Mutter Biryani

Ingredients :

• Basmati rice: 3 cups
• Fresh Methi leaves (Fenugreek leaves): 1 cup ( from 1 medium bunch), washed and cleaned.
• Soya chunks: 1 cup
• Green peas: 1 cup ( I used frozen)
• Ghee: 2 tbsp
• Coconut oil: 2 tbsp
• Clove: 3-4 nos
• Cinnamon: 2 inch stick
• Bay leaf: 1 big
• Cardamom pods: 3-4
• Cashewnut halves: 1 tbsp
• Onion: 1 large,chopped lengthwise.
• Ginger-garlic paste: 1 tbsp
• Green chillies: 4-6( depending on your spice level),chopped fine
• Turmeric powder: 1 tsp
• Garam masala powder: 1 tsp
• Tomato: 1 medium, chopped
• Salt : to taste
• Sugar: 1/2 tsp
• Coriander leaves: 1 tbsp chopped fine ( for garnishing)
• Hot Water: 2 cups + 6 cups

Method:

• Rinse the basmati rice thoroughly until all the starch is removed. Soak basmati rice in water for 30 mins. Drain the water and let it dry for 20-30 minutes.
• Soak the soy chunks for 15 mins in 2 cups hot water with 1/8 th spoon salt added to it. Squeeze the soya chunks out of the water and keep aside.
• Heat oil/ ghee mixture in a kadai/ sauté pan/ pressure cooker. Add the cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaves, cashew halves and the onions. Sauté until the onions turn transparent.
• Add ginger-garlic paste, chopped green chillies and sauté for few seconds.
• Now add the turmeric powder and the chopped tomatoes. Saute until the tomatoes wilt.Add in the soy chunks.Add the methi leaves and cook for 3-4 minutes.
• Add in the garam masala powder.
• Add the drained rice and sauté for 2-4 minutes.
• Add in the hot water, salt, sugar, green peas and bring it to a boil.
• Cover, reduce the flame to low and cook for 15 minutes. If you are using a pressure cooker/ pan, do not use the whistle/ weight.
• When done, fluff with a fork/ spoon.
• Garnish with freshly chopped cilantro leaves. 
• Serve hot with a raita/salad of your choice or by itself.

Pav Bhaji - or Bun Bhaji ;)

Ingredients

For bhaji

• Cauliflower 1/2
• Cabbage 1/2
• Potato 1
• Onion 1
• Brinjals 2
• Lauki 1 full
• Pumpkin or butternut squash 1/4
• Carrot 1
• Beetroot 3

For gravy :

• Garlic  : 1 full pod chopped
• Onion 4 chopped
• Tomatoes  3 pureed
• 3/4 - 1 tsp haldi
• 2-3 tsp chilly powder
• 3 tbsp Everest powder

For garnishing

• Onion
• Tomato
• Chopped dhania
• Apple
• Pomegranate
• Lemon

Method

• Clean wash and chop all the vegetables roughly.One onion too, for boiling.
• Put all the vegetables in the cooker, with one glass water, to boil. Let 2-3 pressures off on high, and then 10-15 minutes on sim.
• Once cooker is open grind it to fine bhaji using hand blender.
• Put 4 tbsp oil to heat and add garlic sauté for couple of minutes on medium flame.
• After a couple of minutes, add onions. Mix and sauté for a minute on high, and then medium flame.
• While onions are sautéing, put peas in a microwave safe bowl with half glass water and 1/4 tsp salt.I cooked them for 12 minutes at power level 4.
• Onions are now brown. Oil is bubbling in the gaps. That’s the sign onions are cooked
• Add 4-5 tbsp pav bhaji masala. I swear by Everest, but any good brand can do, haldi, chilli powder,  Mix and cook for 2-3 minutes.
• Mix tomato puree and you'll see the change in onions immediately. First as they melt, water will get released. Mix well.Cook on high. Then in a couple of minutes, you'll see jaali. Keep stirring as you cook on medium high flame. Soon all the moisture will evaporate. And oil will separate, once again.
• Add semi pureed vegetables and salt to taste.
• While the bhaji is cooking, get the garnishes ready.
• Peel, core and chop the apple to fine cubes. Squeeze some lemon juice over the pieces and give a light toss so that they don't discolour. Add For the garnish, I like hand chopped onions for uniform cubes. Also they don't release water.
• The peas were done and sitting in the microwave.Get them out. Do check, sometimes the top layer is slightly undone, turn them over and give a couple of minutes more.
• Taste bhaji, adjust seasoning if needed. Give it a boil, cover and keep it on sim, so you get piping hot bhaji when you serve.
• Transfer to a serving bowl and arrange the peas on it. You may mix peas in the bhaji itself, but they'll lose the bright green colour.
• Onions, tomatoes, dhania, apple, anar and lemon juice, with the spicy bhaji, its an amazing combination! And of course, a dollop of butter.
• Serve with buttered pav or bun.

Gajar ka Halwa

My method is my Mom’s method, that of slow cooked goodness. Dad loves to eat meetha.. so this one for my papa :)

Ingredients ( This recipe serves 8)

• 1 ½ kilos of red carrots, washed, peeled and grated
• 3 kilos of full-fat milk
• ½ cup of desi ghee (clarified butter)
• 1 cup of granulated sugar
• 2 tsp powdered cardamom
• ¼ cup cashews chopped coarse to garnish

Method

• Bring the milk to boil in a heavy bottomed pan/kadai.
• Boil for 15-20 minutes and then add the grated carrot.
• Keep cooking till the milk thickens and the consistency is halwa/fudge like. Almost all the milk evaporates. Keep stirring to avoid burning.
• Add the ghee and sugar and cook stirring for another 10 minutes.
• Add the powdered cardamom.
• Take off the heat.
• Serve topped with cashews (or any other nuts of your choice)

Punjabi Style Kathal

Ingredients

• 500 gm Kathal or Jackfruit
• 3 tbsp Vegetable Oil
• 2 large onions
• 3 tomatoes
• Green chilies, to taste
• 1/2 tbsp Ginger Garlic paste
• 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
• Red Chili powder, to taste
• 1 tsp Turmeric Powder
• Salt, to taste
• 1 tsp Coriander powder
• 1 tsp Garam masala

Instructions

• Apply Mustard Oil on your palms and even the knife you are going to use for cutting the jackfruit.
• Now you can easily remove the tough skin and chop the fibrous inside of the fruit into small pieces. Remember inside the fibrous pulp you will find big sized hidden seeds. If the fruit is still baby, which means it has been plucked early the seeds will be softer and can be cooked. But if you cannot cut them its better to remove them.
• Roughly chop some tomatoes and put them in a blender to make a puree. Keep aside.
• Slice some onions in length. The caramelized onions enhance the overall flavour of this dish. So use it abundantly. Also finely chop some green chilies. Set aside.
• In a wok pour some oil.
• Add chopped jackfruit pieces and deep fry them till they start attaining golden colour.
• Remove them on the paper towel to absorb extra oil.
• In the same wok add a little extra oil and add cumin seeds and on crackling add sliced onions.
• Add chopped green chilies and cook till the onions have caramelized.
• Add tomato puree and cook for couple of minutes.
• Add fried jackfruit.
• Add turmeric powder, red chili powder and salt.
• Add ginger garlic paste.
• Add coriander powder.and combine everything together.
• Cover the wok with a lid and cook on low flame till all the liquid is absorbed.
• Sprinkle some Garam Masala and serve with Rotis

Dubki Mutton

And I am back after a month of my laptop being crashed... but it's all fine now...

so today updating all what I made last month... Missed taking pics of lot of recipes as I was aware that no updation will be there. But jitna pics I took will update the same

Ingredients

• 750 gms mutton, wash and drain (mix cuts, both bone in and bone less, clean, but leave some fat on)
• 2 large onions, diced
• 1 big tomato, peeled and chopped (I freeze tomatoes, so the peel comes off easily)
• 2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
• 2-3 dry red chilies
• 1 tsp haldi powder
• 1 ½ tsp dhania powder
• 2 tsp chilly powder (the kind that gives good colour but not spicy)
• Whole spices as per your choice and taste (nothing hard and fast)
• I used
• 2 big Elaichi
• 4-5 Green elaichi
• 4-5 cloves
• 10-12 peppercorns
• 2” cinnamon stick
• 2 tbsp curd, beaten
• 1 tbsp ghee/oil
• Salt to taste
• Chopped dhania for garnishing

METHOD

• Heat oil in a cooker, add whole spices, after half a minute slide mutton pieces in carefully. Stir and cook on high flame.
• Mutton will start releasing juices. Cook till the moisture evaporates and ghee/oil starts oozing out (do stir often).
• Add dry red chilies and ginger garlic paste. Mix well and cook for 2-3 minutes on high flame.
• Now fold in onions and cook till onions become soft (about 4 minute). Stir often.
• Add curd, haldi, dhania powder and salt. Mix thoroughly and sauté for 3-5 minutes (again oil will ooze out, onion pieces will still be seen, but not to worry).
• Add 2 c water. Bring to a boil. Close cooker.
• Cook till 5-7 pressure releases. Cook on sim for 5 minutes and switch off the gas.
• Open the cooker when it cools on its own. (At this stage the mutton will be about 70 % cooked, rest will be done in second stage)
• Switch on the gas.
• Add tomatoes and red chilly powder. Mix well and cook for a couple of minutes.
• Add water as per the consistency you want (I added 5 -6 cups).
• Taste, adjust seasoning.
• Close cooker and cook on high flame for another 3-4 pressure releases.
• Switch off the gas.
• On cooling, transfer to a serving bowl.
• Garnish with chopped dhania.
• Best eaten with roti broken into pieces and dunked in the thin gravy, or with plain/matar chawal.

Notes:

The recipe sounds and is a bit lengthy, but you need not attend to it constantly. You can do other things in between as long as you remember to come and maro a chammach once in a while smile emoticon

What I did different here was that onions were added later. No need to brown them, gale, nahi gale, no problem at all. So becomes very easy for people who complain that onions keep floating in their gravies.

Chilly powder has to be added in the second phase to give it this bright colour.