Chicken Biryani

Looks like I am on a dedication spree. The credit for this recipe goes to my darling husband. A delicate blend of spices to make an aromatic and light flavoured rice and chicken. Make a vegetable or boondi raita and your sure to steal the show. Thanks for sharing this Flav. And Gody hope you try this out! :)

Ingredients... (Serves 5-6)

For Marination

1 Kg Chicken 
1 Cup Curd 

1 Tsp Turmeric powder

2 Tsp Chilli powder

1.5 Tsp Salt

For Masala/gravy

4 Tbsp Oil

3 Cloves

4 Cardamom

1 inch piece Cinnamon

3 Onions (finely chopped)

1 Tomatoes (finely chopped)

2 Tsp Biryani or Meat Masala

3 cups Basmati Rice

Here's what to do...

Mix the chicken, curd, turmeric, chilly powder and salt in a bowl and marinate covered for about 2 hours (overnight in the refrigerator is best).

Heat oil in a pan, add cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and fry till the cinnamon changes color.

Add onions and fry till golden brown. Add tomatoes and biryani masala and fry till the mixture appears uniform and turns reddish orange in color.

Now add the chicken and cook the mixture on a medium flame till the chicken is half done (should be able to poke it easily with a fork).

Wash the rice and add 3 cups of water in a rice cooker. Add the entire chicken curry mix from above in the rice. Mix well and allow it to cook for about 20 min. There will not be any gravy left; just the masala.

Your biryani is ready.

Tips and Garnishing...

To make it more authentic, add fresh mint leaves while preparing the chicken masala (add along with the tomatoes). And finally when the biryani is done, garnish with fresh coriander.

If you do not

have a rice cook, use a pressure cooker or a cooking pot with lid and follow the same procedure.

Brazilian Chocolate Cake with Nutella icing and chocolate plastic flowers

Sharmi this post is especially for your mum! :)

This I baked a few months ago for a friend's surprise baby shower.

Brazilian chocolate cake + Nutella Icing + Chocolate plastic flowers

+ coarsely crushed nuts of your choice

Cut the edges of the cake so that it is smooth and even. Do not throw the extra pieces. Crumble and save for later. Divide the cake horizontally to have two parts. Spread a generous amount of icing to sandwich the two parts and then spread the remaining over the top and sides of the cake.Sprinkle the cake crumb and some crush nuts of ur choice on the side of the cake.

The Plastic chocolate was quite a pain I must say. I had planned to abandon my trusted marzipan and decided to make a tasty baby cradle out of chocolate plastic. The plastic sure tasted great but working with it was very very difficult. In the end I did what I do very often... When plans don't work, IMPROVISE. Since we didn't know if the baby was 'blue' or 'pink', I made flowers of the two colours to keep the guessing mode on.

The result was decent in appearance but great in taste. Soft, creamy, lightly chocolately! :)

Cakes and toppings... and my online baking recipe books

A close friend recently mentioned to my husband 'your wife is a super woman. She always gets everything right!' On that note I have to say that I so far I have only put up posts and pictures of the things I have managed to do decently well. The credit for all that perfection goes to all the failed experiments and the insight they bring. Sometimes things go exactly as planned, sometimes they fail terribly. We have eaten half baked cakes, burnt dosa's, seen ugly looking crafts, broken our head about what could have possibly gone wrong till we finally figured out the 'right' way. It sure does take long to find perfection... though not forever! :)

Coming to cakes and toppings... Many of my friends who have mastered the art of baking suggest that one must find a good cake recipe book to get the basic recipes right. So as I set on my quest for one, I came across this blog. Pamela has done an excellent job of reviewing different recipes and posting them. I have been mixing and matching the icing and cakes from this blog and others to come up with yummy combinations. Videojug and youtube are other great sites to visit. 

This is the Black Forest Cake I baked recently on my husband's birthday. 

Look out for more posts on other baking delights. 

Maize Cake

I am back to blogging after a long break. So I thought lets revoke some sweet memories from the time I was away. This recipe was shared by my friends from Afghanistan in my German language class. The recipe is simple & light and makes a great tea/coffee time snack. If you don't indulge in evening coffee or tea like me, simply give the cake your undivided attention and relish a slice or two.

You need:
1 cup vegetable oil (I used Olive oil)

1 cup sugar

1 cup milk

1 1/2 cups Maizeflour (Yellow flour. It is not the same as the white cornflour used for thickening soups and sauces.)

1 tsp Elaichi/Cardamom powder

1 1/4 cups Maida/All purpose flour (If you want to make a super healthy version, use whole wheat flour instead)

2 Eggs

1 tsp baking powder

Beat the eggs, oil, milk and sugar in a bowl. Now add all the dry ingredients through a sieve (to avoid forming lumps) into the liquid mixture. Beat the mixture well for few minutes till smooth. Grease a cake tin and add in the mixture. Bake in microwave oven or regular oven for 45 minutes at 180 to 200 C (temperature setting depends on type of oven).

Cake is now ready.... The aroma of maize and cardamom very tempting.... But wait... let the cake cool for at least an hour before you dig in! ;)

Mango and Avocado Rice

A ripe Avocado in the fridge looked at me with a big happy smile and said 'You got to use me today!" And so I decided to pair it with some fresh spring onions and mango pulp. The result? Aromatic pulao enjoyed by our friends who spent the day with us watching the cricket World Cup 2011 finals. And since India turned out champions that night this recipe will always remain extra special. This recipe serves 8 hungry stomachs.

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tspoon ajwain seeds (also called bishops weed)

7 spring onions chopped

2 tspoons ginger garlic paste

2 tspoons paprika powder

2 tspoons black pepper powder

1 tspoon dried parsley

1 tspoon dried oregano

1 tspoon balsamico

3 tablespoons mango puree

1 well riped avocado mashed

salt to taste

6 cups of basmati rice

Wash and cook rice. Keep aside to cool. To speed up the cooling process spread the rice on a large plate. (The rice needs to be cooled to prevent the grains from breaking when mixing.)

In a pan heat oil and add ajwain. Once they turn brown and you get a good aroma add the chopped spring onions. Saute well. Once soft add the ginger garlic paste, paprika and pepper and mix well. Now add the mango, avocado and the remaining herbs, i.e. parsley, oregano, balsamico and salt. Mix well and cook covered over medium heat for about 4 minutes with 1/4 cup water.

Add the cooked mixture to the cooled rice and mix well till every grain is coated. Serve warm.

Natural colour for rice

Are you tired of serving white rice all the time? Are you looking for a simple idea to make your simple pulao look exotic? I believe that the appearance of any delicacy I serve is as important as the taste. I stumbled upon this idea accidentally a couple of months ago when cooking rice in my rice cooker and steaming beet root in the steamer over the same rice cooker. 

You could add bay leaves, cloves and cinnamon to the rice when boiling. Peel the beetroot and cut into pieces and place on the steamer. The red colour from the beetroot will fall over the rice. Let the rice cool down to room temperature and then gently mix it well to get the effect as in the attached photograph. Hmmm so what do you do when you don't have a rice cooker with a steamer? You could use a regular cooker and place the beetroot over a plate with holes. For example, plates used to make idlis. Or you could boil the beet separately and pour some of the coloured water over the rice. Wait for the rice to cool and then mix it roughly.

White Sauce for Pasta

This a simple white sauce recipe for pasta which is completely vegetarian and alcohol free. For non-vegetarians you could add pieces of any meat of your choice. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients: serves 4

2 tbspoons butter/ margarine

1 cup maida/all purpose flour

1 cup milk

pepper

salt

Petersillie

Powdered garlic

Oregano

Vegetables of ur choice (brocolli, carrots, mushrooms, zucchini)

2 tablespoons Grated Paneer

Any pasta

In a non-stick pan heat butter. Once melted add maida. Mix well. This will have formed some lumps by now. Add the milk and keep stirring till the lumps are gone. (Or add little maida at first then some milk and little more maida and alternate till all the maida and milk is added and well mixed.) Now add all the spices and herbs to taste. Finally add all the vegetables and cook well till vegetables are soft but crunchy. Don't forget to add the grated paneer and cook for a couple more minutes.

Boil any pasta in hot water or as instructed on the packet. Drain out the water. Run them through cold water to prevent them from sticking.

Serve.