Bhoger Khichuri and Anarosher Chutney

Bhog er Khichuri is the Khichuri, a Bengali will offer to the the Goddess on Durga Pujo, Lokkhi Pujo or Saraswati Pujo. If done on any other day it will just be the Bhaja Moog Dal er Khichuri or a Khichdi made with Roasted Moong dal or a Rice and Lentil dish akin to Risotto if I try going international.. The same Khichdi when mixed with devotion, faith, respect and fragrance of incense, is lifted to the sublime and is called Bhog er Khichuri.

Along with a mixed vegetable dish of Labra, different kinds of  fries called bhaja and Tomato Chaatni, this Khichuri was offered during Pujo, in heavy plates with raised edges made of kansa (bell metal) or brass. Water was served in similar glasses. Sweets and several fruits cut and cubed made up the other edible arrangements. Fresh flowers, heavy fragrance from incense sticks and dhuno made up the complete atmosphere.

In addition to all this there was something offered called noibiddyo, small mounds of small grained raw rice that had been soaked, raw yellow moong soaked, some sweet sondesh, pieces of ripe banana were arranged in portions in a separate plate. Though Noibiddyo or Naivedhya means "offering made to the Gods" and so everything offered should actually have fallen under this category, we specifically labelled this offering of raw rice et al as Noibiddyo. You will get a clearer image of this from this pic I found in Flickr.

After the pujo was over, these small mounds of rice, sondesh and bananas were mixed together in a kind of mash. The raw rice due to the overnight soaking was soft but had a bite and the sondesh and banana sweetened the whole deal. More than the khichuri, it is this thing called chaal-kola makha, distributed with prasad at the end of  pujo, is what I waited for.

Saraswati Pujo is on Friday. My parents are going to have an elaborate pujo back home as usual. Friday being a working day, I will have a small pujo at home in the evening where I will do almost nothing according to tradition except offer sweets and books, pray and ask her for knowledge and wisdom.

On Saturday, we will have a pujo at a larger scale in a friends' basement. There we will have Khichuri and labra and also much fun. I am trying to teach the girls to sing a Saraswati Vandana for the pujo there and given that I cannot sing a single note in tune, I have roped in help from YouTube. So every night for ten whole minutes I play a simple Saraswati bhajan on my laptop and the girls' join in singing at the top of their voice. It does not sound very musical and the little one keeps saying "Naamo Sharada Maatha" instead of "Maata", which is kind of funny given that "Maatha" in Bengali means "head". The ensuing cacophony is enough to drive any Saraswati up the wall but we are hoping that the Goddess and audience has more patience.

In prospect of this wonderful future (ahem!), I made a Bhaaja Moog Dal er Khichuri today. Since I did not offer it to the divine, I cannot say it was bhog er khichuri yet. Instead of Tomato Chaatni, I made Anarosher Chaatni or Pineapple Chutney. The Begun Bhaja or fried eggplants I baked in the oven taking cue from a reader who had suggested this method. I lighted up some incense sticks and then deliberated on eating it, since Khichuri does not feature in the top 20 things I want to eat stranded in a desert island. Furthermore Khichuri without an omlette holds very little charm for me. So I made an omlette, something which would have been impossible on the actual day of Pujo and then ate it all up myself. I mean I also fed it to the rest of the family.

You don't have to wait for any divine intervention, any day you want a one pot meal, make this and offer yourself.



Some of my previous posts on Saraswati Pujo are here and here. Here is my Labra, Begun Bhaja and Anarosher Chaatni recipe to complete the meal. There is another version of Khichuri I make called Bhuni Khichuri which is a spicier and richer version of this.

The very nice people from masalamommas had asked me a few questions and that article up on their site. Go check if you want. Thanks Salima, the lovely lady who did the piece. And btw that picture is of Salima's. 

Bhog er Khichuri 

 

A liitle prep

Chop 1 medium potato in quarters.
Chop half of a small cauliflower in about 6-8 large-ish florets
Defrost about 1/4 cup of frozen peas (or use same amount of fresh green peas)

Wash 1 cup of rice(short grained rice like gobindobhog, kalijeera etc. preferred, I used sona masoori) and soak in water

Roast 1 cup of Yellow Moong Dal till you get a nice nutty aroma. About 50% of the dals should be a light brown on roasting. Rinse the dal lightly in water and keep aside. Approx. 4 minutes.

In a separate frying pan, fry the potatoes and cauliflower with sprinkle of turmeric powder till they are a shade of light gold and the cauliflower florets have some brown spots.Throw in the green peas and saute them too.

After we are done with the prep part we will start on the actual khichuri

Heat Vegetable Oil + 1 tsp Ghee in a deep and heavy bottomed pot.

Temper the oil with
4 green cardamom
4 clove/laung
1 thin stick of cinnamom
1 Bay Leaf/tejpata
2 Dry red chilli
1 tsp of whole cumin seeds/jeera

When the spices pop to the oil add
1-2 tbsp mince or grated ginger 

Add 1 medium tomato

Add
1 tsp Cumin powder
1 tsp Garam Masala 1/2 tsp Red chilli powder(or Kashmiri Mirch)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
all made into a paste with water Saute for 2-3 minutes

Next add the roasted moong dal and mix with the masala. Saute the dal along with the masalas for couple of minutes.

Add 1 cup of pre-washed ned rice now

Now add about 8 cups of warm water to the pot. Add little salt. Cover the pot and let the water simmer to a boil.

2-3 minutes after the boiling starts add the potatoes, cauliflower and peas. Add 1-2 Cup more water if needed.

Once you see the water boil, lower the heat, cover and let the rice and lentils cook. In between, remove the cover, gently give a stir and check if they are done or if more water is needed.

Once the rice, lentils and vegetables are cooked, sprinkle about 1 tsp of sugar and a pinch of Garam Masala. Mix gently. Drizzle a tbsp or more of ghee . Serve hot.

Pressure Cooker Method:
To cook in pressure cooker, after you have added the vegetables, do not add any more water. Close the Pressure cooker lid and cook for 2 whistles or 3 minutes if in Futura pressure cooker.

Once the pressure has released naturally, open the lid and check the consistency of  Khichuri. Add little more water if needed and adjust for salt and seasoning. Add Garam masala if needed.

At the very end, heat 1 Tbsp ghee in a small frying pan and roast some cashews and raisins until golden. Add them along with the ghee to the Khichuri. Serve hot.

Meetha Chawal -- Sweeten your Durga Pujo

Before we go into anything let me just clarify that Meetha Chawal or Sweet Rice is not a Bengali Dish.

It very well could have been given how much a Bengali loves her rice and sweet.But the point of the matter is it is not. I guess this whole dish passed a Bong by and I am sure if he or she, the Bong that is, had any inkling of this dessert it would have been christened "Mishti Modhur Bhaat" and be a staple dessert to be served during Pujo and Bijoya. After all it has rice and sugar. What else doe one need ?

Me, for myself, first had this at a party last year where it was cooked by a Punjabi colleague's wife. It was exquisite. Long grains of rice sweetened with sugar and loaded in kaju and kishmis with a fragrance of ghee and saffron hanging around it. His wife was a good cook and I was sure it was a pretty difficult dish to cook involving hours of sweet labor.

Turns out Not.

Turns out it can also be done in the Microwave. Now to make larger portions, the stove top might be a better option but for small quantities I found the Microwave is perfect.

Durga Pujo starts this Saturday. Navratri is already in full swing. I haven't been able to take a breather to glance around and realize that. Adjusting to the new neighborhood, BigSis's new school and boxes to be opened and stowed away at every corner is taking up all our time. But somewhere in my being I do have a feeling that halfway across the globe, life is not as mundane and tiring as mine, as preparations to welcome Devi Durga have reached a crescendo. It is not that I miss it terribly and I am kind of relieved that I do not need to push aside crowds at Baagbazaar or College Square to have a glimpse of the protima but some days, sometimes, when the chores get heavy and the day drags on I want to be back there oblivious of BS's homework or my long drive or LS's nasty cough brought on by the October cold or one more box that needs to be opened and stored away.

But since that is not going to happen let us share Mishti instead, easy ones, quick ones, the ones that are doable in your new Tangail or whatever saree you have bought this year

It is through this that I send you all happy wishes on Navratri and Durga Pujo. May you find joy in the path you seek and may the path sweeten lives around you.

And now to the recipe of Meetha Chawal in the microwave which I made following this recipe from Tarla Dalal's site. 

Soak 1/2 cup of long grained Basmati Rice in water for 20-30 mins

In a microwave safe bowl with flat bottom add 1 tbsp Ghee. Microwave at full power for 1 min

To above add 4 green cardamom, 2 clove, a 2" stick of cinnamon. Microwave again for 1 min.

Drain rice and add to the bowl. Mix so that the rice grains are coated with ghee. Microwave for 1 min.

Now add 1 cup water + 1/2 cup Milk to the bowl and mix with the rice. Add few strands of saffron. Microwave for 10 mins at 5 minute intervals i.e. take out after 5 min, mix and microwave again

By 10 mins the rice will almost be done. This will depend on quality of rice as well as power of microwave. If not done continue for 5 more minutes till rice is almost done.

Now time to add little more than 1/4th cup of sugar. Take out the rice and check if there is little water in there. If completely dry dissolve sugar in little water and then add, else just add the sugar. Mix with rice.Microwave for 2-3 more minutes

Meanwhile saute cashews and raisins in ghee on the stove. Once the rice is done mix the kaju and kishmis with the rice. Serve hot.

Here are some more sweets and savories for you to make during Durga Pujo

Aam Doi

Aam Kheer

Microwave Besan Laddoo

Gajar Halwa

Gokul Pithe

Microwave Kalakand

Narkel Naru

Roshogollar Paayesh

Nimki

To find more of recipes like this please check the updated recipe index page at Bong Mom's CookBook Recipe Index.

I usually a do a Giveaway on my blog around this time.Please stay tuned and I will announce one soon.Meanwhile enjoy Pujo.

Chingri Macher Polao -- Prawn Pulao

The inspiration of this Prawn Pulao came from Mishmash's CheMmeen Biryani. I call it "CheenMeen" which sounds so lyrical that it is hard to get it out of my head. It is like raindrops but better.
However I will stick to Prawn Pulao or better Chingri Maacher Polao because the recipe is quiet different from her Biryani and you would better check out her page for the Biryani.

Also if I said "CheenMeen Pulao" I would keep it in a memory box and never eat it ever.

But this is such a delicious thing that you have to eat. Simply have to. Even if you are on a diet or something.

Instead of a Biryani I make it a One Pot Pulao.Okay actually two because I used a separate Fry pan to fry the rice. But that is all right. You can eat straight from the pan if you wish to and that way skip two plates. You decide on the logistics while I get on with the recipe because this post has way too many pictures that speaks thousand words.

The Biryani spice powder is what weaves a magic in this Pulao. I have made the Biryani Powder like Mishmash's this time. However you can use the biryani powder one I have here and also add a bit of star anise to intensify the flavor. The spice Powder I added in two steps, once to the gravy and then to the rice. I have also used ghee(and oil) moderately. If you are feeling luxurious add one more tablespoon of ghee but no need to go overboard with it.

Last but not the least is the quality of rice used. Remember I used to crib about my rice grains breaking in a Pulao. Well those days are gone with the current brand of Rice I have. No one is paying me for this but Lal Qila Basmati truly works very very well in a Pulao or Biryani. Has got to do something with being aged and good quality or something. So if you have the problem of your rice turning to mush or breaking do get a good brand Basmati.

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Prawn Pulao -- Chingri Maacher Polao

The Prep

Make a  dry spice powder
1/2 tsp Fennel
1/2 tsp Cumin
1/4 tsp ShaJeera
4 cloves
4 green cardamom
2" thin stick cinnamom
1 tbsp Javetri/Mace
a little Nutmeg
We will add this spice powder in two steps to the Pulao. We will also sprinkle a pinch of it on the fried shrimp

25 medium sized prawn -- marinate with salt and turmeric and a 1/4 tsp of that spice powder

Wash and soak 1&1/4 cups of rice in water

Step 1

Heat 1 tbsp Oil. Saute the shrimp till they turn pink-yellow. Remove and keep aside.

That oil now has a beautiful flavor, add 1 more tbsp ghee to same pot. Wait for it to heat up. temper the ghee/oil with
2 Bay Leaf
1 Big Brown Cardamom

In 30-60 sec add
2 cups of thinly sliced onions.
Sprinkle 1/4 tsp of sugar and fry the onions till soft and golden. About 4-5 minutes

Next add
2 tsp of Ginger-Garlic Paste. Ideally you should make paste of ginger-garlic--green chili. I skipped the chili. Please add 3-4 green chili ground to paste if you wish.
Fry for a minute

Add 1 tomato chopped. Sprinkle some salt and cover and let the tomato cook. This will take 4-5 minutes at end of which the tomato will be totally disintegrated.

Next goes in
half of the dry spice powder
1/2 tsp Kashmiri Mirch
1 tsp of dried mint/ 1 tbsp chopped fresh mint
1 tbsp chopped corriander
Saute for couple of minutes

Add 1 cup of coconut milk thinned with water. Let the gravy come to a boil. At this point add salt to taste and the fried shrimp. Let the gravy thicken.

Once the gravy is thick, remove the shrimp and keep aside. Shrimp becomes rubbery when cooked too much so we will add it back to Pulao at the last step.

Step 2

Mean while in a separate fry pan heat 1 tbsp Ghee. Temper the ghee with few cloves(4) and green cardamom. Drain the rice and add it to the fry pan. Fry the rice at low heat till all the grains of rice are nicely coated with ghee.This will take about 3 minutes.

Step 3

Add the fried raw rice to the gravy in Step 1. Add the remaining spice powder. Mix gently. Now add water (1.5:1 ratio of water to rice), cover and let the rice cook. When adding water, be careful because the gravy already has some water so adjust and extra water accordingly.
Once the rice is almost done, add the shrimp(that you had removed and kept aside) along with any gravy it has. Add 1/2 tbsp of ghee. Let the rice finish cooking. Taste a little. If needed add more salt. Also add 1/4 tsp sugar. Once done fluff with a fork.

Vegetable Biryani - in Microwave

Some people are dumb and then some are dumber. Always one way or the other.And then there are some who will not only act dumb but also tell the whole world about their "dumbness" as if that was the one thing the world wanted to know. In reality, the world could care less.

But I fall in the last category. I like to talk about my very own dumbness because I think it might act as a pep pill for anyone who is having a dumber time.When you have just tagged your boss on an office party picture he wasn't invited at and then unfriended him on FB; when you are feeling all time low because you just asked your daughter's teacher about her husband and she says she recently divorced to which you say "Good for him"; you desperately need some one dumber than you.

I do that for you; that is social work for me. Listen on.

Now remember the giveaway I had on my blog some time earlier ? Miri of Peppermill Recipes won it. On her suggestion I made the promised donation through GiveIndia (an excellent way to donate by the way) and then went on to FlipKart to order the book for her.

Click, Click, Click and Ka-boom. What did I do ? I clicked on "Cash-on Delivery option" that Flipkart has. And when did I realize that ? When I saw it right on the Order Status. By then the book had been put into a packet, bubble wrapped and was waiting at some book warehouse facility, spic, span and ready to be shipped.The carrier guy had been informed to extort the money from the receiver which in this case was Miri, the winner, ta-da.

So here I was gifting a "gift" to someone and asking "her" to pay for it. Perfect.

I balked, screamed and then went into action like Yoda. I e-mailed flipkart, I wrote on their Facebook wall, I held press conferences (okay, not that one). Also I mailed Miri telling her not to cough up any money to any unknown person knocking on her door with a book, any book. Flipkart got back politely, saying they will cancel the order. I breathed deep.

The next day, I got a mail saying, "The book has left Delhi and will be at the given address by so&so". "Hello ? Is this the new meaning of the word CANCEL?". I hyperventilated and this time wrote the choicest words on their wall, in the e-mail and also picked up the phone. I can be fierce at most times.

Finally Flipkart said they are holding the book(whatever that means) until any further notice from me. Sounded like a court injunction. Two days later my order status showed cancel. Three days later I again shipped the book and this time I made D double check and clicked on the Credit/Debit payment options.

What Miri had to suffer on her end for this trauma I do not know. She might have laughed at my "dumbness" with her spouse over a cup of chai. She never told me. All she said is she enjoyed the book, once she got it that is.

Oh, and the other winner Usha probably got a wind of the scam because she didn't want a "gift" she said. Instead she asked the gift money to be donated which was a lovely gesture on her part. Thanks you girls.

And I actually like FlipKart, even now.

This Vegetable Biryani is from Miri's blog.Everything is almost same as hers including the Parampara masala except that I did it in the microwave. I did not cook the rice before hand as is customary. I made the masala, vegetables, etc. and then I fried the rice for couple of minutes. In a big microwaveable bowl, put everything together, added water to rice in 2:1 ratio and zip,zap zoomed it.

It was delicious, the best I have ever made at home. It would have been dazzling with the fried onions she has but ahem..., umm.., I actually ran out of ummm.. onions. There I said it.


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Vegetable Biryani in Microwave

Original Recipe -- Check this for measures etc.


Heat about 2 tbsp ghee or oil in a heavy bottomed pan.Add 1 onion thinly sliced , saute till nice and brown. Reserve half of the onions for garnish.
Since I ran out of onions, I had to do without it.

In the same pan, add
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp garlic paste
2-3 green chilli made into paste,
lightly fry for 2-3 minutes.

Add 1 medium tomato chopped or pureed and fry for about 5 minutes till tomato is mushed and there is no raw smell

Add 1/4 tsp red chilli powder and 2 tbsp Parampara biryani masala. With a sprinkle of water fry for 2 minutes.
The Parampara definitely brings out the real taste.

Add
1 tbsp chopped mint leaves and
3 tbsp coriander leaves
and mix
I added dried mint

Add the chopped vegetables( cauliflower, carrots, peas, beans, potatoes) and saute for couple of minutes. I added about 1&1/2 cup of frozen mixed vegetables.

Lower the heat and add 1/2 of yoghurt and salt and mix well. Cover & Cook for 5-7 minutes till veggies are just tender. Remove the masala and put in a deep microwave bowl.

Meanwhile wash 2 cups of rice and soak for about 15-20 minutes

In the same pan heat 1 more tbsp oil/ghee. temper oil with
2 Bay Leaf 4 cardamom
4 Clove
2" stick of cinnamom.
Add the rice which has been washed and drained
Saute the rice for about 3 mins at medium heat.

Put the rice over the masala, and mix gently. Add 1 tbsp of melted ghee. Add water, double the amount of rice. Add salt & sugar to taste.Heat few strands of saffron in 2 tbsp of milk and add that.

Now put in the microwave and select the option your MW has for rice. Mine has a button called "Rice" and that is it, your model might be different. Cook the way you would cook rice in your microwave. Also add water as you usually do for rice.

When done, fluff rice with a fork, garnish with the fried onions and serve immediately.

Bhuni Khichuri -- with a twist of spice

Last week was the season premiere of TWC -- The Weather Channel. There was drama, earthquake, suspense, Irene the tormenting saas making an entry, hurricane, fear, tropical storm, tornado watch and lots of media coverage.

I watched Weather Channel like I have never done in my life. It is usually my Dad's prerogative when he is here and especially if it is winter. But in one week I outdid him. I watched it on the telly, on the laptop, on my iPad, on my phone...you name it and I was watching Weather Channel. And this from me who rarely ever watches television. You will say "House" and I will stare at you blank, you say "Dexter" and I am clueless. Beyond "Friends", "Everybody loves Raymond" and at times "Seinfeld" I don't think I have ever watched any series with so much emotions except of course Barney, Arthur and Dora the Explorer.

If this was India and there was a that thing called TRP, I bet TWC would score huge wins over stuff like "KKKKKKUsum" and "Kyunki Sass Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi" and all this without even starting off with a "K".

So anyway we were all pretty excited and prepared for the hurricane maiden Irene this weekend. In its wake, the earthquake earlier in the week seemed like merely a child in diapers.

When I went to the grocery store on Thursday evening and couldn't find a single bunch of yellow banana and then had to snatch away the last gallon of Organic Milk from another equally eager Mother, I kind of had a premonition of the heady days ahead. I called up at least a dozen friends and told them about "bare shelves" and how we could not find a "single thing" at Wegman's when the truth is I notched up a bill of 125 dollars just buying things I might need in an emergency and this included tubs of Haagen-Daz's Dulche de Leche. They in turn regaled me with their stories of stores bereft of bottles of water and such.

The myths just propagated but honestly we couldn't find a single flashlight in any store on Friday and turned out that was the single most important thing we would need.

Saturday, to mark it special and all I decided to make a Bhuni Khichuri. I am not particularly fond of Khichuris and never eager to make them. But D loves Khichuri to bits so for once I decided to put aside my own selfish interest and cook something that he might like. What with the hurricane and all I thought, I better mend my ways and become a better person.

I was armed with two recipes from folks on FaceBook, a sketchy one from the Mater and my own strong desire to add a twist to the Bhuni Khichuri. Bhuni Khichuri or Bhuna Khichuri is the richer version of the plain old Khichuri. It is more of a Pulao in the Khichdi family than a Khichuri. It can have non-vegetarian components like meat, eggs or prawn added to it. The name "Bhuni" or "Bhuna" comes from the step that involves roasting of the moong dal and frying the rice etc. to make this Khichdi.

My own memories of Bhuni Khichuri is more fictional than practical and is strongly grounded in what Buddhadeb Guha insists that "Rijuda"(of Rijudar Sathe Jongole fame) eats along with delicious venison meat(horiner mangsho) during his hunting adventures.

On Saturday however I was also plagued with memories of Bisi Bele Bhath and I wanted a spice component to the Bhuni Khichuri. So from the Masala Vani suggests I omitted Curry Leaves, Sambhar Powder and Coconut, for a Bong touch added Paanch Phoron  and made a spice powder. The Spice Powder along with the roasted Moong Dal, the Raisins, the Cashwes and the Ghee made for a suitably rich and delicious Bhuni Khicuri. We had it with some Papad and a spicy Chicken dish. By evening we were all ready for the hurricane and when the power conked off after midnight we went off to bed confident of a better tomorrow.

I just read that Swami Vivekananda who apparently was a very eager and experimental cook was fond of Bhuni Khicuri and made one with scrambled Duck Eggs added to it. This makes the cooking over the weekend all the more worthwhile.


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Bhuni Khichuri

Preparations

Make a Spice Powder

This is totally optional and not generic to traditional Bhuni Khichuri. You can use 1 tbsp of home made Garam Masala instead

Dry Roast

3 Dry red Chili(mine is not very hot, adjust according to taste)
4 green cardamom
4 laung/clove
1 big black cardamom(use only pods for grinding)
2" stick of cinnamon
1/4 tsp of Paanch Phoron
1 tbsp of Corriander seeds or 1 tsp of Corriander Powder
a pinch of Hing
Grind to a fine powder

Dry Roast 1 cup of Yellow Moong Dal till you get a nutty smell and some of the lentil is a light brown in color. Be careful, not to burn the lentils.

Wash 1 cup of Basmati or Gobindobhog rice and keep aside

Roast 2 tbsp of Kaju/Cashew in little oil and keep aside.

Start Cooking

In a Pressure Cooker heat 1 tbsp of White Oil OR Ghee

Temper the Oil with
2 small Bay Leaves
2 small green cardamom
2 Clove
1" thin stick of cinnamon (optional, I skipped)
1-2 Dry Red Chili

When the spices sputter, add 2 tbsp of finely chopped onion. Fry the onion till it is brown at the edges

Add 1 heaped tsp of homemade Ginger-Garlic Paste (more Ginger, less Garlic) and fry for a minute.

Puree 1 medium juicy tomato and add to above. Continue frying with sprinkles of water till the tomato is cooked.

Now add 1/2 cup of Peas. I added about 3/4 cup of Frozen Carrots + Peas. You can also add potatoes, cauliflowers etc. Fry for couple more minutes.

Add the roasted Dal followed with the rice. Add 1/4th tsp of turmeric powder  + the dry spice powder  you made. You can use 1 tbsp of the spice powder you made, if you prefer less spicy.
Add 1-2 tbsp of golden raisins. Now fry everything for 3-4 more minutes.

Add about 4 to 4&1/2 Cup of warm water, salt and about 1/2 tsp of sugar. Mix everything. Add 1 tsp of Ghee. Close the lid of the Pressure cooker and cook for 4 minutes at full pressure. My pressure cooker cooks rice in 3 mins at full pressure, I give a minute extra for the dal.

When you open the lid of the cooker, add a tsp more of Ghee if you want. Add the roasted Kaju/Cashew Nuts. Keep container closed and serve piping hot with Papad, chutney, fried Hilsa, Begun Bhaja or any meat dish. Bhuni Khichuri is supposed to be dry and not runny or liquid-y like the regular Khichuri, you can however adjust to your taste.

Everyday Chicken Biryani -- Version 1.0

Once upon a time there was a young girl newly married and her husband who too was newly married and they did not cook much.To simplify life they would often make a very easy chicken biryani. It would start of as a chicken curry and then they would add rice to it, put everything in the pressure cooker, close the lid and then wait expectantly for the pressure to go whoosh 3 times. Their little house smelled nice with the rich spices and promises of a better tomorrow hung limply in the fragrant air. They would each have a plateful and think that was the best biryani ever.

Slowly they made friends, friend who introduced them to authentic Biryani places, the hole in the wall meat shops, who also served delicious Biryani. Sometimes they would travel 40 miles on the weekend to some such place for a plate of goat biryani and that taste would linger for the entire week. The everyday chicken biryani seemed too rustic, too homely compared to such exotic tastes. They did not feel the urge to cook it as often anymore.

Then they acquired a friend whose cooking was legendary and whose Mutton Biryani was the closest you could get to paradise. They would wait and wait for lunch or a dinner invite at her place, for a taste of that Biryani. The husband frustrated with all the waiting finally managed to wrangle the treasured recipe and cooked the legendary Mutton Biryani at home. It took half a day, half a bottle of ghee and tasted like heaven. The taste was so exotic that Every Day Chicken Biryani rarely got made again. The half bottle of ghee ensured that the Legendary Biryani never got made again except on rare occasions.

When the Biryani craving struck they just ordered out from the numerous respectable Biryani places that had now sprung up in the neighborhood.

And then I chanced upon Indosungod's Chicken Biryani. It sounded familiar, comforting and brought back the rich smell that hung in that small house years ago. So I made it. I adapted it to my old style but applied the new techniques and addition of new spices that I learned from her. I also applied the tips that I had learned from all of you in my Egg Pulao post.

I was extra happy with this dish because it had tomatoes, mint and coriander from the garden. I served this Biryani with a simple raita and I added some of the cherry tomatoes to the raita. I also added oven baked spicy potatoes to the Biryani to satisfy my Bong craving for potatoes in a Biryani.

The Everyday Chicken Biryani turned out delicious and comforting. Everyone including BS and LS loved it. Now that is a rare feat.

I say this is version 1.0 because there are many other variations to this delightful one pot meal that I might try in future. For now this=bliss.

Update: This goes to BB#6 at Nupur's delightful One Hot Stove


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Everyday Chicken Biryani

Marinate about 2 lb Chicken with 1/4th Cup yogurt, 1 tsp Biryani Masala, 1 tsp Ginger Paste, 1 tsp Garlic Paste salt and little oil for an an hour or more. Note: Use your own or store bought Biryani Masala

Heat Vegetable Oil in a deep heavy bottomed bottomed pan or in a pressure cooker

Lightly fry 6 cloves of garlic and 2" piece of ginger. Remove and make a paste once it is cooled.

Temper the Oil with
1 Bay Leaf
2" stick of Cinnamon
4 whole clove
4 whole green cardamom
1 black cardamom (optional)
1/2 tsp of Fennel seeds
1/2 tsp Corriander seeds

When the spices sizzle add 1 Cup of chopped red onion. Add 1/2 tsp of sugar and fry the onion till it is soft and translucent and lightly browned at the edges.

Next add the ginger-garlic paste that you made and saute for a couple more minutes

Add 1 Cup of chopped carrots and green beans finely chopped and saute for 2-3 minutes. (This is optional)

Add 1 large potato chopped in quarters and saute for a minute. (This is NOT optional)

Now add the marinated chicken pieces and fry them till they turn a light golden.

Next add the spice powders
a little Turmeric Powder
1 Tbsp Biryani Masala
Note: I did not add any red chili powder as the kids were going to eat it too but add according to your taste.

Mix the masala with chicken and saute for 3-4 minutes. If needed sprinkle a little water while frying.

Add 2 Tbsp of chopped mint and 2 Tbsp of coriander leaves. 1 Tbsp of Dried mint works great too.

Add salt to taste and cook the chicken till they are 3/4th done

Meanwhile wash 2 cups of Basmati rice and drain all the water. Smear the rice grains with ghee so that the rice grains are nicely coated. Also bring about 5 cups of water to boil in a separate pot. Mostly the ratio of rice :water suggested is 1:2 but do what works best with the rice you use.

Once the chicken is almost done, add the rice and mix lightly. Do not stir vigorously. Adjust for salt and other seasonings. At this point I added 2 whole green chili chopped. Add the boiling water to this pan . Bring it to a simmer, then keep gas heat at medium low and cover the pan with lid. Cook till rice is almost done and the water has been absorbed. Now remove from heat, fluff the rice with a fork and open the lid in part.

If at this point some of the rice grains were not fully cooked, put a big griddle/tawa on medium flame and put this pan with biryani on the griddle/tawa. I sprinkled some fried onion on the rice, covered the lid in part and let it cook for 5-6 minutes. By this time all the grains were nicely done.

OR

If you are doing in a pressure cooker hassle is less. Close the pressure cooker lid and cook till rice is done.

Serving Options 1: Now the Biryani popular in Bengal is always served with potatoes and so I love potatoes in my Biryani. This time instead of adding potato directly to the biryani this is what I did. I sliced thickly two red potatoes and tossed them with olive oil, sea salt and little roasted cumin powder. I then baked them in the oven at 400F for 25-30 mins. I then garnished the Biryani with these potato slices and fried onions.

Serve with a raita. To make raita put thick yogurt in a bowl and stir with a whisk or fork to have a uniform thick consistency. Add little milk to get the right consistency. Add chopped cucumber, chopped onion and tomatoes. Add little sugar, chaat masala and little salt. Mix well. Serve cold

Quick Egg Pulao

If you have noticed I am on Twitter. But I don't Tweet all that much.

I want to. But I can't. Every morning I try to think something intelligent, or witty, or intelligent and witty, so that I can tweet it. But I can't. Nothing remotely clever pops up in my mind.

All I can think of is things like "I washed my hair today. It smells nice". But I don't tweet that. Why would anyone want to know, I think. Why, even the husband does not have time to stop and smell my hair, how can I expect 75 million Twitterers to be enlightened by that piece of news.

I can say how my morning was, how I drank my tea with two multigrain nabisco crackers, crackers because my stash of Marie and Parle G is depleted, depleted as in it is zero now. So until I go to the Indian Grocers and get my next supply of Britannia Marie and Parle G, I am stuck with multigrain crackers,which taste like cardboard but not as bad as cardboard, they are easily digestible, cardboard is not.

There, a vital piece of my personal life could be out there but twitter does not allow more than 140 characters. I am sure Twitter's founder Dorsey was scarred for life by a child like BS. You ask BS how her day was and you are stuck for the next hour, listening to how many times she scrubbed her hand with Purell in school.

"Keep it short", I tell her. "Give me the central idea", I say. "You will never be able to Tweet. People have no time these days to listen to long prattles. They spend it describing life in several 140 character snippets", I want to say.

LS, I think would make a good Tweeterer. Her sentences are short, 3 words at the most, rest is action, she can do video tweets.

So I thought I will ask a question instead, on tweeter and here. A simple 10 word question.

"Why does my rice tend to break in a Pulao?"

Why, even if the Pulao turns out tasting really good, some of the rice grains break. Why, my Dad asks, how I managed to break the rice grains as he thinks that is what made the Pulao tasty.

Is it something to do with the brand of rice I buy, for it is one of the cheaper ones. I think I have clinched a deal or something if I pick up a cheaper brand of rice, the kinds which say "Buy 1, get 2 free".

But if it is the brand, how come the grains remain perfect when my Mom makes a Pulao. I could ask her this question but I want to get as many opinions as possible. I also want to Tweet.

So please tell me here or on Twitter, "Why does my rice tend to break in a Pulao?"

After you are done, you won't have much time, so make this quick Egg Pulao, which is easy and totally delicious, broken rice or not. Kids will love this one, for once BS does. Ok, and she also makes a great Raita to go with it.


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Quick Egg Pulao

Make a paste of

1 medium onion
4 cloves of garlic
1" peeled and chopped ginger
1/2 cup of corriander
8-10 mint leaves
Note: Add very little water while making this paste, maybe 1-2 tsp

Wash 2 & 1/2 cups of rice in several changes of water and spread out to dry. This is my Mom's tip, I usually have no patience to dry the rice. But she says that the rice needs to be dry else it will break.

Heat Oil + 1/2 tsp Ghee in a flat, heavy bottomed pan

Temper the oil with 4 cloves, 5 cardamom, 2" cinnamon stick and 2 small bay leaves

Add the paste you made and fry till the masala is cooked. Any excess water should be evaporated and there will be oil seeping out of the edges of the masala

Add 1 cup of chopped mixed vegetables. It can be beans, carrots, peas etc. I added 1 cup of frozen corn, carrots and peas. Fry the vegetables for 3-4 minutes.

Add 1 tsp of Corriander Powder, 1/2 tsp of Garam masala powder and fry for a minute or so

Add the rice and fry for the next couple of minutes

Add 41/2-5 cups of water for 2&1/2 cups of rice. Add salt to taste. Let the water come to a boil. Once the water has come to a boil, reduce heat to low and cover and cook the rice.

While the rice is cooking boil 4 eggs in a separate pan. When eggs are boiled, cool and peel them. Cut egg in slices. Heat a little oil in a pan. Add 1/4 cup of chopped onions and fry till onion is brown. Add the egg slices, 1/2 tsp of Kashmiri Mirch, little salt and fry the egg slices for 2-3 minutes

Once the rice is done, add the fried egg mix on top and mix gently. Sprinkle some chopped coriander leaves and 1/2 tsp of Garam Masala powder. Cover and let it sit till you serve with a raita.

Similar Recipes:

Soy Peas Pulao

Soy Mushroom Pulao

Mint Rice -- Brown Rice

Daliya Pulao

Trivia: Here are some pictures from the book Hungry Planet, that I thought I would share with you. Click here to see What The World Eats.

Soy Mushroom Pulao

The Lovely Pulao

What kind of a cook are you ? Are you the perfect kind, the ones who have perfected their techniques and recipes such that each time they make a Matar Paneer or Baingan Bharta, the outcome is exactly same. That the result does not vary if the quantity changes from 5 to 50, it remains exactly same day in and day out.

Me, I like to say I am a romantic cook, that sounds better than whimsical. I cook as my mood dictates, as the sun shines or the rain falls, as the kids torment or play happily. I will put a pinch of this here, a whiff of that there. I will put in ingredients that the recipe might not call for and skip something listed. I will smell and sniff and taste and depending on whether I have a cold or not, the dish might turn out to be
a) as delicious as last week
b) delicious but different from last week
c) un palatable.
Ok, just kidding, I will salvage most of the un-palatable ones but such things will happen.

It is blogging that has kind of restrained me, tried to straitjacket me, forced me to follow the recipes that I have jotted down here and so these days my Palak Paneer will turn out like before but only if the laptop has power and is not being used by the older kid.


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Take last week for example. Sometime around mid last week there was Saraswati Puja( more here), the day we pay our obeisance to the Goddess of Learning. Learning anything, something being BIG in Bengali households, the Goddess Saraswati is paid due respect in every home on this day. I had plans for the same but mornings being very hectic around here, I postponed it to evening.

Though we are talking Halwa, this IS a Pulao

Come evening I realized that to do the Puja I need to offer Prasad, after all what is a Puja without some sweet prasad. In haste I set off to make a Sooji(Rawa) Halwa. Now guys, sooji halwa is not exactly the thing you need to learn at Cordon Bleu. It is supposed to be easy peasy and you should be able to sail through the process and create an aromatic halwa even with a toddler hoisted on your hip.

So that is exactly what I did. I picked up the toddler who was trying to climb up her Mom's legs, a child eager to learn techniques of "making sooji halwa" early on and with her perched on my ample hip, I proceeded to make the halwa. Before even I knew it, I could sense the halwa was going the wrong way. It wasn't roasted to pale brown, it had a freaking white color, the sugar was not enough and the milk was slowly making it into a lump.

It was a halwa that would have scarred the genteel Goddess. It was so bad that the rawa must have been ashamed to find itself in such a state.

I was having doubts 'bout offering it to the academic Lady of Learning. Who cares I thought ? I have learned all my life's lessons and there isn't much that Goddess Saraswati can help me learn more anyway. But then you never know. What if MIT offers me a scholarship for research on blogging tomorrow, I wouldn't refuse, would I ?

So we got rid of that halwa and got some sweets from the store and appeased the Goddess, hope she didn't mind and shall continue to enlighten me.

There I told you it IS NOT about the halwa, it IS the Pulao

But this post is not about halwa. It is about a Pulao, a pulao that has turned out well almost always. A easy One Pot Dish that saves me on many busy days, days when I have time to blog but alas no time to cook.

I have made it as the Soy Peas Pulao earlier, a version based on Tarla Dalal's Recipe. But this time I made some changes as is my nature and added mushroom and vegetables along with soy chunks. If you notice keenly, I have also changed the spices a little. This made the dish Soy Mushroom Pulao and it tasted so very good. I made it again this week and again I made some changes, I added asparagus, next week we shall see...

Soy Mushroom Pulao

What You Need


Uncooked Rice ~ 1 & 1/2 cup of Basmati Rice
Soya Chunks ~ 1/2 cup of Nutrela Soya Chunks
Peas and Carrots (fresh or frozen) ~ 3/4 cup
Mushroom -- 1 cup sliced button mushrooms

Onions ~ 1 cup chopped

For tempering

Cumin seeds (jeera) ~ 1 teaspoon
Cinnamon (dalchini) ~ 1" stick
Cloves (lavang) ~ 2
Bay leaf ~ 2
Cardamom (elaichi) ~ 2

For masala

Turmeric powder (haldi) ~ ¼ teaspoon

Garam masala ~ 1/2 teaspoon or fresh Nutmeg Powder 1/4 tsp
Coriander (dhania) powder ~ ½ tsp (You can use 1 tsp of this, but I kept it low)
Cumin (jeera) Powder ~ 1/2 tsp

Oil ~2 tbsp
Ghee ~ ½ - 1 tsp to smear the rice (optional)
salt to taste
Sugar -- 1/4 tsp

To be ground into a chilli-garlic paste

3 fat cloves garlic
3 whole red chillies
1" ginger peeled and chopped

How I Did It

Prep

Wash 1 & 1/2 cups of Basmati rice in several changes of water and spread it out to dry for 15-20 mins.

Make a smooth paste of
3 cloves of garlic,
3 Dry Red Chili( heat alert, use less if needed !!!),
1" peeled and chopped ginger
with little water

Soak 1/2 cup of soy chunks in hot salted water till the chunks swell and become soft. Once they are soft squeeze excess water out and keep aside

Start Cooking

Heat 2 tbsp of White Oil in a Kadhai or Saute Pan

Temper the oil with

2 Cardamom/Elaichi,
2 Clove/Laung,
1" stick of Cinnamon,
2 small Bay Leaf,
approx. 1 tsp of Cumin Seeds/Jeera

When the spices start dancing, add 1 cup of finely chopped red onion. Fry the onion till it turns a pinkish brown

Now add the chili-ginger-garlic paste and saute for couple more minutes till the wonderful garlic flavor hits you

Add 3/4 cup of chopped carrots and peas. I usually have a frozen mix of peas and carrots and use that. Saute for 2 minutes

Add 1 cup of sliced button mushrooms and follow with the soy chunks. Saute for next 2-4 minutes till there is no raw smell of the mushrooms and there is no more water released from the mushroom.

Now add
1/2 tsp of Cumin Powder
and 1/2 tsp of Corriander powder
and little turmeric.
With a sprinkle of water fry the masala till the masala coats the vegetables, mushroom and soy chunks. Note: Add more spices if you have more veggies and mushroom

Add the rice. Fry the rice till you get a beautiful aroma.

Now the rice needs to cook. For 1 & 1/2 cups of rice, I add about 2&1/2-3 cups of water. Add salt to taste. I also add about 1/4 tsp of grated fresh nutmeg. This lends a wonderful flavor. If you don't have Nutmeg add 1/2 tsp Garam Masala instead. Mix everything gently and let the rice cook .
Note: You might need little more water if the water has dried up and rice is not cooked.

When the rice is done, add 1/2 tsp of ghee to boost the flavor and 1/4 tsp of sugar and mix gently at low heat. Turn off the heat,cover and let it sit for 10 minutes and then serve with some cool raita.

Brown Rice -- Mint Rice

Why are you on Orkut or FaceBook ?

Why would you want to see pictures of the girl-you-hated-in-Kindergarten holidaying in Corfu while you are shoveling snow in some god damn suburb of New York ?

How will it help to know that girl from section C third grade who used to come over for homework help has just been hired by the company who rejected your resume thrice ?

Why would you want to see your one time crush smiling at you from his profile pic, svelte wife, fat kids and a steel gray BMW in tow ?

Why would you in midst of a hectic day forgo lunch and pause to fish out a picture of yours from last summer when your tummy was still in and post it on Facebook ?

Why would you write comments like "Cho chweet baby" and "Best Couple ever" on your networked friend's pics when you really don't care a nickel about the baby or couple ?

Why would you want to see a person's life in delta(t) time and ruin yours in +t time ?

Why do you want to connect to people whom you you took no effort to remember even two years back when you were not Orkutting ?

Why do you hate Brown Rice ?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind

Early summer my neighbors had heaped me with bushels of mint leaves. I am not sure if Mint leaves come in bushel but any way I want to use that word so "bushel of mint leaves" it is. I am not a huge fan of Mint and anyway there was too much of it. When those leaves were almost wilting and crying for help I put them in the blender with few green chillies, made a paste and froze the paste. Result was my freezer was full of Ziploc bags holding pretty green frozen cubes of mint.

Most of those cubes I used to make a Pudina Rice with Brown Rice. Brown Rice is kind of a staple at our home for Saturday Lunch, if we are having a Saturday Lunch at all. Also if there is a Saturday Lunch it is usually a one pot meal, quick, easy convenient. The Mint Rice or Pudina Rice suits that purpose to the hilt. Flavorful it imbibes the Brown Basmati with a fragrance and taste that makes a Brown Rice hater just forget that he discriminates rice by color & creed.

Note: I am not on Orkut or Facebook, don't go finding me there. The questions are triggered by this very honest post and comments from real life friends


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Pudina Rice/Mint Rice

Prep

Soak 2 cups of Brown Basmati for half an hour. You can also use White Basmati but then the water required to cook will vary.

Make a paste of half of a large red onion(or 1 small red onion), 4-5 cloves of garlic, 1" of peeled ginger and 4 tbsp of Mint Leves (Pudina) paste. Add 2-3 green chillies to make the paste, I didn't because Saturday Lunches are for everyone in the family even the non-chili eaters. Note: My neighbors had given me lots & lots of mint/ pudina over summer, which I had transformed into a paste which I then froze, so that is why I say paste here. I am not sure but I think a bunch or two of mint would suffice. Update on 12/21: I did this again last week and this time I added corriander leaves along with the mint to make the paste. beautiful end result.

Start Cooking

Heat Oil

Fry 1/4 cup of cashews to lightly brown, remove and keep aside

Temper the oil with 4 clove, 2 green cardamom and 1" thin stick of cinnamon

Add the onion + garlic + ginger + mint paste and fry till you see the oil seeping out of the sides of the masala

Add 1 tsp of coriander powder, half a potato chopped in quarters, and any veggies you like. I added 1/3 cup of peas & carrots. Cauliflower cut in small florets would have worked very well too. Fry for 3-4 minutes with a little sprinkle of water

Drain the rice, smear with little ghee and add to above. Add 1/4 tsp of Biryani Masala and fry the rice for a couple of minutes

Add water to measure. For 2 cups of Brown Basmati I added about 5 cups of water. Read your rice package for directions.

Add salt and let the rice cook. Once the rice is cooked add the fried cashews and a pinch of sugar if you like sweet.

There your one pot meal is ready in no time

Serve with a papad, some yogurt or raita on the side and a salad of cucumber & radish

Similar Recipes:

Brown Rice -- Methi Rice

Brown Rice -- Tomato Rice