Mutton Machboos

This recipe is one of the best rice recipes in Middle East and I learnt this from one of my friend :) . The same recipe can be used to make with Chicken, fish ( fish has to be fried coated with chilli powder and salt and added to the rice in the last ) or vegetables ( carrots, potatoes, peas, cauliflower and capsicum ) . 

The real version of Machboos is non spicy as majority of the arabs eat non spicy food  but we asians rock with hot spices :) and I hence I made very small variations to suit our Asian taste buds . If you want to take a break from the normal biriyanis and fried rice stuff , you can try this yummy rice , it looks like biriyani but it will taste different for sure :) .

Ingredients: 

Tender Mutton : 1/2 Kg with bones

Basmathi rice : 2 cups ( washed and soaked in water for one hour and then fried for 5 minutes in 2 table spoon oil without water)

Potatoes : 2 medium sized cubed into 3 inch pieces 

Capsicum : 2 nos deseeded and cut into cubes 

Onion : One big size sliced thin

Green chillies :  7 nos whole 

Tomatoes  : 3 medium size but into big cubes 

Ginger garlic paste: 2 tablespoon

Black lemon : 2 nos (wash it and pierce holes on it using a knife) 

whole Black pepper : 1 teaspoon 

Bay leaf : 2 peices    

Cinnamon sticks : 2 peices

Green cardamon : 4 nos

Cloves: 4 nos

Chilli Powder  : 1 teaspoon

Pepper Powder : 1 teaspoon

Curry Powder : 1 teaspoon ( I use Madras curry powder)

Cumin powder : 1 teaspoon

Tomato Paste : 4 tablespoon ( I prefer using the packet ones as it gives good colour)

Oil : 1/4 cup

Salt to taste  

Method:

1. Take a big pot and add 1/4 cup oil and when hot add bayleaves, cinnamon, cardamon, cloves , one teaspoon whole blackpepper and mix well and add one big sliced  onion and fry till golden brown and then add 2 tablespoon ginger garlic paste and fry till it starts sticking to the pan and now add the cubed tomatoes,  tomato paste and fry well till the raw smell of the tomatoes goes and when it starts becoming mushy, add the mutton and fry well for 5 minutes and then add 2 pierced black lemons  and then the spices ( one teaspoon chilli powder, one teaspoon curry powder, one teaspoon blackpepper powder and one teaspoon cumin powder ) and  mix well and add some water and enough salt and close the lid and cook the mutton in slow fire  and when meat is half done add the capsicum and 2 handful of finely chopped coriander leaves and  mix well and keep cooking till the meat is tender.

2. Now add the soaked rice ( you can fry the soaked rice without water in a tablespoon of oil in a kadai for 5 minutes and then use the same as this will avoid the rice getting mussy ).

3. See  the water level in the pan and it should be 1: 11/2 (one cup rice and one half cup water ). Now at this stage taste the water and adjust salt and   keep the fire on medium and cook for 5 minutes and then keep an old frying pan on fire and keep the vessel on top of it on very verylow fire and close with a tight lid and keep in dhum for 30 minutes . 

4. Yummy machboos is ready :) to be served with onion yogurt (curd ) raitha .

 

Eggless 8 Minutes Banana Bread

This is the yummiest and easiest recipe in just 8 minutes :) . This can be easily done in a normal cooking mode Microwave Oven in 8 minutes and it can also be baked in normal oven. I prefer the microwave version as it can be done in minutes. This is a quick and ideal breakfast bread and if you make this for kids they would have a real blast :). 

Ingredients:


Self Raising Flour / Maida  - One cup
Ripe Banana - 1 and half cup mashed well
Baking Powder - 1 teaspoon
Baking soda - 1/2 teaspoon
Castor sugar or Brown sugar - 3/4 cup
Milk - 1/3 cup
Cooking oil either corn or sunflower - 1/4 cup
Crushed Nuts & Raisans- 1/4 cup any nuts of your own choice

Method:


1. Seive the flours , baking powder and baking soda together so that it mixes well and keep aside.

2. Mix the castor sugar or brown sugar in 1/4 cup oil and milk and beat well with a hand beater and then add this to the flour mixture and mix well and also add the mashed bananas 1 and half cups and beat well in a hand blender till everything mixes well to a smooth texture, just mix it for 3 minutes and not for a long time and finally mix in the nuts.

3. grease an microwave dish and pour the mixture and bake for 8 minutes in high cooking mode . Once done insert a toothpick and if it is done it will come out clean and if not bake for another 2 minutes.

4. Allow it to cool well and then transfer and slice and enjoyyy :)

Note: If you use castor sugar the bread will be in a whiter shade and if you use brown sugar the bread gets a good colour and it tastes different. I prefer using brown sugar.

Aloo Tikki

This is my all time favourite whenever I feel like making some snack using potatoes in the evenings, I instantly prefer doing this , it is quick and easy and it is a big hit in my family J . A good Starter for parties, you can even do on the previous day and keep it in fridge and fry it on the next day.

Ingredients:

Potatoes: 3 medium sized potatoes boiled and mashed

Onion : one finely chopped

Green chillies : 6 Finely chopped

Ginger : 2” inch piece grated fine

Coriander leaves: handful chopped finely

Curry leaves : a few finely chopped

Corn flour : 2 tablespoons ( Mix it with quarter cup water and keep aside )

Bread crumbs : one cup

Ordinary White Bread : 5 slices ( Dip for a second in water and squeeze out all the water )

Oil for frying

Salt to taste

Method:

1.   Take a Mixing bowl and add the mashed potatoes, onions, greenchillies, curry leaves, coriander leaves, grated ginger , soaked bread , salt and mix well till it becomes smooth and then make small balls and shape it like oval balls and keep aside  .

2.       Now dip the tikkis in cornflour mixture and then roll it in the bread crumbs and deep fry in  oil in medium heat till golden brown and the tikkis will  burn if you fry in high fire .

Note: Dipping in the cornflour  or egg  and breadcrumbs is optional and it can be deep fried even without this and I had done it without dipping in cornflour and bread crumbs still it is very crispy but it should be fried in hot oil and then on  medium heat . 

 Serve with tomato or chilli sauce .

Chicken Bread

I always had a craze to learn baked dishes and a few times I had tried a few recipes and always failed in one step or the other but always blamed my oven and kept cribbing that I dont have a right oven in place,   but in the same oven this is the first baking recipe which turned out absolutely perfect and fabulous. I learnt this also from a TV channel and is a unique recipe to impress your loved ones :) .  A must try recipe and vegetarians can  substitute veggies or anything they wish and amend the ingredients stuffing to their taste buds but never change the proportion of the dough as this is really a perfect dough for any kind of stuffing . 

Ingredients for Dough:

Maida or All purpose flour - 4 cups /16 OZ (1/2 Kg)
Milk Powder - 2 Tablespoon
Cooking Oil - 1/4 cup
Instant yeast - 1 tablespoon
Castor Sugar - 1 teaspoon
Salt- 1 teaspoon leveled
Egg -1
Lukewarm water

Dough Mixture Preparation:

Take a vessel add the flour and add all the ingredients as measured above, add yeast, milk powder, cooking oil, castor sugar, salt , egg and knead it well with lukewarm water to a chappati dough consistency and keep it in a greased vessel and brush some oil over the dough and keep it covered in a warm place for one hour till the dough becomes double.

Stuffing Chicken Mixture:

Ingredients for stuffing:

Chicken 1/2 KG boiled with salt and shredded ( or use boneless peices and boil with salt and shred)

Butter- 3 tablespoon

Onion- One big onion finely chopped

Maida or All purpose flour - 2 tablespoon

Salt- one tablespoon

Black pepper powder- 1 tablespoon

Green chillies- 4 nos chopped finely

Garam masala Powder -1/2 teaspoon

Milk- one cup

Tomato Sauce- 1 tablespoon

Coriander leaves- Finely chopped 2 tablespoons

Method to prepare stuffing:

• Take a non stick pan or tawa , heat it and add 3 tablespoon butter and add the chopped onion and fry till it turns pink and then add 2 tablespoon maida and mix well for a minute and then add salt, pepper powder, green chillies , garam masala powder and mix well and add one cup milk, and mix well in low fire till it becomes thick and now add the boiled shredded chicken and mix well for 2 minutes and then add tomato sauce and coriander leaves and mix well and then remove from fire. The mixture should be thick and not watery.

Dough Stuffing:

Ingredients:

One egg

one tablespoon til/sesame seeds

Kead the doubled dough well using hands for a minute and then take a big handful size of dough and roll the entire flour into oval shape with 1/4 inch thickness like the thin crust pizza and then make small cuts on the sides of the rolled dough till the end on both sides and keep the prepared mixture in between and start overlapping the cuts from both the sides as shown in the picture and once done , brush the bread with egg and sprinkle some til /sesame seeds on top of the bread and keep it aside for another half an hour to rise and then bake it 200 degree centigrade for 20 minutes till it browns on the top .

You can also make make small croissants using the same filling and bake in the same procedure.

You can also do your own kind of stuffing with vegetables or eggs or mince meat as per your choice but see that the stuffing stays thick.

It is a worth trying dish which suits for partys and dinners :)

Thanjavur Spicy Chicken Curry

Ingredients:

Chicken - 1 Kg with bones
Onions - preferably shallots one cup chopped roughly ( for grinding)
Onions - preferably shallots one cup chopped roughly ( for seasoning)
Tomato - 2 big ripe ones chopped finely
Ginger Garlic Paste - 2 tablespoons
Red Chilli Powder - 1 tablespoon
Coriander Powder - 3 tablespoons ( always use 1:3 ratio chilli powder and coriander powder)
Tumeric Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Cumin seeds- 2 tablespoons
Fennel Seeds - 1 tablespoon
KhusKhus / Poppy Seeds - 1 tablespoon
Bay leaves- 1 peice
Cinnamon- 1" stick
Cloves -3 nos
Green cardamon - 2 nos
Grated fresh coconut - 1/2 cup
Curry leaves a handful
Coriander leaves to garnish
Oil as required
Salt as required

Method:

For Grinding:

Take a tawa and heat 2 tablespoon oil and add 2 tablespoons cumin seeds and curry leaves and once it splutters add one cup onion and fry well till the onions turn slight brown and then add one tablespoon fennel seeds and one tablespoon khus khus and also add the grated fresh coconut 1/2 cup and mix well for just a minute and remove from fire , cool and grind it into a very fine paste and keep aside.

For Curry:

Take a pressure cooker or use a thick bottomed vessel and add 5 tablespoons oil, once hot add a peice of bay leaf, 3 cloves, 2 cardamons, a peice of cinnamon stick and fry well then add 1/4 cup of finely chopped onion or shallots and curry leaves, once the onions starts turning brown, add 2 tablespoons of ginger garlic paste and fry well till starts sticking to pan and then add the 2 finely chopped tomatoes and to it add tumeric powder 1/4 teaspoon, and add enough salt ( salt will allow the tomatoes to cook quickly) and once the oil starts leaving the tomatoes, add 1 tablespoon chilli powder and 3 tablespoons coriander powder and then add the chicken peices immediately and saute them well for 5 minutes without adding water.

When the chicken turns white then add the grinded masala and adjust water and salt and close the lid and let the chicken cook till done. Dont add too much of water and the gravy should be not very watery nor very thick.

For Tarka:

Transfer to bowl and if you wish you can take a small pan and add 2 tablespoon oil, add 1/2 spoon mustard seeds , 3 whole red chillies and a bunch of curry leaves and pour it over the curry to get a fabulous texture on the curry and the flavor is really amazing.

This curry can also be done with mutton and I personally feel the mutton curry is more yummier than the chicken curry using this recipe.

Palak Panner

The combination of Palak with veggies or meat is really amazing and with panner it is really mind blowing. I learnt this recipe from a Pakistani cooking channel and from the first attempt it never went wrong and it is really a rich and yummy recipe with simple ingredients and worth trying . It is an apt dish for parties to serve  with soft chappatis , butter naans or pulkas and sure to get a compliment . 

Ingredients:

Palak Leaves : 1/2 Kg

Soya Leaves : 2 table spoon

Panner cubes : 300 Grams ( shallow fry this in oil till it slightly changes the colour and dont burnt it )

Onion: One big onion chopped fine

Milk : One cup

Ginger Garlic Paste : 2 teaspoons

Black Pepper Powder : 1 and 1/2 teaspoon

Butter : 3 tablespoons

Fresh Cream - 3 tablespoons

Method:

1. Blanch the cleaned palak leaves in hot water for 2 minutes with a pinch of salt to retain colour and after two minutes wash it again with cold water and keep aside.

2.Now take a kadai and pour one cup milk and add the blanched palak leaves and washed soya leaves 2 teaspoon in the milk and cook for 5 minutes, cool and then grid it to a course paste along with the milk in the kadai( make sure you dont grind this to a very fine paste).

3. Take another kadai and add 3 tablespoons butter and once hot add the finely chopped onions and fry well it turns pink and then add the ginger garlic paste and fry well for 2 minutes and now add the palak & soya leaves paste and add one teaspoon black pepper powder and one teaspoon red chilli powder and fry well till the raw smell of chilli powder disappears and adjust water if required and then add the shallow fried panner cubes and mix well finally add the fresh cream and mix well and remove from fire and serve hot with chappatis, nans or pulkas.

This is a must try recipe and it is absolutely delicious.