Enjoy these shots!
Monday, December 28, 2009
Apartment Therapy ~ Our House Plants
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Chef @ Home ~ Butter Chicken (मखनी मुर्ग)
500 gms chicken (I used drumsticks for this, but you can use the thigh portions or simply boneless chicken)
1 medium onion made into paste
½ cup poppy seeds/ khus khus/ posto ground to a fine paste (soak the poppy seeds in water before grinding)
½ cashews ground to a fine paste (its best to grind the poppy seeds and cashews together in a blender)
1 large tomato pureed
½ inch ginger julienned for the garnish
4-5 green chilies sliced for the garnish
10-12 cashews chopped broken into pieces
10 raisins
2 tsp Kasturi Methi (I prefer the MDH brand)
2 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
Few drops of red food color
Butter to cook
Sugar
Salt
Sauté the chicken pieces in butter till you get a nice golden color on them. Now in the same pan, melt some more butter, do not let it heat up and smoke, butter burns easily. Add the onion paste and fry till golden brown. Add the ginger-garlic paste and keep stirring. Add the cashew-poppy seed paste and fry again. At this point in time, we can add some moisture into the mixture by adding the fresh tomato puree. Cover and cook this for 5 minutes, add all the dry spices like red chili powder, cumin, and coriander. Add some butter if you need along with the chopped cashews and raisins.
Add the chicken and fold all the spices nicely into it. Keep covered and on low heat to cook the chicken. Add the red food color and mix again. You will see the juices coming out of the chicken and spices. Add salt and sugar. Adjust the taste while adding the kasturi methi. Slowly crush the kasturi methi between the palms of your hand and add them to the simmering chicken.
Garnish the Butter Chicken with julienned ginger and sliced green chilies, and a little blob of butter. Serve hot with rotis or naan!
P.S. Instead of sautéing the chicken, you can also “tandoor” the chicken pieces. The Butter Chicken tastes the best when you use Amul Butter for cooking. I don’t usually add cream to my Butter Chicken, but what’s stopping you!
P.P.S. This is my Mum’s recipe, and maybe a little different from all the Butter Chicken recipes you know, especially because I am adding poppy seeds here. But try it, it tastes amazing. The key is to fry the wet ingredients really well; else the rawness of it all hits you when you eat.
1 medium onion made into paste
½ cup poppy seeds/ khus khus/ posto ground to a fine paste (soak the poppy seeds in water before grinding)
½ cashews ground to a fine paste (its best to grind the poppy seeds and cashews together in a blender)
1 large tomato pureed
½ inch ginger julienned for the garnish
4-5 green chilies sliced for the garnish
10-12 cashews chopped broken into pieces
10 raisins
2 tsp Kasturi Methi (I prefer the MDH brand)
2 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
Few drops of red food color
Butter to cook
Sugar
Salt
Sauté the chicken pieces in butter till you get a nice golden color on them. Now in the same pan, melt some more butter, do not let it heat up and smoke, butter burns easily. Add the onion paste and fry till golden brown. Add the ginger-garlic paste and keep stirring. Add the cashew-poppy seed paste and fry again. At this point in time, we can add some moisture into the mixture by adding the fresh tomato puree. Cover and cook this for 5 minutes, add all the dry spices like red chili powder, cumin, and coriander. Add some butter if you need along with the chopped cashews and raisins.
Add the chicken and fold all the spices nicely into it. Keep covered and on low heat to cook the chicken. Add the red food color and mix again. You will see the juices coming out of the chicken and spices. Add salt and sugar. Adjust the taste while adding the kasturi methi. Slowly crush the kasturi methi between the palms of your hand and add them to the simmering chicken.
Garnish the Butter Chicken with julienned ginger and sliced green chilies, and a little blob of butter. Serve hot with rotis or naan!
P.S. Instead of sautéing the chicken, you can also “tandoor” the chicken pieces. The Butter Chicken tastes the best when you use Amul Butter for cooking. I don’t usually add cream to my Butter Chicken, but what’s stopping you!
P.P.S. This is my Mum’s recipe, and maybe a little different from all the Butter Chicken recipes you know, especially because I am adding poppy seeds here. But try it, it tastes amazing. The key is to fry the wet ingredients really well; else the rawness of it all hits you when you eat.
Chef @ Home ~ Gosht Biryani (Basu Style)
This is a Basu household specialty. Baba (my father-in-law) first learnt it in Abu Dhabi from a Pakistani colleague’s wife. My husband learnt it from his dad and now emulates it spice by spice, among other things like the entire process of marinating the meat overnight, all the authentic ingredients like saffron, mace, et al.
Without any biases, I can say that Baba’s biryani is one of the best I have ever had. Hubby’s probably comes third on my list, just after my Mum’s!
I am posting the recipe and process to make this easy Kachcha biryani. It’s really simple, but it’s all about timing!
If you are in Delhi (South), I recommend the meat from the mutton shop in Malviya Nagar Market. They have the most amazing, succulent mutton! We usually use New Zealand Spring lamb (boneless) which we get easily in the supermarkets.
Since I have good Biryani Karma, and had this same biryani both in India and here, I just know that the mutton you use does all the magic- I am talking about the mutton with bones, which release all the real juices! The mutton (goat meat) from India makes it the most delectable and rich in taste, authentic biryani! A lamb biryani is just a tad second on the flavor barometer! But like they say – When in Rome, Make Biryani @ Home!
The ratio for this recipe is 1:2 of Rice: Mutton!
Here is the recipe for the Mutton Biryani:
500 gms rice Indian basmati
1 kg lamb or goat meat
Ingredients for the meat marinade:
• Yogurt 300 to 400 grams
• Chili paste from 5 to 6 green chilies
• Garlic paste from 6 to 7 cloves
• Ginger paste from 2 inches long ginger
• Mace crushed or powder half teaspoon
• One and half teaspoon of salt
Ingredients for making rice:
• Shah jeera 2 or 3 teaspoon (black cumin seeds)
• Cinnamon 3 to 4 sticks
• Cardamom 6 to 7 pieces
• Ghee 1 tablespoon
• Bay leaves 2
• One full tablespoon of salt
Ingredients for final mixing of rice and meat:
• Dissolve half teaspoon of saffron in 3 tablespoons of warm water in a cup or glass, keep covered
• Separated coriander leaves and mint leaves 3 tablespoons
Ingredients for preparing the meat:
• 2-3 medium size onions chopped
• Enough vegetable oil (5 to 6 table-spoon) to fry onion
• One tablespoon of ghee to add flavor
Preparation:
• Marinade the meat after mixing all the listed ingredients in a deep pan for 2 to 3 hours
• In a thick bottom pan, fry chopped onions in oil and ghee after heating. When chopped onions become glossy / brown pour marinated meat, stir occasionally and cook till meat is done. While cooking add additional salt (one & half teaspoon). Cover with the lid to reduce cooking time. Remove lid only while stirring and cook on slow fire. Also ensure that thick gravy about one to one & half cup remains after the meat is done
• Heat adequate water (for half kg rice) in a separate vessel, pour all the listed ingredients for rice and pour clean rice after water starts boiling. When the rice is cooked (inside rice will be little hard, means little under cooked), drain water and keep the prepared rice aside
• Spread coriander / mint leaves over the cooked meat and then pour and spread cooked rice over the meat uniformly. Sprinkle the dissolved saffron over the rice uniformly
• Cover the vessel with a lid and heat on real slow flame for 2 minutes. Turn off the fire and biryani is ready to serve.
WARNING: The following pictures may lead to sharp rise in appetite.
Without any biases, I can say that Baba’s biryani is one of the best I have ever had. Hubby’s probably comes third on my list, just after my Mum’s!
I am posting the recipe and process to make this easy Kachcha biryani. It’s really simple, but it’s all about timing!
If you are in Delhi (South), I recommend the meat from the mutton shop in Malviya Nagar Market. They have the most amazing, succulent mutton! We usually use New Zealand Spring lamb (boneless) which we get easily in the supermarkets.
Since I have good Biryani Karma, and had this same biryani both in India and here, I just know that the mutton you use does all the magic- I am talking about the mutton with bones, which release all the real juices! The mutton (goat meat) from India makes it the most delectable and rich in taste, authentic biryani! A lamb biryani is just a tad second on the flavor barometer! But like they say – When in Rome, Make Biryani @ Home!
The ratio for this recipe is 1:2 of Rice: Mutton!
Here is the recipe for the Mutton Biryani:
500 gms rice Indian basmati
1 kg lamb or goat meat
Ingredients for the meat marinade:
• Yogurt 300 to 400 grams
• Chili paste from 5 to 6 green chilies
• Garlic paste from 6 to 7 cloves
• Ginger paste from 2 inches long ginger
• Mace crushed or powder half teaspoon
• One and half teaspoon of salt
Ingredients for making rice:
• Shah jeera 2 or 3 teaspoon (black cumin seeds)
• Cinnamon 3 to 4 sticks
• Cardamom 6 to 7 pieces
• Ghee 1 tablespoon
• Bay leaves 2
• One full tablespoon of salt
Ingredients for final mixing of rice and meat:
• Dissolve half teaspoon of saffron in 3 tablespoons of warm water in a cup or glass, keep covered
• Separated coriander leaves and mint leaves 3 tablespoons
Ingredients for preparing the meat:
• 2-3 medium size onions chopped
• Enough vegetable oil (5 to 6 table-spoon) to fry onion
• One tablespoon of ghee to add flavor
Preparation:
• Marinade the meat after mixing all the listed ingredients in a deep pan for 2 to 3 hours
• In a thick bottom pan, fry chopped onions in oil and ghee after heating. When chopped onions become glossy / brown pour marinated meat, stir occasionally and cook till meat is done. While cooking add additional salt (one & half teaspoon). Cover with the lid to reduce cooking time. Remove lid only while stirring and cook on slow fire. Also ensure that thick gravy about one to one & half cup remains after the meat is done
• Heat adequate water (for half kg rice) in a separate vessel, pour all the listed ingredients for rice and pour clean rice after water starts boiling. When the rice is cooked (inside rice will be little hard, means little under cooked), drain water and keep the prepared rice aside
• Spread coriander / mint leaves over the cooked meat and then pour and spread cooked rice over the meat uniformly. Sprinkle the dissolved saffron over the rice uniformly
• Cover the vessel with a lid and heat on real slow flame for 2 minutes. Turn off the fire and biryani is ready to serve.
WARNING: The following pictures may lead to sharp rise in appetite.
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