Tandoori Chicken Briyani

Hi friends, I'm glad to share another recipe with you all Tandoori Chicken Briyani, some of you may have tried this dish before but this is the very first time for me. I got this idea from sis Love's Grilled Chicken Briyani, I fell in love with the preparation the moment she post it on her blog, thanks sis. I have used her idea and made some changes in my briyani, I have used Tandoori Chicken that I have prepared earlier (purposely to use for this briyani). We loved the Tandoori Chicken Briyani, it was so delicious and healthy. Now let us see how to make this briyani:

Ingredients:

500 gm of Tandoori Chicken
2 cups of Basmathi rice or any kind
2 1/2 cups of water (ratio depending on the rice you use)
1 large onion (chopped)
1 tbsp of ginger garlic paste
1 tbsp of tandoori powder
A bunch of coriander leaves
2 large onions (deep fried until brown)
A  few drops of yellow coloring/saffron
1 tomato (chopped)
1 green chilli (slit)
1 pc of cinnamon stick
2 cardamom pods
2 star anise
2 cloves
Salt to taste
1 tbsp of ghee

You have to prepare the tandoori chicken before you cook the rice, you can prepare in advance or right before you cook the rice. Now let us prepare the ingredients for rice, make sure you wash the rice until the water runs clear, then drain and keep aside.

In a pan, pour ghee and add cinnamon stick, cardamom, star anise, cloves, green chilli, onion and ginger garlic paste, stir all these until it releases the wonderful aroma. Next add chopped tomato and tandoori powder and fry until tomato turns mushy, then add rice and mix well.

Transfer all the ingredients above to a rice cooker and add water and salt, let the rice cook until its fluffy and dry. Now add the yellow coloring, place the chicken pieces on the rice, add fried onions and coriander leaves, close the cooker's lid until you are ready to serve the rice.

Gently mix the cooked rice, and now our Tandoori Chicken Briyani is ready to be served. I have served this with Onion Raita.

Do try and let me know how it turned out for you!

Chicken Sambal Fried Rice (One Pot Meal)

Wow, I'm so excited because this is my first ever guest post and I'm glad that I'm doing it for sis Love. The moment she messaged me regarding the guest post I agreed immediately without even thinking whether I would be able to prepare a special dish for her. Sis Love is someone very dear and special to me, you know why? I got to know the blogging world after visiting her blog in 2010, before that I seriously didn't something called blog existed and hers was the first Indian blog I ever got to know. Thank you so much sis, you must be surprised to know this info because I think I have never told you this.

I always admire her photography skills from the day I got to know her not forgetting her wonderful recipes that she posts, all the clicks makes you crave for some. I was planning for so many days on what to cook for the guest post since she's someone special to, then I thought since both of us are chicken lovers, cooking a chicken dish would be apt for it. I have decided that I should make a one pot meal, so I made Chicken Sambal Fried Rice to celebrate our friendship/sisterhood. Do visit sis Love's Love2cook Malaysia for the recipe.

Do try and let me know how it turned out for you!

Spicy Chicken Briyani

Ingredients:

(Serves 4)
4 pcs of chicken drumstick
4 hard boiled eggs
2 cups of Basmathi rice (70% cooked)
1 tbsp of coriander powder
1/4 tsp of cumin powder
1/4 tsp of fennel powder
1 tsp of red chilli powder
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
1/4 tsp of garam masala
2 onions (chopped)
2 tomatoes (chopped)
2 green chillies (slit)
1 tbsp of ginger garlic paste
2 tbsp of cashew nuts
2 tbsp of raisins
A bunch of coriander leaves
1/2 cup of mints (chopped)
1 cinnamon stick
2 star anise
4 cloves
2 cardamom
3 tbsp of ghee
1 cup of water
Salt to taste

In a pan, heat ghee and add cinnamon stick, star anise, cloves, cardamom and stir for a minute then add  chopped onions fry until translucent. Now add in ginger garlic paste, mix well and add chopped tomatoes and cook until tomatoes turn mushy. Then add green chilli, chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, fennel powder and cumin powder, mix everything together so that the spices incorporates well and add in chicken drumsticks, half a cup of water. Let all this cook on medium flame until the chicken is cooked and the liquid is evaporated.

Now add in boiled eggs, 70% cooked rice to the chicken mixture mix everything well and pour in the balance water, adjust seasoning and cover to cook until rice is fluffy. Mix in coriander and mint leaves to the rice and cover for a couple of minutes so that the flavor will be infused in the rice. Finally add in cashews and raisins that have been fried in ghee to garnish.

Now our Spicy Chicken Briyani is ready to be served. Do try and let me know how it turned out for you!

Moong Dal Kozhukattai

Ingredients:
2 cups of raw rice (soaked and drained)
1/2 cup of whole moong dal
1/4 cup of shredded coconut
1/2 cup of sugar (reduce or add to your preference)
A pinch of salt

Dry blend the soaked raw rice and steam for 15 minutes, remove to a bowl and break all the lumps so that you will have lump free flour, let it cool down. Now dry roast whole moong dal until a nice aroma is released from the dal, let it cool down for a while then pulse it the blender once (we are looking for coarse grains not fine nor whole).

Boil the dal with salt and some water to soften it do not add so much of water as we will be using the water for the dough preparation later. Let the dal cool so that easier to work with it, slowly add the cooked dal to the rice flour we have prepared earlier, add sugar and coconut. Mix well and shape it into kozhukattai, steam for 10 minutes or until its completely cooked.

Let the kozhukattai cooled before serving, now our Mong Dal Kozhukattai is ready to be served. Do try and let me know how was it!

Hyderabad Chicken Briyani

Recipe Source : VahChef
Recommended by: My Beloved Friend Priya Ranjit

I have made some alteration to the ingredients, I have used chicken instead f
Ingredients:
2 cups of Basmathi rice
500 g of chicken (I used whole leg)
3 large onion (sliced thinly and fried)
2 tsp red chilli powder
2 tbsp of coriander powder
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
1 tsp of cumin powder
1 tsp of black pepper powder
1 tsp of garam masala powder
1 tsp of cumin seed
1 pc cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
2 cardamom
2 star anise
2 cloves
1 tbsp of lemon juice
1/2 cup of curd
5 pcs green chilli (chopped)
A bunch of coriander (chopped)
A bunch of mint leaves (chopped)
A few drops of yellow coloring/saffron milk
Salt to taste
3 tbsp of oil

Rice part 

Basmathi rice (washed & soaked for 30 minutes)

Cook rice with whole garam masala, oil and salt. We need to take out rice in two parts (40% and 60% cooked and separated)

Chicken masala

Marinate chicken with ginger garlic paste, green chilli, turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, cumin seeds, half of fried onion, salt, whole garam masala, lemon juice, curd, coriander leaves, mint leaves, bay leaf and oil for 30 minutes.

Now put the marinated chicken in a heavy bottomed pan or pressure cooker, layer with 40% cooked rice, coriander leaves, mint leaves, fried onion, then another layer of 60% cooked rice, coriander leaves, mint leaves, fried onion, garam masala powder and yellow coloring.

Let this cooked over medium flame for 30-45 minutes until the rice and chicken are completely cooked. As the chef said the whole house will have a wonderful aroma and you know your briyani is completely cooked.

Now our Hyderabad Chicken Briyani is ready to be served, I served this briyani with Tomato and Onion Raita. Do try and let me know how it turned out for you!

Pineapple Fried Rice (Vegetarian)

My husband loves Thai fried rice because they add pineapple to it, the sweet and sour taste of the pineapple adds an unique taste to the rice. I planned to fry some rice not in Thai style but my own version by adding some pineapple chunks to it. Now let us see how I made this;

Ingredients:

2 cups of cooked rice

1/4 cup of pineapple chunks

1/4 cup of frozen mixed veges

1/2 cup of soy made sausages

3 pcs of bird eye chilli (chopped)

1 tbsp of mushroom sauce

Salt to taste

Oil to fry

Heat oil in a frying pan and fry sausages, bird eye chilli for a couple of minutes then add frozen mixed veges, stir well until the veges are soft. Now add the mushroom sauce and salt mix well with the veges and stir in the cooked rice. Incorporate all the ingredients well and finally add the pineapple chunks, Pineapple Fried Rice is ready to be served.

Do try and let me know how it turned out for you!

Guest Post by Swasthi Blank: Vegetable Biryani

It's the week of celebration at my blog, I think many of you have known many of my blogger sisters are doing guest post for the past few days. Adding to the list will be Swasthi the owner of Indian Healthy Recipes blog, I love her recipes especially the healthy versions and admire her pictures of food. If you have visited her blog before you would know how much love she puts in her cooking and photography, let me not waste any time and introduce our star today Swasthi Blank.

Hi Everyone! I am Swasthi , author of Indian Healthy Recipes. I am delighted to be here on Arthy’s space to share a simple Vegetable Biryani Recipe.  We all love biryani, but many never attempt to prepare this at home, feeling it to be a tedious process. But trust me! Making a good biryani is just a simple task and an art, which can be gained by practice. I have used a homemade biryani masala powder, but if you wish you can replace it with any store bought powders, though I cannot suggest you any brand as I have not been using them for years now. Now on to a non-mushy and spicy Vegetable Biryani recipe.

Ingredients:

1 cup of aged basmathi rice (soaked for just 10 to 20 mins)

½  cup of chopped onions

1/3 cup of tomatoes chopped

6 to 8 baby potatoes or 1 large potatoes cubed and soaked in salt water till you prepare.

¼ cup of carrots chopped

¼ cup of green peas

Few thinly sliced capsicum pieces (optional, but adds aroma to the rice)

1 ½   tbsp ginger garlic paste

½ cup mint leaves

½ cup Coriander leaves

2 to 3 green chilies (adjust as per your taste)

A pinch of turmeric

1 ½ tbps melon seeds paste (smooth paste, optional, but adds a lot of taste)

1 ¼ tbsp. homemade biryani masala powder (can use store bought too, but adjust the quantity as needed) (adjust as per your taste)

1 ¾ cup Water (works right for me always)

4 to 5 tbsps. oil

Dry spices

1 bay leaf

5 green cardamoms

1 star anise

3 inch cinnamon stick

6 to 8 clove

Few pepper corn

Method

1.   Fry the capsicums in 1 tsp of oil and set aside.

2.   Heat oil in a pan, add spices and sauté

3.   Add ginger garlic paste, sauté

4.   Add tomatoes, little salt, turmeric and fry till the tomatoes turn mushy and then later become dry (all the juice must be evaporated)

5.   Add the onions, carrots, peas and potatoes fry on medium for 2 mins

6.   Add mint and coriander leaves, sauté for 2 to 3 mins

7.   Pour water, add salt, biryani masala powder

8.   Cover and cook till the potatoes are half cooked usually takes around 3 to 4 mins on medium flame.

9.   Add rice , melon seed paste and cook on a medium flame till all the water is evaporated. Mix well

10.Close the pan with a tight lid and simmer the flame to minimum, the flame should barely touch the pan. Cook this way for 7 to 8 mins, checking in between. If rice is undercooked can sprinkle some warm water and cook. Add the fried capsicums. Off the heat.

Serve after 15 mins

Thanks dear Arthy for giving me this opportunity.

The pictures makes me drooling, what you think? Awesome recipe isn't it, do try and visit her blog she has more surprising recipes there!

Keralan Briyani

The moment I saw this recipe in Sherin's Kuk's Kitchen, I told myself I'm definitely going to try this but I have made some changes to it. But no much changes but I didn't add chicken to this dish as the recipe calls for as we get a lot of vegetarians guests for Diwali. Sherin, thank you so much for sharing this recipe with everyone, the taste was awesome.

Okay now let's check the recipe;

Ingredients:

4 cups of rice 
6 pcs cardamom 
6 pcs cinnamon 
6 pcs cloves
1/4 cup of ghee 
4 large onions (sliced)

2 tbsp of ginger garlic paste

5 green chilli paste

15 pcs of cashewnuts

30 pcs of raisins

1/2 cup of yoghurt

5 cups of water

1 lemon (squeezed)

1 small can of crushed pineapple

A few drops of rosewater

Salt to taste

Coriander and mint (garnishing)

Dry blend masala:
1pc cinnamon 
6 pcs clove

1 tsp nutmeg

6 pcs cardamom 
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp fennel
10 pcs peppercones 

Dry roast and blend all the ingredients for masala and keep aside.

Fry raisins ans cashew nuts in ghee and keep aside. Fry sliced onion until crispy golden brown and keep aside.

I have used rice cooker to cook this dish, pour ghee and fry cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, ginger garlic paste, green chili paste fry for a minute then add washed rice and fry together in the ghee. 

Pour water, yoghurt, lemon juice, rose water, crushed pineapple and let rice completely cook until fluffy. 

Finally add a few drops of saffron with milk and garnish with fried onions, cashews, raisins, coriander and mint leaves.

Now our Keralan Briyani is ready to be served, do try and let me know how it turned out for you!

Muruku

It has been 10 days since I have updated my blog, I have been extremely busy with work,business and Diwali preparations. Today I found a few minutes to write a post early in the morning, nothing much to say so let me bring you direct to the recipe; 

Ingredients:

6 cups of rice flour

3 cups of ulunthu flour (urad dal)

1/4 cup of white sesame seeds

1/4 cup of cumin seeds

1/4 cup of ajwain seeds

4 cups of coconut milk

1 tbsp of salt

2 tbsp of butter

Oil to fry

Dry roast rice flour and ulunthu flour and keep aside. Simmer coconut milk with salt, until warm do not boil it.

Mix butter to rice flour,ulunthu flour, butter and add 1 cup of coconut milk

Add sesame seeds, cumin seeds and ajwain seeds to flour

Now add the rest of the coconut milk and knead dough well and apply some oil to the dough

Press dough into a close coil like design and keep aside

Arrange all the pressed dough on a tray to fry

Heat oil and fry the coils in hot oil and fry until golden

Strain the muruku and keep aside to remove excess oil

Now our muruku is ready to be served

Do try and let me know how it turned out!

Im sending this recipe to Love2Cook's Event Deepavali Delights 2012

Nasi Lemak/ Coconut Rice with Prawn Sambal

One food Malaysians can't live without is Nasi Lemak or Coconut Rice. Nasi Lemak is usually served with variety of dishes Chicken Sambal, Squid Sambal, Prawn Sambal, Anchovies Sambal, Hard Boiled Eggs, Fried Groundnuts, Fried Anchovies, Fried Eggs, Clams Rendang, Beef Rendang and many more to list down.

I have served my Nasi Lemak with prawn sambal, hard boiled eggs, fried groundnuts and fried chicken nuggets. Okay now let us look at how to prepare the rice for Nasi Lemak first;

Ingredients:

2 cups of rice (soaked and drained)
3 shallots finely diced
1 lemon grass sliced thinly
1 pc of ginger sliced thinly
1/2 cup of coconut milk
2 1/2 cup of water
5 pcs of cloves
1 tbsp of ghee
Salt to taste

I have used rice cooker to cook this. In a rice cooker, heat ghee and add all the aromatics (lemon grass, shallots, ginger, cloves) and fry for a minute. Add in rice, water and coconut milk with some salt to taste and cover until rice completely cooked. 

The rice should be fluffy and not too moist nor grainy. Let rice to cool and use chopstick or fork to separate the grains, let it cool down before using a spoon to serve the rice. Now our Nasi Lemak rice is ready to be served.

Prawn Sambal;

250g of prawns (soaked and drained)
3 large onions sliced
1 small piece of belacan/shrimp paste
30 pcs dried red chili (depending on preference)
1 tbsp of chili sauce
1 tsp of brown sugar
2 cups of water
Salt to taste
Oil to fry

Blend shrimp paste, dried red chili and 1 onion with 2 cups of water until fine and set aside. I'm making a watery chili paste so that I don't have to add water later while cooking the sambal.

In a pan, heat oil, add balance 2 onions and fry for until onions turn translucent, now add the chili paste and let it boil and water almost evaporates. Now add the prawns and let it simmer, finally add salt, brown sugar, chili sauce and let the sambal thickens.

I have added 30 pcs of dried red chili because I prefer it spicy, you can reduce if you can't consume very spicy sambal.

Now our prawn sambal is ready to be served with Nasi Lemak, garnish with hard boiled egg, fried groundnuts and what ever you prefer to go with Nasi Lemak..

Do try and let me know how it turned out!

Kalkandu / Rock Sugar Pongal

Ingredients:

1 cup of raw rice (washed and drained)

1/4 cup of rock sugar/ kalkandu

10 pcs cashew nuts

10 pcs raisins

3 tbsp of milk

1 tbsp of ghee

1 tsp of salt

2 cups of water

In a pan, heat ghee and roast cashews and raisin until golden, pour water and let it boil. Once water boils add in rice and let it cook until soft.

Now add in salt, kalkandu and milk and let all incorporate well, cook until pongal thickens and water completely evaporates. Let the pongal cool down before serving.

Now our Kalkandu/ Rock Sugar Pongal is ready to be served.

I'm sending this recipe to Priya's Event Navratri 2012

Sakkarai Pongal/ Palm Sugar Pongal

Hello everyone, how's your Navratri celebrations going on? I hope everyone are very well blessed with Durga ma's blessing. As for me this is a great week of the year ever, okay for today's neiveidyam I have cooked Sakkarai Pongal or Palm Sugar Pongal. 

This is a pongal loved by my whole family, be it the young ones or the oldies. We don't add so much of sugar until it's so sweet and people who are very concerned about health can't consume. Now let's check our how I cooked this;

Ingredients:

2 cup of cooked rice

1/2 cup of palm sugar (dissolve in 1 cup of water)

1/4 cup of white sugar

3 tbsp of milk

2 cups of water

10 cashew nuts

10 yellow raisins

1 tbsp of ghee

2 cardamoms

A pinch of salt

Heat ghee in a pan

Fry cashew nuts until golden brown

Add in yellow raisins with the cashews

Pour palm sugar mixture, sugar, salt and bring to a boil

Add cardamom, when palm sugar mixture boils and reduce in quantity

Add cooked rice and mix well

Add milk and mix well, let water evaporate

See this is how pongal should be after water evaporated

Now our Sakkarai Pongal is ready to be served

Do try and let me know how it turned out for you!

I'm sending this recipe to Priya's Event Navratri 2012

                                                

Puliyodharai/ Tamarind Rice

My favorite neiveidyam ever is Puliyodharai, my mom used to cook this for us anytime requested because of her simple and easy recipe. We used to have Puliyodharai with Potato Sambal or Pumpkin Pulingkari (Spicy and Sour Pumpkin dish), we never ask for anything else. 

 Let's get to the recipe;

Ingredients:

2 cups of cooked rice

1/4 cup of toor dhall (cooked)

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 cup of tamarind juice

1 sprig of curry leaves

1 tsp mustard seed

A pinch of hing

2 red dry chili

2 cups of water

1 tbsp oil

Salt to taste

In a pan, heat oil add mustard seed once it crackle, add curry leaves, dry chili, hing and fry for a minute. Now pour in tamarind juice and water let it boil and reduces to half the quantity, meaning from 3 cups (2 cups of water and 1 cup of tamarind juice) boils down to 1 cup of liquid.

A this point add cooked dhall, turmeric powder, salt and simmer for another 5 minutes

Add in cooked rice to the tamarind mixture and mix well incorporating both

All mixed well, now ready to be served

Lovely right? 

Do try and let me know how it turned out!

I'm sending this recipe to Priya's Event Navratri 2012

Ven Pongal

I'm the happiest in my life today, all because I went for Navratri pooja in a Karumariamman temple near my house and it was awesome. I was there for more then 2 hours, the Golu they had was so nice and I wish I could have that picture taken if I ever brought my camera or phone there. I never bring phone to temple, its a total disturbance bringing it.

Okay now going back to my second neiveidyam for prayers today is Ven Pongal. Let's look at the recipe now;

Ingredients:

1 cup of cooked rice

2 tbsp of toor dhall cooked

1 tsp black pepper corns 

1/2 cup of milk

2 cups of water

1 tsp of salt

1 tsp ghee

For this recipe I have used cooked rice, you can use uncooked rice also.

In a pan, add in ghee, now add in black pepper corns stir a while, add milk and 1 cup of water then let it boil. Once boiled add in cooked rice and dhall until water gets evaporated and rice-milk mixture is thickened, constantly stir in the mixture to avoid burning at the bottom.Add another cup of water and salt, let the mixture simmer until it gets thickened again.

I used smaller pan that is why I had to add water twice to avoid overflow when boiling. Leave the Ven Pongal a while before serving so rice will absorb the milk completely.

Now our Ven Pongal is ready to be served, I had it with green chili pickle and the taste was awesome. Do try and let me know how it turned out.

I'm sending this recipe to Priya's Event Navratri 2012