THE CHEF and HER KITCHEN: March 2015

Monday, March 23, 2015

Pulusu Biyyam | Tamarind Bath with Roasted Rice

Pulusu Biyyam is one of our community style recipes and it is basically tamarind bath,rice made using roasted rice.Tamarind bath is bit different from the regular Tamarind rice as we use roasted rice in Tamarind bath and is cooked in the tamarind water like how we do for Tamarind Upma where as in the regular tamarind rice we cook the rice separately and mix it with the tamarind mixture.Both tastes completely different from each other but tastes good in its own way.You can prepare this for breakfast or it works great as a one pot meal for lunch.We prepare another version called 'Pulusu Upma' where the roasted rice is replaced with roasted rice rava but the rest of the procedure is similar.Pulusu Upma is a quicker version compared to pulusu biyyam as the rice takes bit longer to cook when compared to rava.

If you like tamarind based rice or breakfast recipes, you can check out other recipes here:

Check out more breakfast recipes of our Community style:

Pulusu Biyyam | Tamarind Bath with Roasted Rice Recipe:

Serves 2 | Author: Prathibha

Prep time:10 mins | Cooking time: 30 mins | Total time: 40 mins

Cuisine: Andhra | Category: Breakfast

Ingredients:

1 cup Rice (Sona masuri or equivalent)

20-25 Shallots or 2 large Onions,cut into big chunks

3-4 Green chillies,slit

3.5 cups Water

2 tbsp chopped fresh Coriander

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder(optional)

1/4 cup Groundnuts

1 large lemon sized Tamarind

1 tbsp Sambar Powder- Karnataka style

2-3 tbsp Jaggery

a sprig of Curry leaves

1 tbsp Chana dal

2 tsp Urad dal

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

2-3 tbsp Oil

Salt to taste

Method:

Dry roast rice in a kadai until the rice turns slightly roasted and start looking white.Remove it from the pan and let it cool.
Soak tamarind in 1/2 cup of water for half an hour and extract pulp from it.
Heat oil in a thick aluminium kadai(which is ideal for making upma) or non-stick kadai and crackle mustard seeds.
Add ground nuts fry until they turn little red in color and add chana dal and urad dal and fry until they turn golden brown.
Add slit green chillies,curry leaves and fry them until they wilt.
Add shallots or sliced onions and fry them until they are pink in color.
Add tamarind pulp extracted and 3 cups of water (1c rawa:3c water) to it.
Add turmeric powder,sambar powder,salt and jaggery to it and let it boil.
Add roasted rice to it and mix well.
Once everything is mixed,keep the lid on and cook it on low flame for 15-20 mins.Switch off the flame.
Add coriander to it and mix well.
Cover it and let it sit for 5 mins before you serve.

Serve it hot with some boondi/chips/cucumber.

Notes:

This tamarind rice is sour,sweet and spicy at the same time so adjust the seasoning as per your taste.
We prepare another version called 'Pulusu Upma' where the roasted rice is replaced with roasted rice rava but the rest of the procedure is similar.Pulusu Upma is a quicker version compared to pulusu biyyam.
I highly recommend to use shallots for this recipe, if you do no have you can use thickly sliced onions instead.

Technorati Tags: pulusu biyyam recipe, roasted tamarind rice, roasted tamarind sojji, ucchellu recipe, breakfast recipes, rice varieties, different rice varieties

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Ugadi Recipes 2015 | Ugadi Menu

Ugadi festival is on the 21st of March. Ugadi is a major festival in Andhra and Karnataka as it is considered as the start of a new year.On Ugadi day, we prepare 'Ugadi Pacchadi' which is a mix of all the basic tastes 'shadruchulu'. It is a mix of tamarind juice, salt, chopped raw mango, jaggery and neem flowers and is adjusted according to our taste buds.

We usually prepare either 'Holige (Obattu)' or 'Boorelu (Poornalu)' or 'Bele Kadubu' for Ugadi as the main sweet along with some kheer/payasam and other festival delicacies.At our place,the usual Ugadi menu comprises of Maavinkayi Chitranna ( Raw mango rice) ,stir fry, vada, sundal, Holige Saaru, Holige, Payasam and Rice.

I am trying to give various options for Ugadi menu in every category to make your planning easy.So please go through it and celebrate the festival with more fun and food.

Check here to find out how to make Ugadi Pacchadi for Ugadi.

Traditional Sweet Varieties:

Sundal & Stir fry varieties:

Vada/Snack varieties:

Dal/Stew/Rasam Varieties(All Varieties-ONE each):

Kheer/Payasam Varieties:

Rice Varieties:

Monday, March 16, 2015

Chole Biryani | Chickpeas Biryani | Chole Dum Biryani Recipe

Biryani or Pulav appears mostly on sundays for lunch at our place as hubby dear prefers a one pot meal for lunch .Both of us are big fans of a good dum style Biryani but the preparation process for dum Biryani is quite elaborate,hence I do it occasionally or when both of us crave for it.So most of the times I end up preparing a simple one pot kind of Biryani than the dum biryani as it is time consuming.

There are various styles of cooking Biryani like Lucknowi Biryani, Awadhi Biryani ,Calcutta style Biryani, Hyderabdi Dum Biryani,Mughlai Biryani,Kashmiri Biryani etc.I myself have never experimented much on cooking various styles of Biryani.I think its high time for me to understand the differences in their preparation process and start cooking all these delicious Biryanis to treat my family.Today I am sharing Chole Biryani which is definitely a change from the regular Vegetable Biryani, the process of cooking the Chole Biryani I adapted is very similar to the Vegetable Biryani.I usually prepare fresh Biryani masala when I prepare Dum Biryani as the aroma of freshly prepared masala takes the biryani to another level.But if you are short of time you can use either store bought Biryani masala or the home made Garam masala instead.One can follow the same procedure to prepare mixed vegetable biryani by using all mixed vegetables instead of chickpeas in the recipe.

If you are a Biryani lover,check out various Biryani Recipes in my blog:

Baby Potato Biriyani
Mushroom Biryani - one pot Biryani recipe
Soya-Aval(Poha) Biriyani
Soya Chunks Biryani
Vegetable Dum Biriyani-with ready made paste

Also,you can check out various Rice varieties and Pulav recipes in my blog here.

Chole Dum Biryani Recipe:

Serves 3-4

Prep time:30 mins | Cooking time: 1 hr | Total time: 1 hr 30 mins

Cuisine:North Indian | Category: Main Course-Biryani

Ingredients:

for Rice:

2 cups Basmati Rice

6-7 cups Water

1 Bay Leaf

1" Cinnamon

3-4 Cloves

2 tbsp Ghee

1 tsp Salt

for Chole gravy:

2 cups cooked white Chickpeas

2 medium Onions,chopped

3 Tomatoes,finely chopped

1 tsp ground Biryani Masala( or Garam masala)

2 tbsp chopped Coriander leaves

Salt to taste

3-4 tbsp oil

to roast and grind to a powder- Biryani Masala:

2" Cinnamon

4-5 Cloves

1 tsp Coriander seeds

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds

1 Cardamom

1 tsp grated Nutmeg

to grind to a paste:

5-6 Red Chillies

2 tsp Fennel seeds

6-8 Garlic cloves

1 1/2" Ginger

other Ingredients:

1/2 cup beaten Curd

1/4 cup chopped Coriander leaves

1/4 cup chopped Mint leaves

10-12 Cashew nuts

2 tbsp warm Milk

12-15 Saffron strands

2 large Onions,thinly sliced

Oil,to deep fry

2 tbsp Ghee

Method:

prior preparations:

for Saffron milk: In 2 tbsp warm milk add slightly mashed 12-15 saffron strands and set it aside for 10 mins.
for Caramelized Onions: Deep fry finely sliced onions in oil until they turn crispy and slightly brownish in color. Drain them onto a paper towel.
to prepare spice powder: Dry roast all the ingredients mentioned under to roast and grind for biryani masala and grind to a fine powder.
to prepare the spice paste: Soak red chillies and fennel seeds in hot water for half an hour and grind them with ginger and garlic to a fine paste.
to fry Cashewnuts: Heat 2 tsp ghee in a pan and add whole cashew nuts and fry them until they turn light brown in color and remove them and keep aside.

to prepare rice:

Wash and soak basmati rice for 15 mins.
In a large pot bring water to a boil add bay leaf,cinnamon and cloves,ghee,salt and soaked rice and cook until the rice is 3/4th cooked. Drain all the water and run cold water through the rice to stop any further cooking.

to prepare Chole gravy:

Heat oil in a pan and fry onions until they turn transparent.
Add the ground chili-spice paste and fry until the raw smell is gone.
Now add finely chopped tomato and fry until it is pulpy.
Add the cooked chickpeas,a tsp of freshly ground biryani masala and salt and 1/2 cup of water and let it simmer nicely for 8-10 mins until the chickpeas absorbs all the flavors and the mixture becomes slightly dry.
Lastly add coriander leaves and mix well.

Putting the chole biryani together:

Divide the cooked rice into 3 equal parts and the Chole gravy into 2 equal parts.
Take a heavy bottom pan (I used heavy steel here) and apply generous amount of oil/ghee at the bottom of the pan and start the layering process in the following way.

a layer of thinly sliced onions(optional,I added it as I did not deep fry many onions for the other layers)
Spread one layer of chole gravy on the onions(if using) or at the bottom.
Spread one layer of Rice.
Spread 1/2 cup beaten curd,one half of the caramelized onions,1/2 tsp of freshly ground Biryani Masala, half of Saffron Milk, 2 tbsp of Coriander leaves and 2 tbsp of Mint leaves.
Spread one more layer of Rice.
Spread the rest of the chole Gravy.
Spread the last layer of Rice.
Top it with the left over caramelized onions, fried cashewnuts, 1/2 tsp ground biryani masala, saffron Milk and the remaining coriander leaves and mint leaves.

Then add 2-3 tbsp milk and 2 tbsp of ghee from the top and cover the vessel with aluminium foil and cover it with lid and fold the foil carefully and try to seal the gap in between the vessel and the lid. Place this vessel/pot on a thick tawa and cook on medium flame for 15-20 mins or till it is completely cooked.You can alternatively bake this in oven at 170 deg C for 15-20 mins.

Serve it with Onion-tomato raita or Boondi raita with chips/papad/salad.

Notes:

You can follow the same procedure to prepare mixed vegetable biryani by using all mixed vegetables, you can even deep fry the vegetables if you want it more rich.
You can add potatoes to the chole gravy if you like it.
Use good quality basmati rice for more finer rice.
I used minimal spices while boiling the rice, you can use more spices like mace, peppercorns,star anise along with the spices I used.
I highly recommend to use deep fried onions as it lends a nice taste to biryani. Here I used deep fried onions just for the top layer and hence I used sauteed onions as the first layer.
You can use Garam masala instead of the freshly ground masala mentioned in the recipe.

Technorati Tags: chole biryani, chholay biriyani, chickpeas biryani, biryani recipes, different biryani recipes, party cooking, party recipes, how to make biryani

Monday, March 9, 2015

Multigrain Crackers | Eggless Savoury Biscuits

When it comes to baking, I must admit that I am bit lazy these days and also need a push to bake something.The fact is that we do not eat much of fatty stuff and hence I don't bake much of cakes on regular basis unless it is for an occasion.But if I ever come across any healthy recipes related to baking I do not mind to try them immediately and this is one recipe which I tried it almost immediately by modifying the recipe a bit.I made them very long back but I could not post the recipe as I forgot about this post which was lying in my drafts from so long.

I liked the usage of all the millet flours in the recipe and the resultant crackers are guilt free and we can actually feel good that we are indulging into healthy stuff.I have prepared these crackers a couple of times with variations and it came out well and I am posting here what worked well for me.You can serve these crackers with dips of your choice - Hummus, Sour Cream dip etc,check out more Dips recipes here or you can even munch on them just like that, the nuttiness from the sesame seeds makes these crackers more tastier to eat.

Multigrain Crackers Recipe:

Source: Divine taste

makes around 40-50 small crackers

Prep time: 15 mins | Baking time: 20 mins | Total time:30-40 mins

Cuisine: Indian | Category: Baking - Snacks

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Whole Wheat flour

1/4 cup Jowar flour(Sorghum ka atta)

1/4 cup Finger millet flour(Nachni/Ragi)

1/4 cup Pearl millet flour(Bajra)

1/4 cup quick cooking Oats

1/4 cup Sesame seeds

1/4 cup + 2 tbsp Olive Oil

1/2 cup + 3 tbsp Water

Salt to taste(roughly 3/4 tsp)

Method:

Slightly roast the sesame seeds until they start popping up in the pan.
In a bowl mix all the flours-whear,jowar, bajra ,nachni with oats,roasted sesame seeds, salt and oil. Mix everything together with your hand so that all the ingredients are uniformly mixed.

Now add water in batches and mix until you get chapati dough consistency.Adjust the water quantity as the water absorption capacity for each flour is different.You might need a couple of tbsp more or less to make the dough.Rest the dough for 15-20 mins.
Preheat the oven at 180 deg C for 8-10 mins.

Divide the dough into two equal portions and roll each portion into a big circle of 7-8" in diameter and thicker than the roti.

Using a cookie cutter cut into various shapes - circles, squares,triangles,rectangles or shapes of your choice.

Arrange them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper or baking sheet and bake it for 20-25 mins at 160 deg C.Please keep an eye after 15-20 mins and remove them if you see the edges turning red in color as these become more crispier once they cool down.

Store them in an air tight container.

Serve these healthy multigrain crackers with Dips of your choice or eat them as a snack.You can even use these crackers as a base like canapes.

Notes:

You can use flours of your choice and alter the recipe accordingly.
Sesame seeds can be substituted with cumin seeds, carom seeds, khus khus for a variation.
You can also add red chilli powder or coarsely ground pepper powder if you want to make them spicy.

Technorati Tags: multigrain crackers, eggless biscuits, savoury crackers, savoury biscuits, mixed millet crackers, healthy snacks recipes, eggless savoury bakes, millet recipes, easy biscuit recipes

Thursday, March 5, 2015

HOLI RECIPES 2015 | HOLI SPECIALS

HOLI - the festival of Colors is on 6th March ie.tommorow.It is a major festival celebrated in all parts of India with lots of enthusiasm. During Holi people play with colors and color sprinklers and is usually followed with music,dance and the most important -lavish food.I am sharing you a list of recipes in my blog which might be helpful in case if you are planning to have a party or you want to make something special for the festival.

HOLI Special - SWEETS | KHEER | HALWA

HOLI Special - Desserts

HOLI Special - SNACKS | APPETIZERS | CHAATS

MAINCOURSE

Flat Breads | Poori:

Pulao | Biriyani:

Side dish - Dry curries:

Side dish - Gravies:

Side dish - Dals | Lentils:

BEVERAGES

Technorati Tags: holi recipes, holi specials, sweets recipes for holi, holi desserts, holi menu, menu ideas for holi, holi snacks recipes, holi recipes 2015

Monday, March 2, 2015

Milk Powder Gulab Jamun | Gulab Jamun Recipe

Blogging has taken a back seat as the life has become busy after the arrival of little V as he keeps me busy all day.Though I want to blog regularly it is not happening as I get exhausted by the end of the day.With Holi around the corner I thought I will re-energize myself by posting a festive recipe apt for the occasion.

Coming to the post, Gulab Jamun is one of the most popular sweets which takes its place in any occasion - be it a festival or any other big functions.Gulab Jamun was never a favorite for me during my childhood but that was the only sweet I craved in my pregnancy and no wonder that it has become one of my favorite sweets now.There are many variations to Gulab Jamun like Dry Jamoon, Kala Jamoon etc all of which has a unique taste.Traditionally Gulab Jamun is prepared with Khoya(mawa) which tastes fabulous and today I am posting Gulab Jamun recipe using milk powder which is a good alternative to the traditional Khoya jamun.I would definitely post the other version sometime soon.

Check out other sweets recipes on my blog:

Gulab Jamun Recipe using Milk powder:

Yields:20-25 jamuns | Author: Prathibha

Prep time:15 mins | Cooking time:30 mins | Total time: 45 mins

Cuisine: South/North Indian | Category: Sweets/Desserts

Ingredients:

for jamun:

1 cup Milk powder

1/3 cup Maida/Flour

2 pinches of Cooking Soda

1 tbsp fresh Curds

3-4 tbsp Milk

1 tbsp melted Ghee

Oil/Ghee for frying

for sugar syrup:

1 1/2 cups Sugar

1 1/2 cups Water

10-12 Saffron strands

2-3 Cardamom pods, crushed

Rose essence,few drops or 1 tsp Rose water

Method:

to prepare sugar syrup:

Combine water and sugar in a big broad vessel and let it come to a nice boil.Add cardamom powder, saffron strands and rose essence or rose water and let it boil until it becomes thick and reach single thread consistency.Remove any scum from the syrup with the help of a ladle.Switch it off and keep it ready before we proceed to make jamuns.

to prepare jamun:

Sieve flour(maida), milk powder and cooking soda together for 2-3 times without any lumps.
Take this mixture in a bowl and add ghee,curd and mix with finger tips.
Sprinkle milk little by little and mix gently by rotating your hand in one direction to form a smooth dough.DO NOT knead the mixture.You can even use water instead of milk to make the dough.
Keep the mixture aside for 5 mins.
Divide the mixture into 20-25 equal portions and make them into evenly sized smooth balls.
Deep fry them in a batch of 7-8 balls in moderate hot oil/ghee until it turns dark brown in color. You need to roll them regularly in oil so that the jamuns get nice golden brown color on all the sides.Repeat the process for the other batches.
Drain the oil/ghee nicely from the jamuns and let them sit for a minute or two or drain in a tissue paper and then add jamuns to the prepared hot sugar syrup and let it soak for 2-3 hrs.

Serve it hot/warm or at room temperature.You can serve jamuns warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Notes:

It is important to make smooth dough and also you should not knead the dough.This helps in yielding soft jamuns.
Jamuns double in size ,hence make sure you use a broad vessel for syrup giving enough room for the jamuns to expand.
You can use either water or milk to make the dough, but milk makes the jamuns very soft and tasty.
The oil should not be very hot, it should be moderate hot and also you should fry the jamuns in medium heat by rolling them in between constantly.
You can use even kewra water instead of rose water.
You can even add slivered pistachios or almonds on jamuns while serving.

Technorati Tags: gulab jamun recipe using milk powder, milk powder gulab jamun, how to make gulab jamun, soft gulab jamun recipe, indian sweets recipes, indian dessert recipes, holi sweets recipes, diwali sweets recipes