Stove top Chicken Biryani

Hyderabadi Dum ka Biryani is the only kind of dish my Big B would call Biryani. He would probably put me in a corner for calling the dish I made "Biryani". But when you are short of time and are craving yummy food, anything goes.

And anything close to a "Biryani" on a week night after a long day's work and home cooked f is "the best" no matter what you call it. So call what you may...I present
Stove top Chicken Biryani (Stove top One pot chicken and rice dish )

Ingredients:

1. 1 lb chicken breasts or better yet chicken tenderloins cut at a biase, into 3/4 inch slices 1-2 inches long  
2. 1/2 teaspoon each or salt, turmeric, chilli powder, garam masala powder, cumin
3. 1 teaspoon each of coriander powder, ginger-garlic paste
4. 2 tablespoons oil
5. 1 medium large onion sliced thin
6. 1 bay leaf
7. 2 cups (Measure uncooked) Basmati rice cooked according to package directions. Cooked with 1/2 teaspoon salt
8. 1/4 cup warm milk + pinch saffron (optional)
9. few mint leaves

Marinate the chicken with the spices and set aside.

In a wide pan heat the oil and add the bay leaf and cumin and fry for a minute. On medium high flame fry the onions till 90% of them turn brown. Add ginger garlic paste and fry for a minute. Add the chicken and fry for 10-12 minutes until they start turning golden brown. Add the cooked rice , topped with saffron soaked in warm milk if using, garnish with mint and cover and cook for 2-3 minutes, on very low flame.

Garnish with 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice and coriander with available on hand.

Enjoy with Gravy for Biryani
More recipes...
Hyderabadi Mutton Biryani
Shrimp Biryani 
Egg Biryani
Fish Biryani

Lahori chana masala

Chana masala or Cholay is one of those street foods which you would find in every corner, every street, every city in India. Everyone has thier own way of making it and every single one of them is delicious. The cholay masala I made today, is unique to me but it is so delicious. Next time I have to double the recipe because there wasn't enough :)

And to make it a meal...I got Samosas today, when I went shopping in the Indian store. So that was a crazy yummy dinner

Lahori chana masala(Chickpeas curry with Indian Spices)

Lahori Chana Masala

Ingredients:

1. 1 can chickpeas
2. 1 small onion sliced
3. 1 medium tomato chopped
4. 1 tablespoon tomato paste
5. 1/4 cup yellow moong dal cooked
6. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, saunf, salt, turmeric, red chilli powder (or more), ginger garlic paste
7. 1/4 teaspoon ajwain, garam masala
8. 1 teaspoon each of coriander powder, amchur powder, dried fenugreek leaves, 
9. 2 tablespoons oil
10. coriander leaves for garnishing

In a pan heat the oil and add the cumin and saunf and fry for a minute. Add the onions and fry till they start to change color to brown. Add the tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes. Add the dal and tomato paste and cook for 5 more minutes along with all the spices and mix well. Add washed chickpeas and 1/2 cup water and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy with Pav or Poori or Samosa or as is

Dosa kaaya pachadi

Once upon a time, long long ago, back in the mother country I went to a friend's house and her mom made this "Chutney" with Yellow Cucumber. My mom never made it. I had no idea what it was, but boy oh boy it was delicious.

I had to ask my friend's mom for the recipe and then finally one day when I found this in the market I got it and I made it myself. Its super delicious and it goes great with white rice or with Dosa or Idli or anything else you want chunky chutney with

Dosa kaaya pachadi (Yellow cucumber side)

Yellow Melon cucumber

Ingredients:

1. 1 medium sized Dosakaya/yellow Cucumber
2. 2 tsp Oil
3. 2 Garlic cloves
4. 3 Red chili
5. 1 teaspoon Coriander or dhaniya powder
6. 1/2 teaspoon each of Cumin seeds, Fenugreek seeds, salt, mustard seeds
7. 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
8. 1/2 cup thick juice from golf ball sized tamarind
9. few curry leaves

Peel and chop the cucumbers into small pieces.

Heat oilin a pan and add cumin and methi seeds, curry leaves and red chillies until they start to splatter. Add chopped garlic and fry for 30 seconds. Add the cucumber pieces and cook covered for 10 minutes or until they get soft. Add the tamarind juice and mix well and coo for 5 more minutes. Enjoy with rice/dosa or idli

Paneer with Chick peas

Some people in my family love paneer, others love chick peas. This curry is so simple to make and hearty and delicious and versatile to serve with many different things. Serve it with Roti or rice or with Aloo Tikki or Oats Aloo Tikki
Chole Paneer (Indian cottage cheese with chickpeas)

Paneer Chole

Ingredients:

1. 1 can chick peas drained and washed
2. 8 oz paneer cut into 1 cm cubes
3. 1-2 tomatoes chopped
4. 1/2 cup chopped onions
5. 1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste
6. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric and Nigella (onion) seeds
7. 2 tablespoon oil

Add a tablespoon of oil and fry the paneer pieces for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.

In a pan heat the oil and add the onion (Kalongi) seeds if using. Let them fry for a minute. Add the onions and cover and cook for 5 minutes. Add ginger garlic paste and stir for a minute. Add tomatoes and all the powder ingredients. Cook for 5 minutes. Add chickpeas and paneer and 1/4 cup water and cover and simer for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally. Garnish with coriander and enjoy

Rolled oats potato cutlet

Once in a while the people in my house start thinking of eating "healthy" and we get a ton of things which will not finish up once the initial fad has faded. One such ingredient is the rolled quick oats.

I was looking for something different to make on a Sunday so I found the recipe for Oat Aloo Tikki by Tarla Dalal. Its pretty yummy. I served it with Paneer chole

Rolled oats potato cutlet (Quick cooking oats and potato patties)

Oats Potato patties

Oats Aloo Tikki Paneer Chole

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup plain rolled oats
2. 1 cup masala oats (or increase the rolled oats quantity)
3. 2 medium large potatoes boiled and mashed
4. 1 medium small carrot grated fine
5. 1/2-1/3 cup paneer grated (optional)
6. 1 teaspoon salt (use less if using masala oats)
7. 1 teaspoon amchur powder (dried mango powder) or substitute with 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
8. 1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
9. 1 Thai chillie chopped fine
10. handful of coriander leaves chopped fine
11. 2-3 tablespoons water
12. oil for shallow frying

Mix all the ingredients for the patties and add water in the end to make a stiff dough. Divide it into 12 parts and make them into 1/2 inch thick patties.

Heat 1-2 tablespoons of oil on a griddle and fry the patties 2-3 minutes on each side. Serve it as is with ketchup or with Chole on the side for a full meal

Shallow fried plantain chips

The original recipe is from here . This is a pretty easy and yummy recipe to make. To those of you who do not know what a plantain is...its the green banana you see near the vegetables. The Indian variety are small...may be 6-8 inches where as the Mexican or American variety are pretty bug. I used the Indian plantain for this

Shallow fried plantain chips (Shallow fried green plantain with Indian spices)

Shallow fried plantain chips

Ingredients:

1. 2-3 medium plantain
2. 1/2 teaspoon each of turmeric, sambar powder, salt, mustard seeds, urad dal, fennel seeds, cumin, asafoetida
3. 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4. 2 tbsp oil divided
5. 1 dried red chilli
6. few curry leaves
7. 2 tbsp water

peel the plantain and slice them about 1/8 inch thick coins.

add  turmeric, sambar powder, pepper and  salt and coat the spices on the plantain and set aside.

In a pan heat 2 tbsp oil and add mustard seeds,  urad dal, cumin, fennel, broken red chilli, pinch hing and few curry leaves and let it splutter. Now add the plantain pieces

Stir-fry for 2 minutes till raw banana gets coated well with oil.

Spread the plantain in a single layer in the pan and add the remaining oil.

cover and cook on medium flame for 10 minutes. Abut 7 minutes, add 2 teaspoons water and cover and cook stirring  occasionally.

Uncover and fry for 2-3 more minutes to make them crispy

Serve with Sorrel leaves rice

Ginger Chutney

Its still lockdown central here at home and today was Vada/Garal for breakfast. The recidents of my house  aka my fam...they looooove Peanut Chutney but today along with that I also made Ginger Chutney. This one is equally easy to make.

The red onions I used , gave the chutney a purple hue

Ginger Chutney(Ginger and Onion side for Indian Breakfast)

Ginger chutney

Ingredients:

1. 1 medium small onion chopped
2. 2 inches of ginger peeled and chopped
3. 1.5 tablespoons chana dal
4. 1 tablespoon urad dal
5. 1 teaspoon oil
6. 2 dried red chillies
7. 1 teaspoon cumin
8. 1/2 cup thick juice of tamarind
9. 1 teaspoon salt
10. 2-3 tablespoons jaggery or brown sugar

Heat the oil in a pan and fry the chanadal for a minute. Add the urad dal and fry till they start turning brown. Drain and add the onions and chillies into the same pan and fry for 2 minutes. Add ginger and fry for 3 more minutes. Let them cool.

Grind all the ingredients together until smooth. Enjoy with idli or vada or dosa