NARGISI KOFTA BIRIYANI

Exotic  meal in which eggs stuffed in meatballs (Nargisi Koftas) are served in savory rice in mughlai style. It’s worth the effort in spite of lengthy process.

INGREDIENTS:

For RICE:

3 cups Basmati Rice

4 no.s Cloves

6 no.s Peppercorns

8 no.s Cardamom

For Kofta:

6 no.s Eggs boiled

750g Chicken/Meat mince

1 tsp Ginger-Garlic paste

¼ tsp Cumin powder

2 Green chillies, finely chopped

1 tsp Coriander powder

1 tsp Red chilly powder

1 tsp Garam masala

5 tbsp onion ,finely chopped

For MASALA:

4 tbsp Ghee

1 Bay leaf

3 Cardamoms

8 Peppercorns

¼ tsp Cumin seeds/Jeera

4 cups Onions, sliced

1 tbsp Ginger-Garlic paste

3 Green chillies

2 Tomatoes

2 tsp Red chilly powder

1 tbsp Coriander powder

½ tsp Turmeric powder

½ cup Curd

1 tsp Garam Masala

2 cups Mint leaves, chopped

A generous pinch of Saffron

A pinch of Yellow color

4 tbsp of Milk

1 tsp Shah Jeera/ Caraway seeds

METHOD:

Boil rice along with the whole masalas and salt until it is 3/4th cooked. Drain and keep aside.

For Koftas, add all ingredients along with salt to a food processor or blender and process for a few seconds until well-blended. Refrigerate this for about 15 minutes.

Make 6 balls out of this minced meat mix.

Take one ball and flatten on a piece of baking sheet into 4” diameter and ½” thick.

Place one whole boiled egg in between and shape them into koftas covering the egg nicely. Make sure that no crack seen.

Keep it aside and repeat the procedure with all other eggs and mince balls.

Deep-fry these koftas in high flame for about 30 seconds or so until it turns brown on all sides.

Drain on a tissue paper.

Deep-fry onions until it turns golden brown and crisp.

Once cooled, crush these onions in a blender. 

For masala, heat ghee on a deep-bottomed pan.

Throw in whole spices and sauté for a few seconds, carefully. If burnt, the whole masala would turn bitter.

Add the crushed onions into it and sauté for a while. Pour a little hot water in that as the onion lost its moisture when fried before and so there is a chance of burning.

Add ginger-garlic paste and green chillies to it and sauté for a minute more.

Cook tomatoes in it along with yogurt, red chilly, coriander powder and turmeric powder until the gravy is cooked nicely.

Cook tomatoes in it along with yogurt, red chilly, coriander powder and turmeric powder until the gravy is cooked nicely.

Add water to this if needed.

Pop in garam masala and mint leaves; mix well.

Carefully add the nargisi koftas and cook for about 8-10 minutes until masala gets infused into koftas and is done perfectly.

Soak saffron in warm milk for about 10-15 minutes. Then add a pinch of yellow color to it.

Now, for the dum process, place ¼ of the rice at the bottom of a deep dish; then layer the masala.

Now, layer the half of the remaining rice and sprinkle saffron-milk and a tbsp. of oil here and there. Layer remaining rice on top of that.

Sprinkle a tsp of garam masala and 2 tbsp of oil on top and close the lid.  Let the pot remain so for about ½ an hour until the rice is done perfectly.

Serve with mint or any raita of your choice.

TIPS/VARIATION

Strain chicken mince and make sure no water is left behind; otherwise the koftas may break while shaping them.

You can use either wax paper or cling film to shape koftas so that you get smooth shape.

Mushroom & Peas Pulao

Mushroom and Peas Pulao is a complete dish and can be eaten as a complete meal on its own. A bowl of your favourite raita, achar and pappad is all you want. I always make it sure to add those vegetables which are my kids' favourite to make sure that they don't complaint. Mushrooms are my son's favourite whereas girls love peas. 

INGREDIENTS:

Courtesy: Shehzad Husain

Serves: 6

Basmati Rice      2 1/2 cups

Mushrooms    100 gm/ 1 1/2 cups

Green peas(fresh or frozen)    1/2 cup

Vegetable oil      2 tbsp

Cinnamon sticks     2"

Black Cardamom       2

Kalonji/ Black Cumin/ Karinjeerakam 1/2 tsp

Garlic cloves     3,chopped

Tomato    1 medium

Water    4 cups

Salt    2 tsp

Method:

1. Wash the rice atleast twice and set aside in a sieve(strainer).

2 In a medium saucepan, heat the oil and add the spices, garlic and salt.

3. Add the sliced tomato and button mushrooms and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes. 

4. Now add the rice and peas and gently stir around, making sure you do not break the rice.

5. Add the water and bring the mixture to the boil. lower the heat, cover and continue to cook for 15-20 minutes.

Yam Fries

Yam fry is a  very simple and tasty side dish. These could be made either spicy or non-spicy. Both are good in their own ways. Kids love this more than the spicy ones. They find this similar to their so called friend 'french fries'. And so they call these "kerala fries"  :) 

Ingredients:

Yam     3 cups

Turmeric powder   1 tsp

Salt   1/2 tsp or to taste

Oil to deep fry

Method:

Cut yam into small square chunks(1 cm cubes). Marinate these with turmeric powder and salt and let it stay for at least 15 minutes. Heat oil in a kadai(wok) ,enough to deep fry. Fry these yams in two batches in medium-high flame. The texture should be juicy inside and slightly crisp outside. When you fry in low flame, it will turn hard and in high flame it might turn undercooked inside. So take care of that. 

Mixed Seafood Biriyani

Mixed seafood biryani is my family's favourite dish since years. We can use any combination of seafood like prawns, mussels, clams,fish,squid,crabs etc. The choices are infinite. This way, your entire family is happy as there is a choice for them to have. Actually when you add fish only, the fishy smell/flavour predominates; whereas here, there is no such problem . A mixed flavour which is quite nice and devoured by all. The technique is as same as that in making Fish Biriyani.

 Ingredients:

Marinade: 
Mixed Seafood * - about 3/4 kg 
Red chilli powder
Salt
Pepper

Other ingredients:
Rice  2 1/2 cups

Ghee 1 tbsp
Oil 3 tbsp
Onion 300 gms/ 2 cups 
Ginger paste 2tbsp

Garlic paste 2 tbsp

Green Chillies 5 or more
Tomato 2 medium/ 1 1/2 cups
Red Chilli powder 1/2tsp
Coriander powder 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala ** 2 tbsp
Coriander leaves 3 tbsp
Mint leaves 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Marinate seafoods in marinade ingredients & keep refrigerated for about 1/2 an hr. Then shallow fry it. Keep a few pieces of prawns or some belly pieces of fish or so aside which could be used in masala.  

2.Wash rice atleast 3 times & drain. Make sure that no water is left behind.

3.Cut onions in chunks & pulse them in a food-processor or blender. Do not make paste of it. Just crush them. You can slice them too; but crushing makes it easier to cook.

4.Heat ghee & oil in a pan. Add crushed onions & saute for 2-3 minutes. Add ginger-garlic paste. Saute again for a minute more. You can either crush all of them together..ie; onion, ginger ,garlic and green chilly.

5.Now add tomatoes , red chilli powder & coriander powder. Cook masala nicely. Stir in between. Halfway through, add the reserved pieces (prawns etc.)which we kept aside. Cook till masala is done. It's okay if the fish in the masala break down into pieces.Add 1 tsp garam masala to this and turn off the flame.

6.By the time, cook rice. Add rice and salt to the boiling water and cook till done.Drain and keep aside

7. The dum : Take a large skillet. Layer a little rice at the bottom ; then masala; then rice,. Top with some garam masala( 1 1/2 tbsp) powder, coriander & mint leaves. If you are making in huge quantity, then you can layer masala in the middle also & then, repeat the procedure. Keep in dum for about 15 minutes.

10. Garam masala smells & tastes good if u make it at home freshly. I make it fresh ;a small quantity; whenever there are guests. It really smells awesome..

** Garam Masala (yields 2 tbsp)

Saunf 1 tsp
Cardamom 2
Clove 2
Cinnamon 1" stick
Black Cardamom 1(only the inner thing)
Nutmeg 1/2
Star anise 1/2
Mace 1

Heat this for min or 2 ..till a nice aroma gets out of it. then powder it using a garlic crusher.(spice crusher).

Sambar using roasted spices

Making sambar using home-made masala is not a hectic job at all. My family love it this way. We hear lots of stories on readymade masalas(spices) like they include animal fats, that they do some sort of adulteration etc. etc. What's the need of readymade ones when we can make it in no time. If spending 5 minutes extra in kitchen can give you peace and health, then it's worth the risk.  It's always better to use home made stuffs as far as we can. It's not that I don't use readymade stuffs at all..but a big NO to masalas .. I make my own garam masala and use a blend of my own spices for chana masala,pav bhaji, tandoori chicken or sambar.  We bring home made red chilli,coriander and pepper powders all the way from India and all thanks to my aunts there who never say 'huff' to our orders. :) I can assure you that this sambar is as tasty as the ones made with store-bought spices. Follow the instructions and recipes to the point and you get to eat delicious sambar in no time.

INGREDIENTS

Shallots                       6 tbsp

Tomatoes                      3/4 cup

Green chilly                          2

Masoor Dal              1/4cup/ 6 tbsp

Turmeric powder              1/2 tsp

Tamarind(with seed)**    10 gm/ lemon sized 
Vegetable               500gms/ 1/2kg

To Grind:

Coconut oil         2tbsp
Fenugreek                   1/2 tsp

Cumin                         1 tsp

Garlic                          2

Asafoetida                   a generous pinch

Coconut                       3/4 cup

Curry leaves                3

Red chilli powder       1 tbsp

Coriander powder       1 tbsp

Tadka:
Coconut oil     4-5 tbsp
Mustard seeds    1 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves    8-10
Dried red chilli      3

METHOD:

1. Soak tamarind in hot water and squeeze to take pulp. 

2. Pressure cook dal alongwith turmeric powder, onion, tomatoes and tamarind pulp.

3. After one whistle, open the pressure cooker and add vegetables except brinjal/eggplant and ladyfingers. These cook really fast and so it's safer to add later. Close the lid and turn off the flame after one whistle. Open the lid immediately. Add eggplants and lady fingers to this. Keep it aside.

4. Heat oil in another pan and dry roast coconut with cumin, fenugreek and curry leaves till the coconut turns dark brown. Switch off the flame and add asafoetida,  red chilli and coriander powders to it. Saute for a few seconds till the raw smell goes. Let it cool.

5. Make a paste of this roasted coconut and spice mix using water enough to blend.

6. Pour this paste to the cooked gravy and simmer for about 5-6 minutes. Turn off the flame.

7. Heat 4-5 tbsp of coconut oil in another pan and splutter mustard seeds in it. Throw in red chillies and curry leaves. Pour this tadka over the gravy and close the lid. Let it remain closed for a minimum of 5 minutes.

** Adding tamarind at first gives a nice flavor to the vegetables and thus the sambar

Pumpkin Erissery /Mathanga erissery

Onam is near and these days people go crazy searching for recipes for vegetable side dishes and you can see lots and lots of recipes online or on screen. We don't celebrate Onam, but still never forget to order Sadya from restaurants as this is the only time we get to eat 14-16 types of curries with our Choru (rice) and 2 types of payasams too. ..yumm!! Otherwise who cares to cook so many side dishes. Cooking is not that tough compared to chopping. I always felt that's the most difficuilt and time consuming task while preparing Sadya. Ofcourse grating coconut, if you are in India, could be more difficuilt ; but here, that's a blessing when you have a Lulu or Manama (supermarkets) near ;) where you get grated coconuts any time of the year.

Ingredients:

(Reference:Marias Menu) though made my own variations

Mathanga/Pumpkin     500gms ( 3cups)

Turmeric                      1/2 tsp

Water                           1 cup

Red chilly powder       1/4tsp

Coconut                       4 tbsp (to garnish)

Oil                                1 tbsp

To Grind

Coconut                       1/2 cup

Cumin/Jeera                 1/4tsp

Green chilly                 2 or more

Pepper powder            1/4 tsp

To temper

Coconut oil                  2 tbsp

Mustard                        1/2 tsp

Curry leaves                 few

Shallots                         4

 Method:

1. Cook pumpkins with water, turmeric powder, salt and red chilly powder till it is done. Mash nicely and keep it aside.

2. Grind 1/2 cup coconut with jeera, pepper and red chilly powder. Add this to pumpkin. Let it boil and simmer for about 5-6 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and roast coconut (kept for garnishing) till it turns brown and crispy texture. Remove it on a plate. Heat oil in the same pan for tempering. Crackle mustard seeds in it and throw in curry leaves and shallots immediately. Fry till the onion turns brown. Pour this over mathanga. Mix well. Serve with roasted coconut garnished on top. 

Variations:

Try with cowpeas/ vanpayar added to mathanga. ie; 250gms mathanga and 1/2 cup cowpeas for this same recipe.

Roast coconut a little more time if you prefer it that way.

Malabar Fish Curry with Saturday Snapshots#2

Perfection in cooking seafoods , I believe, is the most toughest to achieve among all other non-vegetarian dishes. My grandma and my aunt who stayed next to me during my initial days of cooking taught me to cook this simple fish curry with all their efforts.lol.. It came perfect when they guided me then and there, but flopped again when made alone. After many trials and errors, I learnt this and thanks to my blogging that I finally jotted down the exact recipe. 

When I was in my 1st Bcom, I had to cook lunch at home as my mom was in India busy with my sisters wedding. My uncle showed me to prepare fish curry and I asked him why didn't he add rice water to the curry. He laughed at me saying 'rice water?' .. I said 'yeah.. mom does so'.. He was not ready to accept the fact that rice water goes into the making of fish curry. He then told my dad about this and my dad started laughing too. I was pretty sure about that but both of them couldn't accept it. After a few days when my mom came back I told about this and she said 'why did you tell them? This is kept as a secret among ladies and no men or outsiders know about this. We add rice to the grinder hiding our sister-in-laws also. ' I started noticing this after that and what I found was really interesting. My aunts and all after adding spices to the machine , say something and all to their sis in laws so that their attention diverts and by that time they added rice to the machine... lol.. I don't know why they have to keep this secret. But anyways, I have never seen rice water added to the curries except in some regions of Kannur. 

This is a very simple curry, made on a daily basis which could be served with plain dosas, appams, rice etc. The flavour of the curry varies with the fish we use; whether king fish, pomfret, small fishes etc.; any fish could be made with this recipe

INGREDIENTS:

Fish                              1/2 kg

Oil                                3 tbsp
Onion sliced                 3 tbsp
Ginger crushed             1 tsp
Fenugreek/uluva           1 tsp
Green chilli                   1
Tomato , chopped         1/2 of a medium sized
Red chilli powder         2 tsp
Turmeric powder         1/4 tsp
Cooked parboiled rice  3 tbsp
Water                            1 1/2 cups
Tamarind                       1 small ball
Curry leaves                  few

Saturday Snapshots Click #2 sending to Merry Tummy and Siris Food

METHOD:


1. Keep everything ready beforehand as you don't get time to do it in between. Slice onions, crush ginger, chop tomato,clean fish , soak tamarind in 4-5 tbsp of water etc.

2.Grind cooked rice with water and spice powders in a blender.

3. Heat oil in a chatti (curry pot) and add 2-3 slices of onion and fry until it turns brown.

4. Add fenugreek and ginger; saute for a few seconds.

5. Throw in green chilli , tomatoes ; saute again for 20-30 seconds.

6. Pour the blended juice of rice and powders to this. Let this boil and simmer for about 5 minutes.

7. Add tamarind juice to it.

8. When it boils, keep the flame high and add fish to it. Let it boil again and then add salt.

9. Keep the flame low and let it simmer ,covered, for 10-15 minutes or until the fish cooks. Do not stir with spoon. Rotate the pan in between. Add curry leaves to this, close the lid and then switch off flame.  Let it remain for a minimum of 5 minutes before opening the lid.

Spicy KingFish Curry

It is only recently that I have noticed that I didn't post any simple fish curry recipe in my blog all these years. It might be because I make fish fresh and hot and serve rightaway without any time left for clicking pictures. This recipe was dumped into drafts since 2 months; one of the first pictures I clicked with my new camera. I was not about to post this as I was not so happy with the pictures. But still I couldn't ressist as I loved the simple flavors of the dish and so wanted to share. I shall update a better picture soon. InshaAllah! :)

Ingredients:
(Courtesy: Silwena Rowe)

Kingfish                          400g
Kashmiri Chilli Powder    2 tsp
Coriander powder           2 tsp
Turmeric powder            1 tsp
Coconut oil                     5 tbsp
Vegetable oil                   4 tbsp
Mustard seeds                2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds(uluva)   1/2 tsp
Ginger paste                    2 tbsp
Garlic paste                     2 tbsp
Shallots, finely chopped- 12
Curryleaves                     10 

Thick Coconut milk          1 cup

1. Mix chillli, coriander and turmeric powders with the coconut oil to make a paste.

2. Heat vegetable oil in a heavy pan. Add mustard and fenugreek seeds. Once their mustard stops spluttering , add ginger-garlic paste and stir on low heat for 3 to 4 minutes.

3.Add the prepared spice paste, season with salt and saute until oil begins to appear on the surface and the sides of the pan.

5. Add a little water to dilute the sauce slightly then add the fish. Sir gently to ensure that the fish is well coated.

6. Cover and simmer on low heat for about 25 minutes or until the fish is cooked thorough and the sauce thickens. 

Serve with rice, rotis, pathiris, dosas etc.

Paneer Fried Rice

Nowadays I'm always late for posting recipes. I'm a member of Jagruty's potluck party group and I'm supposed to post this on 28th ,that is..today. but, I'm late as usual.With no laptop and managing home and kids singlehanded can be the reason. Jab is out of town since 2 weeks and viral attack at my home made me busy. But I didn't want to miss this. So here is my contribution to the second half of the theme. I had to recreate dish posted by En Samaiyal. ie; Paneer fried rice. It was so easy,healthy and delicious.

ClickHere for the recipe

Koottu Curry with Snake Gourd,Beans etc.

As you all know, Onam (Kerala festival) is approaching and almost all houses are getting ready to celebrate in their own style. Wearing new dresses, decorating Pookkalam(flower carpets), preparing Sadya, watching movies etc. are the ways in which we celebrate Onam.

OnaSadya (veg.feast) is one such speciality which can't be avoided during this festival. This grand feast is traditionally served in Banana leaves with Rice as the main ingredient. The vegetable side dishes may vary from four to 20 or more . Sambar and parippu ,thoran, olan, pulissery ,rasam etc. are a few among those dishes alongwith pappadam and pickle. No feast is complete without dessert and hence the payasam is served. Ada Pradaman,Paal payasam, paalada, ... the list goes on. It takes lots of efforts in grinding coconuts, chopping vegetables separately for each dishes and not to mix n match recipes.   Here, in middle-east,certain organisations and restaurants conduct Onam celebrations and we get to savour Sadya without much a do.

Koottucurry is a spicy dish among these which is prepared using Black Chick peas(Kaala Chana), raw plaintains and yam. This recipe is slightly twisted one using snake gourd and beans and tastes awesome!! I did take a printout of this recipe long ago ,some 10-12yrs back and I really don't remember the source of the recipe. Since then , I use to make this so often and is a hit recipe among our family.

Ingredients:

-Black Chick Peas/Bengal gram 1/2 cup

-Snake gourd,Long runner beans,pumpkin,yam,vellari- Altogether 1/2 kg. (You can either omit 1 or 2 among these)
Innerflesh of drumstick-1/2 cup

Coconut 1/2 cup
Turmeric powder 1/4tsp
Green chillies 3
Salt to taste

Cumin

Tempering:

Ghee 2 tsp
Coconut oil 1/4 cup

Mustard 1 tsp
Urad dal/white gram dal 2 tsp

Curryleaves 2 sprigs

Dried Red Chilly 3
Coconut 1/4 cup

Method:

1.Cook bengal gram with salt and water to a tihck gravy.

2. Clean and cut the vegetables into small pieces. Par boil the vegetables .

3.Grind 1/2 cup grated coconut and mix it with turmeric powder and green chillies.

4.Heat oil and season mustard, urad dal, dried red chillies and curry leaves.

5. Add the ground coconut mixture. Saute for sometime till the water dries up.

6.Add the cooked vegetables, salt and bengal gram dal.

7.Saute well. Heat 1 tsp ghee and fry the 1/4 cup grated coconut in it till golden brown.

8. Add this to the koottu curry and mix well.

Linking this toFoodabulous fest hosted by Rafeeda originally hosted by Simply Tadka