Spicy Crispy Churmura

This is in all time favorite snack of our family made by my MoM in LaW.

Ingredients:

• Churmura
• Roasted groundnuts
• Dry coconut - Thinly sliced
• Garlic pods - Crushed (with skin)
• Zeera
• Mustard
• Dry red chilies - whole
• Split roasted gram dal
• Fresh curry leaves
• Spicy mixture (ready made)
• Red chili powder
• Turmeric powder
• Oil

Method:

1. In a thick bottom, deep and wide vessel, heat oil. 
   
2. Add the following ingredients one by one, crushed garlic pods,zeera, mustard, dry red chilies, curry leaves and dry coconut slices.
3. Turn off the stove and now add red chili powder and turmeric powder, mix well.
4. Once the above mixture has cooled down add roasted groundnuts, spicy mixture and finally add churmura and toss it well- do not mix it with spoon  - refer to the pic for mixing.
   
5. Now keep it back on the stove on low flame, keep stirring constantly until it gets crisp ( keep tasting to check the crispiness) be careful at this stage as it will get burnt easily. Enjoy with freshly chopped onions and coriander :)

Store it in a air tight container, this way you can keep it crisp for a week.

Bread Pizza

This is the by-product of the actual pizza i was making ;) ... was running short of dough and had lots of cheese and toppings left out .. then realized there is enough bread... used pizza sauce, veggies, kheema, cheese and some oregano..and voila here's presenting bread pizza ... must say it was gooood :) 

Dahi Kababs

Delicious Dahi Kababs can be enjoyed anytime n anywhere with a hot cup of tea, as starters, as a snack, side dish...etc Very easy and simple to make ..yet delicious .. i am sure you will love it :)

Ingredients:

• Hung curd - 2 cups
• Rice flour - half cup ( or a little more)
• Onion - 1 medium - finely chopped
• Coriander - 2 tbsp - finely chopped
• Cumin powder - half tsp
• Garam masala - half tsp
• Chat masala - half tsp
• Red chili powder - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - quarter tsp 
• Salt 

Method:

For hung curd: 

1. Take a clean muslin / cheese cloth.
2. Add fresh curd in the cloth and tie it .
3. Hang this somewhere and keep a bowl below it so that the water from the curd drips in the bowl.
4. Let it hang for 3 - 4 hours minimum. 
5. Hung curd is ready to use.

For the kababs:

1. Mix all the above mentioned ingredients with the hung curd.
2. You may need rice flour a little more or less than the quantity mentioned to make the dough manageable.
3. Dip your hands in water and give them the shape of kababs and deep fry them in hot oil on medium flame until nice and golden.
4. Serve them with mint chutney.

Recipe for green chutney: http://heenazubair.blogspot.in/2013/10/spicy-mint-chutney.html

Veg Tikki

Veg tikki for my little tiger :)

Ingredients:

• Potatoes
• Beetroot - grated
• Carrot - grated
• Beans
• Peas
• Onion 
• Coriander
• Cheese
• Salt
• Black pepper
• Breadcrumbs / egg
• Butter / Oil

Method:

1. Boil potatoes, carrot, beetroot, beans and peas (any veggies your kiddo likes)
2. Mix all these and add finely chopped onion, coriander, grated cheese, salt and pinch of black pepper. Mix and shape them into flat tikki roll them in beaten egg or bread crumbs and shallow fry them with butter or oil and serve with a biggg smile :)

Palak Paneer

Ingredients:

• Paneer / Cottage cheese - 200 gms
• Palak / Spinach  - 2 medium bunches
• Onions sliced - 2 
• Tomatoe paste - 3/4 cup
• Green chilies finely chopped - 3
• Cumin powder - half tsp
• Garam Masala - half tsp
• Coriander powder - half tsp
• Ginger and garlic paste - 1 tsp
• Whole dry red chilies - 3
• Lemon juice - 1 tsp
• Oil - 5 tbsp 
• Butter - 1 tbsp
• Water - 1 big glass
• Salt

Method:

1. Wash and clean palak leaves thoroughly.
2. In a vessel blanch the spinach in boiling water for 3 to 4 minutes. 
3. Drain and allow it to cool for sometime.
4. In a blender add the blanched spinach and make a smooth puree.
5. Heat oil in a pan, add whole dry red chilies, onions and saute them on medium flame until translucent, add ginger garlic paste and fry this for 2 minutes.
6. Add tomato puree, green chilies, salt, cumin powder, coriander powder and garam masala , mix well and cook this on medium to low flame for 2 - 3 minutes, add the spinach puree and continue to cook.
7. Heat butter in a non stick pan and gently fry the paneer cubes for 2 - 3 minutes.
8. Now add the paneer cubes to the spinach gravy and gently mix it and allow it to cook for 5 minutes on low flame , add lemon juice, mix well and turn off the stove.
9. Serve hot with phulkas, roti, naan..etc

Stuffed Braided Bread

Killed the yeast beast and finally nailed it.. yayyyyy!!!!!!

Baked bread for the first time and iam soooooo happy with the results :)

Cant wait to bake it again with different stuffing's, as this was the first time so made it simple and veg, will come up with different stuffing ideas soon , for now lets enjoy the veg Stuffed Braided Bread :)

For the stuffing:

Ingredients:

• Boiled potatoes - 2 - thinly sliced
• Capsicum - 1 - thinly sliced
• Onion - 1 - finely chopped
• Carrot - 1 - grated
• Red chili powder - 1 tsp
• Chat masala - 1 tsp
• Cumin powder - half tsp
• Salt as per taste
• Juice of one lemon
• Chopped coriander - 2 tbsp
• Oil - 2 tbsp

Method: 

Heat oil in a non stick pan and saute onions, capsicum, carrot and add rest of the ingredients one by one.
Cook this for about 5 minutes and allow it to cool.

For the bread:

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour / maida - 3 cups
• Instant dry yeast - 2 tsp
• Milk - half cup
• Water - 1/4 cup
• Melted butter - 100 gms
• Sugar - 2 tsp
• Salt - 1 n half tsp
• Egg - 1

Method: 

1. In a small bowl add Luke warm milk, yeast and sugar, mix well and allow the yeast to froth for 10 minutes.
2. In a wide bowl add flour, salt and mix well, make a well in between the flour and add the yeast mix and melted butter, knead this in to a soft dough using water (1/4 cup).
3. Cover this with a damp cloth and allow it to rest for an hour, after an hour the dough would have doubled in its size.
4. Dust a flat surface with flour and knead the dough thoroughly for 5 - 6 minutes. Cover this again with a damp cloth and keep it aside for 30 minutes.
5. After 30 minutes, knock out all the air from the risen dough, and divide it in to 5 equal parts and allow it to rest for another 30 minutes.
6. Take a dough ball and roll it out in to a big circle or rectangular shape, now place the stuffing in the center of it leaving 2 inches from top and 2 inches from bottom, make inclined cuts to form finger strips on each sides, fold the top and bottom gently on the filling (the 2 inches) and fold the strips over the filling to form a braid like structure. 
7. Repeat the process for the rest of the dough balls.
8. Place them on the baking tray and allow it to proof for an hour.
9. Brush them gently with egg wash (One egg beaten with 1 tbsp of water).
10. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top.
11. Preheat the oven to 180 degree C and bake them for around 45 mins (baking time may vary depending on the oven).
12. Take the bread out of the oven and allow it to cool down before serving.

Kheema Biryani

After looking at the pic, iam sure most of u guys must be wondering where is the KHEEMA !! ... yes this is kheema biryani for you.. the kheema almost disappears through the cooking process..but it tastes justtt delicious...but one personal suggestions for the hard core biryani lovers .. u will need some kababs or a non veg side dish to accompany kheema birayni ;) as per my husband kheema biryani without kababs is like eating plain biryani rice... so guys enjoy the yumilicious biryani :)

Ingredients

• Kheema - 1 kg
• Basmati rice/ normal rice - 1 kg
• Ginger garlic paste - 9 tbsp
• Onions - 6 - 7 big size - sliced
• Tomatoes - 5 - 6 big size
• Green chilies slit - 4
• Pudina chopped
• Coriander chopped
• Whole Cardamom, Cinnamon, Cloves - 2 -3 each
• Bay leaf - 2
• Lemon - 2 med size
• Curd - half a cup
• Red chili pwdr - 3 tsp
• Garam masala pwdr - 1 tsp
• Dhanya (coriander) pwdr - 1 tsp
• Turmeric pwdr - 1 tsp
• Carrot sliced - 1 big
• Peas - half a cup
• Salt
• Red / orange / green food color solution
• Oil - one big glass full

The entire procedure of cooking biryani can be broken down in 3 parts, 

one is cooking akhni, second is cooking rice and the third most important part is mixing.

For cooking Akhni

1. In a cooking pot add kheema , half tsp turmeric pwdr, 1 tsp red chili pwdr and 1 tsp ginger garlic paste and mix well and allow it to cook on medium flame until the water oozed out of kheema dries up ( do not add extra water).
2. Heat one big glass full of oil in a big cooker or a vessel, add whole cardamom, cinnamon, cloves 1 -2 each, one bay leaf, green chilies, onions and allow the onions to fry for 10 - 15 mins until golden brown, now add chopped pudina (small bunch) and mix well.
3. Add ginger garlic paste, chopped tomatoes, red chili pwdr, garam masala pwdr, dhanya pwdr and give it a good mix, cover the vessel, lower the flame and let it cook for 10 - 15 mins.
4. Now time to add kheema, mix well and cook it on low/ medium flame for 2 - 3 minutes.
5. Add curd, salt and juice of one lemon and mix well.
6. If you are cooking in cooker you can close the cooker and pressure cook it on medium flame for 1 - 2 whistles OR if you are cooking in a vessel, cover it up and cook it on low/ medium flame until the kheema is cooked.  
7. Once this is done take out the excess oil from the akhni and keep aside as you will need it later.

For cooking rice

1. Wash and soak rice in water and keep aside, if it is basmati-rice wash and soak it 1 or 2 hrs before cooking.
2. Heat 4 - 5 big jugs of water in a big vessel, add whole cardamom, cinnamon, cloves 1 -2 each, one bay leaf, carrot, peas, turmeric pwdr, salt, few pudina leaves, little chopped coriander, juice of one lemon and bring the water to boil and then add the rice.
3. After adding rice to the boiling water, keep a constant check on rice and be alert  because you should not allow the rice to cook completely, it should be half cooked or cooked a little more than half.                                                                                                                                         

While the rice is cooking keep a sieve ready in a clean kitchen wash basin and also in a half cup of water add very little food color / colors and keep it aside.

The next steps from now are very important for the biryani, you should be alert and quick or the biryani will lose its taste, you might also need someone's help to drain the hot water from the rice.

Mixing

1. Once the rice is cooked as above, drain the water completely in a sieve.
2. Quickly take aside 3 - 4 tbsp of plain rice and add it to the food color solution and keep aside.
3. Add akhni to the rice and mix well with a big mixing spoon, be gentle and quick while mixing because the rice might break or become too soft.
4. After mixing the rice and akhni, pour half the akhni oil (which you kept aside) around the rice and spread the colored rice on top , do not mix the rice after adding oil and colored rice.
5. Cover it well and keep it on low flame for dum for 15 mins, your super delicious kheema biryani is ready for your taste buds. :) 

Important points to remember while cooking biryani:

1. Akhni is nothing but the masala that we cooked with onions, tomatoes, kheema....etc
2. The process of covering the vessel air tight and keeping it on low flame is called DUM.
3. Always use thick bottom vessel for cooking akhni and a bigger size vessel specially  for cooking rice as later you have to mix rice and akhni in the same vessel.
4. When you keep water for boil for rice the water should be way more than what you normally add to cook rice.
5. Be quick, quicker from the time you drain water till you keep it for dum.
6. While mixing akhni with rice be gentle and soft, not necessary the akhni should coat every strand of rice, if the akhni covers 3/4th of the rice also its fine, but be quick.
7. I generally mix full akhni with the rice but not necessary you should also mix the complete akhni with the rice,  if you don't want too much of masala in your biryani you can always keep it aside and mix only as much as you want. But be generous because akhni only adds taste to your biryani :)
8. While keeping it for dum, you can follow any one of the following methods: (Traditional method of dum ) Wrap the lid of the vessel in a clean cotton duppata or big cloth and cover it on the vessel and keep some weight on top of it so that its completely sealed. (Modern method) Cover the vessel completely with silver foil and close it with a lid. The idea behind this is to seal the vessel completely.
9. For making your biryani colorful you can make separate solutions of each color and spread it in the last step.
10. You can also fry 2 sliced onions in oil separately until dark golden brown, take it out on a tissue paper, cool them and spread it on the rice before keeping it for dum.
11. Be careful while adding salt because you would have added in both akhni and rice. I generally add 3 tsps for akhni and 4 tsps for rice when cooking with 1 kg of rice and kheema .