biriyani is my all time favourates. this recipe was given to me by a hyderabadi friend. friends this is awesome. you should try this. and lots of thanx to mrs raju who gave me this authentic recipe!!!!

ingredients

rice- 1 kg

chicken- 1 kg

salt- as per taste

juice of 4 lemon

pudina and coriander leaves chopped- 3 bunches each

green chillies chopped- 50 gms

turmeric pdr- 1/4th tsp

chilly pdr- 1 tsp

garam masala- 1tbs

curd- 250 gms

garlic- ginger paste- 2tbs

onion sliced- 3 nos

oil- for deep frying

marinade the chicken pieces for 30 min with all the ingredients except rice and onions.

deep fry the onion slices in oil till brown and crispy.

par cook the rice with salt and drain the water.

in a big kadai, place the chicken pieces and top it with rice. but should not mix both. top it with fried onions. make a pit on the rice with a spoon and pour the oil in which the onions were fried. close the lid of kadai and cook in low- medium flame for 20 mins. if the chicken is tender it takes 20 mins to cook. when the chicken is done you can add yellow food color if you want. slowly mix the rice and chicken and serve hot.

idichakka thoran

raw jackfruit-1 small one peeled, diced, boiled with salt and turmeric and mashed without draining water. (use very little water for boiing. you need to pressure cook the jackfruit)

coconut grated- 1 cup

green chillies- 5-6 nos

garlic- 5-6 nos

onion-1 small

for garnishing- mustard seeds, curry leaves and dried red chillies

coconut oil- 2 tbs

grind together coconut, chillies, onion and garlic without adding water. grind coarsely.

heat oil in a kadai and add the seasoning ingredients one by one.

then add boiled and mashed jackfruit and coconut mix and salt.

mix well. cover the lid and cook on low flame for 5 mins.

then cook till the water content dries up with the lid open on a medium flame.

vendakka pachadi

bhindi- 1/2 kg- finely sliced

coconut grated- 1 cup

sour curd- 3/4 kg

salt- as per taste

coconut oil-5 tbs

green chillies- 6-7 nos

mustard seeds- 1 tsp

red chillies- 1 or 2 broken into two pieces

curry leaves- few

fry the ladies finger in oil till crispy.

grind together coconut, curd and green chillies to a fine paste.

pour the curd mix and salt to the fried ladies finger and bring it to a boil.

in a pan heat some coconut oil. add mustard seeds and allow it to splutter. then add red chillies and curry leaves and season this in the prepared veg.

ishtu

potatoes- 1/2 kg, boiled, peeled and diced

green chillies-4-5 nos slit

ginger chopped- 1 tsp

curry leaves- few

coconut milk- extracted from 1 large coconut.( in this recipe you require the first and second milk of the coconut. if you are using the coconut milk powder you need 1 cup of thick milk and 1/2 cup of thin milk.)

coconut oil -1 tbs

onion-1 large sliced

salt- as per taste

pour the thin milk or second milk of coconut to thepotato pieces along with ginger,onions,and chillies. cook on high flame till the coconut milk dries up. add salt and thick coconut milk and bring it to boil. turn off the stove and season it with curry leaves and coconut oil.=[-9o

payasam

unakkalari ( small grained rice)-250 gms

coconut milk- extracted from 7 large coconuts. you require both the thick and thin milk.

jaggery- 1 kg

cashew nuts, kismis, badam-50 gms each

ghee- 2 tbs

cardomom pdr- 10-12 nos

coconut pieces-1/2 cup( chopped into very small pieces)

boil rice with water.

melt jaggery in 1/2 lt water and seive it. pour this to boiled rice and cook on high flame. continue cooking it till the jaggery syrup reduce to half.

grate coconut and extract three milks from it.

add third milk or thin milk of coconut to the rice jaggery mix.

(extract the milk from these coconut by adding luke warm water and blending it in a mixer and seive it. this thick milk is the first milk. put the coconut sediments back to the mixer, again add luke warm water and blend and seive it. this time you get a thin milk and this is called the second milk. like this you have to extract a 3rd milk also from the sediment)

cook till the 3rd milk is reduced to 1/4 th.

then add the second milk and cook till its reduced to 1/2.

finally add the first milk or the thick milk and just bring it to boil and turn off the stove.

heat ghee in a pan and fry the coconut pieces, and dry fruits seperately.

add this to the payasam along with cardamom pdr and stir well.

serve hot or chilled.

my vishu sadhya

i celebrated our new year 2010(vishu) at shillong. celebrating your traditional festival far away from your home is a difficult task. but i wanted to celebrate vishu with sadhya and vishukani as my children will come to know about our festivals, culture and tradition. there will be some flaws in your preparation due to the unavailability of various things. but still we managed to make vishu a grand success. but we really missed everybody out there in our home town- the bond and unity and of course the fire crackers. the vishukani we made was without the kanikonna and kanivellari, the most important thing in the vishukani. these things are not available in northeast. the preparation of sadhya was also challenging. the avial was without yam. i could'nt make pineapple pachadi too because april and may are the only two months in which pineapple is not available in shillong. finally our sadhya had mango pulissery, ishtu, vendakka pachadi, idichakka thoran, avial and unakkalari payasam. i brought the rice for payasam from kerala. after working in kitchen for continuous 3-4 hrs the sadhya will be obviously tasty- it has to be.

choclate beer cake

i came across this recipe from a lifestyle magazine (i dont remember which magazine! may be 'women's era') from our college library. i jotted it immediately on my copy, but i baked this cake yesterday (8 yrs after jotting it down). my kids love cake. they love to cut it by blowing a candle and singing birthday song rather than eating it!!!.so every time i bake a cake ,i have to put some icing and decoration on it as my children wont compromise on a 'b'day' cake without icing and of course glaced cherries. the original recipe was a plain beer cake, but i did some elaboration to satisfy my" crazy "kids.

ingredients for the cake

flour-4 tbs

coaco pdr-4 tbs

sugar-8tbs

eggs-4 nos

oil/butter-6 tbs

baking powder-1 tsp

beer-1/2 cup

sift together for 4-5 times, the flour,baking pdr & coaco.

beat eggs for 10 mins.

beat sugar & oil/butter till fluffy. add beaten eggs and mix well.

fold in the dry ingredients.

pour the beer. mix well.

pour the batter to an 8'' greased cake tin.

pre heat oven at 170 degrees.

bake the cake for 25 mins.

cool the cake in a wire rack.

this cake is a little bitter in taste with the tinge of beer .

i made a little modifications to the recipe. after cooling the cake in room temp. i cut it into two layers. in a pan heat 1 tbs white butter and add 3tsp of coaco and stir for few secs. turn off the flame and add 1/4 tin of condensed milk. spread this 'icing' on one layer of the cake while it still hot and top it with the second layer of the cake. i coated the top layer of the cake with ready made choclate fudge sauce. i took 4-5 tsp of the sauce and heated in the microwave for 20 secs.then i coated the top layer with it and placed few glaced cherries on it. serve chilled. it's yummy.

rohu in tamarind paste

fish is my all time favourate. i learned to cook fish by seeing my mom cooking it in her kitchen. she cooks excellent fish curry. now i'm staying miles away from my home town, but the taste of my mom's recipe still lingers on my mouth. here in shillong sea fish is a rare sight. but rohu (fresh water fish) is abundant here. so i cook rohu in kerala style.

rohu-1kg sliced

onion-1 large finely chopped

green chillies-6 nos finely chopped

ginger-1tbs finely chopped

garlic-1 pod finely chopped

curry leaves- few

tamarind pulp/paste-3 tbs

coconut oil- 3tbs

methi seeds- 4-5 nos

tomatoes- 3 small finley chopped

chilly pdr-3 tsp

turmeric pdr- 2tsp

salt- as per taste

marinade the fish slices with salt and turmeric.

in a pan heat oil and put methi seeds andallow it to splutter.

add half the onion and fry till crispy.

then add rest of the onion, chilly, garlic,ginger and curry leaves and fry for 2-3 mins on high flame.

add tomatoes and close the lid and cook till the oil seperates.

add chilly pdr and saute for few secs.

add tamarind paste and 2-3 tbs water and boil the gravy.

add fish pieces and 1/4 cup of water and close the lid and cook the fish till tender.

serve hot with steamed rice.

masala brinjal

i was checking my old dairy in which i have jotted some recipes. i came across the bagare baingan recipe and i wanted to make it for dinner.but unfortunately some ingredients were not there. so i cooked it in my own style and named it brinjal masala as it has both masala and brinjals. if you are not satisfied with the name of this recipe you can call it eggplant delight or aubergine surprise etc etc...

brinjals-500gms

poppy seeds- 2tbs

onion seeds- 1tsp

white sesame seeds-1tsp

jeera- 1 tsp

roasted jeera powder- 2tsp

salt- as per taste

tomato- 3nos

onion sliced-1large

garlic ginger paste- 2 tsp

chilly pdr-1tsp

turmeric pdr-1tsp

tamarind pulp-1tbs

coconut, grated- 3tbs

oil-1 cup

dried curry leaves- few

fresh coriander leaves-1 tsp

almonds-5 nos

water- 1 cup

i used the purple thin long brinjals for this curry. i cut each brinjal into 4 long stripes. in a pan dry roast poppy seeds, onion seeds, sesame seeds, coconut, jeera and jeera pdr and keep aside. in a kadai fry onions in 1 tbs oil.in a mixer add the dry roasted spices, fried onions ,tomatoes,dried curry leaves and almonds and grind into a fine paste. dont add water to this mix when you grind. pour the remaining oil in the kadai and add the ground mix and garlic ginger paste and fry for few mins. add salt, chilly and turmeric pdr and cook on low flame till the oil seperates. add water and bring to boil.add brinjal and cook for 5 mins. then add tamarind pulp and simmer for few more mins. garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

easy pudding

me and anil always search for "sweets" after heavy meals. one day we couldn't find anything in our kitchen cupboard. but i didn't gave up. i made a 'pudding' in 2-3 mins!!!!!. it's all cheating. no cooking required in this pudding.

ingredients

brown bread-3 slices

marie biscuits-2 nos

brittania cream crackers- 2 nos

nirulas choclate fudge-2 tbs

amul mithai mate- 1/2 tin

glaced cherries- 100gms

grind together the biscuits and bread in a mixie. transfer it to a bowl. add the remaining ingredients and mix well. serve chilled.

remyaskitchen: mixed parantha

remyaskitchen: mixed parantha

mixed parantha

i made this parantha today for breakfast and my hubby loved it. his appreciation made me share the recipe with you. actually i planned to make aloo parantha. but i found methi and pudina also lying in my fridge and i wanted to use it immediately before it loses its freshness. and all these ingredients made my paranthas some thing more than aloo parantha.

ingredients

1 large onion finely chopped

few green chillies finely chopped

salt as per taste

boiled and mashed potatoes-3 large nos

one big bunch methi leaves finely chopped

one small bunch pudina finely chopped

one teaspoon ajwain

one teaspoon saunf

one tbs oil for frying veg

oil /ghee for frying paranthas

heat one tbs of oil in a kadai and add chopped onions, chillies, methi and pudina and stir fry till the leaves are dry. transfer this mix on to a plate and add mashed potatoes, salt , ajwain & saunf and mix well.

for the paranthas

atta-2 teacup

salt-as per taste

water-to knead the atta

take a small portion of the veg mix and place it on the middle of rolled out dough and seal it.again roll it out and cook it on a tawa with oil or ghee till both sides are done.

pineapple surprise cake

i baked this cake to surprise my kids who relishes cakes. though it's name is pineapple surprise there is no pineapple in it!!!. i jut baked a vanilla sponge cake in a pineapple shaped mould and coated it with butter icing flavoured with lemon essence.

ingredients for the sponge cake

flour-1 1/2 cup

sugar- 1 cup

vanilla essence-few drops

eggs- 3 nos

butter-100 gms

i baked this cake in preheated oven for 25 mins at 200 degree C.

for the icing i used 100 gms of sifted icing sugar and 100 gms

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roti "ladoo"

this is an interesting and simple recipe that you can make with left over rotis. some times after hosting dinner parties you will have left over rotis which turns hard next day and you will have to thrash it. but you can make a simple sweet dish which you can relish after your midday meal.
INGREDIENTS
left over roti
ghee
sugar
the quantity of ghee and sugar depends on the number of rotis. you can add a teaspoon of ghee and two teaspoon of sugar per roti.
METHOD
break the roti into pieces. grind it in the mixer along with sugar and ghee.
make small balls out of it.
if you want you can also add elaichi, ground dry fruits etc.

stuffed karela

karela is my all time favourate veg. but my husband and children hate it. being a healthy veg, i took it as challenge to make karela acceptable by my family. i tried out various recipes. but this one really worked. my husband enjoyed this dish. a bit of imagination and a little calculation is what you need to make a boring veg palatable.
INGREDIENTS
small green karelas- 10 nos
besan -1/2 cup
chilly pdr,turmericpdr, coriander pdr, garam masala- 2tsp each
kalaunji, jeera, saunf- 1 tsp each
salt- as per taste
oil- 1/2 cup
METHOD
wash the karelas & pat dryit.
slit the karelas.
mix all the dry ingredients together. stuff this masala in each karela and stirfry it in oil for 5 mins. then cook in medium flame with closed lid till the karelas are done.
serve hot with roti/ paranthas.

easy choclate cake (eggless)

when i chat with my friends, cakes always become a part of our conversation along with our hot gossips. i often bake cakes with egg and i use white butter. but butter is not a suitable ingredient in shillong weather and eggs are a taboo during fasting season also when birdflu outbreaks. so i should learn eggless, butterless cake. my friend sheeva came up with this recipe.she actually shared with me the eggless choclate cake she baked and i relished it so much. i tried out her recipe which turned out well and i did more experiments with this recipe. here i'm giving you the recipe sheeva gave me. but in her recipe condensed milk was not there. i just added it for extra softness.
INGREDIENTS
flour- 1/2 cup
cadbury's coaco pdr- 1/2 cup
curd-1 cup
milkmaid- 1/2 tin
sugar(pdr)- 1/2 cup
vanilla essence- few drops
oil- 1 cup
baking pdr- 1 tsp
METHOD
seive the flour along with baking pdr & coaco
beat oil & sugar, add curd to it & mix well.
add essence & seived flour mix and milkmaid & mix well.
bake in a preheated oven for 20 min at 200 F.

noodle pakoda

i tried this recipe for the first time with some left over noodles which turned out lumpy and sticky. some boiled potatoes were also there in my fridge. i added some spices to it and made few pakodas and satisfied my hunger. but after few days i made this again with freshmade noodles and served as a starter for a party!!!!. one of my friends suggested that seasoned noodles can be a yummy filling for samosas too. hope you will try the pakodas as well as samosas.

INGREDIENTS
prepared instant noodles- 1 cup
garlic ginger paste- 1 tsp
greenchillies-2 nos (finely chopped)
boiled & mashed potatoes- 2 large nos
besan- 1 teacup
egg white (beaten)- white of one egg
rusk (powdered)- 1 cup
oil- for deep frying
METHOD
mix noodles, potatoes, chillies, besan & garlic ginger paste and make small balls out of it
dip each ball in egg white and roll it at once in rusk pdr.
deep fry the noodle balls in oil.
serve hot with tomato sauce.

instant pudding

this is one of my favourate pudding. i tasted this first at my friend, sheeva's home. she made it on her birthday and i relished it too much. this pudding can be made in just 5-10 mins without thinking too much. if you have the creativity and time you can add on many ingredients and personalize this recipe as i did by adding choclate custard to sheeva's recipe. she used plain coaco pdr in her pudding. this will work great if you serve it as a dessert for an unexpected paty where u wont get much time to think about a proper 5 course meal.
INGREDIENTS
bread-10 slices (crumbled)
coaco pdr- 1 tbs
hershey's choclate topping- 1 tbs
dry fruits- 1 cup
whipped cream- 1cup
pdr sugar- 1/2 cup
coarsely ground glucose biscuits- 1 cup
vanilla custard- 1 cup
cherries- to garnish
METHOD
mix coaco pdr to the vanilla custard and keep aside
mix sugar with whipped cream
in a greased bowl, place half the bread crumbs. top it with a layer of custard , whipped cream, biscuits and some dry fruits. repeat the process with rest of the ingredients.
garnish with cherries and choclate sauce.
serve chilled

fusion chicken

i like to experiment a lot with non veg food, especially chicken. i like both the indian and chineese varieties of chicken. once i tried out the fusion- i mixed both the indian and chineese masala and the recipe turned out very well.
INGREDIENTS
chicken - 1 kg (boneless)
salt- as per taste
garlic- ginger- 3 tbs(finely chopped)
garlic- ginger paste- 1 tbs
MSG- a pinch
chilly pdr, turmeric pdr,coriander pdr, garam masala- 2 tsp each
sliced onion- 1 teacup
slit green chillies- 5 nos
tomato sauce- 2 tsp
sliced tomatoes- 1 cup
chilly sauce, soya sauce- 1 tsp each
crushed pepper- 1 tsp
curry leaves- few
coriander leaves- few
water- 1 dst sp
oil- 1 teacup + for deep frying
METHOD
marinade the chicken with chilly pdr, turmeric, coriander pdr, garam masala, salt, garlic-ginger paste & MSG & keep it in refrigarator for an hr.later deep fry this chicken & keep aside.
pour oil in a frying pan . add chopped ginger & garlic & fry for few secs.
then add greenchillies & onions & fry till the onions turn golden brown. then add curry leaves and saute for a min.
add tomato sauce, chilly sauce & soya sauce & mix well. add some water to it.
wait till the water boils. add fried chicken to this gravy.
cook for 5 mins & then add chopped tomatoes & crushed pepper to it & mix well.
switch of the stove & garnish with coriander leaves.
serve hot with rice/ roti/chow

sindhi biriyani

most of us love biryani. which is the true way of making biriyani? not even god knows. every province or even every household has their own recipe for biriyani and all these tastes excellent. even when we eat biriyani from different restuarants of same city, the taste is different, even the spice mix varies and also its seasoning and color. i have tasted several varieties of hyderabadi dum biriyani. which recipe is the original? i dont know. but all the restuarants claim their recipe as original. the sindhi biriyani is an unusual item in indian menu cards. i came across this recipe from a "karachi stall" in an international trade fair in our city few years back. they were selling this particular spice mix and the recipe was also given on its packet.
INGREDIENTS FOR THE SPICEMIX FOR CHICKEN IN RICE MEAL
redchillies- 5 nos
salt- as per taste
cumin seed- 1 tsp
blackpepper- 1 tsp
turmeric- 1 tsp
clove- 3 nos
cinnamon- a small piece
cardamom- 5 nos
mace- a small piece
nutmeg- a pinch
nigella seeds- 1 tsp
ginger- 1 small piece
garlic- 1 pod
dry mango powder- 1 tsp
MSG-a pinch
METHOD
dry roast all the above ingredients and grind it into a fine powder. this mix is for cooking chicken in biriyani
INGREDIENTS FOR MAKING RICE
chicken-750 gm
rice-750 gms (soaked in rice)
onions- 5 nos (medium sized)
potatoes (peeled & halved)- 3 medium sized
yoghurt- 1 teacup
ghee- 1 teacup
greenchillies- 15 nos
coriander & mint leaves- a small bunch
yellow food color
salt- as per taste
the prepared spice mix- 50 gms
METHOD
heat ghee in a large pan & fry onion until golden brown
add chicken, yoghurt, spice mix, greenchillies, & 2 teacups of waterto it.
add potatoes when chicken is parcooked.
then cook till the chicken is tender.
boil rice in 8 cups of waterwith 3-4 tsp salt. when rice is parcooked, drain water.
in a wide pan set layers of chicken curry, coriander & mint leaves & rice.
add yellow food color & cover with lid.
cook the rice on high flame & let it simmer for 20 mins.
serve hot with raita.

vermicilli delight

INGREDIENTS
vermicilli (seviyan/semiya)- 250 gms
sugar- 750 gms
thick milk-1 ltr
mixed dry fruits- 1 cup
water- 1 1/2 cup
khoya- 1 cup
ghee- 5 tbs
METHOD
fry the broken seviyan in ghee till it turns light brown
prepare sugar syrup of 1 thread consistency
add the fried seviyan to the syrup and cook for 20 mins.
add milk and cook on medium flame, stirring occassionally till the milk is completley soaked up.
add dry fruits and khoya and mix well.

sandwich pakoda

INGREDIENTS;
bread- (crust removed)- 10 nos
potatoes(boiled & mashed)- 5 nos
greenchilly (finely chopped)- 3 nos
coriander leaves (finely chopped)- 1 tbs
ginger garlic paste- 1 tsp
garam masala- 1 tsp
onion (finely chopped)- 1
besan- 1 teacup
hing- a pinch
ajwain- a pinch
salt- as per taste
water- 1/2 cup
oil- for deep frying

METHOD
1. add salt , ginger garlic paste green chillies, onion , garam masala & coriander leaves to the mashed potatoes & mix well.
2.add ajwain, hing & salt to the besan and also add water to make it a thick batter.
3 place the potato mix on a slice of bread & sandwich it with another slice.
4. dip this sandwich into the batter. the batter sshould coat the sandwich completley.
5. put this in hot oil and fry till golden brown
6 serve hot with sauce or chutney.

palak raita

INGREDIENTS
palak- 2 small bunch
green chillies- 2-3 nos
salt & pepper- as per taste
curd- 1 ltr
METHOD
clean & wash the palak. steam cook the leaves for 3-4 mins.
when it cools down, finely chop the palak
beat the curd along with salt & pepper in a mixer/liquidizer.
add palak leaves & chopped chillies .
serve chilled.

grilled vegetable cheese roll

INGREDIENTS
bread- 5 slices
mixed veg ( peas, carrot, cauliflower, beans)- finely chopped-1 cup
grated cheese- 1 cup
garam masala- 1 tsp
onion- finely chopped-1
ginger garlic paste- 1 tsp
oil- 1 tbs
METHOD
heat oil in a pan
fry onions till golden brown
add ginger garlic paste, garam masala, salt & chopped veg & cook till the veg is done.
roll the bread using a rolling pin.
stuff the cooked veg & a tbs of cheese & roll it
grill in oven for 5 mins
serve hot with tomato sauce

cheese roll

INGREDIENTS
bread- 5 slices
green chutney- 5 tbs
amul cheese (processed)-(cut into cubes)- 5 nos
oil- for deep frying
METHOD
Soak bread in water at once & place it on your palm & gently press it to drain the water.
place 1 tbs of chutney & a piece of cheese and gently roll it.
fry this in hot oil till it turns golden brown.

FOR THE GREEN CHUTNEY
coriander leaves- a small bunch
mint leaves- a small bunch
green chillies- 5-6
METHOD
grind all these together without adding water. dont put salt in this chutney as cheese contains salt.