Hyderabadi Dum Ka Mutton Biryani

Hyderabad is famous for its Dum Biryani. Being a Hyderabadi, I have always savoured this dish. Whenever we go to Devon Street in Chicago, we never miss the opportunity to enjoy authentic Hyderabadi Dum Biryani.

It is a traditional celebration meal made using goat meat and rice and is the staple of a die-hard Hyderabadi. The Hyderabadi Biryani is so named as it is created in the city of Hyderabad, India. The blending of mughlai and Telangana cuisines in the kitchens of the Nizam (ruler of the historic Hyderabad State), resulted in the creation of Hyderabadi Biryani. [1]

Ingredients
Mutton - 1 lb

Basmati Rice - 1 lb
Kesari food color - 1/4 tsp

Butter - 3 tsps

Onion - 3 large

Milk - 10 tsps

Ginger Garlic Paste - 2 tsps

lemon - 1

Eggs - 5 Boiled

Green Chillies - 1

Chopped Cilantro - 2 cups

Mint Leaves - 1 whole bunch

Spices

Cloves - 10
Cinnamon Sticks - 10 medium
Anise Star - 2
Elachi - 10
Bayleaves - 5
shajeera - 1 tsp
Jeera - 2 tsp

For Marinating Mutton

Yogurt - 1 cup
Turmeric - 1 tsp
Green Chillies slit (small) - 2
Ginger Garlic Paste - 3 tsps
Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
half lemon squeezed juice - 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Salt - 2 tsps

Wash Mutton thoroughly. Make medium sized pieces of Mutton and marinate the same with all the above ingredients for atleast 24 hours.

Procedure
1) Cook basmati rice with half of all the spices, salt, 1 tsp butter (not completely cooked)
2) Drain water from rice and keep it aside.
3) Take a big vessel and add 2 tsps butter, 3 tsps oil. Dice 1 onion and start frying it in the vessel. Add copped Mint Leaves to the same.
4) Crush Anise Star into powder. Add the same along with remaining spices, slit green chillies and fry.
5) After the onions are cooked, add 2 tsps Ginger Garlic paste and fry it until the raw smell disappears.
6) Add the marinated mutton and let it cook until almost done. The curry should come together. I normally cook mutton in a pressure cooker for 2 whistles or until done.

7) Add salt if necessary. Add 2 tsps Shan Biryani Masala (Sindhi Biryani) and 2 tsps Garam Masala Powder. Cook it for 5 more minutes and turn off the stove.
8) Take milk in a container, warm it. Add kesari color to the milk. Add 2 cups of cooked rice to the same and mix it well. Keep it aside.
9) Cut 2 Onions thinly sliced length-wise. Fry them in butter+oil until it gets a good brown color (caramalized) and keep it aside for Garnishing.

Layering
1) Preheat oven at 375 deg.
2) Take a deep bottomed alluminium tray. Butter its inside walls properly.
3) Keep one cup of cooked rice aside. Divide each of rice, mutton curry, coriander leaves, caralamized onions and saffron colored rice into 2 portions.
4) Add one layer of rice (1/2), one layer of mutton curry ( 1/2 ), one layer of coriander leaves, one layer of caramalized onions ( 1/2) and one layer of Saffron colored rice ( 1/2) in the same order.

5) Repeat this process for one more time with the rest of the portions in the same order. So, the top most layer now is saffron colored rice. Layer it with 1 cup of cooked rice that we kept aside in Step 3.

6) Garnish it Cilantro. Make holes for eggs on the top layer. Make 2 halves of each egg. Place eggs in the holes we made.
7) Place the tray in the oven carefully and cook the same for 40 mins. Check if the rice is cooked. Ifnot, keep the tray back in the oven and cook until done.
8) After it is done, allow the biryani to rest in the oven for 10 more minutes. Take the tray out and squeeze half lemon on the top and mix it slowly.

Biryani tastes great with Kheera Raitha and Mirchi Ka Salan.

References:

1. Wikipedia

Sambar

Hello frienz!!! I am posting one of my all time favourite dishes - Sambar. I love sambar with anything and everything edible :). It tastes great with Rice, Idli or even Dosa. This is one of the dishes that turns out great every time I make.


Ingredients
Kandi Pappu / Toor Dal - 1 cup
Onion - 1 Large
Tomato - 1 Large
Green Chillies - 3 Medium
Tamarind - Lemon ball sized
Curry Leaves - 1 Sprig
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Sambar Powder - 2 tsps
Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp
Vegetables Diced - 2 cups

We can use Brinjal, Drumsticks, Dosakaya (Cucumber), Carrot, Beans, Radish etc.

1) Cook Dal in Pressure cooker with 2 cups of water until dal becomes mushy.
2) Cut 3/4th onion, length wise. Put all the vegetables along with onion, slit greenchillies, diced tomato, turmeric, tamarind extract and salt in a container.
3) Pour water until all the vegetables float. Let the vegetables boil until tender.
4) Mash cooked dal and add it to the veggies. Add Red chilli powder and mix everything together.
5) Let the sambar boil on medium heat while stirring occasionally. At this stage, I normally boil sambar for more than half an hr.
6) Add Sambar powder and Cilantro to sambar.
7) Pour oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds, jeera, urad dal to the pan. After mustard seeds start to splutter, add remaining chopped onion and garlic along with curry leaves. Fry everything until onions become translucent.
8) Add tadka to sambar while the sambar is boiling. I normally take a spoonful of sambar and clean the pan in which I did tadka. Then I pour that back into the sambar. This gives a very good taste to sambar. Trust me :)
9) Let sambar boil for 5 more minutes and turn it off.

Tip : Cut Brinjal without removing the stalk. Just like we do it for guthi vankaya.

Fiber Rich Food

This is some information I have collected about fiber rich food and thought I would share with you. Fiber rich food should be a very important part of everyone's diet. American Dietetic Association recommends intake of 20-35 grams of dietary fiber every day.

There are 2 types of fiber.

1. Soluble fiber slows down the digestion process. It helps our body in absorbing the key nutrients from our diet. It helps in reducing the cholesterol level in blood.

Food such as fresh fruit, dried fruit, vegetables, lentils, peas, oats, potatoes, soy products etc. are rich in Soluble fiber

2. Insoluble fiber helps food to pass more quickly through the stomach and intestines. It prevents constipation.

Insoluble fiber can be found in food such as nuts, seeds, whole grain, brown rice, cracked wheat etc.

Following is a list of Fiber rich food

• Beans (chickpeas, lentils etc.), stews and curries, Oats, Barley, Oatmeal, Soy products, Lentils.
• Vegetables such as asparagus, green beans, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, spinach, squash, potato with skin on and canned tomatoes also have about 2 grams of fibre per 1/2-cup serving. Aim for 3 servings of these fiber-rich vegetables per day.
• Whole-grain or multi grain breads, wheat bran or oat bran muffins or those with added wheat germ contain 2 grams of fiber per slice.
• Fruits that are eaten with the peel (such as apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, plums, etc.) or containing edible seeds (berries) such as blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries etc. have about 2 grams of fiber per whole fruit or half cup of berries. Among all the fruits, raspberries have highest fiber content.
• Dried fruits such as dates, prunes, figs, apricots and raisins are great source of fiber.
• Most important point is, make sure you drink atleast 8 to 10 glasses of water daily. It helps the digestive system to adjust to all that fiber.

How much does one serving weigh?
One serving would be roughly equal to the amount of fruit/veggies that you can pick up with a loose fist.

Veggie Pizza

Ingredients

All Purpose Flour/Maida - 1 1/2 cup

Active Dry Yeast - 1/2 tbsp

Honey - 3/4 tbsp

Olive oil -3 tbsp

Water - 1/2 cup

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Mozarella cheese - 1 1/2 cups

Tomato ketchup - 3 tsps

Green chilli sauce - 1 tsp

Onion - 1 medium

Tomato - 1 small

Bellpeper - 1 meduim

Jalapeno - as required

Pineapple chunks - 1 small can

Process for making the dough

1) Take warm water in a small container and add yeast to it. Mix it once and leave the solution aside to rise (for about 5 mins).

2) Take a wide container and add flour, honey and salt. Mix everything once and start making the dough with yeast water and olive oil. Press the dough as hard as you can.

3) The consistency of the dough should neither be too soft nor too hard. Add more water or dough as necessary.

4) Dampen a paper towel and place it on the container.

5) Allow the dough to rise in a warm area (preferably oven).

6) After 45mins, you can notice that the dough has risen around double its size. Punch the thouroughly until it comes to its normal size. Do the same punching two more times in 1 hour intervals. Now, the dough is ready to be used.

This recipe makes a 10 inch pizza.

Process for making the pizza

1) Pre-heat the oven at 400 deg.

2) Take a big pan. Brush it with olive oil.

3) Take the pizza base and place it on the pan. Punch the dough slowly using your knuckles.

4) Spread tomato ketchup and chilli sauce on the pizza dough leaving about 1 inch towards the side.

5) Spread all the cut veggies on the pizza base. At the end top it with cheese.

6) Bake the pizza for about 20 - 25 mins.

Pizza is ready to savour. Bon appetite.

~CG

Saada Laddu

Saada laddus are very easy to make and are very tasty too. I learnt this recipe from my Mother-in-law and here it is for you.


Ingredients

Besan - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 1/2 Cup
Fresh grated coconut - 1/2 Cup
Elachi/Cardamom - 3 pods
Cashew - 10
Raisins - 10
Ghee - 1/2 cup
Water - 1/2 cup

1) Take a big pan and make sugar syrup with 1/2 cup of water. The consistency of the sugar syrup should be the same as we make for gulab jamun.
2) Slowly add grated coconut to the syrup by continously stirring.
3) Let the coconut boil in the syrup for 10 minutes.
4) Add Besan to syrup and stir it continously. Add ghee and keep stirring for about 10-15 mins until the raw smell is gone.
5) Crush Elachi in a pestle/mortar. Fry cashews and raisins in ghee. Add them to the pan along with Elachi powder.
6) Turn off the stove and let the mixture cool for around 15 mins.
7) Make the laddus and let them cool. Saada Laddus can be stored in an air tight container for more than 10 days.

Rava Kesari / Sooji Halwa

Ingredients

Sooji / Upma Rava - 1 cup
Water - 3 cups
Sugar - 1 cup
Cardamom(Elachi) pods - 2
Cashews - 10
Raisins - 10
Kesari(Orange) food color - pinch
Ghee - 2 tbsp

1) Heat 1 tbsp Ghee in a pan.
2) Add Sooji to the pan and start frying it on low heat.
3) Boil 3 cups of water in a seperate vessel.
4) Add food color to the boiled water.
5) After Sooji starts to give nice aroma, slowly start pouring boiled water while mixing. Make sure you continously mix Sooji without forming any lumps.
6) Add sugar slowly to the pan while mixing.
7) Fry Cashews and Raisins in 1 tbsp of ghee until golden brown.
8) Powder the Cardomom pods in a pestle/mortar.
9) Add fried cashews, raisins and cardamom powder to the Halwa and mix it once.

Kesari and Poori combination is a real treat.

Tip : We can even use milk and water combination instead of just water.

Bendi Fry with Peanuts

Ingredients

Bendakayalu(Bendi) - 1 1/2 lbs

Onion (Medium) - 2

Peanuts - 1 cup

Curry Leaves - 1 Sprig

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Urad Dal - 1 tsp

Chana Dal - 1 tsp

Jeera - 1 tsp

Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp

1) Take a wide pan and add 3 tbsps of oil. After the oil heats up, add Mustard seeds,Urad Dal, Chana Dal and Jeera.

2) After the mustard seeds start to splutter, add peanuts, chopped onions, curry leaves and turmeric to the pan.

3) Fry the onions until half done and add chopped Bendi.

4) Start frying the Bendi, until half done. Add Salt and red chilli powder.

5) Continue to fry the curry until it is done.

Bendi fry and Tomato Pappu(Dal) is an excellent combination. My mouth is starting to water, just thinking about the combi.

Tips : Make sure you fry the curry without the lid on the pan(if not, Bendi gets soggy). Fry on medium heat.

Palakura Pappu

Palakura Pappu or Spinach Dal is an easy, healthy yet tasty curry. In winter, I always have a bag of frozen spinach in my freezer.

Ingredients

Spinach - 1 Bunch
Toor Dal - 1 cup
Green Chillies - 3
Onion (medium) - 1
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Tamarind - Lemon sized ball
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Jeera - 1 tsp
Red Chillies - 2
Garlic Cloves - 2
Curry Leaves - 1 sprig

1) Wash dal and pour 3 cups of water. Start boiling dal on medium heat.
2) Chop spinach leaves and slit green chillies.
3) Soak tamarind in warm water for a minute and extract the juice out of the same.
4) After the dal is half cooked, add chopped spinach leaves, chopped onion, turmeric and green chillies.
5) Let the spinach and dal cook well (make sure you donot over mix the curry).
6) After it is almost cooked, add tamarind extract and salt. Let the curry cook for 5 more minutes.

For tempering/popu/tadka

Add 2 tbsps of oil to a container. After the oil heats up, add avalu(mustard seeds), red chillies, jeera, urad dal. After the mustard seeds start to splutter, add curry leaves and chopped garlic to the same.

Spinach dal, rice and ghee with usirikaya pickle is an awesome combination.

Vedi Vedi Pakodi (Pakora)

It is so cold in chicago... and what's better then garma garam pakodi.. hhuh? Pakodi is the best snack you could ask for on a rainy day or on a cold day... they are the best


Ingredients

Senaga Pindi (Besan Flour) - 3 cups
Rice Flour - 1 cup
Chopped Cilantro - 1/2 cup
Onions (medium) - 3
Cashews - 15
Curry Leaves - 1 Sprig
Green Chillies - 2
Vegetable / Canola oil

1) Sift both the flours into a wide container (easy to mix).
2) Cut the onions length wise.
3) Heat 1/4th cup of oil until warm. Add this oil to the Flours.
4) Add Cilantro, Onions, Cashews, Curry Leaves, Finely chopped Green Chillies and salt to the same.
5) Mix the batter well (It should be crumbly).
6) Heat required amount of oil in a wide skillet. Bring it to a boil on medium heat.
7) Take the batter in your hand and slowly drop them as small fritters.
8) Make sure they are not over fried.

Pakodis can be stored for upto a week. Make sure they come to a room temperature before storing them in a container. Pakodis are great for an evening snack with hot tea.

Paramannam - Rice pudding

This is my first recipe on this blog :)

Paramannam/Annam Payasam is a traditional South Indian delicacy made on all festive occasions. Paramannam is a desert known to many cultures [1] all around the world. Paramannam is usually made with jaggery as the sweetener. Jaggery can also be substituted with sugar, like in my recipe. This is a simple and easy to cook dish.



Ingredients

Sona Masuri Rice - 1 cup
Pesara pappu (Moong Dal) - 1/2 cup
Milk (Whole Milk) - 6 Cups
Sugar - 1 1/2 cup
Ghee - 3 tbsp
Cardamom Pods - 3
Golden Raisins - 15
Cashews - 15

1. Wash rice and pesara pappu together and keep it aside.
2. Bring milk to boil in a deep non-stick pan on medium heat.
3. Add rice and pesara pappu in small portions to the boiling milk, (stir this mixture occasionally).
4. When the rice is very tender, add sugar, stir it till all the sugar dissolves. Now set the heat to medium-low.
5. In a small pan, heat ghee over medium heat and fry cashews. Then add raisins and fry them till the raisins puff up.
6. Add the ghee, fried cashews and fried raisins to the cooked rice.
7. Crush the cardamom pods and mix them thoroughly in paramannam.

Paramannam can be served hot or cold.
Serving size: 5

References:
1. Wikipedia