An Easy Veal Biriyani

Easter has passed and a good time has gone by, and I just couldn't find the time to post this one on account of my health being really low in the recent past! Well, if not my friend constantly peppping me on my blog this post on the biriyani would have been lost. My cooking hardly involves any effort, I resolve to this time of cooking owing to many reasons, my child, my work, and other commitments. So when time beats you to the game, you got to beat time, yet I wouldn't like to compromise on the food that is being put on the table! So for this easter, as simple as it got was the Veal Biriyani and this is how it goes.....

Ingredients:
Veal Cubes - 500gms
Rice - 2 cups
Onions - 3, sliced finely
Green Chilies - 4, finely chopped
Ginger - 4 inch piece, julienned
Garlic - 8 to 10 cloves
Cloves - 5
Cardamom - 5
Peppercorns - 10
Cinnamon Sticks - 4, 2 inch pieces
Coriander Leaves - 1 bunch, finely chopped
Mint Leaves - 1 bunch, finely chopped
Tomato paste - 1 tablespoon
A pinch of Saffron soaked in 1 tablespoon of warm milk
Salt to taste
Fried Cashew nuts - 50 gms
Fried Raisins and Sultanas - 50gms
Fried Onions - 1 cup for garnish

Soak the rice in water, rinse well and drain. Cook the rice in salted water till soft and tender and keep aside.

In a pressure cooker, place the veal cubes along with some salt and pepper. Cook till the veal cubes are tender. Meanwhile into a pan, pour some oil, and splutter the whole spices - cardamon, cinnamon stick, cloves, peppercorns. Then saute the onions till evenly browned. Add in the garlic and ginger. Saute till fragrant and then tip in the green chilies.Add in the chopped coriander and mint leaves, reserving a handful of coriander for the final garnish. Cook till the leaves are wilted and well mixed with the onion. Add the tomato paste and cooked veal and fry well. If the meat while cooking turns dry, add about a less than a 1/4 cup of of the veal stock from the pressure cooker or water to moisten the dish a little bit.

Into a large casserole, layer in the rice, and the cooked veal and add the saffron milk mixture and gently mix the rice and the veal in. Layer the top of the rice with fried cashew nuts, raisin and sultanas and some fried onion. Cover the casserole and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes at 140 C. Once out from the oven, add a handful of freshly chopped coriander and the biriyani is ready!

Ensure you have pappads, a raita, pickle, and a good malayalam movie to watch!:P

Coriander Yogurt Rice with Dry Chilli Chicken

This combo is not unusual for us, because for one, regular curd rice is an absolute no-no if not accompanied by non-veg. So at home mum would make curd rice with a mutton roast. Then during my spinster days, my curd rice would be accompanied by chilli chicken, because that used to be the take home dinner. If you want to try the option of a take home curd rice and chilli chicken, then I'd reckon getting it from Dolphin bar situated in Frazer town. Of course, there's much more than just curd rice at Dolphin bar, everything on their menu is a must - have!.  But you wouldn't want to get it all by yourself, the bar is a dark and dingy place with groupies of men, gulping down hard liquor and 'women' are a visual treat if you know what I mean (wink).

These recipes are from Ramani Aunty's book called Sadya - Meals for Four

Coriander-Yogurt Rice


Ingredients
Rice - 1cup
Butter - 1tbs at room temperature
For the yogurt mixture
Yogurt - 3/4cup
Milk - 1 1/2tbs
Lemon Juice - 1tbs
Asafoetida powder - 1/2tsp
Salt to taste
To temper
Olive Oil - 1 1/2tbs
Mustard seeds - 1/2tsp
Green Chillies - 2 finely chopped
Ginger - 2cm finely chopped
Chopped Coriander  - 1/2cup

Cook the rice in plenty of water until very soft. Drain thoroughly. Mix in butter to the hot rice. Gently fold in the combined yogurt mixture ingredients.
In a small pan heat oil, sprinkle mustard seeds and allow to burst. Saute the the green chillies and ginger in it.Finally add coriander leaves. Add in the rice mixture Spoon in individual molds. If preferred serve cold.

Dry Chilli Chicken


Ingredients
Chicken Breasts - 250gms cut into cubes or strips
For the Marinade
Gram Flour - 1/3cup
Five Spice Powder - 1tsp (mixture of Powdered cinnamon, fennel, star anise, cloves and szechuan pepper)
Chilli Powder - 1/2tsp
Pepper Powder - 1/4tsp
Salt - 1/4tsp
Vinegar - 1tsp
Egg - 1 small lightly beaten.
To saute
Butter - 1 1/2tbs for frying
Oil - 1tsp
Green chillies- 3 cut into thin rounds
Minced garlic - 1tsp
Minced ginger- 1tsp
Sieved Fresh Tomato pulp - 1/2cup
Soy Sauce - 1tbs
Salt to taste

Pat dry the chicken pieces and combine the marinade ingredients and marinate chicken for 30minutes. Heat the butter into a wok and stir fry the chicken for 3-4minutes until cooked and browned on all sides. With a slotted spoon remove onto a plate. Heat with 1tsp oil in the wok, the chillies ginger and garlic without browning. Add the tomato pulp, soy sauce and salt and bring to a gentle boil. Return the fried chicken to the sauce and stir till the chicken is well coated. Serve hot.

Peas Pulao with Fish Mapas

Fish  mapas is a coconut milk based curry which goes well with a pulao, plain rice, roti.. I had veena and little ivona home, so when you have the best people coming over to spend time with you. You want to be able to give them the best too. Before she and her little one came over I ensured I had summed this up, so as to be able to talk at length and not get caught in the kitchen.....

Fish Mapas

Ingredients:

Seer Fish - 1kg and cut into 2inch pieces

Onions - 2 medium thinly sliced

Curry leaves - 2 stalks

Green chillies - 4 sliced, slit

Red Chili Powder - 1 1/2tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1/4tsp

Coriander Powder - 2 tsp

Ginger and garlic paste - 2tsp

Tomato - 2 medium diced

Mustard seeds - 1tsp

Fenugreek seeds - 1/2tsp

Coconut milk - 1 cup thick

Mix the chili, turmeric, coriander powders together in a little water. Heat oil in a pan and splutter the mustard sees, then add the fenugreek sees. Saute the onion, and curry leaves till onion becomes transparent. Add the ginger and garlic paste and saute for two minutes. Then add the powders and fry for another minute. Add the diced tomatoes and saute till the tomatoes are softened and the powders are well combined. Add about 1/2cup water and bring to boil. Gently lay the fish  and cook over a low flame for a few minutes and pour in the coconut milk and bring to a light simmer. Take care not to boil the curry.

Peas Pulao

Ingredients: 

Long grain Basmathi Rice - 2cups cooked

Onion - 1 big, finely chopped

Peas - 1cup, blanched

Cloves - 4-5

Black Cardamom - 2

Cinnamon - 1 2inch piece

Salt to taste

Coriander leaves - a handful

Into a heavy pan, pour in some oil and saute the onions till light brown. Add a couple of cloves, a piece of cinnamon and 2 black cardamoms and let it saute till the flavors are released. Then add in the blanched peas and quick it a quick stir. Add the rice and carefully mix the rice and peas. Add salt and then add the coriander leaves. Take it off the flame, put the lid on and give it 5 minutes to rest. Serve the rice with the hot mapas.

Fruit 'n' Nut Pulao ~ Veal Stir Fry with Cold Cucumber in Yogurt

My brother loves home cooked food, and he looks forward to his weekends with me only because I'd always have something cooked keeping in mind that he'd be over. Veal is his favourite be it veal chops, a biriyani or stir fry.

Fruit and Nut Pulao

Ingredients:

Long grain Basmati Rice - 500gm cooked
Dates - 100gm de-seeded and chopped
Raisins -50gm soaked in warm water
Almonds - 100gm
Onion - 2 large finely sliced
Salt to taste

Fry the alomnds in butter till golden brown. Remove and keep aside. Add the sliced onione to butter and fry till just turning brown. Add raisins and dates and gently stir fry over the flame for about 2-3mins. Add 3/4cup water and simmer gently till the dates are tender and the water is absorbed. Melt 11/2tbs butter in a large heavy saucepan. Add half the cooked rice and spread almonds, raisins, onions and dates over it. Add the remaining rice and dot with butter. Cover with the lid, steam for about 20-30minutes. Serve warm

Veal Stir fry

Ingredients:

Veal cubes - 1kg
Coriander Powder - 2tbs
Chilly Powder - 1tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/4tsp
Ginger garlic Paste - 1tbs
Coriander Leaves - 4tbs chopped
Mint Leaves - 1tbs chopped
Onion - 2 large finely sliced
Cumin Powder - 14tsp
Garam masala - 1tsp
Salt to taste
Black Peppercorns -  10-12 crushed

Saute the onions till evenly browned. Add in the ginger garlic paste and then sauté for a minute. Then add in all the powders, and saute till the fat separation happens. Then add in the veal and fry till the veal is cooked. You could spoon in some warm water time to time to allow the veal to cook. Then add in the chopped coriander and mint leaves leaves and continue sauteing for 2-3minutes till the flavors are imparted. Add salt to taste, sprinkle in the crushed peppercorns. Serve with pulao and enjoy!


Cucumber Raita


Ingredients:

Lebanese Cucumber - peeled and cubed into small pieces
Yogurt - 4cups
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste

Whisk the yoghurt well. Add the chopped up cucumber and add salt and sugar to taste (depending on either of the salt or/sugar to be empowering~ personally we prefer the sweetness over the saltiness). Serve with pulao.

Easter lunch - Vegetable Pulao and Beef fry

Easter lunch was at my inlaws house, and the spread was as elaborate as my mother-in-law could cook. My father-in-law being the mutton expert, of course got his hands into making a mutton stew to be combined with hot appams, a veg pulao to be had with beef fry (again a dish done Daddy's ishtyle). I guess the only person missing at the table was my Ratish (my bro-in-law)....we caught him online all the way from New Zealand.... only to be a baddie and tempt him with an exceptional account of what lunch was like at 'Home'

Vegetable Pulao


Ingredients:
Long grain basmati rice- 2cups
Carrots - 1/4cup julienned
Beans - 1/4cup diagonally cut
Peas - 1.4cup
Capsicum - 1/4cup diced and cubed
Fried Onions - for garnish
Salt to taste
Ghee 


Boil the carrots, beans and peas till al-dente . Fry the capsicum in a 1tsp of oil into a non-stick pan for a minute and keep aside. In the mean time cook the rice separately till nice and fluffy . While cooking the rice you may want to flavour the rice with 2 cinnamon sticks, 2 cardamom pods, 2 bay leaves, 4 cloves and salt. Once the rice is drained of all the water the spices too can be removed. Into a frying pan, add ghee and simply toss the boiled vegetables for a minute or two and then gently combine with the boiled rice. Garnish the rice with fried onions and serve warm.

Beef fry


Ingredients:
Beef - 500gms
Button onions - 1/2cup
Coconut slivers - 1/4cup
Ginger-2tbs julienned
Garlic - 4 plum sliced
Cardamoms-4
Cloves - 4
Cinnamon sticks - 2 sticks broken
Dry red chillies - 5 broken into pieces
Peppercorns - 10-12 crushed
Turmeric Powder - 1/4tsp
Tomato paste - 1tbs
Salt to taste
Curry leaves- 2 sprigs


Cut the beef into bite size pieces. Crush onion, ginger and garlic onto a chopping board and add into a non stick pan along with the beef. Add rest of the ingredients. Pour enough water to cook and cook for 30minutes till the beef is well cooked and the pan juice is coated on the beef. Heat oil onto a non-stick pan and fry the curry leaves, then add the tomato paste, coconut slivers and cooked beef. Sauté till browned on medium heat.

Good Friday - Rice Gruel/ Rice Kanji

Good Friday is the victory over man's failure to death and sin; while Jesus exchanged sin and death for redemption and grace.

Rice Gruel is the typical Keralite lunch on Good Friday accompanied with greem gram, spiced buttermilk, pappad and pickle....

Greem Gram Thoran

Ingredients:

Green Gram - 1cup

Coconut Gratings - 1/4cup

Button onioins - 5sliced

Garlic - 2 cloves crushed

Cumin powder - 1/2tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4tsp

Salt to taste

Mustard seeds - 1/4tsp

Curry leaves - 2sprigs

Dried Red chillies - 2 broken

Cook the greem gram in 2 cups of water until it becomes soft and the pan juice dries up (If additional water is required add water inermittently to cook the dal). Grind the coconut gratings, cumin powder, garlic, a couple of button onions to a coarse paste and place into the cooked gram. Cover and cook until the masala is cooked through. Temper the mustard seeds, curry leaves and button onions to a golden colour. Fry the red chilli and turn the tempering into the cooked dal. Stir well and serve.

Spiced Buttermilk

Ingredients:

Yogurt - 1cup

Water - 1cup

Green chilli- 2 thinly sliced

Button onions - 2 thinly sliced

Ginger - 1/4tsp

Few curry leaves 

Salt to taste

Blitz yogurt in a bowl until smooth, add water and rest of the ingredients and stir well. Chill until serving time.

Mango Chutney

Ingredients:

Raw mango - 1 whole peeled, de-seeded and cut into smal pieces

Coconut gratings - 1cup

Button onions - 4

Green chilly - 2

Cumin powder - 1/4tsp

Salt to taste

Grind all the ingredients to a paste adding water little by little. Serve immediately with the kanji.