MUSHROOM MASALA

what u need
For spicy masala:


Dry red chilli:3
Coriander Seeds:1/3 tab
Black peppercorns:1tab
Cumin seeds;1/2 tab
Fennel seeds:1/2 tab
Poppy seeds:1 tab
Spilt rosted gram/Dalia:1 tab
Cardamom:2no
Mace:1/4ab
Star anise:1no
Nutmeg powder:1/8tab
Coconut :4tab
Pearl onians:6no
Ginger:1/2
Garlic:3cloves
Turmeric:1/4inch


FOR CURRY

Mushroom:4cups
Tomato:1
Green Chili:3
Curry leaves:10
Bay leaf;1
Black stone flower:2
Coriander leaves:2tab
oil:3tab
salt to tast
water :1/2 Cup
In a small skillet, dry roast, Dry red chili, Coriander seeds, Black peppercorns, Cumin seeds, Fennel seeds, Poppy seeds and set aside it takes about 30 seconds for each one or until all spices release a nice aroma. In the same skillet combine cardamom, clove, cinnamon, mace, star anise, and nutmeg and dry roast until they release a nice aroma and set aside. Finally dry roast the coconut to slightly brown color and set aside.
In a food processor or grinder combine all the roasted spices, split roasted gram, coconut, pearl onions, ginger, garlic and turmeric in to fine paste by adding 2 tablespoon of water and set aside.
In a medium skillet, heat oil and add bay leaf, curry leaves and black stone flower/kalpasi. When it starts leaving aroma, add mushroom, green chili and bell pepper and fry for 3 minutes. Then add ground masala tomato, salt and rest of water and let fry the masala for another 3 minutes and cover it and cook for another 5minutes or until mushroom are cooked well and gravy got thickened.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and switch off the flame.
Enjoy with hot rice or chapathi.

Mirch ka salan

Mirchi Ka Salan, A popular Hyderabadi curry recipe served as a side dish with Hyderabadi Briyani.

Ingredients:

1 Large tomato(finely chopped)

6-8 Green chilli (thick and large)-Wash and slit the green chillies Remove the seeds & white pitch (Wear gloves for sensitive skin.).

For Dry Roasted and Ground Masala

2 Onions (finely chopped)
1/2 cup Sesame seeds (Til)

1/4 cup Groundnut (Pali-skins removed after roast)
1/2 cup Coconut powder

1 tbsp Cumin seeds (zeera)

1 tbsp Mustard seeds (rai)

2-3 Dried red chilli

1/2 tbsp  Red chili powder

1/2 Turmeric Powder

1 tbsp ginger & garlic paste

1/2 cup Tamarind Juice(Imli ka khata)

6-8 Curry leaves

Coriander leaves  fine chopped.

1/2 cup oil
salt to taste

Method

In a large non-stick saucepan/Khadhai  at medium heat, Add  sesame seeds, groundnut, coconut powder, cumin seeds, mustard seeds one by one separatly and fry without oil for 1 minute-or till slightly darker in color and then grind to a fine smooth paste keep aside.

Then Add onion without oil and fry till they are slightly golden in colour and grind to a smooth paste.

Heat the oil and fry the green chilli untill they turn white, keep aside.

Then in a large cooking bowl add oil at mediume heat, add 1 tbsp cuming seed, 1 tbsp mustard seeds,stir until the seeds crackle.

After few seconds add dried red chilli and curry leaves for few seconds immediately add tomato stir for 5 minute add ginger & garlic paste, stir for few seconds

Add red chili powder,turmeric powder, stir for few seconds.

Then add the paste & mix it well  and add tamarind juice  leave it for low heat till the thin layer of oil appears on the bottom surface.

Stir often to prevent burning,if required,sprinkle a little water from time to time prevent the masala from burning.

Now add salt to taste,stir often to prevent masala burning,Do not cook on a high heat,simmer heat and add the fried green chillies, coriander leaves cover the pan leave for 20-25 minutes untill the oil appears on the bottom surface & cook until the raw smell of onion/tomatoes/tamarind evaporates..

This dish should have thick gravy so ideally,water is not added while cooking if however,you find it getting too dry,1/2 cup of warm water can be added to it.

Remove pan from heat and  serve dish with Naans,Paranthas,Biryani.....

Hyderabad Veg Dum Biryani

A Vegetable Biryani Recipe post was amongst one of the few recipes that I wanted to post from a long time.  One of my favorite food is the biryani. My mom makes the best biryanis and I have seen her many times cooking biryani with a lot of love and care. You really have to cook the biryani with a lot of love and care. There should be no hurry and cooking a biryani takes up some time. Yet it is worth it. It is one of the most grand, noble and delectable recipe from India.
The biryanis which I have seen my mom making at home have always been cooked on dum. When I saw on the internet, that food bloggers have recipes for pressure cooked biryanis, I was amazed as well as shocked. How can one cook a biryani in a pressure cooker. For a biryani to be a biryani….. it has to be cooked on dum. The biryanis which are pressure cooked, do not remain a biryani anymore….. atleast they should not be called biryani.
An authentic vegetable biryani is always slow cooked on dum. This cooking on dum gives the biriyani its uniqueness and originality. This is how the biryani has the beautiful medley of the aromas, flavors and tastes caused by the blending of the ingredients used in making it. Now what is dum cooking or dum pukht?
Dum Pukht is a technique of cooking in steam by not allowing the steam to pass. Dum Pukht literally means choking off the steam. The food is kept in a sealed container – usually clay pots (also known as handi in India) which are sealed tightly with wheat flour dough. This does not allow the steam to pass. The food gets cooked in its own steam and juices on a slow fire infusing the flavors and aroma of its own herbs and spices in the food. Nutrients are not lost in this process and thus the food is nutritious too.
This tradition of dum pukht orginated in Persia where the dish was prepared, sealed and then buried in hot sand to mature. Dum Pukht is part of the Avadhi/Awadhi Cuisine which is from the city of Lucknow – Uttar Pradesh. Nowadays Dum Pukht is also used in Hyderabadi, Mughlai and Punjabi cuisines. Some of the popular dum recipes are : Dum Aloo, Handi Veg Biryani, Dum Chicken biryani, Phaldari Kofta.
This Hyderabadi Vegetable Biryani Recipe is one of the best biryani I have made so far. I have also cooked my mom’s version and that too comes out great. I will also post her recipe one day. There is also the Lucknowi Biryani, Mughlai Biryani, Kashmiri Biryani. They all have their own tastes and flavor.
This Vegetable Biryani recipe is light, mild and delicious. In fact, it came out so well and tasted lip smackingly yum……. that I went for a second helping of it. The rice grains were fluffy, cooked well and separate. The subtle flavors of the garam masala, onions and curd were so infused in the vegetables. Each bite of the vegetable had the taste, flavor and aroma of the masala as well as the unique taste of the vegetable. All I can say is that each bite of this hyderabadi dum vegetable biryani recipe was heavenly.
As far as the ingredients are concerned, its best to use all the ingredients as mentioned below. Personally, I did not have mace, so i was not able to use it. And for the almonds, I was too lazy to blanch, peel and slice the almonds, so I have not added the almonds.
This biryani recipe post is my most lengthy post till now with maximum pictures. I have included step by step recipe details with pictures for this post. I just did not want to write a simple post with just one or two pictures for this beautiful dish. I hope you enjoy making this recipe as much as I enjoyed and also, that these pictures inspire you to cook not only the biryani but any recipe.



Ingredients to make this awesome Hyderabad Veg Biryani:
The Rice:
1 and half cup basmati rice
2 green cardamoms
2 black cardamoms
2 cloves
1 cinnamon of 1 inch
1 bay leaf
2 mace strands
3 cups water
salt
The Vegetable Gravy:
1/2 medium sized cauliflower, florets removed
1 medium sized carrot, diced
1 medium sized potato, cubed
1 cup of chopped french beans
1/2 cup frozen/fresh peas
1 and half onion, finely sliced
1 green chili, slit
2 tbsp julienned ginger
1 tbsp chopped garlic
2 green cardamom
2 black cardamoms
2 cloves
1 cinnamon of 1 inch
1 bay leaf
2 mace strands
1oo gms whisked curd
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chili powder/cayenne pepper
2 tbsp cashewnuts
1 tbsp sultanas/raisins
2 tbsp almonds, blanched, peeled and sliced
3 tbsp ghee
salt
Herbs and Spices for the assembling:
1/2 cup chopped coriander/cilantro leaves
1/2 cup mint leaves
100 gms whisked curd
a few saffron strands
1 tbsp milk
Method to make the Hyderabad Veg Biryani:
Cooking the Rice:
Pick and clean the rice in running water. Soak the rice in water for 30 minutes.
Now you can microwave or pressure cook the rice. You have to cook the rice till its 3/4th done. The rice should not be fully cooked but almost cooked.
In a pressure cooker or a microwave cooker, add the pre-soaked rice, all the spices mentioned above, salt.
Cook till the rice till is almost done.
I microwaved the rice and cooked it for 9 minutes at full power. Fluff the rice and keep it separate.
Making the Vegetable Gravy:
Traditionally biryani were made in clay pots, known as handis. If you have a clay pot, you could use it. I did not have a clay pot or handi. But I have a pressure cooker shaped like a handi, so I used it. If you have a handi shaped pot made up of aluminium, you could use it also.
Heat ghee in the handi.
Add all whole garam masala: cardamoms, mace, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves. Fry the garam masala till they crackle.
Now add the onions. Fry the onions till golden brown.
Add the green chilli, ginger and garlic. Fry for a minute.
Add the turmeric and red chili powder.
Give the mixture a stir.
Now add the vegetables and stir for a minute.
Add the curd/yoghurt.
Stir and then add 3/4 cup water plus salt. Stir the mixture well.
If using a pressure cooker for cooking the veggies, then cover the cooker with a lid and pressure cook for 2 minutes.
If not using a pressure cooker, then bring the entire vegetable mixture to a boil. Then simmer until the vegetables are cooked. Add the dry fruits – almonds, raisins and cashew nuts to the vegetable gravy.
Check the salt. Add more if required.
Assembling the Biryani and slow cooking it on Dum:
Warm the milk. Add saffron to it. Let this saffron-milk mixture cool. Add the curd to this mixture and mix well.
In the same handi with the cooked vegetables, sprinkle half each of saffron-flavored curd/yoghurt, mint and coriander leaves.
Now spread half of the rice.
Sprinkle the remaining saffron-flavored curd/yoghurt, mint and coriander leaves.
Spread the remaining rice.
Sprinkle rose water. This is optional and you could skip it.
Place a moist cloth on top.
Cover with a lid.
Then seal with wheat flour dough. I was too lazy to make the wheat dough, so I kept a heavy weight on the lid.
This is one technique that you could use for dum cooking if you do not have the wheat flour dough.
Place the sealed handi on the gas stove at low fire.
Cook for 20-25 minutes more. If you think and feel, that you do not want the base to get burnt while cooking the biryani… there is a technique for avoiding this disaster.
Right at the beginning, before dum cooking the biryani……. take a tava/griddle and heat it on medium flame. Now keep the sealed handi on the tava. Keep the flame to the lowest and cook for 20-25 minutes.
For the first 15 minutes, I dum cooked the biryani on direct low flame and for the last 10 minutes, I placed the handi on the tava and cooked on a low flame.
You could also preheat the oven to 190 degree celsius and then bake the biryani in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Please remember to use an oven proof utensil like the pyrex ones for baking in the oven. You will have to assemble the biryani as mentioned above in the oven proof utensil and then bake it.
While serving, make sure you equally serve the vegetables as well as rice. Here are a few pictures of the layers seen inside the handi.
Serve the yummy veg biryani with your choice of raita, onion-mint salad-kuchumber, mango pickle, roasted papad.
Other accompaniments for this Hyderabad Veg Biryani would be Mirchon ka Salan…. the way the Biryani is traditionally served in Hyderabad.

Caulifower Manchurian

Caulifower Manchurian is made from Cauliflower florets also known as Gobhi. Its supposed to be a Chinese recipe, but with everything here that gets indianised, this recipe has also got indianised. I have never heard of the chinese making caulifower manchurian. Anyways, this recipe is a popular recipe and here are the details
Ingredients you will need for the Caulifower Manchurian:

1 medium cauliflower
1 small bunch finely chopped spring onion
2 tsp finely chopped ginger
1 tsp finely chopped garlic
1/4 tsp pepper powder
2 green chillies
1 tbsp soya sauce or more if desired
1/4 cup refined flour, maida or all purpose flour
3 tbsp cornflour
3 tbsp oil
1 1/2 cups water
salt or ajinomoto
Method to make the Gobhi Manchurian:
Firstly clean and break the Cauliflower in big florettes. Boil water with salt and keep the florettes in the salted water for 15 minutes. You can also boil the cauliflower for 3-4 minutes in plenty of salted water.
Drain and dry on a clean cloth.
Make a batter out of refined flour and 2 tablespoon cornflour. Add 1/4 tsp each of ginger, garlic and pepper powder along with salt to taste.
Dip the florettes in the batter one by one and deep fry in hot oil. Keep aside.
In the remaining oil, add the remaining ginger, garlic and slit green chillies and fry for a minute.
Add the salt and spring onions.
Stir fry for a minute. Add 1 1/2 cups of water and bring to a boil.
Add 1 tablespoon cornflour to 1/4 cup water and dissolve well. Make sure there are no lumps.
Gradually add to the gravy and stir continuously till it resumes boiling. Keep on stirring the gravy while adding the cornflour paste.
Boil till the gravy becomes transparent. Add the fried florettes and the soya sauce.
Boil for two more minutes and remove.
Serve hot with noodles or rice.
Tips for the Caulifower Manchurian:
This recipe is for gravied manchurian. You can make dry manchurian by not adding water. Instead of water you add the fried florettes, spring onions and soya sauce. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon cornflour on the florettes and stir fry for 2 minutes. Serve hot with chilli-garlic sauce or tomato sauce. The dry caulifower manchurian can be served as a starter or a side vegetable.
Fry the caulifower florettes in oil which is neither too hot nor warm.
You can substitute dry red chillies instead of green chillies. Just crush them and use.
You could also use fine strips of capsicum in the recipe.
Ajinomoto can be completely avoided in the recipe or used sparingly.
If you like the taste of red chilli sauce or tomato sauce, you could use these sauces too.

Batata Vada

The ingredients for the Batata Vada:
For the Potato Filling you will need:

4 medium sized Potatoes
10-12 curry leaves
2 tsp skinned spilt urad dal (Black Gram)
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds (optional)
1 chopped green chilly
2 inch piece ginger chopped finely
a few chopped cilantro/coriander leaves (optional)
1 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp asafoetida
oil for frying
salt
For the Besan (Gram Flour) batter you will need:
1 and 1/2 cup gram flour
salt
water
2 tbsp rice flour (optional)
Method of making the potato bondas:
1: Firstly boil the potatoes till cooked thoroughly. Then mash them well. There should be no lumps.
2: In a pan, take some oil. When the oil gets hot, add the mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds start crackling, add the cumin seeds, the curry leaves, chopped ginger, chopped chilly, asafoetida and cilantro.
3: Fry till the spices are well cooked. Don’t burn. Add the turmeric powder. Then add the mashed potatoes and salt. Blend the potatoes with the spice mixture. Let this mixture simmer on low heat for 5-6 minutes. Don’t cover the pan. This potato mixture should be dry. Keep on stirring the pan in a minute or so, so that the filling does not stick to the pan.
4: Now take the gram-flour, add salt to it. You can also add a pinch of red chilly powder to it. I added rice flour to this batter as rice flour makes the coating crisp while frying. You can completely omit adding rice flour. With water make a slightly thick batter.
5: Make equal sized medium balls of the potato mixture. Flatten them a little as it helps to deep fry them easily.

6: Dip each ball in the besan batter. Coat the ball evenly with the gram flour batter.
7: In a hot oil in a deep fry pan, add the potato balls coated with gram flour paste. Fry them till golden brown