Vegetable Biryani

Vegetable Biryani

Hi friends... Today I have tried my hand at Vegetable Biryani for the first time. I have made veg biryani many times but this time I have tried the Bombay style one.

Last year, we went to Bombay, also called Mumbai, and ordered a Vegetable Biryani from one of the vegetarian hotels there. Believe me, the taste of the biryani was simply out of the world and we had never eaten such a tasty biryani in our lives. That taste still lingers in our mouth.

We later came to know that it was the Bombay Veg. Biryani. 

This is what I have tried to make here though I must admit that the taste is not the same :)

Let me get straight into the steps:

Ingredients

For cooking rice:

Basmati Rice -1 cup
Bay leaf - 1 no
Cinnamon – 1, 1 inch length
Cloves – 2-3 no’s
Cardamom – 1-2 no’s
Salt to taste

For preparing the vegetable gravy:



Carrots - 3 
Peas – 100 gms
Cauliflower- 100 gms
Beans - 6-8 no’s
Potatoes – 1, medium
Oil - 2 tbsp.
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Onion - 1 no
Tomatoes-2 no’s
Ginger - Green Chilli Paste - 2 tsp
Turmeric Powder - ¼ tsp
Coriander Powder - 2 tsp
Chilli Powder - 1 tsp
Garam Masala - ½ tsp
Milk-1/4 cup
Curd - 1/4 cup
Coriander - ¼ cup
Salt to taste

Process:

Preparing the rice:

Take 1 cup of rice, wash well and soak in water and drain after 30 min. Then in a vessel, pour 4 cups of water, add bay leaf, Cinnamon, Clove, Cardamom, rice and salt. Cover it with a lid and cook on a medium flame for 10 minutes or till the rice is cooked. Strain the rice using a strainer and keep aside.

Preparing the vegetable gravy:

Chop the onions and tomatoes and keep aside.  
Also, chop and cook the beans, carrots, potatoes and cauliflower and keep aside. Chop the coriander leaves and mix with the curd and keep aside.

Coriander and other powders added
to the sauteed onions

Take a pan and pour 2 tablespoons of ghee and heat in low flame. Once the ghee is hot, add the cumin seeds. When the Cumin seeds crackle, add the onions and sauté on a medium flame till the onions turn translucent. 

Add the ginger –green Chilli paste, turmeric powder, Coriander powder, Chilli powder and garam masala and sauté on a medium flame for a few seconds. 

Final cooked veg gravy

Add the tomatoes and a cup of water, mix well and cook on a medium flame for 5 minutes.

After that add the cooked vegetables, milk and cook on a medium flame for another 3 minutes, while stirring occasionally. 

Cook till the water almost evaporates.




Now, add the cooked rice into this and put off the flame. Mix well. 

Finally add the coriander-curd mix into this and mix well. 

Vegetable Biryani is ready. Serves 4…Serve hot with pickle and Veg salad/Raita...

#bombay, #bombaybiryani, #biryani, #vegetablebiryani, #indianrecipes, #vegetarian

Green Peas Masala in Punjabi Dhaba Style (Green Peas cooked in spicy tomato onion gravy)

Green peas masala in Punjabi dhaba style

Introduction:

This is my second north Indian dish which is also a punjabi dish…it’s green peas masala cooked in punjabi dhaba style.. Many of us like the north indian dishes cooked in dhabas as it has a special taste in it..Because of that, now I am very much interested to make many other dishes in north indian style…When I searched my kitchen, I saw green peas. So I planned the next recipe would be Green peas masala in Punjabi style. 
I would request my friends esp. north Indian friends to give their critical comments and correct me if there are any mistakes... 

Cooked Green Peas

Ingredients:

Peas - 200 gms

For gravy:

Tomatoes - 7-8 nos. medium, chopped 
Onion - 2 nos, chopped in large pieces
Chana masala - 2 teaspoons
Ginger - 1/2 piece
Garlic - 5-6 pearls
Green Chillies - 2-3 nos

For tempering:

Onions - 1, Finely chopped
Cloves - 3 nos
Cinnamon - 1/2  inch piece
Jeera - 1 tablespoon
Butter - 2 tablespoons
Oil - 2 tablespoons

For final preparation:

Red Chilli Powder - 2 teaspoons
Cashew nuts- 6-8 nos
Curd - 2-3 tablespoons

Sugar-1 teaspoon
Salt to taste

cashew nuts with curd to be made a paste

For Garnishing:

Coriander leaves - 2 tablespoon
Kasoori methi - 1 teaspoon

Process:

Cook peas and set aside. Make sure they are not overcooked. Pressure cooking is not prefered. 
First grind cashews with curd to a smooth creamy paste and keep aside. 


For gravy:

Take a frying pan and add a teaspoon of oil and add chopped tomatoes, chopped onion, ginger, garlic, green chillies and stir till tomatoes  turn mushy. Cool it for sometime and grind it to a fine paste.

For tempering:

Tempering

Heat butter and add Cloves, Cinnamon, Jeera and add the finely chopped onion and sauté till it turns slightly brown. Then add the tomato paste and sauté. Saute for 5 minutes then add the channa  masala, red chilli powder and required salt. 

Add water as  required to bring it to a consistency. The gravy MUST NOT be too thick. It should be pourable. Allow it to boil for 5 minutes. 

Gravy with half a glass of water added 

Then add the  cashew paste and stir it immediately. 

Add cooked peas ,sugar and cook in low flame for 5 minutes. Then sprinkle kasoori methi and coriander leaves and switch it off.

Peas curry in Punjabi dhaba style is ready…

Final Gravy with cashew-curd paste added

Peas Added  into the gravy

#punjab, #peas, #greenpeas, #punjabirecipes, #indianrecipes, #vegetarian

Kappanga / Kapplanga Thoran - Raw (Green) Papaya chopped and stir fried with Coconut

Kappanga Thoran / Raw Pappaya Stir fried with coconut - Recipe:

Idea:

We have all eaten Papaya as a fruit... Many of us like the ripe papaya. In my native place house, there are a lot of papaya trees and when I was small, my father used to pluck papaya and ask me not to touch it due to the staining liquid. We used to use a few  and leave the rest on the tree for birds to eat :)
Now a days, in the apartment complex where we stay, there are  a lot of raw papayas hanging and I got one plucked to make today's dish.
Hance, today, I am posting one of my favourite dishes with papaya as a vegetable - Raw Papaya Thoran. 

Ingredients for Kappanga Thoran:

Raw Pappaya -1 no., medium 
Onion - 1 medium OR shallots - 4-5 (Shallots are preferred since they add to the overall taste more than onions)
Green chillies - 2 nos.
Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon
Coconut - 1/2, grated 
Mustard - 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves  -6-8 nos
Dry red chilly-2 nos
Salt to taste

Process:

Wash papaya neatly  and  cut into two halves. Remove  the  skin  of  papaya  and wash it again. Chop the papaya into small sizes as shown here and keep it aside. 

Take a pan and pour one table spoon oil. Once the oil is hot, add the mustard and allow it to splutter. Then add dry red chilly and curry leaves and fry. 
Then add the chopped raw papaya and the chopped onions into the pan. Add the green chillies too after slitting them. Add turmeric powder and salt to taste. Stir it well and close the pan it with a lid and allow it to cook for 7-8 minutes under low flame. 
Once cooked, add grated coconut and stir it well…

Kappanga Thoran or Raw Pappaya Stir Fried with coconut is ready. Serves 5-6 members...

Idiyappam - Rice flour pressed into noodles and steamed

The Idiyappam story:

As usual, yesterday evening, I was thinking about what breakfast to make today morning...! And again as usual, I started pestering HIM on what he wants for breakfast tomorrow and he gave his usual reply of "you make anything" and escaped :)

In a state of total confusion about what to make the next day morning, I started looking at my blog to see if there was any major breakfast dish which I am yet to put in the blog... :)
At that time my son suddenly came like a flash from nowhere and asked me - Can you make Idiyappam for me tomorrow morning??" And so here it is... I made Idiyappam today!!

About Idiyappam:

Idiyappam, also called Noolputtu in some parts of Kerala is a traditional food of Southern India esp. Kerala and Tamilnadu. It is made mainly with rice and sometimes with Ragi (finger millet) flour too…

In Kerala its eaten mainly with a curry such as Kadala Curry, Egg curry apart from non-veg curries 
The main side dish for this is Kadala Curry. Click here to see how to make Kadala Curry…

Idiyappam string hopper

Ingredients:

Roasted fine rice flour – 1 cup
Water – Hot Water, approx. 300 ml 
Oil – 2 teaspoon
Coconut  - ½, Grated  

Process:

In a pan, heat 200 ml of water and keep aside.


In another vessel, take the flour and mix with salt (to taste). Now add  the hot water little by little to the flour and  mix well with a spoon. Do not pour all the water in one go. 


When the dough becomes warm  start kneading  with your hands.  

Pour 2 teaspoons of gingerly oil into the dough while kneading (adding gingelly oil makes the dough and the idiyappam soft) and you will be able to roll a non-sticky and  soft  yet firm dough. 

Now take a idli making vessel and pour a litre of water into it and allow it to get heated. Meanwhile, take an ‘Idiyappam press’ (as shown in figure) and fill the Idiyappam dough in it. 

Squeeze the dough into the idly plate in small circular shapes of the size of an idli (grease the plate with oil before pressing so that the idiyappam doesnot stick to the idli plate). 

Sprinkle a spoon of grated coconut on each of them. 

Now keep the idli plate into the idli vessel and all close it tight. Always keep the idly plate with the idiyappam after the water starts to boil. Keep in high flame. 

It will  take just 4-5 minutes to cook. Switch off the flame after f5 minutes and leave it for around 5 minutes. 

Remove the Idiyappams from the Idly plate. 
They will drop easily without sticking to the plate.

Idiyappam is ready...

#idiyappam, #noolputtu, #ricerecipes, #keralarecipes, #indianrecipes, #vegetarian

Green Peas Curry Kerala Style

Green peas is considered to have a lot of health benefits according to Ayurveda!! 

Fresh green peasAdd caption

Green Peas curry is one of the most commonly eaten foods in India. Because of this, the preparation methods also vary from region to region. 

My version is the Kerala version of this humble recipe.

Fresh Grated coconut

Ingredients: 100 gms of peas, 2 potatoes, 2 tomatoes, 3 big onions, 2 carrots, one half of coconut-grated, 1 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 teaspoon chilly powder (preferably Kashmiri chilly powder), 2 teaspoons of coriander powder, 1 teaspoon of black pepper powder, Salt to taste.

Steps:

1. Soak the peas in water overnight.

2. Cook peas in the cooker. For every one glass of peas put minimum of 2 glass of water.(add salt as required)

3. Cook chopped Carrots and potatoes together separately and put little turmeric powder, salt and chilly powder. 

4. Roast the grated Coconut till it turns brownish  in color and then put 2 table spoon coriander powder spread it out it into a plate to for it to cool down.

Roasted coconut with Coriander powder mixed

5. Grind the roasted coconut-coriander mix and add pepper powder and pour ¼ glass of water. Keep this paste ready aside.

onions chopped longitudinally

6. Chop two big onions longitudinally. Take a pan and pour one table spoon oil and put the chopped onions into the pan and sauté till it turns brown.(adding salt while sautéing speeds up the process)

7. Once the onion turns brownish, add two vertically chopped tomatoes into the pan.

8. Add a pinch of turmeric and chilly powder to this mixture to make it colorful.

9. Add the cooked peas into the pan and add the coconut –coriander pepper paste also into the pan. Add salt if required. Mix it well.

Sauteed onions turn brown after which tomatoes have been added

10. At last we need to do the tempering. For this take a small pan and pour one table spoon of oil. Put one teaspoon mustard into it. Once all the mustard breaks, put 2-3 broken dry red chillies and curry leaves into the pan. 

11. Put this mix into the curry. 

Peas curry of Kerala is ready. It serves for a family of 4 members. 

Very good side dish for Appam, idiyappam and also chapatti.

#peas, #greenpeas, #keralarecipes, #indianrecipes, #vegetarian

Paneer Butter Masala (Cottage cheese cubes in tomato and spices gravy)

Hi friends!!

After a small break  I am back again…Now I have prepared for you, this special and typical Punjabi dish. Paneer butter masala !! 

This is the first north Indian dish in my blog. 
I think that everybody knows about  paneer - also called cottage cheese in english, and most of us like it... 

My hubbys favourite one. He likes a lot of such north indian dishes…

In my college days my brother told me about paneer… He also likes it… I heard from him about paneer… !!

So enjoy this dish which is one of the easiest to make 

Ingredients:

Paneer - 200 gms, cut into cubes 

Butter - 3 tablespoons

Oil - 1 tablespoon

Tomatoes - 5 medium

Onion - 1 no. medium

Bay Leaves  (Karuva Ella) - 1-2 nos.

Cloves (Grampu) - 2 nos.

Dried red chillies - 2 nos.

Cinnamon (Karuga Patta) - 1 - 2 nos of around 1 inch size

Coriander Seeds (malli) Crushed - 1 table spoon

Red Chilli Powder (preferably Kashmiri chilli powder) - 2 teaspoons

Ginger Paste - 1 tablespoon

Garlic Paste - 1 tablespoon

Coriander Powder - 1 teaspoon

Kasuri methi (Dry methi leaves / dry uluva chedi ela / dry vendaya keerai) - 1 teaspoon 

Fresh Cream - 2 tablespoons

Salt - to taste

Process:

Clean the onion and tomatoes and chop into small pieces. Keep it aside.

Take a frying pan and pour 2 tablespoons of butter and 1 teaspoon oil. 

Mixture ready to be pureed

Once hot, add bay leaves, red chillies, Cinnamon, Cloves and crushed Coriander seeds. Saute for a minute. After that add the chopped onion and stir fry for a minute and add ginger paste and garlic paste. Cook it for 1 minute. 

Then add coriander powder, red chilli powder and chopped tomatoes. Cook it on high flame and stir continuously to avoid the paste getting burnt at the bottom of the pan. Cook in flame till the oil leaves the masala. 

Then make a puree of the mixture using a blender or a mixie. Keep aside. 

Heat the remaining butter (one tablespoon) in a pan. Pour the puree into the pan and then add the paneer pieces into it and add salt. Add half a glass of water. Cook on a low flame for 5 minutes. 

Cream added to the final one

Sprinkle kasoori methi and mix lightly. 

Remove from heat and add cream in it.

Paneer butter masala is ready… Serves 4 members in a family…

Chapati served with Paneer Butter Masala

#paneer, #paneerbuttermasala, #punjabirecipes, #indianrecipes, #vegetarian