Cooking Kerala Matta Rice with Instapot

 I had to do a far and long search on the world wide web to arrive at these nifty surefire steps to get perfectly cooked matta rice every time, when using an Instapot (IP).

1. matta rice - washed & soaked for at least 30 min and drained. use a 250ml cup.

1.5 to 2 cups if using 3Qt IP

        3.5 to 4 cups if using 8Qt IP

2. Fill the IP container with water up to the 1/2 mark and turn saute on to warm up the water.

3.  Add the rice and then add enough water till the level is just below the Max mark.

4. Close lid and set vent to seal mode

5. Pressure cook on high for 12 min. Make sure 'keep warm' is selected.

6. Once cooking is done, wait until keep warm timer climbs up to 10-15 min

7. Wait until all pressure is released naturally or keep the IP under sink faucet and direct a gentle  thin stream of cold water to accelerate the process

8. Open, drain and enjoy delicious matta rice cooked to perfection!

I've noticed that rice drained this way, stays hot enough serve for quite a long time even if left as-is in the strainer.

Rice, Coconut, Jaggery Dumpling aka Kozhukatta for Lazarus Saturday

This nostalgic snack seems to be connected to the Eastern Church origins of Kerala christianity.  The native name in Malayalam seems to have originated from the shape and content of the snack  which is stuffed with a coconut and jaggery mix. Here 'kozhu/kozhi' is for hen and 'katta' could be for the egg shape. This is my conjecture upon finding that the Saturday before palm Sunday has no commonly used name in Roman catholicism while it is celebrated as Lazarus Saturday in Eastern Christianity. A sweet snack named lazarkia is made in Greece and Cyprus to celebrate Lazarus Saturday. That day is simply known as 'kozhukatta sani' in our families and 'sani' of course is Saturday.

In The Mix

rice powder - 1 cup

hot water - 1 cup or more

olive oil - 1 1/5 tbsp

salt to taste

grated coconut - 2 cups

jaggery/'sarkkara' - 200 grams

water - 3/4 cup

cumin powder - 1 tsp

cardamom powder - 1 1/2 tsp

ginger powder - 1/4 tsp

How To Do

Boil water in a pan and add oil and salt to taste. Remove from heat and set aside. Add rice powder in and keep stirring with a spoon until cool enough. Then knead by hand for a minute or so. Make into a loose ball shape and set aside.

Heat water and add the jaggery in. Keep stirring until all jaggery melts. Add cumin, cardamom and ginger powders. Check salt and add as needed. Once the syrup thickens, add coconut and keep stirring until all the water evaporates. The mix should stay soft and pliable.

Take dough in the shape of a small lime and flatten out with your hands. Fill with the jaggery mix and close all back together to form a ball or 'katta'. Add some oil to your hand if the dough sticks. Repeat until dough and mix are done. Be sure to ward off hands that reach for the jaggery mix if you have any hopes of yielding a decent number of these snacks. Be aware that this hand might as well be yours too:-)

                   

Steam cook for 15-20 minutes, let cool and enjoy!

Instapot : Malabar Chicken Biriyani

How many biriyani's can one make at home anyways? My answer to this remained the same up until the pandemic. There is only one and it had to be with lamb if it is to be home made. Then COVID-19 happened and the four of us gathered back under one roof again with no outside options for food until we discovered Doordash. Enter instapot and along with it the versatile biriyani which after all is the best known single dish Indian meal. We need raita and papad but they are accompaniments.  A single dish meal along with a single pan to wash is a real incentive. So I started cooking various items to see what works best with the instapot. The 3qt pot I had didn't yield any leftovers to justify all the prep work. So I got an 8qt to check it out. In retrospect a 6qt would've been fine but I was done trying. Now the 8qt is the appliance of choice for biryanis while the 3 qt is dependable for anything else. 

Most instapot adapted  biriyanis I tried came out good but the one that worked out the best in terms of customer satisfaction and flavor profile is this particular version. Especially for chicken lovers. The base recipe is from malluspice whose recipes are all top notch especially with their authentic malabar flavors. Made some tweaks to use it with instapot and air fryer and for general personal convenience so I can go back to it easily when we feel like it is homemade biriyani time. 

For more flavorful lamb, one might depend on the lamb biriyani recipe from before and adapt for instapot. I'll make a post once I try it out with the ipot. One thing to note is that I don't use ghee anymore because the kids don't like it. Olive oil is always king here when it comes to cooking oil.

In the Mix

basmati rice - 3 cups (250 ml cup)

water - 3 cups

chicken - 2 1/2 lbs (use a mix of drumsticks, boneless chicken breast and thigh) 

                               up to 4 lbs could work with this recipe as I have found.

onions - 5 (1 for raita, 2 1/2 for cooking and 1 1/2 for seasoning)

olive oil - 2 tbsp or enough to coat the onions

cashew nuts - 1/4 cup

raisins - 1/4 cup

cinnamon stick - 2" piece

olive oil - 2 tbsp

garam masala - 1 tbsp or as needed

A 

poppy seeds : 1 1/2 tsp

fennel seeds : 1 1/2 tsp

-use a coffee grinder and make in into a paste by adding some water after

 B

green serrano chili - 100grams

ginger - 50 grams

garlic - 50 grams

-measure with a kitchen scale and chop all together in a chopper

C

cloves - 4

cardamom - 4

bay leaf - 1

- gently crush all together

D

pepper powder - 1 tsp or to taste

turmeric powder  - 1/2 tsp or as needed

biryani masala - 2 tsp or as needed (sub with garam masala)

E

yogurt - 1/2 cup

lemon juice - 2 tsp 

salt - to taste

F

cilantro - 1 1/2 cups chopped (1 cup for cooking and 1/2 for seasoning)

mint - 1 cup chopped

curry leaves - a few sprigs

How To Do

The most time consuming item for me when making biriyani is the onion. So I want to get this out of the way as early as possible. Once I decide on biriyani, I set out to make onions, along with marinating the chicken. If marinating chicken overnight, then make onions also the day before to save time.

Thinly slice all the onions. Use one to make raita and keep refrigerated.

Preheat the air fryer to 390.

Sprinkle oil and salt and gently squeeze the onions together to mix well.

Spread onions in the air fryer basket and do 12 minutes, with a stir at 6 minutes

Remove about 2 1/2 worth of onions for cooking.

Heat the remaining onions for 2-3 more minutes until golden brown for seasoning

Keep all onions refrigerated if you are making the biriyani the next day.

The above steps can be done in the traditional wok and frying in oil or in a regular oven at 425 for 20 min on each side. But I like the air fryer the best.

Cut chicken into large pieces, wash and drain. Depending on how much chicken you have, you can tweak the spices slightly in all steps to match to your taste.

Mix chicken with items from A,B,C,D and set to marinate overnight in the fridge or at least for two hours outside. Do not add E items including salt, if marinating overnight.

Take chicken out about one hour before cooking and add items from E, mix well together and set aside. Take the fried onions out too if done the day before.

Wash and soak the rice in water for 30 minutes, drain and set aside. This is also a good time to check with H to see if you can delegate papad making to him.

Set the instapot to 'saute' and heat 2 tbsp of olive oil.

Add the raisins and heat until they start to puff up and add the cashews. 2-3 minute all together should be good. Use a slotted spoon and set aside along with the golden fried onions for seasoning

Add more oil if needed and add the 2" cinnamon stick. Mix in the onions for cooking and add the marinated chicken. Saute for 5-6 minutes.

Add 1/4 cup water to the chicken bowl to mix with remaining marinade  and add into the chicken at this time. Sprinkle in 1 tbsp or more of garam masala, add all the leaves from F for cooking and mix well. Remember to set aside 1/2 cup of cilantro from this for seasoning needs.

Do check to make sure the pot is still on 'saute' setting.

Check salt and add as needed at this step.  Might want to add a little more than needed to account for the addition of rice. It is good to see if you can reduce the water and make the gravy thicker at this step as that gives the chicken pieces a better color. I normally don't wait for this since the overall flavor is still great. With a wooden spoon and gentle stirring, make sure the bottom of the instapot bowl is deglazed and clean to avoid any BURN warnings later on.

Layer the drained rice onto the top of the chicken mix. Sprinkle in some seasoning (mostly golden onions and some cashews, raisins, cilantro) in between the layers and on top. Do NOT mix. 

Add remaining 2 1/2 cups of water along the sides first and then at the center. Again take care to not mix anything. Check salt and add as needed by mixing only at the top layer.

Close the lid, pressure cook on high for 7 minutes and natural release for 10 minutes. Then open the seal valve and vent the pressure. 

Teriyaki Chicken with Rice & Spinach #coronatime #campuscravings

My son's been missing some aspects of campus life ever since he came home and online schooling started. One day while we were talking, something reminded him of this teriyaki chicken bowl he used to eat at one of the many eateries close to the campus. Seeing how easy it was to make it, I gladly signed on. It was good that we had some chicken and spinach conveniently on hand. With long lines at grocery stores and lack of enough delivery slots at Amazon for WholeFoods, every food decision had to be made with some thought into the availability of ingredients. Turns out this is an easy to make dish where even the home made teriyaki sauce is easy to do!  Checked quite a few sauce recipes and finally settled on this one from cookingclassy  Made some spinach and basmati rice to go with it was a winner in the household. This wholesome meal is definitely here to stay!

In the Mix

boneless chicken breast - 1.5 lbs (chicken thighs are apparently more authentic)
olive oil - 1 tbsp
green onions - optional (I didn't have any)

For Homemade Teriyaki Sauce
soy sauce - 1/4 cup
water - 1/4 cup
honey - 2 tbsp
brown sugar - 1 1/2 tbsp
sesame oil - 1/4 tsp
garlic - 2 cloves minced
ginger - 2 tsp minced
rice vinegar - 1 tbsp
corn starch - 2 tsp

How To Do

Cooking rice ahead of time helps to serve everything hot once chicken and spinach are ready to go.

Wash, drain and cut the chicken into 1" cubes and set aside. Dry with paper towels

Mix the corn starch with rice vinegar in a small bowl and combine with no lumps. Transfer this and the rest of the teriyaki sauce ingredients into a large bowl. Whisk all together and set aside.

Heat oil in medium high heat and add the diced chicken. Cook on one side for about 3 minutes and flip over.

I turned each one over religiously. After about one minute into the second side, pour the prepared sauce over the chicken. Let cook for about 30 seconds before stirring. Cook to a total of 3-4 minutes on the scond side or until the sauce thickens to your liking.

Serve with spinach or any vegetable mix over rice and enjoy! My daughter likes spinach and so it worked out great for both kiddos. Below is a quick note on how to make this particular spinach.

Spinach (3 lbs. washed and drained) - 2 minute recipe
Saute' 3-4 cloves of crushed garlic in 1-2 tbsp of olive oil on medium high heat in a bowl large enough to hold all the spinach.
Add spinach and mix well together. Cover and cook for 1 minute.
Open, mix well again, cover and cook for another minute.
Add salt at the end, remove and serve hot after draining excess water.

Shrimp Biriyani - Quick and Easy - Kid Approved

My kids are lucky to have Haunt who enjoys being the grandma that they so need here. She is their paternal grandma's sister and so their great aunt. This last summer they were invited to spend a week with her in the East and both jumped at the chance. Molu doesn't like the idea of flying without us but she was willing to brave it just so she could be near this very dear person. Kannan was a 'go' from the first. They are all set to go again this summer. One of the things they enjoyed having at Haunt's place was the shrimp biriyani. She said it is simple to make since they don't like a lot of things to be put in it. Works for me! It took a few tries to get it right but now we all enjoy this delicious dish.

In the Mix

shrimp -  3/4 lbs. (12 oz.) medium sized, deveined, shelled, washed and drained

for the marinade
chili powder - 1/2 tsp or less
lime juice - 1 tsp (fresh squeezed)
turmeric - 1/4 tsp
salt - 1/4 tsp

basmati  rice - 4 cups cooked (leftover rice is OK)

olive oil - 3 tbsp
onion - 1 small or 1/2 medium sized - diced
ginger - 1/2 "
chicken biriyani masala -  1 heaped tbsp. or to taste

onion - 1/2 sliced thin. (optional for garnish)
cashew nuts halved - 1 tbsp (optional for garnish)
coconut oil - 2 tsp


How To Do

Mix the cleaned the shrimp with marinade ingredients and let sit overnight in the fridge. If there is no time for overnight, then marinate at least for half an hour at room temp.

Cook the rice in a rice cooker. Add a little less water than recommended so the biriyani rice is not over cooked. Mix with salt as needed using a fork to separate out the rice and set to cool. If the biriyani masala is salty, you might not want to add salt to the rice at this time.

Preheat your toaster oven to 300C.

Heat the oil in a 12" frying pan and add the shrimp. Keep the heat on high to make the process quick. Make sure to keep the shrimp in a single layer. After about a minute, turn over gently with a spatula. Another minute or two will be enough for the shrimp to cook evenly. Remove from heat and drain on paper towels.

Grind the onion and ginger together. I use an immersion blender for a quick grind. Add salt here as needed. HAunt tip: You can add one raw or cooked shrimp to the blender for a flavor burst in the gravy.

Add onion mix to the remaining oil in the pan. Save extra oil if any to mix later with rice. Saute for a few minutes and add biriyani masala. Add salt as needed. Now add the shrimp and mix all together.
The prepared shrimp can be refrigerated at this time to make the biriyani another day. Just heat gently before using as follows.

Mix the cooked rice with any gravy remaining in the shrimp pan. Add leftover shrimp oil if any and add salt as needed.

Spread the bottom of a small baking dish with the shrimp mix. Layer on top with the rice and bake at 300C for 20 minutes. Kid approved shrimp biriyani is best enjoyed with plain yogurt to keep it all simple. I am sure no one will complain if you decide to add the customary papadam and some raita to the menu.

Optional garnish can be sprinkled on top for those who want the biriyani to look a bit more dressy.
Simply fry the onions and saute the cashews in 1 tsp ghee or coconut oil. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle on top in your own plate so the little onion sleuths who are also the main customers will not complain.

Easter Ruminations

Not really ruminations but isn't that a wistful title? I knew that would get your attention and I was right eh? :-) My Hcousin sent me this catchy picture of eggs they decorated in the most innovative way. Loved it and had to put it up. Hope she will not be unhappy that I have it here. She used natural leaves and natural food colors like turmeric following some suggestions from the net. She is a very creative kid. Now, how did we celebrate Easter? Like all good christians we invited some friends over, cooked a nice spread that included ribs, appam, stew, biriyani, raita and semiya payasam in that order. What? Did we go to church? Oh yes. We somehow managed to find some time to fit that in even though we were very busy with all these other activities, you know:-) At least this time we managed! This most important part gets pushed back a lot of the times if we are inviting people over since it is precious cooking time...  No food pictures could be taken as we barely managed to finish things before the guests arrived. End Result : Happy guests and happy hosts.

Work is getting busier and busier as usual with projects mingled with some heavy politics and I was really happy to take this time out to relax. 'Cos if Relax won't come to me I go to Relax:-) Ok I could be a little too relaxed because kids are off all this week and so there is no last minute race against time to cover the measly 5 minutes between home and school. 

In case you haven't noticed, the biriyani recipe link in the first paragraph is not from cheenachatti. It is from a blog that I admire much. Malabar Spices was closed for a while and I was happy to find it open again. Every single recipe I have tried from there has come out well. The flavors are always great and so was this malabar chicken biriyani . Thanks malluspice! I am reproducing it here with slight changes so I won't lose it again. Hope malluspice will approve.


In The Mix

chicken - 5 lbs (I got drumsticks, thighs and breast packages to make up the chicken since we love more meat in the biriyani)

onion – 6 medium sized

tomato - 3 medium sized 

fennel seeds - 2 tsp

poppy seeds  - 2 tsp

grated coconut - 1 tsp

cashew nuts - 4 to 5

small hot green chilies – 25 diced once

ginger - 4 inch piece peeled and diced

garlic pods – 15 large cloves peeled and diced

pepper Powder – 2 tsp

turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

plain yogurt- 1 cup

lemon juice-  juice of 1 lemon (not lime)

salt - as needed

mint leaves - 1 cup chopped

cilantro leaves - 1 cup chopped

curry leaves- a handful

garam masala- 5 heaped tsp. I add a lot of this as we like how it adds richness to the meat 

clarified butter (ghee) -  1/2 cup 

coconut oil - 1/2 cup

cashew nuts – as needed

raisins-  as needed

for the rice:

basmati rice - 4 1/2 cups

cinnamon - 1 stick of 3 inch

cloves  - 4 

cardamom  - 4 

bay leaf - 1

lemon juice- juice of 1/2 lemon

coconut oil - 1 1/2 tbsp

salt to taste

garam masala:

I didn't have the recipe ingredients. So I turned to my trusty garam masala mix as always.

Take equal parts of cardamom powder, cloves powder and cinnamon powders and mix together. Add 1/4 tsp of nutmeg powder if you have it. My HMom sends these in freshly powdered packs and I appreciate the taste it adds to all my curries.

How To Do

Clean the chicken and cut into medium sized pieces. Wash and drain well. 

Soak the fennel seeds and poppy seeds in a bowl with water for an hour at least. 

Dice the tomatoes and slice the onions. One onion should be sliced extra fine. This one is for the garnish.

Add grated coconut and cashew nuts to the soaked seeds and grind it with an immersion blender for a few minutes. Add the ginger, garlic and green chilies to this and grind all to a very coarse paste.
Marinate the chicken with the ground mixture, pepper powder, turmeric, yogurt, lemon juice and salt.

If you have to marinate overnight, omit the salt, lemon juice and yogurt and add that 1 hour before cooking. This is a very important tip from malluspice. Seems to keep chicken tender and in the right texture when heated up.

Heat 1/2 the ghee in a heavy bottomed pan. Add the garnish portion of the sliced onions and fry, till they turn golden brown and crisp. Add a sprinkling of sugar to speed up the process. This should take about 10 minutes on medium low heat. This was the least fun part I think. Remove the onions and stir fry the cashew nuts on medium heat till it turns brown on all sides. Drain and remove. Add the raisins now and stir till they plump up. Remove all  garnish onto paper towels and set aside.

Heat up the remaining  ghee and half the oil and saute the rest of the sliced onions till it becomes translucent. Add the diced tomatoes and saute till tomato almost blends in. Add the rest of the marinade and the biryani masala and the coriander, mint and curry leaves and mix thoroughly.

Take a flat bottomed pan and heat the remaining oil. Add just the marinated chicken, and gently fry it on all sides for 3-4 minutes on high heat.  Lift out of the oil and add this to the sautéed mix and combine well. Cook uncovered on medium high heat for 6-8 minutes.  Then keep it covered and cook on low heat for about 20 minutes. Add water only if there is no liquid for the chicken to cook.  Check frequently to prevent burning and wait till the oil starts to separate. There should be some gravy left and the chicken should be almost cooked, not-coming-apart cooked. Check taste and add more salt or lime, pepper etc as needed.

 Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. 

 Clean and soak rice for 10 minutes. Keep aside. Heat 1 1/2 tbsp of oil and add the whole spices- cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and bay leaves. Sauté for a second and add the drained rice. Stir fry the rice till it turns opaque and add 6 cups water. When the water-rice mix comes to a boil, cover and cook on slow heat till all the water is absorbed. This would take about 6-8 minutes. Add salt to taste and mix gently. 

In an oven proof dish, spread half of the chicken masala and place half of rice over it. Sprinkle some lemon juice to prevent the rice from sticking. Spread the remaining masala and top it with rice followed by lemon juice. 

Close it with a layer of aluminum foil , crimp it along the sides and put it in the oven for 20 -25 minutes. Cooking time can be less than this if chicken or rice got cooked more than intended. Remove and let rest for another 5-10 minutes before opening. 

Since kids don't like the onion,nuts, raisin garnish I add/sprinkle them while serving.

Serve with Raita and Papadam. I thought I had posted a raita recipe earlier but I cannot find it. Will be posting one soon. H makes a mean one and everyone loves it. The biriyani came out so well that I couldn't stop eating it!

Not Sushi, Indo-California Shrimp Rolls!

I never knew H to be a Sushi fan and so was a little perplexed when he plunged wholeheartedly into making California rolls few weeks back. Granted, he was a little rushed with a new job which took up almost all his time and maybe was looking to de-stress. Whatever it was, we had two weeks of fast and furious sushi making. He has since joined a new company which has more of a normal pace and we may never see sushi anymore. He was apparently inspired by a sushi restaurant he frequented for lunch when working at the first place. I am not complaining since as a responsible spouse I feel it my sacred duty to gobble up any such rolls made by H. The fact that they are little pieces of heaven rolled in rice does not sway me one way or another:-)

Let us go into the nitty gritty of sushi making albeit with an Indian touch. There is one equipment you need for sushi making and it is the mat. This is what helps you to roll the rice and it can be found in Japanese grocery stores. H covered it with plastic wrap to stop it from sticking and to help when cleaning up.

In The Mix

japanese short grain rice - 2 cup ( 1 cup makes 3 long rolls - this is the most important item that will make or break your sushi)
water - 2 1/2 cup water
nori (sea weed) - 1 pkg
fish stock powder (dashi) - 1 tsp or to taste)
rice wine vinegar - 1/2 cup - add more or less to taste
 - the above items can be found in japanese stores

fresh shrimp fry - any kerala recipe will do
dried roasted shrimp -  as needed from 1 pkg (you will get this from indian stores)
salt, sugar as needed

Note:
      To add variety to the rolls, use carrots, cucumber and avocado julienned and packed lengthwise inside the rice rolls instead of shrimp or along with it.

How To Do

Prepare fresh shrimp curry following any recipe. Coconut pieces in the shrimp adds to the overall flavor so it is preferred.

Soak the rice in water for 20 minutes.

Boil the vinegar and then add sugar, salt, dashi and mix well. Check and add more of each to your taste.  Over all flavoring should be subtle. Boil once and remove from heat. Stir and set aside to cool.

Prepare the sticky rice by carefully following the directions below:

Wash and drain the rice. Add the water to the rice and cook covered on high heat. When the first steam comes out turn to low and cook for about 20 minutes. Check to see if rice is sticking to the bottom. Rice is done once all the water is gone. Remove from heat right away. Start stirring the rice gently with spoon in one hand while fanning with the other hand to remove any remaining water and to cool down the rice. Add the vinegar mixture and gently stir all together. Result should be sticky but separated evenly flavored rice. Most of the hard work is done. Now for some fun.

Take one seaweed and cut into two. Place a half sheet on the mat and spread the rice evenly onto it.

Now turn this over carefully so the rice side is touching the mat.

Spoon out the shrimp fry in a row on the long side of the sheet close to one edge. Sprinkle some dried shrimp along for crunch factor.

Now start rolling the mat gently so the whole layer of stuff gets rolled. This is why we needed the mat. It helps to roll the rice side without much ado!

Once the inner roll has reached full circle, give an even squeeze along the top for good measure. Remove the mat by rolling the stuff out onto a plate.

Wet a non serrated knife to avoid rice sticking and cut out into small sushi like rolls. You can pop each one into your mouth as they are being cut or wait and try your patience. You will not realize how many you can eat in one sitting until much later!

Unsolicited Advice And A Rice Dish

Hiya folks! It is time for some recipe posts instead of excuses. But first things first...

Salt is slowly re-entering our diet which of course is a welcome situation as I was sharing the 100% no-salt diet in solidarity with my BP sufferer of a husband. It was an eye-opener in many ways. Without the all-encompassing taste of salt we tasted food in its natural form. The main diff was when tasting roasted unsalted nuts and unsalted canned items. Once when we had visitors I made salted and unsalted canned tuna cutlets. After they left, the salted version sat with no takers for a while because we were busy devouring the unsalted beauties! Only caveat is that the unsalted version is a tad bit more expensive. Papadams are the one vice I can't do without and I hear it is loaded with salt. My husband's weakness fortunately is the mackerel which is endowed with ample salt in its natural form! Sure enough we baked quite a few mackerels and now have graduated to frying them gently. Always after marinating them salt free.

We also developed a habit of reading the fine-print for sodium intake and measuring our salt carefully when cooking. It does make a world of difference both in taste and health. As we get older our taste buds need
a burst of flavor to feel anything (see our parents for living examples) and if we are already using a fair amount of salt, this will only go up as time passes since our tongue is aspiring for the same taste as before.  So from now on instead of 'salt to taste' I am going for 'only as needed':-) Always use sea salt if available since that contains less amount of sodium. Potatoes are a good source of potassium which gets lowered when sodium levels skyrocket. If possible do not take any vitamin supplements in tablet form, natural or not. Natural fish oil tablets could be an exception but then  it has to be low in Mercury. All of these are big concerns here in the US because people have been consuming processed food for a long time now. It is slowly changing but healthier means more expensive and could be a while till the good old habits take root again.

Our dish today is very similar to this vermicelly pulau and way easier since you can turn plain leftover rice into a bonafide dinner in no time. Having exhausted our tasty but loaded biriyani dinners I was looking for an alternative lately. That is when the thought bubbled up. Why not fancy up our simple mixed veggie with rice concoction to a pulau/fried rice format? From then on it was smooth sail. Small cooked shrimp and eggs are effortless and well used additions to give taste and flavor.

 The real beauty is that you don't have to watch out for exact measurements in this dish and  you will still achieve fairly good results. Except of course for the salt, which you better watch out and don't say I didn't tell you when you or a family member succumbs to BP, diabets or cholesterol. They are all connected in a way and when you battle one you are battling all. In my brother's words "you have to treat the whole body and mind of the patient regardless of the disease". Did you know that some BP meds can cause sugar levels to go high? How many of you knew that sugar gets converted to triglycerides, spiking up those cholesterol levels? Keep away from refined sugar and go back to the good old brown sugar if you dare:-) I have dared and now can't really tolerate the pure white refined sugar in my coffee or tea.

Once you start watching out for one thing the rest will follow and life will be good. Of course I am not a doc and the only advice I can give that is worth its salt is to do whatever it is that you need to keep stress levels down in your life. Regardless of what it is that you do, be content with it. This is the secret to true happiness
and a healthier life. Think Sidhartha and what he discovered at the end.

Before you raise eyebrows at all the unsolicited dictum that I am churning out today, let us safely ride back to today's recipe. Remember Galileo Galilee who muttered under his breath "but it is really round", after confessing loudly that the earth is flat to avoid excommunication from the Church? I stop here but I hope you hear me muttering "if not for the sake of health, then for the sake of taste start watching what you eat". OKKK? Now here is the dish on the dish in the picture.

In The Mix

cooked rice - from 5 cups of raw rice
green beans - cut into small circles (1 or 2 cups)
              why is this easy? because i got fresh cut beans from the nearby indian store!
cauliflower - 1 small head, peeled of leaves, separated and sliced to smaller pieces
carrots     - 2 or 3, peeled and sliced into thin pieces similar to the thickness of the beans.
serano chillies - 3 or 4 or less - cut into thin discs
red onion - 1 medium sized, peeled and diced into small pieces
egg - 2 beaten mildly
small cooked shrimp - 1 cup
curry leaves - 1 or 2 sprigs (this one you can splurge without any worries)

How To Do
Cook the rice as you would cook for biriyani. If you have a japanese rice cooker then just follow
the directions as that always seem to get us the correct state of rice for biriyani. If you have leftover rice, that will do just fine.

In a sauce pan add 1 tsp of oil and add beans, cauliflower and carrots. Sprinkle less than 1/4 tsp of
salt or no salt at all and mix together. Now turn stove to high heat, close the lid and cook for 5-6 minutes. Check once in between and add a tbsp of water or less if it looks like it might burn. Shaking the lifted pan with lid closed is a good way to prevent burning and not to lose the built-up steam inside. Once cooked and still crisp, remove from heat and set aside.
  
Heat oil in another pan, add rice and urad dal making sure nothing gets burnt. Add green chillies and saute well, and then add the marinated shrimp and saute to a good color. Now add onion and curry leaves and mix all together for a while.

Add in the veggies and mix well. Clear a space in the middle of the pan, add the beaten eggs and cook it scrambled right there. You can do this in a separate pan instead and add back once rice is added if you prefer that. Again mix well together, add the cooked rice and add salt only if you must. Cover and cook on medium heat for 2 minutes so all the flavors combine into the dish. Serve warm with the aforementioned goodiesand you will never know what hit you! Depending on your refrigeration, this dish will stay tasty for quite a few days esp if served with a smacking good raita which we had. I'll elaborate on our raita dish in another post as I think it has its own place. So next time you make a dish and reach for that salt container give it a pause, will ya? Replace salt by adding flavors is what will help you to make the change. Add lemon drops, tomato, cilantro etc to bring out the flavor.

Serve with the awesomely flavorful fish pappas and to the accompaniment of raita and papad and voila, you have a winner! Add some flowers to the table and you are all set. Gerbera daisies rule the world as far as I am concerned and when a beam of the evening sun fell straight on to the vase through our windows I just couldn't resist clicking. Enjoy!

Three-In-One

I don't have a recipe today. Wanted to post about something which probably is well known among the initiated. This is best done when making fried chicken curry. I had almost forgotten the way my Mom used to do this and how I used to just wait for it. Well, the picture says it all. How to get three items with the labor of one!

Make sure some cooked rice is on hand.

Start making your favorite chicken curry. On its way to the finish line, stop right before where you reduce the gravy so it forms a thick coat. Scoop some up into a bowl with enough light gravy so it can accompany appam, porotta or chapathi. Item 1 is ready:-)

Now reduce the gravy to your end and Item 2 is ready as intended. Remove to serving dish.

But wait! Don't wash of the wok/pan/cheenachatti that you used to make the dish. I hope you left some small chicken crumbs and stuff in the pan. Bring out the rice and add to the pan. Mix all together with some salt and your instant fried rice and thus Item 3 is ready!

Enjoy the fried rice with yogurt, papad and if you must, the chicken dish you prepared.

Enjoy the earlier gravied dish another day with suitable accompaniments.

My Grandmother and I were opponents when the rice was prepared in this manner. No one else I guess even knew this was available since the two of us saw to it immediately! Then of course we won't be 'that hungry' for the subsequent lunch or dinner:-) Mom always did this in a special cheenachatti made of bronze that shone like gold on the inside and like onyx on the outside. Another household favorite here.

Lamb Biriyani

I am back to the cooking, taking pics and writing about it mode.

I always had the idea that a biriyani is a difficult item to make all by myself unlike fried rice or pulau. The name biriyani somehow conjures up delicate, elaborate and time consuming effort behind it. So when we visited a friend’s place and they had prepared biriyani for us I was quite wonderstruck that they would go to so much trouble for us. You see, we sort of forced an invitation on them because we were visiting their state and they graciously invited us for dinner even though both were sort of sick. So this was an extra surprise. When I expressed this feeling of awe at the extent of their hospitality, the friend sheepishly informed me that actually a biriyani is the most trouble free dinner preparation as it can stand on itself on the dinner table with the simple accompaniment of some raita, papad and pickle. I realized then that this is true because if you prepare plain or even fried rice, then you have to have at least one or two fish and meat items, a dry vegetable item, a gravied curry and other such accompaniments including cutlets or even appam and stew. At least that is how it goes in my head. Ever since that, I have dazzled many a group of friends and family at dinner with my “elaborately prepared” lamb biriyani:-) They are all probably onto it I know but are always kind to shower me with good words of praise.

My husband is not a great fan of chicken as I’d mentioned earlier and I don’t really look forward to seeing beef in a biriyani. So we settled in on lamb as the ideal meat for “our” biriyani. We don’t use any other meat but the lamb available in regular grocery stores. I did try it with the goat meat available from ‘halal’ stores but somehow did not come out as well as the lamb.

My recipe started out heavily dependent on KMM’s recipe for biriyani but evolved over time to a proper creation.

In The Lamb Mix
Lamb – 2 lbs, cut to decent sized pieces.
Cinnamon stick – 2” piece
Cardamom – 4 crushed
Cloves – 12 to 14
Ginger – 1 ½”
Garlic – 4 pods
Green chili – 2 (each sliced into 4 pieces)
Masala powder – ¼ tsp (this can be made in house by adding together cinnamon powder, cardamom powder and cloves powder together in equal or reasonable proportions)
Onion – ½ big red onion sliced thin lengthwise
Grated coconut – ¼ cup (mix with a little water to hydrate if dry – hydrating & coconut optional)
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Coriander powder – 2-3 tbsp
Kashmiri Chili powder – ½ tbsp
Chili powder – 1 tsp
Milk – 2 cups (warmed in microwave)
Water enough to cook lamb
Salt to taste
Oil – as needed (I use olive oil and find that 1 tsp of ghee will do a lot towards enhancing taste. Adding more ghee than this does not seem to benefit and rather gives the food a heaviness that we don’t prefer)

For Marinade:
Vinegar – 2 tbsp
Slat to taste
Chili powder – ¼ tsp
Coriander powder – 2 tsp
Turmeric – ¼ tsp

How To Do
Wash the lamb pieces and marinate 1 hour or more (in fridge if more) with salt, vinegar and the marinade powders.

Chop the ginger, garlic and green chili together. Heat oil in a large pan and roast cinnamon, cloves and cardamom. Add masala powder here and fry for a short time before spices go burnt. Remove from heat when in doubt and keep sautéing. Add the chopped stuff and sauté on low heat for a while. Add onions, salt and curry leaves and stir together till onions give up looking stiff. Add the coconut and fry for a short time and add the remaining curry powders. Roast on slow heat till the mix rolls around or the aroma fills the air. This is an important part. Be patient while the gravy gets nicely roasted and you will be well rewarded in taste. Add the ghee at any point in the above steps.

Now add the lamb pieces and blend well together. Fry mildly for 5-6 minutes making sure the pieces are stirred for even exposure. Add the warm milk and enough water just to reach the top of the pieces and stir together. Check salt and add if needed. Wait till it boils at high heat and then cover and cook in medium heat. Lamb takes longer than the other meats which gives you time to do productive stuff like finishing off that half read paper or to down a glass of orange juice to hydrate yourself from all the proximity to heat:-)Cook about 18-23 minutes. Cook more if needed. Meat needs to be fully cooked. Make sure that gravy is concentrated rather than watery. The last step can be open and cook for 5 minutes or so to reduce water if needed. Remove from heat.

In the Biriyani Mix

Basmati rice – 6 cups
Black Raisins – 6-7 tbsp (only because I love them so! Add or remove as you please)
Turmeric powder – 2 tsp (add or remove based on your color preference)
Shallots – 10 sliced thin
Curry leaves – 1 or 2 sprigs
Ghee or olive oil – as needed
Salt to taste

How To Do

For Rice:
Cook the rice in a rice cooker following the exact water requirement for the cooker. Usually when I cook basmati rice I always add lots more water than recommended as otherwise I find the rice very dry and hard cooked for our palate. But for the biriyani preparation this non-sticking but cooked format is ideal. Don’t forget to add some salt to the water when cooking.

For Flavor:
Heat oil in a pan and sauté the turmeric powder, add sliced shallots and sauté some more and add curry leaves and stir together. Add the raisins and salt - remember the rice has some salt already - and sauté the whole mix till the raisins fluff up to a ball and the onions are an appetizing crispy brown. Remove from heat.

Take a large bowl and mix the prepared onion/raisin mix with the rice using a fork so as the rice gets colored evenly yellow. At this point my daughter likes to help herself to a healthy dose of the rice. She prefers it this way before the meat gets added on. My son is not into colors when it comes to rice and I make sure that I set aside some untouched white rice for him:-)

Layering and Oven
Preheat oven to 250 Deg. Take a baking pan and coat with melted butter. Place the lamb pieces first. Keep all the gravy and some small pieces for the next layer. Then add a layer of the prepared rice. Now spread the gravy and remaining lamb pieces and top off with another layer of rice. The oven step is just to bring out the flavors and blend. So cover with an aluminum foil and keep in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Turn off oven and keep inside till you are ready to serve. No need to mix the layers as that will happen on its own when serving. Enjoy with raita, papads and lime pickle for the full experience. Remember, only lime pickle goes with biriyani. OK, you are free to select a pickle of your own choice having toiled this far:-)

How to make this an easy and tasty task:
Marinate and prepare the lamb curry 2 or 3 days ahead. Keep in the fridge. Sitting in curried state makes it tastier. Make the flavor mix also 2 or 3 days ahead and keep in the fridge. May not necessarily increase the taste but reduces effort on D-Day.

Now all you need on the day you plan to make the biriyani is just cook the rice, heat up the lamb and flavor mix and do the layering and oven step from above. Raita is best prepared the day it is being served, but papads can be made as early as one day ahead if your climate is not humid.

Tomato Rice - Thakkali Choru

I used to enjoy eating freshly diced tomatoes mixed with sugar as a snack long time back. Having never seen or eaten Tomato Rice I didn't think that one day I'll use those plum red tomatoes this way. But food blogs can do that to you. Encountering the thousands of possible Indian recipes that is being cooked in homes across the globe everyday you just can't bring yourself to eat that plain old rice without giving it a spin:-) I tried many variations and this is the one that was enjoyed the most and so made often. Having no idea as to how it should taste our household is blindly content with the current version. Very good for leftover rice and a wonderful way to use all those tomatoes kind friends or colleagues bring you from their garden.

In the Mix

cooked basmati rice - 3 cups
cloves - 4
cardamom - 4 to 5
cinnammon - 1 large piece broken into many
big red onion - 1/2 chopped (the big red onion is very flavorful and has completely replaced the regular yellow onions in my home)
green chillies - 2 or 3
ginger - 1" piece
garlic - 3-4 pods
tomatoes - 4 or 5 chopped very small
curry leaves - a sprig or two
kashmiri chili powder - 1 tsp
turmeric - a pinch
chili powder - 1/4 tsp
oil - 2-3 tsp
salt to taste
water - 1 tbsp
Mint leaves

How To:

Cook the rice the usual way or use leftovers.

Heat oil in a pan. Crush cardamom, cloves and cinnammon slightly with a pestle. This is not a must but it brings out the masala flavor I think. Add this to the heated oil and saute for a short while. Add chopped onions and salt - include enough salt for rice too here-and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add the curry leaves. Chop green chilies, ginger and garlic together in a chopper and add to the mix. Saute these on low heat. I find that chopping them together somehow feels better! These can be added after just slicing them too if you are not up to chopper washing:-)

Mix for a while till nicely blended. Now add the tomatoes. Keep on stirring and add the chili and turmeric powders. Add the water if needed to mix it all well. Continue till the mix looks sauteed well and not so watery. the mix is ready now and can be removed to a bowl.

Put the rice into the pan that made the tomato mix and stir in low heat. Add the mix and stir all together for 1-2 minutes. Add the washed mint leaves as is or chopped and spread on top of the tomato rice. Cover to let the mint flavor soak in and turn of the heat. Now all it needs is a few servings of yogurt and the meal is complete! Don't forget to check the salt after adding rice and add more as needed. I find that it goes very well with any veggies or meat dishes you have at the moment.