Thursday, May 13, 2010

VEGETABLE DUM-BIRIYANI

Being a hyderabadi, biriyani is my all-time favorite food. I can eat biriyani any day, any time.

There are 26 varieties of biriyani made in India. Biriyani come from the Persian word “birian” which means “fried before cooking”. The vegetable Biriyani is the “tarkari” version which was originally made for cashiers and financiers who were mahajan hindus. The hyderabadi version of mixed vegetable biriyani is the Tahiri.
In olden days rice was fried (without washing) in ghee. After the rice is stir fried it was cooked with water and spices till half-cooked. In an earthen pot called “Handi”, the rice and vegetables are layered, the top and bottom are always rice and the interior layers may be introduced between the rice and vegetables. Saffron mixed in warm milk may be added for added color and aroma(alternatively you can also use orange food colour). The Handi is sealed and put on coal embers to cook. Now days we use oven to do that work.
source:wikipedia

My version is soaking basmati rice in water for a while…cook until 70% is done with oil and salt, layer with half-cooked vegetables along with herbs, seal it with aluminum foil and bake in the oven for 20mins. Just open it before serving and enjoy with mirchi-ka-salan or bagara baingan and raita.

VEGETABLE DUM-BIRIYANI RECIPE:

Preparation time: 1hr (including baking time)
Serves : 5 people
Cuisine : Indian

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice: 2 cups
Gingergarlic paste: 1 tsp
Cloves-3
Elachi-5
Cinnamon stick-1/2stick
Shah jeera-1/2tsp
Bay leaves-2
Everest shahi biriyani masala- 1tbsp

Vegetables:

Onions-2
Green chilies-6-7(depending on your spice level)
Potato-1
Green beans-5
Bell pepper (any color of your choice. I prefer green and red)-1/4 of each color
Carrots-1
Paneer--shallow fry in ghee(optional)
Mint-1/2 bunch
Cilantro/dhania/kottimeera-1/2 bunch

Method:

Wash the basmati rice thoroughly and soak them in water for 1/2hr.

Wash all the veggies and cut them length wise except paneer.



In a wide pan add oil or ghee; once it is hot add the whole masala (cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaf and shahjeera) let them fry for a minute.Now add ginger garlic paste, once the masala is frying in GG paste add onions and fry them till they become soft.



Now add rest of the veggies and cook them until they are ½ done. At this point add salt(remember,we add salt to rice while cooking)chopped mint, cilantro and store brought biriyani masala.





Mean while turn on the rice cooker with 1:1 ratio (1cup water for 1cup rice),add oil and salt.

once the rice is done, take an oven proof dish ( I usually do it in foil tray)put a layer of rice and on top of it the veggie mixture, mint, cilantro, fried paneer and add food color(or saffron mixed with milk).Continue layering until all the rice and veggie mixture is done. Finish off layering with chopped mint, cilantro.








Seal the tray with aluminum foil and bake it in oven at 300deg for 20mins.



Serve warm with your choice of gravy and raita.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

CARROT HALWA

Today is the first day of my blogging; I want to start with a sweet dish, wishing that my journey in blogging will be sweet and pleasant. We don’t have sweet tooth in our house but this is one of the dish which we all enjoy on any day. Don’t calorie count on this dish as some of the Indian sweets must have ghee and whole milk to get the original taste.

Grated carrot shallow fried in ghee, cooked in whole milk (has to be the whole milk, doesn’t taste the same with low fat), decorated with nuts makes this dish simply irresistible.

Carrot Halwa Recipe:

Preparation time: 30 mins
Serves 3 people
Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients:

Medium size Carrots--1/2lb
Whole Milk—1cup
Sugar-1/2 cup
Desi ghee—3tbsp
Cashews—for garnishing
Raisins---for garnishing

Method:

1.Wash the carrots thoroughly and grate them. Heat a tbsp of ghee in the heavy bottom pan and fry the grated carrot for a minute.





2.In a separate pan add a tbsp of ghee and fry cashews and raisins.

3.Add milk and cook the carrot until all the milk evaporated.



4.Add sugar at this point stirring until the sugar is dissolved and comes to a shiny texture.



5.Transfer this to a serving bowl and decorate with the fried nuts.


6.Enjoy it warm or cool,either way it tastes great.