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Sunday, November 8, 2009

Spicy Ragi Dosa

I know a lot of people who rush to office with just bread-omelette for breakfast as they don't find time to make anything else. For those who want a change from their regular choice of breakfast, I would like to share my wife's recipe that is quick, delicious and healthy.

Ingredients:
Ragi - 2 Cups
Curd - 1/2 - 1 Cup - Preferably sour
Mustard - 1/2 tsp
Onion - 1 Large - Finely chopped
Green Chilly - 4 medium spicy - Chopped
Ginger - 1" Finely Chopped
Curry Leaves - 2 springs - Finely Chopped
Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Method:
Heat a small kadhai, add oil, splutter mustard seeds, add curry leaves, onion, ginger and green chillies. Sauté till onion is translucent, switch off and allow to cool.
In a vessel, add ragi, curd, salt, mix thoroughly. Add water to attain slightly flowing consistency (thinner than regular dosa batter). Check salt and adjust if required. To this add onion mixture and mix thoroughly.
Heat dosa tava on high flame, pour the ragi dosa batter starting from the outer edge towards the center in a circular fashion (do not spread the batter like you do with regular dosa) to attain dosa shape (like in the picture above). Cook on reduced flame. Flip the dosa to cook on both sides. You may add a little oil to the dosa to make it crisp. Enjoy this quick, easy and healthy ragi dosa as is or with coconut chutney.

Dum Murgh Ki Kachchi Biryani

My wife has been trying various biryani recipes. Over time she has trialed (unfortunately on me) these to come up with the perfect recipe for biryani. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I love savouring this delicious and rich biryani. I have not used ghee in this recipe, this is purely optional. The flavors in this recipe arise from the fresh ingredients used and grease from chicken fat and curd. Moreover I prefer rice-bran oil over others in all my recipes'.

Ingredients:
Chicken - 1 Kg
Onions - 3 Large ones sliced (for frying)
Green Chillies - 3 to 4 Chopped
Coriander Leaves - ½ Bunch
Lemon - 1 Medium sized
Saffron - ½ tsp (Optional) soaked in 2-3 tbsp of warm milk
Oil - 2 to 3 tbsp

For the Marination
Ginger-Garlic Paste - 2 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
Red Chilly Powder - 1 tsp
Curd - 2 cups
Salt to taste

Biryani Masala
Bay Leaf - 1
Cloves - 4
Cinnamon - 1" Long
Green Cardamom - 2
Black Cardamom - 1
Cumin Seeds - ½ tsp
Grind the above into powder.
For the Rice
Basmati Rice - ½ Kg
Green Cardamom - 1
Cinnamon Stick - ½"
Cloves - 2
Bay Leaf - 1
Whole Black Pepper - ½ tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Seal for Dum
Atta Dough to seal biriyani vessel

Method:
In a vessel add in all the ingredients for marination along with biryani masala and chicken. Mix thoroughly and leave it for 2 hours.
Soak basmati rice in water for 1/2 an hour and drain thereafter.
In a kadhai, take some oil and deep fry onions till crispy brown (Make sure you don't burn the onions). Add the fried onions to the marinated chicken. Mix thoroughly and leave it for another ½ an hour.

In a vessel take enough water (since we are going to par-boil the rice and drain excess water) to cook the rice. To this add bay leaf, cardamom, whole pepper, cloves and cinamon. Bring to a boil, add salt, add rice. Boil till the rice is half cooked (The rice is said to be half cooked when the grain breaks into tiny pieces when smashed between your fingers). Drain excess water with the help of a strainer.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a kadhai, add the marinated chicken mix thoroughly for 3 minutes on high flame (intention here is not to cook the chicken).
In a thick bottom vessel firstly layer the chicken, press slightly and pack it well. Now spread chopped corriander leaves, chopped green chillies, squeeze a lemon. On top of this spread the half boiled rice, evenly. Sprinkle the saffron on top of this. Seal the vessel tight with the atta dough.

Cook for 5 minutes on high flame, then 15 minutes on medium flame and finally 10 minutes on low flame. Switch off the flame. Let it stand for some time. Mix the biryani well while serving. Enjoy this delicious mouth-watering biryani with onion raita.
Note. If you do not have a thick bottom vessel, you can also cook the biriyani in a regular vessel over a thick tava. Optionally you can add, fried rasins and cashewnuts on top of the rice.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Aloo Paratha

I just love parathas, the good thing about making parathas is that, once you learn to make any kind of paratha, it becomes that much easier for you to choose your stuffing and make your own unique paratha. Here I would like to share one such recipe. Unlike my previous recipe postings, this one is much more simpler and requires the least amount of ingredients.

Ingredients:For Aloo stuffing -
Potato (Aloo) - 4 large
Green Chillies - 4 medium spicy
Coriander Leaves - small bunch
Cumin Seeds - ½ tsp
Salt to taste

For the dough -
Wheat Flour - 4 cup
Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt - ½ tsp
Water

Method:
Sieve flour and salt together in a vessel, add oil and mix well. Slowly add water and knead it to soft yet firm dough. Leave the dough to stand for about half an hour.

Slice the potato into two halves, cook them in a pressure cooker with little salt, first on high flame until whistle and then simmer for 10 minutes. Allow to cool and then de-skin & smash the potatoes (be careful not to make a paste out of it). To this, add cumin seeds, finely chopped green chillies, finely chopped coriander leaves. Add salt to taste. Mix thoroughly with the help of a spoon and divide the mixture into balls as shown in the picture below.


Make balls out of the dough and then roll it into small circle around 8cms diameter, leaving the centre portion thicker than the edges. Now place the potato stuffing in it, bring together the cover from all the sides to the center, seal tightly and roll the parathas. You may use wheat flour to dust and keep the paratha from sticking. Cook on a hot tava, use a little oil or ghee, and cook until both sides are golden brown.
Serve these hot, mouth watering parathas with some curd and tomato/mango pickle.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Chicken Keema Paratha

Ok here I go, my very first blog. My wife has been behind me for weeks now to get the recipe published on this blog. I hope you enjoy the hot parathas as much as I enjoyed writing this blog.

Ingredients:
For Keema-
Chicken Breast - 400 gms
Onions - 2 No. chopped
Tomato - 2 No. chopped
Pepper Powder - ¾ tsp
Red Chilly Powder - ½ tsp
Garam Masala - 1 tsp
Roasted Cumin Powder - 1 tsp
Coriander Powder - 1 tbsp
Ginger - 1 Inch - chopped
Garlic - 6 Medium sized cloves - minced
Green Chillies - 3-4 medium spicy
Coriander Leaves - small bunch
Lemon - 1
Oil - 3 tbsp
Salt to taste

For the dough -
Wheat Flour - 4 cup
Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt - ½ tsp
Water

Method:

Sieve flour and salt together in a vessel, add oil and mix well. Slowly add water and knead it to soft yet firm dough. Leave the dough to stand for about half an hour.
Cut chicken into small pieces. With the help of a meat-mincer, mince the chicken. You can also use a dry grinder. To the minced chicken, squeeze in half lemon and a little salt, mix well and keep it aside for half an hour.
In a flat pan, take some oil. Once the oil is hot, add chopped onion. At this time, you may want to sprinkle a dash of salt to the onion, to expedite the cooking process. Sauté till slightly brown. Add chopped garlic, ginger and sauté for a minute on low flame. Add chopped tomato, mix well and cook on medium flame till the tomato mixture turns to a nice pulp and starts leaving oil. Now add the chopped green chilly. Ok its now time to add dry masala (corriander powder, garam masala, chilly powder, cumin powder, pepper powder), mix well for a minute on low flame. Add minced chicken, and mix well on high flame for a minute, reduce the flame, add salt to taste, cover the pan and cook around 10 mins. Open and cook till all the water has been absorbed. Don't get frightened, if you see your cooked minced chicken turn into big chunks of mass. Use two flat wooden spoon, pound it on the chicken in quick succession. Pound it till it changes into the consistency as shown in the picture below. Switch the flame off. We are almost done, add chopped coriander and squeeze in a lemon, mix well and allow the mixture to cool.

Make balls out of the dough and then roll it into small circle around 8cms diameter, leaving the centre portion thicker than the edges. Now place 2 tbsps of keema in it (or, as much as you can), bring together the cover from all the sides to the center, seal tightly and roll the parathas. You may use wheat flour to dust and keep the paratha from sticking. Cook on a hot tava, use a little oil, and cook until both sides are golden brown.
I suggest having the hot and delicious parathas as it is, but if you like you can have them with some mango/tomato pickle.