Egg Biryani

Egg Biryani

There are days when thinking of what to make for lunch is the most cumbersome task. These are the days when I take a short cut. The best short cut is a biryani. 

I have tried out many chicken and mutton biryanis and so this time I decided to make Egg Biryani. It is a simple process and pretty quick to make. If you want you can make it in the “dum” style. But like I said..this recipe is for lazy days and doing the “dum” process is simply too much work.

Ingredients

5 hard boiled eggs

1 ½ cups long grain rice, washed and soaked

3 onions sliced fine

1 large onion, sliced fine (for making barista)

2 tomatoes, sliced fine

1 tbsp ginger paste

1 tbsp garlic paste

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 star anise/phoolchakri

4 tbsp curd

2 tbsp coriander powder

1 tbsp cumin powder

1 tsp turmeric powder

½ tsp red chilli powder

Salt to taste

First make the barista.

Heat ½ cup oil to smoking point and then put in the sliced onion. Fry till the onions are well browned. Keep aside.

In the same oil fry the boiled eggs. Keep aside.

Add cumin seeds and star anise to the hot oil. Add the ginger and garlic pastes and saute.

 Add the 3 sliced onions and cook till the onions are pink and translucent. 

Add the tomato, cover and cook till the tomatoes are done. Add the cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and salt. 

Once the masalas are well cooked add the curd and saute well.

 Now add the soaked rice, eggs and browned onions. 

Add 3 cups of water and boil on high flame. 

Keep cooking on high flame without a lid till the water is almost evaporated. Now turn the flame to low, cover with a lid and cook till the water evaporates completely and the rice is well cooked. You can garnish the dish with chopped coriander leaves. 

Kosha Murgi

Kosha Murgi

Another typical Bengali dish is the Kosha Mangsho, where the mangsho is mutton. This is a variation of that dish where instead of mutton I have used chicken. Kosha means to fry on high heat. For a very long time you have to stand by the gas stove and keep stirring the chicken on high flame. This bhuna hua texture is what makes this dish so special. Also the important thing is to use mustard oil. This oil gives an amazing smoky texture to the chicken. You can have this with luchi/puri, parantha or roti. However I prefer this with hot, steaming rice. 

Ingredients

500 gm chicken
1 bay leaf
3 dry red chilies
few peppercorns
3 onions, minced
1 tbsp ginger paste
1 tbsp garlic paste
2 tbsp coriander powder
1 tbsp cumin powder
1 tbsp garam masala
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp Kashmiri chili powder
½ cup curd

Heat the mustard oil to smoking point. Lower heat and add the bay leaf and dry red chillies. 
Add the ginger and garlic paste. Once they are done add the minced onions. Fry on low heat for about 4 minutes till the onion are well fried. 
Add all the dry masalas. Saute till the masalas are well cooked. Add the curd and saute till the oil starts leaving the sides. 
Now add the chicken pieces and fry on high heat for about 10 minutes. Keep stirring otherwise it will start burning. Lower heat, add a little water and cook till done. Have it with hot rice. 

Soya Biryani

Soya Biryani

I love biryani. I have tried chicken, mutton, fish and mix veg biryanis. So I decided to try out this soya biryani. 

Traditionally biryani is a non-vegetarian dish made of chicken or mutton. The concept of layering and cooking on dum was that the juices from the chicken/mutton would make the rice tastier. 

However soya does not have any taste of its own. So layering the biryani would be a moot point. This made the biryani simpler and less time consuming as I did away with the complex step. 

My family turns vegetarian on Tuesdays which is a major sore point for my son who wants chicken every day. I have to make something different to entice him to eat. The soya biryani was tasty enough to make him happy.

Ingredients

2 cups rice, boiled
3 cups soya granules
1 bay leaf
3 green cardamoms
2 brown cardamoms
2 dry red chillies
1’ cinnamon
1 tbsp peppercorns
2 onions, chopped
2” ginger, minced
6 garlic, minced
2 green chilies, chopped
5 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tbsp garam masala
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
 Salt to taste

Soak the soya granules in hot water for half an hour. 
Heat some ghee. Add dry red chilies, bay leaf, green cardamoms, brown cardamoms and cinnamon. 
Add the ginger, garlic and green chilies. After a minute add the chopped onions. Sauté for 2 minutes.
 Add the tomato puree and cook till the oil separates. 
Add the coriander powder, garam masala powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder and salt. 
Fry till the masalas are well cooked. 
Drain the water and add the soya granules. 
Sauté on high flame for few minutes. Add some water, cover and cook for 10 minutes. The soya mix should be dry. Add the boiled rice and mix well. Cover and cook for two more minutes so that the rice and soya is well mixed. Your Soya Biryani is ready.

Peanut Rice

Peanut Rice

This is not the traditional Peanut Rice. I do not have any curry leaves so I decided to infuse a different flavor to the dish. With all the other typical ingredients used in Peanut rice I added some Khus Khus or poppy seeds. Khus Khus is an ingredient used in many Bengali dises. i wanted to see how it would taste in a South Indian dish. The fusion worked out great. 

Ingredients 

1 1/2 cups cooked rice
2 cups peanuts
3 dry red chillies
1/2 cup chana dal
4 tbsp khus khus
2 onions, chopped fine
1 tbsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp urad dal
a pinch asefoetida
1/2 cup grated coconut (optional)

Roast the peanuts, dry red chillies, chana dal and khus khus together. Dry grind them along with the grated coconut to a rough powder. 

Heat some ghee. Add the mustard seeds, urad dal and asefoetida. 
Saute the onions and then add the peanut paste. Fry for a minute or two. Add the cooked rice and salt. Fry on medium heat for five minutes till the rice and peanut masala are well mixed. 

Nasi Goreng

Nasi Goreng

Nasi Goreng is an Indonesian dish. It is a kind of fried rice which is great amalgamation of different flavours. Traditionally it is made with prawns, eggs, chicken, tamarind, chilli and many more flavoursome ingredients. It is not for nothing that it is considered the national dish of Indonesia. 
Sitting in a remote corner of the country there are so so many ingredients that I can’t lay my hands on, even something as simple as lemon grass. However that should not mean that I cant tweak the recipe a little to suit my condition. 

Ingredients

For spice paste
4 peppercorns
¼ tsp nutmeg powder
3 tbsp roasted peanuts
½ tsp sesame seeds
1 onion, chopped
1” ginger, chopped
1 tsp turmeric powder
5 garlic, chopped
2 green chilli, chopped
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tbsp oil
1/4 lime juice
salt to taste
Grind all to a fine paste. 

For Indonesian fried rice
2 cups rice
3 onions, sliced
100 gms green beans
3 carrots, sliced fine
1 large brocoli, chopped
1 bunch spinach, chopped fine
4 garlic pods, chopped
1 tbsp tomato puree
200 gm boneless chicken, sliced
1 tbsp soya sauce


Boil the rice. Heat some oil. Deep fry 1/4 of the sliced onions till brown. 

Saute the green beans, carrots, broccoli and spinach. 

Keep aside. Heat some oil. Saute the remianing onions and garlic. Add rest of the vegetables. Add the spice paste and tomato puree. Fry for a minute or two. Add the rice. Add soya sauce and check the salt. Fry for some time on low flame.Your Nasi Goreng is ready. Top with the browned onions and some roasted peanuts.  

Microwave Aloo Matar Biryani

Microwave Aloo Matar Biryani

I am a bookworm. I horde books and that includes lots of cookery books. However it is true that you always remember your first one..:)

I have had a passion for cooking ever since I was a child. I used to cut recipes out of my mom’s magazines and save them in a secret diary I had. But as I was never allowed to cook much I didn't really get the hang of it till much later on. 

The first cookery book I owned was after marriage when my husband bought one for me. It was about microwave cookery. Though I don’t use that book or don’t cook in the microwave now, I still have that book with me. Rifling through my book collection I chanced upon that very same book. It made me so very nostalgic. 

So, in fond memory of those days, I decided to make Microwave Aloo Matar Biryani.

Ingredients

1 ½ cups basmati rice, washed and soaked

2 onioins, chopped

3 garlic pods, chopped

Small piece of ginger, chopped

½ cup green peas

2 potatoes, cubed

1 tsp garam masala powder

1 tsp cumin powder

1 bay leaf

3 green cardamoms

3 cloves

6 peppercorns

Small piece of cinnamon

Take a microwave proof bowl and add some oil to it. Add the whole spices like cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf, green cardamoms and peppercorns. Micro high for 1 minutes.

 Add the chopped onion, ginger and garlic and micro high for 4 minutes. 

Add the potatoes, peas, cumin powder, garam masala powder and little salt. 

Cover with a lid and micro high for 5 minutes. Remember to stir once in between. 

Drain the rice and add to the mix. Stir well so that the rice is evenly distributed. Add about 2 ½ cups of water. Add some more salt. 

Now cover and micro high for 10 minutes. Check once. Micro high another 8-10 minutes. check again. The power output of all microwaves are different so you have to keep checking the rice to see if it is done. 

Keema Pulao

Keema Pulao

200 gm keema/lamb mince

1 cup basmati rice, washed and soaked

2 onions, chopped

Small piece of ginger, chopped fine

4-5 garlic pods, crushed

Small piece of cinnamon

4 cloves, powdered

1 cup chopped coriander leaves

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat some oil. Add cinnamon, ginger, garlic and onions. Sauté for a few minutes. Add the keema and stir fry on high heat for about 3-4 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and clove powder. Cover and cook some more.

I have made the pulao in an automatic rice cooker. Heat some ghee in the cooker. Sauté the drained rice. Add the keema mix and half the chopped coriander leaves. 

Add about 2 cups of water, cover and cook till done. Serve garnished with coriander leaves and boiled egg. 

Rice Ubje

Rice Ubje

I am sure all of you must have these recipe diaries that you have been maintaining for years. Mine is a dog eared worn out sad looking thing filled with precious recipes. Noted down from newspapers, magazines, cookery shows, begged and borrowed from friends and aunts I have lost the antecedents of these recipes.

 I came across this recipe for Rice Ubje but when I searched on the net there were no hits. Does a dish of this name exist? Or was it someone’s invention? I have no idea but the list of ingredients sounded interesting and it seemed apt for a light dinner. Made it and loved it!!

Ingredients

 1 cup rice

2 onions, chopped

1 potato, cubed

¼ cup chana dal

¼ cup groundnuts

½ cup chopped coriander leaves

10 curry leaves

2 dry red chillies

½ tsp mustard seeds

½ tsp cumin seeds

½ tsp turmeric powder

½ tsp asafetida

Juice of ½ lemon

1 tsp sugar

 Salt to taste

Wash and soak the rice. Soak the groundnuts and dal for at least half an hour.

Heat oil. Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, asafetida, curry leaves, turmeric powder and dry red chillies. Add the onions and potatoes. 

Sauté well for 2-3 minutes. Add the dal and groundnuts.

Now you can either make this in an automatic rice cooker or continue in the karahi. I made it in the rice cooker. Heat some ghee and sauté the rice. Now add the dal mixture. Fry for a minute. 

Season with salt and sugar. Add half the chopped coriander leaves, water, cover and cook till done. You can do the same in the karahi.  Garnish with chopped coriander and lemon juice.