Chicken Briyani

Chicken Briyani is made of chicken cooked with spices and basmati rice.
Ingredients 1

Chicken - 1 kg
Curd(yoghurt) - 3 tbspn
Lemon juice- 1 tbspn
Salt - 1 tspn
Chicken Masala - 2 tspn
GingerGarlic paste- 2 tspn
Turmeric powder - 1 tspn
Coriander powder- 2 tspn
Chilli powder - 1/2 tspn

Ingredients 2

Bay leaf- 2 nos
fennel seeds - 1 tspn
Nutmeg powder - 1 tspn
star anise - 1 no
cardamom - 4 nos
Clove- 5 - 6 nos
cinnamon sticks - 2 - 3 nos



Ingredients 3

Onions - 2 big nos(lengthwise)
Tomato- 2 big nos(cubed)
Green Chilli - 2(slit lenthwise)
Ginger Garlic paste- 3 tbspn
Coriander- a bunch(chopped finely)
pudina(mint leaves)-a bunch(chopped finely)
Ghee(clarified butter) - 2 tbspn
Basmati Rice - 2 cups
Chicken masala - 3 - 4 tbspn (as per taste)
Oil - 4 - 5 tbspn
salt - acc to taste


Method

Chicken Marination

• wash the chicken(medium size) and set aside
• In a large bowl add 2 tbspn of curd and all the other ingredients 1 and mix it well
  
• Add the chicken to this and leave it aside for min of 40 mins
• wash and soak the basmati rice for a min of 30 mins
  
• In a pressure cooker or a heavy bottomed pan heat oil
• and then add the ingredients 2 except nutmeg powder and wait till they splutter ( 1 min)
  
• and then add the onions cut lengthwiseand saute it for few mins
• then add the nutmeg powder and saute it
• then add the green chillies , coriander leaves,mint leaves and tomaotes and saute for few mins
• then add the ginger garlic paste and saute it for sometime till the tomatoes get smashed
• then add the marinated chicken and salt and chicken masala..(Add 2 tbspn of chicken masala and then as per taste adjust accordinly)
• cook for some time till the chicken is almost cooked
• drain the water from basmati rice and set aside
  
• in the mean time heat a pan and add the ghee and then add then add the basmati rice
• saute it carefully and when the flavour of basmati arises and the rice does not stick to one another at this stage switch off from flame
• now add this basmati rice along with the chicken which is almost cooked
• taste for masala and spice level and then add 3 cups of water..the rice shud be just immersed in water
• close the lid and keep the flame in lowand wait until the rice cooks
• when the rice is cooked arnish with coriander and enjoy it with raita and eggs.

Sweet Mango Pickle

This is my all time favourite!!!! whenever i make this i get reminded of my childhood days where my grand mom used to make this for me n my cousins... we used to relish with curd rice. we all used to sit around our grand mom and she used to give curd rice on our palms and we used to lick mango pickle along with it. This week as i was passing by i found mangoes on the trees ...wat a beautiful sight ...i stopped my car and i plucked enough mangoes
this ia a very simple recipe

Ingredients

Mangoes - 1 no (refer pic below for size)
Oil - 1 tspn
Chilli powder - 1/4 tsp
Mustard seeds - 6 to 7 seeds
Urad dal (splitted) - 6 to 7 seeds
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Jaggery(powdered) - 3 tspn


Method

• Cut the mangoes into cubes ..u can also cut them into small pieces.
• heat oil in a pan and allow the mustard seeds and urad dal to splutter
• then add the magoes and saute them for say about 7 to 9 mins
• then add the salt and chilli powder and saute for 2 mins
  
• then add around 3 tsp[ns of powdered jaggery and saute so that the mangoes get coated with the melted jaggery
• wait for 2 mins and then remove from flame
• sweetish tangy mango pickle is ready in mins
• cool and then enjoy with curd rice
• according to ur taste u can adjust the amount of jaggery

Shahi Paneer

Making paneer

Ingredients

milk powder - 4 tbspns(heaps)
water - 1 big glass
vinegar - 1 tbspn

Paneer is an Indian cheese n tastes yummy..
i usually prefer to make paneer with full cream milk but since i cant find any good full cream milk here in Africa ...i have used the nestle milk powder .

• take 4 tbspns(heaps) of milk powder in a boiling pan and add a big glass of water and mix it thorougly so that there are no heaps
• now heat this milk until it begins to boil ..at this stage add one tbspn of vinegar and after few secs switch off flame . the result will look like the pic below - the paneer n the water wud've separated
• filter this and spread the paneer on a plate..
• cover the paneer with damp cloth and a place a heavy vessel filled with water and let it set for a min of 3 - 4 hrs.. i usually leave it for 6-7 hrs. then cut into pieces and freeze it..

Ingredients for shahi paneer

Onion - 2 big ones
Tomato - 1 big one
Cloves - 6 nos
Cardamom - 6 nos
Whipped Cream - 20 cl
Paneer - 2 cups
Cashew nuts - few nos(optional)
Kashmiri chilli powder - 1 tspn
Coriander powder - 1 tspn
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tspn
Garam masala - 1/2 tspn
Oil - 2 tbspn

Method

• leave the paneer at room temperature atleast 2 - 3 hrs before preparing...so that it is soft
• now grind the onions n tomatoes to a fine paste n set aside
• heat 1 1/2 tbspn oil in a pan and add the cloves n cardamom n let it splutter and then add the ground onion tomato paste.
• keep stirring for a while n then leave it till the water from the paste gets dried . this will take around 20 mins...this step is very important as this gets rid of the raw smell from the onion-toamto pste
  
• when the onion- tomato begins to stick then add 1/2 tbspn of oil n keep stirring
• after few mins add the dry masala(Coriander powder, kashmiri chilli powder, turmeric,garam masala n salt acc to taste)
• saute this for a min or 2 and then add the whipped cream to this and keep stirring for 3 mins and then add the paneer cubes ...make sure that the paneer is coated evenly with the paste n care shud be taken not to break the paneer cubes.
• switch off from flame and transfer to another dish.
• garnish with cashew nuts (optional)... here i have not used cashew nuts for taste preferences
  
• serve with hot parathas or roti