Stuffed Shami Kebab

Ingredients:

Boneless meat or mince 500g

Chana Dal 1/2 cup

Ginger, chopped 1 tbsp

Garlic,chopped 1 tbsp

Potato boiled 1 medium

Whole red chillies 3-4

Whole pepper corns 2 tsp

Lemon juice 1 tbsp

Egg 1

Garam Masala 1 tsp

Stuffing:

Egg, boiled and chopped 3 tbsp

Onion, finely chopped 3 tbsp

Coriander leaves, finely chopped 1 tbsp

Green chillies 3no.s

Method:

1. Pressure cook boneless meat, chana dal,whole red chillies and chopped ginger & garlic  until meat is done. If you are using chicken, soak dal for atleast half an hour before cooking.

2. When meat is done, add garam masala to the cookeer and dry up all the liquid in high flame. Let it cool.

3. Grind meat alongwith the cooked ingredients in a blender or food processor to make a paste. Add boiled potato  and lemon juice to it and blend again. Break one egg into this mixture. Mix well.

4. Mix the ingredients listed under the heading 'Stuffing' together and keep aside.

5. Now, take a portion of kebab dough, flatten to a circle, keep a tsp of stuffing mixture on it and cover the dough . Gently shape it like cutlets/patties. 

6. You can either freeze your patties* or fry it as and then. Shallow fry these patties until it turns brown on both the sides. Serve hot with mint chutney or ketchup.

Notes:

You can follow the same tips to freeze mentioned here.

Some dips these kebabs in eggwhites before frying. Choice is yours.

Any meat can be used- Chicken, beef or mutton.

NAWI GHOSHT

A rich mutton gravy subtly flavored with Indian spices.

INGREDIENTS

To Marinate:

500g Mutton

1 tsp Red Chilly powder

1 tsp Coriander powder

½ tsp Turmeric powder

1/3 cups Yoghurt

Other Ingredients:

2 tbsp Ghee/Clarified Butter

3 Cardamoms

3 Cloves

1” Cinnamon

1 Bay leaf

1 tsp Caraway Seeds/Shah Jeera

1 cup Onions

2 clovea Garlic

1 tsp Ginger, chopped

¾ cup Tomatoes, Crushed

1 tsp Red Chilly flakes

25 Almonds, pureed and more to garnish

½ cup Cream

1 tsp Garam Masala

1 tsp Rose water

A pinch of saffron soaked in 2 tbsp milk

Coriander leaves to garnish

METHOD

Marinate mutton along with marinade ingredients for about ½ an hour in refrigerator.

Meanwhile, crush onions with ginger and garlic.

Heat ghee in a pan. Throw in whole spices and sauté for a few seconds till its aroma come out.

Sauté onions in it in high flame until it turns brown.  (color similar to how we fry for biriyanis)

Add crushed tomatoes to it and cook till the masala leaves the sides of the pan.

Add mutton along with the marinade and allow it to boil.

Season with salt and red chilli flakes. Cook till mutton is done.

Now add almond puree, saffron, and rosewater and garam masala.

Simmer for about 5 minutes.

Add cream to it. Allow it to boil and switch off the flame.

Garnish with almond silvers and coriander leaves.

Serve with rotis or parathas.

Gilafi Kebab

Onam is over , but the festive season is not over yet. Eid al Adha is on its way. From the delicious vegetable varities to the world of meaty favourites:) ! That's the difference between the cultures and festivals. Each festival has its own way of celebrating from food to lighting crackers to designing flower carpets to prayers etc. 

This dish is a spicy minced meat covered with a layer of onion, capsicum and tomatoes. This layer is called Gilaf and hence the name. This is a deliciously favorite dish which could be accompanied with rotis or rice.This kebab can either be grilled or shallow fried in medium-high flame. 

Ingredients:(makes 6-7 pieces)

Courtesy: Shireen Anwar 

Mince meat/Kheema (chicken,mutton or beef) 1/2 kg
Ginger garlic paste   1 tbsp
1 slice of bread (dip in water and squeeze water out)
Salt  1 tsp
Red chilli powder  1 tsp
Garam masala powder  1/2 tsp
Lemon juice 1 tbsp
Ground almonds/ cashews 1 tbsp
Coriander leaves 2 tbsp, chopped
Green chilli 3-4chopped
Fresh cream/cream cheese  2 tbsp
Oil, for frying

Gilaaf/outer covering:
 Onion 1/2 cup, chopped
 Capsicum 1/2 cup, chopped
 Tomatoes 1/2 cup, chopped

Method:

1.Squeeze out excess water from the mince meat and grind them again if it's a shop bought one. We need more fine than we get from the supermarkets.

2.Mix the meat with all other ingredients including bread,cream etc. Keep aside for 2 hours.

3.Mix together onions, tomatoes and capsicum for the gilaf in a separate plate.

4.Devide the mixture into 6-7 balls and shape them like kebabs; either lengthy, round or any shape u like. Then roll these kebabas on the gilaaf mix and make sure these are stuck to the kebabs properly.

5.You can either use skewers. This is completely optional. If you are using wooden skewers, soak them in water for about 10minutes.

6.Shallow fry in grill pans on medium-high heat till golden brown. You can either cover in an aluminium foil and grill in oven at 250C for 15-20 minutes. Brush oil on kebabs before grilling.

Serve hot with green chutney.

Lal Qila Mutton Biriyani

It rained again a day before!! Isn't that a good thing? :)

 It's vacation here for a couple of weeks and we mothers were fully engaged with our kids while the UAE weather turned mild and pleasant this week. The climate was heading to summer  and the newspapers predicted much hotter summer days than usual that we were getting sort of mentally prepared for that. That's when it rained here and brought a cooler and pleasant weather for the week.  We went downstairs and for a ride to savour this rare UAE rain. I was fasting and was hard to wait till the sun sets to sip in coffee . Thank God that there were some frozen Kaayadas (unnakkaay/plaintain snack) to pair up with my mug of coffee while looking at the rainsplattered window ;)

First week of vacation is over and we have had lots of fun. The whole generation was here with me , 7 of them(3 boys and 4 girls).. We had lots of fun, playing,baking, roaming and of course, fighting. A gang of kids means a Noisy House. They play and interact, fight at times etc. when they feel bored and have nothing to do. So it's better to keep them engaged with some or the other tasks. I always ask them to help me out while cleaning or baking. They love baking goodies. They even baked some chocolate chip cookies & Cornflakes cookies all by themselves.

Now about the recipe:

It's my sister Hanan's contribution to the blog. She is very good when cooking biriyanis. This is my 9th post on Rice label. Her BBQ Chicken Biriyani is now quite famous here. There are many more biriyanis in my drafts to be posted soon. This one is also as delicious and simple to try out. 

Ingredients:

Courtesy: Shireen Anwar

For marinade:

Mutton 1/2 kg

Tenderizer 1 tsp

Ginger & garlic paste-1 tbps

Yoghurt- 1 cup (reserve 3 tbsp for dum)

Salt- 2 tsp

 Marinate together for atleast 1 hour

Other Ingredients:

Basmati rice. -1/2 kg. [ cook with 2 tsp salt]

Bay leaf -1

Cinnamon -1 inch

Pepper corns- 10

Cloves- 5

Green Cardamom -5

Black jeera -1/2 tsp

Red chilly powder- 2 tsp,

Turmeric -1/2 tsp

Cumin/Jeera - 1 tsp

Water- a little

Tomato- 3. Blended

Brown onion- 1 cup (sliced and fried)

Potato 2

Boiled egg - 3

Method:

Fry onions till brown and crisp. Crush it in grinder when cooled.

Deep fry potatoe cubes in the same oil till brown.

Heat Ghee in a deep dish and add whole garam masalas (mentioned in the list). Saute for a few seconds till its aroma comes out. Add a little hot water( a few tbsps to avoid burning) ,turmeric and red chilli to it. 

Now add mutton and fry in high flame for about 5 minutes. Cook till it is half done.

Blend tomatoes and add to it.

Now add the crushed brown onions. Mix well to coat the mutton pieces nicely. Cook till mutton is completely cooked. Sprinkle garam masala powder to it. Add the fried potato cubes to it.Now the masala is ready. No need to add herbs of any kind.

Dum Process or Layering:

For this, layer the mutton gravy/masala at the bottom, followed by rice. Take some yogurt and add turmeric or yellow color(saffron) to it and sprinkle on top of the rice layer; here and there. Cover and keep in dum for 10-15 minutes. Serve hot! Don't mix biriyanis while serving. It should be served always as you see in the picture. You can serve with boiled eggs. Here, boiled eggs are deep fried which is entirely optional. Take care while frying and avoid frying if the egg is cracked somewhere; otherwise it may explode in oil.

Pasta spinach and meat sauce

'A cheesy and tangy pasta' - yes, that's the exact description  for this dish. Though cheese used depends entirely upon your choice, this is a healthy option. The taste of white sauce with spinach stand out in this. The minced meat sauce  gives it a tangy and spicy non-veg. touch . You can use non-minced meat (cubed in small pieces) for this dish too... or you may omit this one. The spinach and white sauce may itself give a complete taste.

Ingredients:

Penne pasta, cooked 400 gms
Spinach 250gms
Onion 45gms
Garlic 30gms
Cheddar cheese 35gms
Butter 25 gms



For white sauce:

Milk 300gms
Plain flour 30gms
Butter 30gms
Nutmeg 2 gms
Salt & Pepper to taste


For Meat Sauce:


Beef Mince 200gms
Chopped Onion 35gms
Chopped Garlic 15gms
Chopped celery 15 gms
Chopped tomato 65 gms
Tomato paste 25gms
Bay Leaf 1
Salt & Pepper to taste
Beef stock or water as required

Method:


White Sauce:

1.Heat a thick-bottomed pan and add butter.

2.When the butter melts, add flour. Keep stirring till the raw smell of the flour is gone. Ensure that the flour does not brown.

3.Now add milk gradually whisking continously so that lumps do not form. Cook on a simmer till the sauce begins to thicken. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg and keep aside.

4.In a thick bottomed frying pan add butter and saute onions and garlic till translucent. Now add spinach and cook for few minutes. Add white sauce and stir well. Correct seasoning, if required.

Meat Sauce:

1.In a thick bottomed pan, heat oil and saute onion, garlic, celery and bay leaf, until the onions are translucent.
2.Add minced beef and saute till the juices released dry up.

3.Now add tomatoes and tomato paste. Cook for a few minutes.

4.Add enough stock or water to allow the mince to cook. Check for seasoning and cook till it is almost dry.

5.To serve, in a deep serving dish, spoon pasta, meat sauce and stir fried spinach side by side. Top with cheese and gratinate in an oven for 10-15 mts. Serve hot

Spicy Kheema With Vegetables

What am I doing at this time of the day?? It's 3:19 am here -a silent night or a calm early morning- I can hear nothing else than people snoring at different volumes & types. I'm here at my mom's place at the capital (Abu Dhabi) and enjoying  the fullest with almost all the members of ma family except a few like ma bros and hubby. Should I miss them or be happy that i'm alongwith others?? I miss ma bro a lot now when just 2 days left for his birthday. He misses his Mom's food a lot and here I'm enjoying every bit of it.

This is something I adore the most among my Mom's cuisine.-a spicy kheema recipe which we can have both with chappathi or Kuboos. You can make it with a little gravy or dry as you wish. We made it a bit dry this time as we made dal alongwith it; otherwise we make it with a little more gravy to have it with kuboos.

 Ingredients:

Mutton/Beef/Chicken/Soya Mince (Kheema) 500gm
Cinnamon 1 piece
Cloves 3
Bay leaf 1
Onion- 5
Ginger- 1 1/2 "
Garlic paste 5
Green chilli 2
Tomato-3
Red Chilli powder 3tsp
Coriander leaves 1/2 tsp
Mixed Veg. of your choice
Pepper 1/2 tsp
Olive oil
Coriander leaves

Method:

1. Clean the mince and strain in a strainer.Chop the onions. Take a pressure cooker and heat some oil in it.Add whole masalas like cloves,cinnamon and bayleaf into it; then add the onions and saute till it turns translucent.

2. Add ginger-garlic paste and green chilli to it. Saute for a minute again. Add chopped tomatoes and all dry spices to it.

3. Mix the mince/kheema into this. Pour 1/4 cup water to it and then close the lid of the cooker. Cook for about 10 minutes after the first whistle or till done.

4.Boil the vegetables separately and add to it. You can use any type of vegetables. My mom used frozen mixed vegetables and potatoes this time. Dry up extra liquid in the dish till you get the exact consistency. Check the taste and add a tbsp of lime juice if needed.

5. Garnish with coriander leaves and drizzle some olive oil on top as we do for hummos.


A big Thank You to Santosh Bhangar who shared such lovely awards with me. She owns a lovely blog named Santosh's kitchen in which she shares her wonderful fingerlicking food recipes with us.

Mutton Biriyani (Kannur style)

Biriyani is an integral part of Indian cuisine and is savored in almost all parts of India . According to Wikipedia, there are about 49 varieties of biriyanis seen in India, of which those made from fish,quail,hare & deer are also included apart from the common mutton & chicken varieties. The method of preparation &  tastes of these are different depending upon the region and they (most of them) are named based on their regions too. Of them Hyderabadi Biriyani, Lucknowi Biriyani, Sindhi Biriyani and Kozhikode Biriyani are a few famous ones.

Talassery/Kannur biriyani has also found a prominent place among these. What differentiate a Talassery biriyani from others is that this is made using a small variety of rice named Kayama rice/Jeerakasala rice instead of Basmati rice. Before it was not available in the other parts of Kerala than Kannur. I still remember we used to take a whole big sack of this rice while visiting our friends in Tvm. We used to pack this to this part of the world (UAE) too. But nowadays this rice is easily available in supermarkets & thus made our part easier. Need not ve to get it all the way from India now. 

Fresh corianders are the one essential thing tha we can't avoid here. Years ago when huge amounts were not available at hand, they used to plant coriander seeds all over on wedding occasions and all..

Now, the recipe.. this is the basic one which is followed in our place in Kannur (Taliparamba). My mom makes it this way & so do I. 

 Ingredients: (for the masala)

Ghee 1 Tbsp

Oil 2 Tbsp

Onion 3 cups

Ginger Garlic paste 3 Tbsp

Tomatoes 1 and1/2 large

Green Chillies 10

Mutton 300-400gms

Salt

Pepper 1 tsp

Garama Masala 1 tsp

Curd 3 Tbsp

Preparation:

1.Marinate mutton in curd, ginger-garlic paste and salt for atleast an hour . Keep this marination in freezer for better & quicker results.

2.Heat oil & Ghee in a pan. Add onions and saute for a while  till the onions turn translucent. Add crushed green chillies to it. You can add chillies according to your spice level. I used bird chilli here and was enough spicy for me.

3.Now add the marinated mutton pieces into it along with the marinated gravy. Add tomatoes at this stage and some garam masala to it. Cook till it is done. Add 1 tsp of pepper to this.You can pressure cook the masala too.

4.Take care that not too much gravy is t left behind. If masala is too watery reduce it in high flame & if mutton is already cooked well, you can remove the mutton & then reduce the gravy. Check the picture how the masala looks just after opening the pressure cooker and then reduced to a thick gravy.

5.. You can add 1 tsp of Garam Masala, 1 Tbsp each coriander & mint leaves. The masala is done now.

Ingredients : (for the rice)

Ghee 1 1/2 Tbsp

Oil 3-5 Tbsp

Onion 1

Cashew a few (about 10 or more)

Raisins a few

Cardamom 3

Cloves 3

Cinnamon stick 1"

Rice 3 cups (preferably Jeearakasala/Kayama rice); u can use Basmati rice too

Lemon juice 3 Tbsp

Salt

Boiling water 4 1/2 cups

B.)Preparation:

1.Heat oil & ghee in a  deep bottomed non-stick pan & fry onions in it. These are the onions we use for garnishing at the end. So it should be dark browned just as in the picture. Always while deep frying onions, we should take them off  from the oil a little earlier as about 30% of frying is done after we took them off. This is applicable in case of snacks and definitely the onions. 

2.Once onion is fried, take them into a tissue paper. Now fry the cashews & then the raisins in the same oil. Remove them also once they are done.

3.Now add the whole spices (cloves,cardamom & cumin). Let them fry till you get a nice aroma from it (just for a few seconds)

4.The next step is to add rice into it & fry/roast them  until they are slightly browned; about 5-6 minutes in medium-low flame. You have to saute in between, but take care that the rice is not further broken into pieces. This is usually done so that the rice remains separated even after cooking. I think this is done only when using Jeerakasala/Kayama rice. Now add required amount of boiling water to it.  During the whole process, take care the oil is not left unattended in between frying onions or cashews or spices . Keep all these things ready by the side & do it all one by one. 

5.Add lemon juice & salt to it.

6.When the water & rice reaches the same level, close the lid and allow the rice to cook. Just turn the rice over once in between and then simmer in low heat till it is done.

For Dum (Layering):

Coriander leaves 1/4 cup

Mint Leaves 2 Tbsp

Garam Masala

Method:

Take a non-stick or deep bottomed pan for Dum process. This process is usually layering the rice & masala alternatively so that the flavor of masala is infused n the rice.The aroma is locked inside.  You can line the pan if it is not non-stick with Ghee. Now put some rice on the bottom and then the masala, a little garam masala and half of both the coriander & mint leaves metioned. Now again layer the rice and the remaining masala,garam masala and the leaves. Top with half of the fried onions,nuts and raisins.

Now prepare a dough with atta and lock the mouth of the pan with this dough and lid. Now this is the authentic technique used. Otherwise you can just keep a weight  or a big vessel filled with water over the lid. This is then kept on dum on very low flame. I used to keep a lid between the flame and the vessel so that the bottom of the rice is not burnt. Some use oven for the dum process. You have to keep it on dum for 15-20 mts . You can use rose water or saffron if you like the flavor while layering. Saffron is to be soaked in warm milk atleast 1/2 an hour before.

Garnish with fried onions ,nuts & raisins & serve hot with kachumber,raitas, achars,,,,,,.... 

*** Some like more masala & some others prefer less. While attempting for the first time, reserve some masala by the side and then put the remaining on Dum. You can later on mix with the rice or serve separately on the table if you feel that the masala is not enough.


***Remove cardamom,cloves and cinnamon from the rice while layering in Dum. Otherwise many won't like to bite them while having their rice.

Patlican (Aubergine)Kabab

I've been introduced to this recipe during ma last vacation to Turkey. Kabab which is spelled ther as 'Kebap' ,  is a famous dish over ther. They used to call Shawarmas as Kebap too; may be becos grilled chicken is used for that ....I donno....:))
Well ,eggplant or aubergines are also seen in most of their dishes. The first dish I had from ther was Patlican Kabab & we all jst luvd it.
The picture below is clicked from the restaurant; the meatball is not that visible cos of the huge size of the eggplants.

I made it for the first time now, so wasn't that perfect; but shall try again  to achieve perfection & ll update the pic too...bt still, it was yummy!!
Got this recipe from Yogurtland.com ... The flavor was fine; though not much spices used. But it was a bit dry for me...next time I'll use oil to brush on top  in between grilling.

Ingredients

• 500gr (1.1 lbs) ground mutton, medium fat
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 Tbs ground black pepper (reduce if you do not like spicy)
• 1 tsp pepper paste (can be found in local Turkish, Middle Eastern stores, or online)
• 1/2 onion (when chopped in small pieces, about 1/2 cups)
• about a quarter bunch of fresh parsley (when chopped, about 1/2 cups)
• 3 – 4 long japanese eggplants, cut in 1/2 inch width

Method

1. Chop the onion and the parsley fine, mix in all the ingredients. The more you knead the mix, the better it is. Take about a walnut size piece, make a ball around the skewer. Place a piece of eggplant. Alternate.
2. While preparing the other skewers, make sure to rest the ones that has meat & eggplants on a tray/baking dish so that the meatballs do not touch — this will help retain their shape. Similarly, try to cook them without having the meat and the eggplant touching the grill
3. As the skewers are cooked, you can put them in a big enough pot/baking dish with its lid on to help them get softer as the other skewers are still on the fire, cooking.

This recipe goes to Healing Food Event hosted by Siri & co-hosted by Seasonedndressed.blogspot.com