Mushroom Pulao Tuesday, September, 12, 2006

                               Though I love biryani/pulav (frequently prepare) , I always had a doubt ..”What is the difference between biryani and pulao?” . Recently I read an article (www.uppercrustindia.com) and got my doubt cleared ….Thanks to internet.

There is a subtle difference between the biryani and the pulao.

In a biryani, the parboiled rice is layered twice or more between the spices and the meat, and they are all cooked together.
In a pulao, the stock of meat forms the base and the rice is cooked with the spices so that it absorbs the flavor of the spices. A pulao is like an assembly of cooked rice and meat.

Pulao is made by the absorption method of cooking rice.
Biryani is made by the draining method of cooking rice.

In pulao the base ingredient is mixed with the rice, while in biryani the main ingredient is at the base of the vessel.

In biryani lot of aromatic masala is used.
Pulaos are relatively less spiced.

The other basic difference is that the Pulao has quite a bit of gravy in it whereas the biryani tends to be dry.

Mushroom Pulao :      

         

                                       Mushroom Pulao , Aloo Raita                

                     This is again my own creation. Sometime back, my husband desired to have vegetable pulao. At that time I had only mushrooms and peas in the freezer. I was reluctant to prepare but he made me to prepare with mushrooms.I prepared using the same method I use for normal pulao.I was bit afraid of the final result, but to my surprise it came out well. From then onwards, he insists( in fact, even I am interested in this pulao) me to prepare mushroom pulao rather than veg pulao.

Ingredients :

Mushrooms – 1 pack
Potatoes – 2
Green peas (optional)
Onion – 1 medium
Basmati Rice – 2 cups
Ginger garlic paste
Garam masala,
Coriander powder,
Mint Leaves,
Coriander leaves,
Curd 1-2 tbspn
Salt to taste
Oil

Spices:
Red chilli – 1
Bay leaf – 1
Cloves – 4
Cinnamon small piece
Cardamom – 2
Star Anise – 1
Maratha Moggu – 1
Jeera – 1 tspn
Shahi Jeera – 1 tspn

Method:

1.Add 2 tbspn of oil to the preheated pan and add all the spices one by one.
2.When jeera and shahi jeera starts spluttering, add mint leaves , coriander leaves and fry them for 2 min.
3.Add chopped onions, ginger-garlic paste, garam masala, coriander powder, salt(acc to ur spice levels) and a pinch of turmeric(optional)
4.When onions turn golden brown, add potatoes, mushrooms, green peas(optional) and close with lid.
5.Let the mushrooms cook in its own water(if necessary add little quantity of water). 
6.When mushrooms gets half cooked, add curd and stir it well. Then add 4 cups of water. When water starts boiling add 2 cups of rice and pressure cook it.
7.Serve with any spiced curry or any raita…..this time we had with Aloo Raita.

             
                                              Mushroom Pulao

Aloo Raita Monday, September, 11, 2006

                                Raita is a yogurt/curd based condiment.This recipe is very popular in India. The yogurt is seasoned with salt, coriander leaves, onions and various vegetables like potatoes, cucumber, carrot, tomato,..etc. In Andhra Pradesh, we call raita as PERUGU PACHADI. Perugu pachadi is a simple raita made by mixing salt, tomato cubes,onions finely chopped, green chillies (finely chopped), Coriander leaves to the beaten yogurt/curd.

Types of raita:

Aloo Raita, Mint Raita, Pyaz ka Raita, Cucumber Raita, Carrot Raita, Bhindi Raita, ……..

             

                                                   Aloo Raita

Here I am presenting you ALOO RAITA, which is very much similar to Perugu pachadi,.with little modifications.

Ingredients :

Potato – 1
Curd – 1 cup
Onions + spring onions – 1/4 cup
Black pepper powder – 1 teaspoon
coriander leaves
Salt , Oil

Method :

1.First, chop the potato (small cubes) and shallow fry them and set aside.
2.Beat the curd/yogurt well with egg beater or fork.
3.Add salt, black pepper powder, onions, spring onions.
4.Serve cold, garnished with shallow-fried potatoes and coriander leaves.
5.Goes well with any type of biryani/pulav.
              

            Mushroom Pulav, Aloo Raita, Drumstick fry – This was our Sunday’s dinner

Malai Kofta Curry Monday, September, 11, 2006

              

                                               Malai Kofta Curry

Source : http://vineelascooking.blogspot.com/

Ingredients for the Kofta:

Potatoes – 2 boiled
Paneer – ½ cup
Heavy Cream – 2 tspn
Beans – ¼ cup,boiled
Peas – ¼ cup, boiled
Red chilli powder
Coriander powder
Garam masala powder
Besan – 2 tspn
Salt to Taste
Oil for frying

Ingredients for gravy:

Onions,chopped – 1 big
Tomato – 1 medium sized
Ginger-Garllic Paste – 1 Tablespoon
Red chilli – 1, Jeera – 1 tspoon
Turmeric – a pinch
Garam masala powder
corainder powder ; Heavy cream – 2 -3 tspoon
Poppy seeds pwd – 4 tspn,fried witout oil

NOTE : Use garam masala pwdr, coriander powder according to your spice levels. Whenever I do this type of curries or any biryani I prefer adding garam masala and coriander powder more when compared to red chilli powder.

Method:

KOFTAS :
1.Mash the boiled potatoes and add grated paneer,heavy cream(2 tspoon)and all the ingredients one by one and mix them well.
2.Make round shaped koftas (with this mixture) and deep fry these koftas to golden brown color.

             

                                         Deep fried malai koftas

GRAVY :
1.Heat Oil in a pan, and fry onions until translucent .
2.Remove from fire and grind it into a paste. Set aside.
3.Fry the chopped tomato and grind it into paste.
4.Heat a tsp of oil, add red chilli, jeera and fry the onion paste(from step 1&2), Ginger garlic paste for 1 minute and add tomato puree and mix and cook until raw smell goes and starts thickening.At this stage, add garam masala powder,coriander powder,red chilli powder, salt and stir well.
5.Grind the fried poppy seeds into a fine paste by adding sufficient water.Add this ground paste to gravy and mix well. 
6.Cook til the gravy becomes thicken and add heavy cream.
7.Add the deep fried koftas before serving.Serve with Biryani, Naan, Chapathi, roti telur,..
 
Thankyou Vineela  for sharing such a nice recipe,…..it came out well.
 

Roti Telur Monday, September, 11, 2006

                                 Couple of days back I was surfing the net for some new recipes, I  found ROTI TELUR from http://www.malaysianfood.net/ It looked somewhat similar to our Chapathi omelet. Here’s my modified recipe.

Ingredients :

All purpose flour
Salt to taste
Milk
Eggs – 2
red chillie powder – 2 Teaspoons
Jeera – 1 -2 Teaspoons
Oil

  
             

Method :

1.Add 1 teaspoon of salt to the flour, make a well in the center and add milk (as required).Knead well to make soft dough. Set aside for 2 hours.
2.In the mean while beat the eggs in a bowl, add salt, red chillie powder. Keep aside
3.Take a small ball of dough, oil the work top with oiland work each ball into a very thin sheet – first  flatten with your oiled palms, then thin it further by pulling the edges.
4.Preheat the pan, when hot put roti dough on.
5.Now gently pour the egg mixture(from step 2) over the roti dough and carefully spread over the dough.
6.After 2 min, fold the edges of the roti dough over, just enough to seal the egg mixture in.
7.Cook 2-3 mins till golden brown. Lift Roti with a spatula, grease the griddle with a tsp of oil, cook the other side.
8.Serve with any spiced curry…..We had with Malai Kofta curry….It was too good!!
 

Mushroom Egg Poratu/Bhurji Thursday, September, 7, 2006

Before my marriage I never tasted mushrooms. But after coming to tokyo I saw many   types of mushrooms,but never dared to buy them…. reasons are obvious,..I never tasted earlier and I do not know the preparation method. But one day I read somewhere that mushrooms are really good for health……so I made up my mind that I should prepare mushroom curry, and on one fine day I bought them and made curry,..it was a big flop . After 2 weeks I again made the same curry inspite of the failure in the first attempt. It again fallflated. Then I never tried for months together. Later I saw one of my friend doing mushroom curry.I replicated it. I ll post that dish soon.
              

Mushroom Egg Poratu/Bhurji :

                 This is my own creation (I have used this word since I never ate or saw this type of dish). Sometime back I badly wanted to have egg poratu,….but only 2 eggs were there. uhhhh….what to do??…then I saw, a pack of mushrooms were sitting untouched for days…..the result is MUSHROOM EGG PORATU. Amazingly it turned out well. From that day onwards this dish is been made frequently.

Ingredients :
 
 Mushrooms – 1 pack
 Eggs – 3 No.
 Onion- 1 medium size
 Red chilli powder
 Salt to taste

For Tempering :
 Oil             - 1 table spoon
 Red chiili    - 2
 Chana dal  – 1  teaspoon
 Urad dal    – 1  teaspoon
 Mustard seeds – 1 teaspoon
 Jeera              - 1 teaspoon
 Curry leaves    – 5-6 (optional)

Method :
1.Heat oil in a non-stick pan and add red chilli, chana dal, urad dal, mustard seeds, jeera. When jeera splutters add curry leaves(optional) and add finely chopped onions.
2.Add salt and red chilli powder according to your taste, (If you like garam masala it can be added in this step).
3.When onions turns golden brown, add mushrooms and DO NOT cover the pan.
4.In the mean while beat the egg in a bowl and keep aside.
5.Once mushrooms gets cooked ,add beaten eggs. Do not disturb that for 2 – 3 min. After 3 min mix well and gently.
6.Using a spatula, turn the scrambled eggs upside down so that the eggs get fully cooked.

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves…..tasty tasty mushroom egg poratu/bhurji is ready!!!
   

 NOTE:

1.Because of their high water content,let the mushrooms cook in its own water,,,,do not add much water.
2.I don’t prefer boiling them before hand (I feel that doing so will totally take off the taste and one cannot enjoy the real  taste ).In my first 2 attempts I have overboiled hem,…that might be the reason for the disaster.
 

Chicken Capsicum Wednesday, September, 6, 2006

                       Yesterday, I was planning to prepare capsicum rice and I almost sliced the capsicum. Then Suddenly realized that yesterday was supposed to be the last date for the chicken.Then I had to switched on to the chicken curry. I never prepared chicken capsicum before ,..more specific to say I added  capsicum (as I already Sliced for capsicum rice and cant see going waste) at the end and to my surprise it came out very well

             

                                                   Chicken Capsicum
Whenever I prepare chicken curry I ll allow chicken to sit in the marinade for almost 1 hour , So it almost takes 2 hours to finish (including preparation of marinade), But this time I did without the marinade,..it just took 30-40 min to finish and came tasty too.

Ingredients :

Chicken  – 500 g
Tomatoes – 2 medium sized (I have used tinned tomatoes)
Onion – 1 medium sized
Oil – 2-3 tablespoon
cloves 3
small piece of cinnamon
Bay Leaf (optional)
Redchilli – 1
Jeera – 1 teaspoon
Redchilly powder

Garam masala
coriander Powder (coriander leaves are more preferable)
Turmeric – 1-2 teaspoons
Capsicum – 2 medium sized
Salt to taste

Note : Add redchilli powder,garam masala ,and coriander powder according to your spice level.

Method :

1.Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan and add chicken pieces. Sprinkle pinch of turmeric and allow to fry for 4 min and set aside. I skip this step if I use the marinade.
2.Now, heat the remaining oil in a cooking vessel and add cloves, cinnamon, bayleaf, redchilli, jeera, garam masala (Adding garam  masala to the hot oil gives fine aroma). When jeera start spluttering add chopped onions, turmeric,ginger-garlic paste and salt.
3.When onions turn golden brown add chopped tomatoes and close with lid.
4.When tomatoes are well cooked ( You can add little water in between to let the tomatoes to cook) add semi-fried chicken pieces.
5.Add redchilli powder, garam masala(if needed), coriander powder.
6.Once chicken gets cooked add sliced capsicum add close the vessel and let it sit for 3-4 min on medium flame.(First I fried capsicum in 2 teaspoons of oil for 2 min and later I added to the gravy.Next time i wanna try without frying the capsicum)
7 Serve red hot chicken capsicum with rice. Rasam/tomato charu is a good combination.
 

Aloo Paratha Tuesday, September, 5, 2006

                              

                               Aloo paratha, Masala Dahi, Baby onions

Paratha is a Indian flatbread,which is usually made with whole-wheat flour,fried in ghee.Parathas are often stuffed with vegetables like boiled potatoes, cauliflower, radish , etc.. Though North India is the origin of PARATHA,it soon became famous all over India.

I recently heard that the variations of PARATHA ‘Rotiprata’ and ‘Roticanai’are famous in Singapore,Malaysia respectively( The immigrants from India took paratha to Singapore and Malaysia).

Paratha when compared with daily ROTI is usually prepared as a special item or for special guests.

Types of PARATHA :

Aloo Paratha ( Stuffed with boiled potatoes)
Gobi paratha (Stuffed with boiled cauliflower)
Lacha Paratha
Pudina Paratha (Using mint)
Paneer Paratha (Using cottage cheese)
.
.
.
.
.The list goes on…….

Parathas are generally eaten with curd,pickles.

Aloo Paratha :

This was our Friday dinner. I usually prepare aloo paratha in 2 ways,….one is mixng the dough by adding boiled potatoes to the whole wheat flour and the other one is stuffing the spiced potato mix . We both like stuffed aloo paratha though both versions are pleasant-tasting.

Ingredients :

Whole-Wheat flour – 2 cups
Salt – 1 teaspoon
Water

For stuffing :
Boiled potatoes
Finely chopped onions – 2 table spoons
Finely chopped green chillies (as per your taste buds)
Garam masala (Depends on how spicy we want)
Coriander powder(I prefer fresh coriander leaves…though optional)
Salt to taste
Oil to fry

Method :
1.Add 1 teaspoon of salt to theflour, make a well in the center and add water (as required).Knead well to make soft dough.
Set aside for 30 min.
2.Remove the skin on the boiled potato andmash them nicely.
3.Add salt,garam masala, coriander powder,finely chopped onions,finely chopped green chillies (red chillie powder can also be added instead of green chillies. This time I added redchillie powder )
4.After adding mix them well. This is used for filling/stuffing
5.Take a small ball of dough and roll ,a thick roti about 4″ diameter.
6.Place a handful of filling at the center. Brings the ends to the center from 4 or 5 points.Overlap ends so they do not  leave an opening. Press gently, dust with dry flour, and proceed to roll.
7.Heat the griddle , Place the paratha cook for one minute. Turn over and cook the other side for another minute.
8.Brush oil on the cooked Paratha and all around and shallow fry both sides over low heat until both sides are lightly toasted and golden brown.
9.Remove and serve hot with plain yoghurt or masala dahi.

I like the combination of hot hot aloo paratha with cool masala dahi.Hmmmm mouth watering…… =P~ ;;)

Masala Dahi :
Dry roast the jeera and black pepper separately and make them into fine powder( I do it separately). Add salt and these powders to curd (dahi) . Add them according to your taste.
I heard from one my friends that instead of normal salt if you add black salt then it is more palatable.