It's been a long time I didn't prepare anything special for my family ,for my daughter and in this way I was away from my blog, page and from all of you. Due to some family related responsibilities I was out of touch from all these. But , thank God, I am back to my normal routine life and at my most favourite place where I spend my "Me Time".
Last Sunday, I made one of our most favourite dishes,Kolkata Style Chicken Biriyani and going to share the recipe with all of you.
Biriyani is the exemplification of the Indian Cuisine and I must say that Kolkata is the wanderer of this special dish. As long as we were in Kolkata I never took any attempt to cook it at home as it was widely available in every nook and corner of the city. In the most famous restaurants, like Rahmania ,Shiraz if you take a spoonful of its mutton or chicken biriyani it almost melts in your mouth and even the most ordinary restaurants make it so well.
But here ,since last two and a half years, the food we miss extremely is the Biriyani. Even the most famous biriyani house in Mumbai cant bring the actual taste of the dish with which our taste buds have been accustomed.
Few months back, after my very successful attempt of making Hyderabadi Dum Biriyani, I acquired my confidence and now I make Biriyani at home whenever we want.
Here, the recipe I am going to depict is less spicy , easy to cook and obviously very delicious.
Ingredients:
- Chicken:500 gm (with bone, medium sized)
- Long Grain Basmati Rice:4 Cups
- Potatoes:4(Medium Sized, washed, peeled and cut into two halves)
- Eggs: 4 ( Hard Boiled)
- For marinating the Chicken:
- Mustard Oil:2-3 tbsp.
- Yoghurt:2 Cups
- Chilli Powder:1 tsp.
- Turmeric Powder:1 tsp.
- Salt:As per taste
- Ginger:1" (Paste)
- Garlic:8-10 Cloves(Paste)
- Onion:2 (finely chopped)
- Cinnamon Stick:1"
- Cloves:8
- Black Cardamoms:4
- Green Cardamoms:2
- Shah Jeera( Caraway Seeds):3/4 th tsp.
- Peppercorns:8-10
- Nutmeg:1/2 of a whole nutmeg
- Mace:4-5
- Dry Red Chilli(Optional)
- Few Other Important Ingredients:
- Onion: 2 Large (thin slice,for making barista)
- Saffron:2 Pinches
- Milk:1 cup
- Ghee:3-4 tbsp.
- Salt: As Per Taste:
- Water: As required
- Bay Leaves:1
- Cinnamon Stick:1"
- Cardamoms:3-4
- Star Anise:1
- White Oil:1-2 tsp.
Process:
- Marinate the chicken pieces with all the ingredients mentioned in the List 2. Keep it for 1 hr.
- Meanwhile boil the rice with enough water, bay leaves, 1" cinnamon sticks,1 tsp white oil, cardamoms and star anise (mentioned in the List 4). Now cook the rice till 60% done. Add a teaspoon of lemon juice while the rice is boiling. It will make the rice perfect white and the grains will be separated from each other.Drain the excess water and spread the rice in a flat plate . You may sprinkle one tsp. of more oil on the rice . It will help to keep the rice grains remain separated from one another.
- Soak the saffron on 1 cup of milk.
- Now dry roast all the biriyani masala mentioned in the List 3 . Let it cool and then grind it into a fine powder.
- Now heat one tsp of ghee in a pan and fry the sliced onion till the onion slices become crisp .For the time being keep it aside.
- Now add the marinated chicken to the pan and stir well. Cover and cook for 15-20 mins on low flame. Add little water if required. Add one spoonful of biriyani masala powder prepared earlier to the chicken and mix well. Don't forget to taste the seasoning. If required add little salt and sugar. Once the chicken is done keep it in a bowl along with the gravy.
- Mean while hard boiled the eggs and fry the peeled halves of potato and keep them aside.
- Now take a deep bottomed vessel or pressure cooker .Grease it well with enough ghee.
- At first make one layer of rice in the vessel and then make a layer of 2-3 pieces of chicken and 2 pieces of potatoes . Sprinkle 1/4 th tsp of biriyani masala ,little salt (sprinkle evenly), saffron milk and fried onions.
- Now make consecutive layers of chicken, potato and rice till your ingredients come to an end. But don't forget that the top layer must be of rice . Heat the rest of the ghee and pour it on the top layer.
- Now seal the mouth of the vessel with a tight lid or you may put heavy weight on the lid. You may seal the mouth of the vessel with wheat flour dough. But if you are using pressure cooker then close the lid with out whistle.
- Cook this on a very low heat for 10 -15 mins.
- Now your Kolkata Style chicken biriyani is ready,while serving don't forget to add the hard boiled eggs also.
- Enjoy the biriyani with salad /raita or any other chicken mutton preparations of your choice.
Enjoy Your Food....!
Poppy Seeds / Posto is considered to be one of the most essential spices in a Bengali Kitchen. Well, in that case for me, it is something which helps me to survive in each and every situation. Those days, when I feel very energetic to cook something very special I decide to prepare at least one dish with "Posto" and the other days when I simply don't remain in the mood of cooking at all I again look for "Posto". Yes, we the bong people even love to eat the raw pappy seed paste with steaming hot rice. I don't know whether my Non Bengali friends have ever tried this or not but sometime I must share how I like to eat a lavish lunch or dinner with rice and "Posto Bata" (poppy seed paste) .
Anyway, today I am going to share a simple poppy seed recipe where potato and pointed gourd are cooked in the gravy of poppy seed paste. Though I am not a big fan of pointed gourd but whenever anything cooked with poppy seed paste, I never say a "no".
Here is the process of making Alu Potol Posto:
Ingredients:
- Potato:2 (Medium, diced)
- Pointed Gourd: 4-6 (Peeled and diced)
- Poppy Seed Paste: 4 tbsp.
- Mustard Oil: 2-3 tbsp.
- Turmeric Powder:1 tsp.
- Chilli Powder:1/2 tsp.( Adjust according to your taste)
- Green Chilli: 2
- Salt: As per taste
- Water: 1 Cup.
Process:
- First peel off the skin of the Potol and snip off both the ends.
- Cut each one half lengthwise.
- Peel off the potatoes and cut in medium wedges.
- Heat mustard oil in a kadhai or deep bottomed vessel. Here I want to mention that for cooking something with the poppy seed paste mustard oil is the must for me. But those,who cant eat mustard oil due to its heady pungent taste may use any other oil also.
- When the oil becomes smoky and very hot add the Potato wedges and the pointed gourd.
- Sprinkle salt and turmeric powder and on medium flame slightly fry them for few minutes. But don't fry them too much.
- Now add the poppy seed paste, chilli powder and mix the paste with the potato and the pointed gourd.
- Stir it for another 4-5 minutes on medium to low flame.
- Then add water,give a nice stir and cover it.
- Cook until the potato and pointed gourd pieces become soft or boil.
- Uncover and increase the flame ,taste the seasoning, add salt if needed and adjust the gravy increasing the flame slightly.
- Add the green chilli ( you may add the green chilli at first also) and sprinkle one teaspoon of mustard oil on the top of the curry.
- Turn off the flame and serve with daal (yellow or red lentil) and steaming hot rice.
Enjoy Your Food..!!
Chicken Cutlets ,specially those which are made with minced chicken (chicken keema), reminds me of my college canteen, which was truly famous for the chicken cutlets and egg devils. During our college days, at the leisure periods, very often, we used to go to the canteen either for the cutlet or for the devil. I should mention that with this loads of sweet memories are coming to my mind. All the Lovely College memories, the PJ's, teasing friends with their crushes, some fights and making new friends, the gossiping, chatting, class bunking and loads and loads of other beautiful memories which are stored in my mind like a treasure.
Anyway, after a long time, rather after many years to recapitulate those sweet memories , I prepared this at home and tried to make a beautiful evening with my beloved ones.
This time I made it in such a way that the youngest and the little member of your family could easily enjoy it .
Here is the process of making Chicken Cutlet.
Ingredients:
- Minced Chicken:250gm.
- Onion:2 Medium (chopped)
- Garlic: 7-8 cloves (Finely Chopped)
- Ginger: 1" (Chopped finely or grated)
- Bell Peppers: Red, Yellow and Green, 1/2 cup chopped.
- Lemon Juice/Vinegar :2 tbsp.
- Turmeric Powder:1/2 tsp.
- Chilli Powder:1 tsp. (adjust according to your taste)
- Salt: As per taste
- Garam Masala Powder:1/2 tsp.
- Oil: 2 tbsp. (for marinate and cook chicken) and 1/2 cup for deep frying
- Water(optional): 2 tbsp. or less
- Bread Crumbs:1 cup
- Eggs:2 ( to bind the chicken) + 1 .
Process:
- Wash the minced chicken properly and make sure to drain all the water from it.
- Marinate the chicken with lime juice (or vinegar) , salt, turmeric powder, chilli powder, garam masala powder ,little oil and all the chopped ingredients like chopped onion, ginger, garlic and bell peppers and keep it for half an hour to 1 hour.
- Now heat two tablespoon of oil in a pan and add the marinated chicken . On a low to medium flame cook the chicken until the oil comes out from the sides and the chicken becomes tender. At this time you may sprinkle little water on it and cook it covered for another few minutes.But be careful so that the minced chicken could not be over fried.
- Turn the gas off and let it cool for sometimes.
- Then mix the cooked minced chicken with 2 beaten eggs and 2-3 table spoon of bread crumbs to bind the chicken tightly.
- Now make oval or rectangular shaped cutlets from the chicken .Using your palms give them a flat shape.
- Then beat an another egg with a pinch of salt in a bowl and spread the rest of the bread crumbs in a flat plate.
- Dip each of the cutlet into the beaten egg and coat them with the bread crumbs very well.
- Now heat enough oil in a pan and then deep fry the bread coated cutlet until crisp.
- Soak the excess oil from the fried cutlets using a kitchen towel or tissue paper.
- Serve them with your favourite sauce and salad.
Enjoy Your Food...!
Dak Bungalow Chicken Curry was very famous and popular during the period of the British rule in India. Dak Bungalow is an inn or house for the travellers along a dak-route. Dak means "mail" in hindi. The British Officers used Dak Bungalow to collect taxes.
Duk Bungalow was equipped with a kitchen, bath with hammam ,bedroom. Its kitchen had a furnace(bhatti) made of clay to burn wood. Bhatti allowed the Khansama ( A male servant who cooks and often is also responsible for taking care of the house and organising other servants) to cook while standing up.
While the British Officers visited these dak bungalows the khansama made various non veg foods for them. Usually , in the morning , fresh water fish from local pond was fried in a skillet and served with hard boiled eggs. Otherwise chicken was butchered. The chicken curry was made according to local practice known to the khansama. With time the chicken curry became very famous and known as Dak Bungalow Chicken Curry.
It was a thick onion-ginger-garlic-tomato based gravy which was made with chicken on bone, whole eggs and potato with garam masala.
But to be very honest, I didn't have any idea of the recipe before I saw my dearest friend and sister Sanchita's post. Though I collected all the informations about this dish from here and there but the entire recipe I got from her only. I did some minimum variations of her recipe but the result was absolutely heavenly.
Ingredients:
- Chicken:750-800 gm.
- Potato:2 Large ( large dice)
- Egg: 3 ( Hard Boiled)
- Whole Garam Masala: Cinnamon Stick(1), Cloves(3-4), Green Cardamoms(3-4).
- Bay Leaves:2
- Onion: 4+1 (Medium size, 4 for making normal paste with ginger and garlic and 1 for making paste separately after frying)
- Ginger: 11/2"
- Garlic:7-8 cloves
- Turmeric Powder:2 tsp.
- Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder:2 tsp.
- Cumin Powder:1 tbsp.
- Coriander Powder:1 tbsp.
- Green Chilli: 2 (chopped or paste),(Optional)
- Tomato:2 medium sized (paste or finely chopped)
- Sugar:1 tsp.
- Salt: As per taste
- Garam Masala Powder: 1 tbsp.
- Unsweetened Yoghurt: 1/2 Cup (whisked in 2 tbsp. of water)
- Oil:5-6 tbsp.(preferably mustard oil, in absence you may use vegetable or sunflower oil.
- Ghee (Clarified Butter): 1 tbsp.
- Warm Water: 1/2 cup(optional)
Process:
- At first peel and dice the potatoes. Fry them until golden yellow in color with salt , turmeric powder and little oil.
- Hard boil the eggs. Shell them and fry until yellow with salt, turmeric powder and little oil.
- Now make a smooth paste with 4 onions, ginger and garlic and keep them aside.
- Then finely slice the remaining one onion and fry them with little oil until brown. Make an another paste of the fried onions.
- Now wash the chicken properly and mix it with half of the onion-ginger-garlic paste , salt , turmeric powder , 2 tbsp. of yoghurt, 2 tbsp. of oil and little garam masala powder and marinate it for atleast 1 hour.
- Now heat the remaining oil in a deep bottomed vessel or kadhai.
- Add the whole garam masala first. When nice aroma comes out add the sugar and fry it until brown.
- Add the rest of the onion-ginger-garlic paste and fry it for 3-4 minutes.
- Meanwhile make a smooth paste of the coriander, cumin and red chilli powder and the turmeric powder with 2 tbsp. of water.
- Add this spice paste into the kadhai now and stir .Cook until the oil comes out from the sides.
- Then add the chopped tomato and salt. Cook until the tomato become mushy and oil starts to release from sides.
- Now beat the yoghurt properly and add to the kadhai.
- Now add the marinated chicken ,cover the kadhai and cook it on a medium flame.
- Cook it atleast for 10 minutes and then uncover it. This time add the fried onion paste.
- Mix well and add the fried potato.
- Usually you don't need to add water as the yoghurt itself contains water and helps to cook the chicken and potato but still I added 1/2 cup of warm water at this time to make it little fast.
- Cover it again and cook until the chicken and the potatoes are done.
- Uncover and add the hard boiled eggs and check the seasoning. If required add little salt or sugar.
- Cook it for another few minutes until the gravy becomes thick .
- Turn off the flame and fry the garam masala with the ghee in a separate pan and pour it into the curry.
- No doubt it's a very delicious curry which is usually served with steaming hot rice, naan, paratha, luchi or roti.
Enjoy Your Food...!
Before I start to write the recipe I have a question to my those friends who have a toddler or a little pre school goer at home. How do you deal with them while feeding? uffff...sometimes I just become tired and exhausted with my 4 year old. In this world she loves only few foods with which I have strong objections. She loves pasta, noodles, pizza, burgers and all the fried stuffs. OMG..! Sometimes I just fail to control her. Therefore I have made some rules at my home just because of her health . I only give her such type foods once or twice in a week. But honestly,on that particular day, I really love to see her gleeful face.
This week, I thought of making Chicken Arrabiata Pasta which she loves very much specially in Pizza Hut. I took a chance to make it at home this time. To be frank, it was not a big deal and it came out wonderful .
Here comes the recipe:
Ingredients:
- Pasta (Penne works Best):250 gm
- Olive Oil:2-3 tsp.
- Boneless Chicken:200 gm.(chopped into bite size pieces)
- Onion:1 Medium (finely chopped)
- Garlic:4-5 cloves (Finely diced)
- Tomatoes:5 (chopped)
- Tomato Puree:1 tbsp.
- Chilli Flakes: A good pinch
- Chilli:1 (deseeded and chopped) (optional,I didn't use)
- Fresh Basil Leaves: Few
- Black Pepper: A Pinch
For the Béchamel Sauce:
- Cold Milk:1 Cup
- Plain Flour:2 tbsp.
- Parmesan Cheese: 2 tbsp. Grated.
- Salted Butter:2 tbsp.
Process:
- How to make the Béchamel Sauce:
- First melt the butter in a pan and stir in the flour. When it's done it should be turned into light or medium brown color.
- Slowly add the milk and whisk constantly. The mixture should thicken.
- When it becomes ready, take off the heat
- Add the Parmesan cheese and stir continuously.
Ready to Bake
After Baking
- At first boil the pasta (penne) according to the instruction written on the back side of the packet. Generally pasta should be cooked with enough water and little salt with in 10 minutes.
- Strain the excess water and wash them under the running tap water and sprinkle little oil on the boiled pasta. It helps to keep the pasta non sticky and separated from each other.
- In a frying pan, heat the olive oil and add the garlic and chilli flakes (and fresh chilli if using).
- Add the chicken and when the chicken pieces turns into brown add the onion.
- When almost cooked add the tomatoes and tomato puree and simmer until thickened.
- Add the basil at the last moment and season with black pepper to taste.
- Mix the chicken and tomato sauce with the pasta and place in an ovenproof bowl.
- Pour the béchamel sauce over the top and cook at around 180c until the béchamel sauce is golden and crispy.
- When done, take it out of the oven mix the golden béchamel with all the pasta and serve.
Enjoy Your Food..!
Prawns.....Coconut ....Mustard seeds....!! Aren't these words bringing water in your mouth? Awwwww ! My heart breaths music with these words... hahahaha... ! Joking apart, today I am going to share a beautiful ,easy ,simple prawn recipe which is delectably good and can be prepared with in no time almost. This time I made this in the microwave oven. In absence you may prepare it in pressure cooker also.
Here is the recipe:
Ingredients:
- Prawns:250 gm.
- Mustard Seed Paste:4 tbsp.
- Yoghurt:2 tbsp.
- Mustard Oil:4-5 tbsp.
- Coconut Milk/Coconut Cream/Scrapped Coconut(either one): 1/2 Cup
- Salt: As per taste
- Turmeric Powder:1/2 tsp.
- Green Chilli:2 (slit from middle)
Process:
- Clean and devein the prawns and mix it with all the ingredients in a microwave safe bowl and marinate it for just 10-15 minutes.
- On full power heat it covered (I used a borosil microwave cookware with lid) on the microwave oven just for 8-10 minutes.
- Take it out from the microwave and check whether the prawns are done or not. If needed heat it for another 2-3 minutes only but not more than that. Excess heating may turn the prawns very hard.
- Serve hot with steaming hot rice.
- It tastes heavenly....!
Enjoy Your Food..!
