Monday, May 26, 2014

Ennai Kathirikkai Kuzhambu - Tamil Recipe




Ingredients

Small Brinjals - 6
Tamarind Extract - 1.5 cups ( lemon sized tamarind )
Sambar Powder - 2 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 3 tbsp
Salt to taste

Spice powder for stuffing :

Coriander Seeds - 1/2 tbsp
Chana Dal - 1/2 tbsp
Toor Dal - 1/2 tbsp
Dry Red Chilly - 1
Sesame Seeds - 1/2 tbsp
Coconut - i tbsp (grated)

To Temper

Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry Leaves - 1 sprig
Small Onion - 10
Garlic - 1 pod
Hing - a generous pinch

Method




Dry roast the ingredients listed under to roast and grind for the spice powder till golden brown. Then grind it to a semi fine powder, set aside.
Choose baby brinjals, rinse them once. Put a plus mark in each brinjal then stuff the spice powder into the plus marks. Repeat this for all the brinjals. Reserve the remaining spice powder for the curry.
In a pan heat oil, splutter mustard seeds then add small onions, curry leaves, garlic and hing. Then add stuffed brinjals and saute till it shrinks. Then add the tamarind extract, required salt and allow it to boil for 5 minutes.
Add the spice powder, turmeric and sambar powder. Add more water if it becomes thick. Allow it to boil for 5-8 minutes or until it reaches the desired consistency and oil separates.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Fish Biryani Recipe - Malabar Style



Ingredients

For rice :
Basmati rice : 2 cups
Water : 4 cups
Ghee : 2 tbsp
Cloves : 4 nos
Cardamom pods : 3 nos
Cinnamon stick : 2 (1" pieces)
Bay leaves : 2 no
Onion : 1 big (finely sliced)
Salt to taste

For Marinating Fish :
King fish fillets : 1/2 kg
Red chilly powder : 1 tsp
Turmeric powder : 1/4 tsp
Ginger garlic paste : 1 tsp
Salt to taste 

For Fish Masala :
Onion : 4 (medium, thinly sliced)
Tomato : 2 (medium chopped)
Green chillies : 10-12 nos
Ginger crushed : 1 1/2 tbsp
Garlic crushed : 1 1/2 tbsp
Yogurt : 1/2 cup
Turmeric powder : 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder : 2 tsp
Pepper powder : 1/4 tsp
Garam masala : 1 tsp
Mint leaves : 1/4 cup chopped
Cilantro / Coriander leaves : 1/4 cup chopped
Lime juice : 1 tsp
Ghee + Oil : 3 tbsp

For dum (layering) :
Cashew Nuts : Handful
Raisins : Handful
Onion : 1/2 cup (thinly sliced)
Coriander & Mint leaves : Handful
Garam masala : 1 tsp
Pure ghee : 1 tbsp

                                     Preparing Garam Masala

                                             
                                                      
                                      

Method  
   
                                      

Cooking the Rice : 

Wash and drain the rice and keep it aside. Heat ghee in the pot, first we can fry the sliced onion followed by cashew nuts and raisins for layering (mentioned for dum). Keep it aside. In the same ghee we can prepare rice. Add all spices, onion and saute for few mins; now add the drained rice and fry for some time. At the same time boil required water and add to the rice. Cook the rice till done.

Preparing Fish Masala :


  1. Clean the fish and make a wet marinate with above mentioned marinate ingredients; apply it on  fish and keep it for sometime.
  2. Heat ghee+oil in the biryani pot and shallow fry the fish flipping both the sides; drain the excess oil in the paper towel and keep it aside.
  3. In the same pot, add sliced onion to left over oil and saute until it is transculent, add salt at this time. This makes onion cook fast. Add the ginger,garlic, green chilly paste and saute until the raw smell goes. Then add turmeric,coriander,pepper and garam masala powders into it and saute for few seconds. Then add tomatoes, chopped mint and coriander leaves, lime juice and churned yogurt mix well.
  4. Add fried fish and cook about 5 minutes.
Layering :
Spread 1/3 part of rice above the fish masala. Add few drops of lime uice. Springle some garam masala and pure ghee followed by   Fried onion and cashew raisin mixture and chopped coriander 
and mint leaves. Repeat this process with left over rice.









Close with tight fitting heat resistant lid or close it with aluminium foil and bake for 10 minutes. If you are doing this on stove top, then heat a skillet or tawa and place it on the top and cook in low flame for 10 minutes. 



Left it rest un opened until serving.



Thursday, May 1, 2014

Naan with Amritsari Chole



Amritsari Chole, a famous Punjabi dish.It taste great with Naan and Bhatura.

Recipe for Amritsari Chole:-

Ingredients
For cooking the chick peas :-
Chick Peas / Kabuli Chana : 2 cups (soaked overnight in enough water)
Cinnamon Sticks : 2 inch
Black Cardamom : 4-5
Bay Leaves : 2 medium
Ginger Paste : 1 tsp
Tea bags : 3
Baking Soda : 1/4 tsp (optional)
Salt as required
For the masala gravy:-
Onion : 1 large chopped
Tomato : 3 chopped
Ginger : 1 tsp chopped
Green chilly : 4 slitted
Cumin powder : 2 tsp
Coriander powder : 2 tsp
Fennel powder : 1 tsp
Amchur powder/dry mango powder : 2 tsp (optional)
Red chilli powder : 1tsp
Garam masala powder / chana masala powder : 1 tsp
Oil : 3-4 tbsp
Julienned ginger and coriander leaves for garnishing ( optional )

Method
Pressure cook soaked chick peas  with all the ingredients mentioned under 'for cooking chick peas'. Cook upto 3 whistles or till the chickpeas are completely cooked.
Strain the chickpeas and reserve the stock along with the whole spices. Discard the tea bags.
In a large kadai, heat oil. Add chopped onions, fry till golden brown.
Add slit green chillies and fry for a minute, add chopped tomatoes and chopped ginger and saute until tomatoes become soft and mushy.
Add the cooked chickpeas and saute for 5-6 minutes.
Add all the spice powders, stir and saute for a minute.
Now add the strained stock, keep simmer till the curry thickens.
Add some julienned ginger and stir.
Serve Amritsari Chole hot garnished with coriander leaves along with Naan.

Recipe for Naan:-
An easy Naan recipe without yeast on stove top. I used whole wheat flour and all purpose flour in 2:1
proportion in this recipe

Ingredients
Flour : 3 cups ( 2cups whole wheat flour+1 cup all purpose flour or maida )
Baking Powder : 1 1/2 tsp
Baking Soda : a pinch
Salt as required
Yogurt : 3 tbsp
Milk : 2 tbsp
Sugar : 2 tsp
Water as required
Oil : 3 tbsp for kneading the dough
Calonji : 1 tbsp (optional)

Method
Sieve the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt.


Mix milk and yogurt and stir in sugar. Add water enough to knead.
Mix the flour with the milk and yogurt mixture.
Knead to make a smooth dough.
If the dough looks dry then add some water and knead again. The dough should be smooth and soft.
Cover with a wet cloth and keep aside for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, add oil and knead the dough again.
Cover with the wet cloth and keep aside for 2 hours, till the dough leavens and rises.
Make medium sized balls of the dough.
Roll into a four or five inches round circle. Sprinkle calonji while rolling.
If you want you can stretch the dough to one side to give a tear shape to the naan.
On a hot tava or griddle, place the naan and partly cook both sides. Then place the naan direct on fire with the help of a tong. Cook both sides till they puff.




Note:- 
You can cook the naan in a tandoor or bake them. Place the naan on a greased hot tray and bake in a preheated oven at highest temperature.