Lemon rice - flavored rice

Requisites:-


Oil- 1 tblspn
Mustard seeds-1/2 tspn
Curry leaves a sprig
Black grams (Uzhunnu parippu) -1 tblspn
Red chillies-3 ,crushed
Green chillies- 2, chopped
Fenugreek seeds-4 seeds
Asafoetida-5 pinches
Turmeric-1/2 tspn, Just to add a color for rice


Onion- half, chopped


Rice- that serves for 2
Lemon-1 big


Coriander leaves-4 tblespns, chopped finely
Coconut-4 tblspn


Directions:-

• Heat oil in a pan to splutter mustard seeds and curry leaves.
• Then add in rest of the first set of ingredients and saute till they turn amber.
• Now stir in the chopped onions till they are nice and soft.
• Then add the rice and squeeze in the lemon juice.
• Finally add the coconut and coriander leaves. Add salt to taste.
• Give a thorough stir to mix in all the flavor of the lemon juice and let them reach each grain of rice.
• DONE. Garnish with some Nuts and raisins fried in ghee and spread on the top.

BON APPETITE :)

Garlic rice- A Flavored rice

Some easy, last minute cooking recipes are always good to be in stock, if you and your close mates are really hungry and have just a rice cooked with you. Why do you rush up to prepare all the curry and stuffs? Hurry-burry spoils the curry!! Just check if you have 2, 3 cloves of garlic and half an onion. DONE. Delicious and heart-winning garlic flavored rice is in your stomach in 5min.


And yeah i remember my grandma saying that this rice is good during period cramps. 


Requisites:-


Cooked rice- any rice per person
Oil-1tblspn or ghee
Mustard seeds-1/4tspn
Fenugreek seeds-3 seeds

Dry whole red chillies-2 crushed. Else, green chillies

Red gram/ Thuvaraparippu-1/2tspn

Black gram/Uzhunnu parippu-1/2 tspn

Garlic-2 cloves sliced or chopped

Onion chopped-half or spring onions-2

Curry leaves-3 leaves

Asafoetida-3 pinches

Turmeric-1/4tspn to give a slight yellow color to your rice.
Coriander leaves for garnishing

Direction:-

• Heat oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds. Set the heat at medium through out
• Add the black gram, red gram , fenugreek seeds, GARLIC and red chillies. Then let them turn slightly golden brown.
• Now add the onion, asafoetida, and curry leaves. Add turmeric too
• Saute for 2min, and add rice. Just mix all well.
• DONE.
• Garnish with coriander leaves.

BON APPETITE:)

Curd rice / Thayir Sadam

Curd rice is south Indian special and usually eaten after the main spicy meal. Curd is always good for digestion.  Apart from that i always opt for curd in hot summer to sooth myself and get rid of the exhausted feeling.                                                            Curd and health benefits.

Ingredients:-


Yogurt/curd- 2cups
Cooked rice- 5to 6 cups
Ghee/oil- 2tspn
Mustard seeds- 1/2 tspn
Curry leaves- 1 sprig
Raisins- 10
Split black gram/Uzhunnu parippu/Urad dal- 1tspn
Red gram/pigeon peas/ Thur dal/Thuvara parippu- 1 tspn
Red chillies- 3
Green chillies- 3 finely chopped
Ginger- 2 tblspn finely chopped
Asafoetida/hing/kaya podi- 4 pinches
Salt and pepper.
Coriander leaves- 3 tblespn finely chopped.


Direction:-

• Heat oil/ ghee in a pan.
• Splutter mustard seeds and curry leaves.
• Add red chillies crushed, raisins and grams till they turn slightly darker.
• Add ginger, hing, green chillies.
• Let them cook for 5-7 min at medium low flame till the ginger diffuses the flavor and a cooked smell.
• Now switch off and let cool. Add curd to this and stir.
• Add salt and stir
• Add cooked rice and season with pepper.
• Mix everything well with a wooden spoon. Done.
• Garnish with coriander leaves.
• Serve hot or cold with pickle and pappad. Or something really spicy. I choose beef olathiyathu, my fav.

BON APPETITE:)

Tilapia Biryani

Ingredients:-(Serves: 4, Preparation time: 2hrs)


Tilapia fillet- 6


To marinate:( half an hr)


Turmeric-3/4 tspn
Pepper- 1 tspn
Salt- 3/4 tspn
Ginger garlic- 1tspn
Green chillis-3 pasted with ginger garlic
Lemon juice- 1 tspn
Ghee for frying fish 4 tblspn( i suggest ghee because you can use this while DUM)




For rice:(45min)
 Basmati rice- 4 cups
 Water to soak
 Water to cook- 10 cups
 Salt- 1 tspn
 Bay leaves- 2
 Cloves- 5
 Cardomom-4
 Cinnamon stick- 2 inch long
 Mace- 4 leaves
( If you do not have these spices u can substitute with a tablespoon of garam masala powder.)


For masala:(15 min)
Ghee- 1 tblspn
Onions sliced- 2
Greenchilli sliced diagonally- 4 medium sized
Ground fennels seeds- 1 tspn
Ginger garlic paste- 1 tspn
Tomato- 3
Turmeric pwdr- half tspn
Garam masala-1 1/2 tspn
Coriander powder- 1 tspn
Coriander leaves chopped- 2+3 tblspn


Garnishing:
Onions thinly sliced-2 small
Salt-1/2 tspn
Sugar- 1/2 tspn
Ghee- 3 tspn heaped
Garam masala- 1/2 tspn
Saffron one pinch soaked in half cup milk




Procedure:-

• First of all Marinate the fish for 45 min .For that blend in  turmeric, pepper, salt, ginger garlic paste and greenchilli in the blender with some lemon juice. And apply the paste over the fish with hand. Set aside.
•  Next soak the rice in water for half an hr.
• (This step ll take almost half an hr or more.And this time is good enough for the fish to marinate and soak the rice)( pls note that your stove heat should be adjusted to the medium  low in this step.) (This needs special attention. But u can go for cutting the vegetables meanwhile and not cooking something else simultaneously.)
• After slicing the 2 onions( for garnishing) spread it over a tissue or a thin cotton cloth, then wrap it and squeeze lightly so that the moisture is absorbed by the material. Meanwhile heat a wide shallow pan and lets go to the long process of frying onions untill brown and crispy for garnishing.U can do this in one or two batches depending on the size of the pan.   The secret to get sweet, crispy and easily fried onions is to add about half a tspn of sugar and 2-3 pinches of salt while frying it.
• ( After 15 min while doing this u can step off the stove for 2 min to take some water in a deep vessel to cook the rice.  Bring the 10 cups of water to boil in a deep thick bottomed vessel with salt, cloves, cardomom, cinnamon, mace,& bay leaves  in it.)
• And go  frying the onions while the water is getting boiled .After 15 min u can slightly increase the flame for onions to get brown, but not too high. May be at medium.Then fry the cashews and raisins in the leftover ghee.
•  Now lets cook the rice. Add the rice and boil it untill cooked and drain the excess water using a colander. ( dont wash the vessel in which u cooked the rice. Save it for final dum)*(I opt this method of draining water rather than adding exact the double amount of  water to the rice because this is more precise to get a fruition of each rice lying separate and looks great. The only difficulty is to check often if its rightly cooked and not overcooked. This doesnt take more than fifteen min. You are always near the stove and just keep an eye on it. That is all you have to do).*
• Next is to fry the fish. Take the shallow pan in which you prepared the fried onions. If u have the left-over ghee its ok. Add little more ghee /oil into it. And spread the fish over the pan to fit in the maximum space. Flame should me at medium. After frying, place it over a tissue to remove the excess  oil.
• Now if u have too much left-over oil pour it into a small cup. And take 1 tblspn in the same pan.
• Now saute the onions, green chillis and fennel seeds in this ghee until it becomes transparent at medium flame. 
• After it is cooked and soft, add the ginger garlic paste and increase the flame to high and fry for 2 min. This enables to cook the ginger-garlic . Add tomato and turmeric, garam masala, and coriander pwdr and 2 spoons coriander leaves and cook for another 10 min at medium flame with the lid on.  Switch off the stove.
• Next is dum.
• Before that toss the  caramelized onions with garam masala.
• Layer the rice at the bottom of the thick bottomed pan in which u had cooked the rice.  Then sprinkle some one spoon coriander leaves chopped and fried brown onions. Then drop some ghee, say about half to one tspn. Then layer 2 fried fish fillet. Spread the masala over.  Then again rice over it and so on until u get rice on the top. Finally on top garnish with onions,cashews and raisins.
• Pour the saffron milk through out the top and close the dish. And bake it for 20 min at 200degree F.(At sim flame for 20 min on stove top).
• Serve hot with Salad(Kheer), pickle and thick coconut chutney.

BON APETITE:)

Hyderabadi Shrimp Biryani

Before going into the recipe i will make those people convenient who are searching for Hyderabadi chicken biriyani or Hyderabadi Lamb biriyani by telling that you can proceed with the same recipe except the meat you choose.

Ingredients:- for 4 servings(Preparation time : 2hrs)

 Shrimp- 1 pound

For marination:

 Turmeric powder- 1/2 tspn
 Chilli powder- 1 tspn
 Garam masala- 1/2 tspn
 Ginger garlic paste- 1 heaped tspn
 Coriander leaves chopped 3 tbspn
 Mint leaves- 4 leaves
 Salt- 3/4 tspn

For  masala :


 Onions sliced-2
 Tomato- 3
 Green chilli-5 medium sized
 Ghee 4tspn

For rice :
 Basmati Rice- 4cups
 Water- 10cups
 Bay leaves- 2 big
 Cloves- 4
 Ghee-1 tspn
 Salt- 2tspn only( since we drain water doesnt matter if it is excess. )

For garnishing :


 Onions sliced-2
 Garam masala-1 tspn
 Cashews- 10
 Raisins- 15
 Egg-1 or 2
 Saffron one pinch soaked in 1/2 cup milk

Preparation :


 1. Marinate the Shrimp(/meat) with the spice levels stated for about 45 min
 2. Wash the Basmati rice and soak in water for half an hr.
 3.(This step ll take almost half an hr or more.And this time is good enough for the shrimp to marinate and soak the rice)( pls note that your stove heat should be adjusted to the medium  low in this step.)
     After slicing the 2 onions spread it over a tissue or a thin cotton cloth, then wrap it and squeeze lightly so that the moisture is absorbed by the material. Meanwhile heat a wide shallow pan and lets go to the long process of frying onions untill brown and crispy for garnishing.U can do this in one or two batches depending on the size of the pan.
     The secret to get sweet, crispy and easily fried onions is to add about half a tspn of sugar and 2-3 pinches of salt while frying it.
And after that just fry the cashews and raisins in the leftover ghee.
 4. Now lets cook the rice. Bring the 10 cups of water to boil in a deep thick bottomed vessel with salt, cloves, bay leaves & ghee in it. Add the rice and boil it untill cooked and drain the excess water. (I opt this method of draining water rather than adding exact the double amount of  water to the rice because this is more precise to get a fruition of each rice lying separate and looks great. The only difficulty is to check often if its rightly cooked and not overcooked. This doesnt take more than fifteen min. U r always near the stove and just keep an eye on it. That all u have to do).
 5.Now the masala. We may have some left over ghee in the pan after the garnishing step. Cook the onions in this ghee (u can even add more ghee). Its upto u. (Dont burn the onions which will spoil the taste of ur biriyani. So watch the flame is at medium always.)
 Add the tomatoes and the 5 chilli and marinated shrimp(/meat) and cook for about 20 -25 minutes till the shrimp(/meat) is done.

 6. Final step is DUM. This is very important. Level some rice at the bottom of a oven proof dish or a stove top dish . Toss the garam masala with the fried onions. Spread some fried brown onions  and some chopped coriander leaves over the rice. Then drop some ghee, say about half to one tspn. Then level with some shrimp(/meat) masala. Then level with some rice and then onions and coriander and drops of ghee and shrimp masala so on until u get rice on the top. ( U may go through 3 levels.)

And finally u should have the fried onions and drops of ghee and fried cashews and raisins on the top.

 U can add some salted scrambled egg on the top.

 Pour the saffron milk through out the top and close the dish. And bake it for 20 min at 200degree F.(At sim flame for 20 min on stove top)

 Serve hot ..
BON APETITE :)