Smoked Chicken Biryani

Ingredients:

1. Chicken 1-1/2 kg
2. Rice 3-31/2 cup
3. Yogurt 1 to 1 and 1/2 cup
4. Ginger Garlic Paste 2 tbsp
5. Red Chilli Powder 1 tbsp
6. Coriander Powder 1 -1/2 tbsp
7. Nutmeg+Mace+Cardamom powder 1 tsp
8. Lemon Juice 2 tbsp
9. Sugar 2 tbsp
10. Onions 4-5(1 raw onion finely chopped+ 3 deep fried biryani onions)
11. Mint Leaves 1/2 cup
12. Green Chillies 6-8
13. Ghee for frying 1/2 cup
14. Kewda Water 1 tbsp
15. Yellow Colour 1/2 tsp
16. Milk 1/2 cup
17. Ginger Juliennes 1/4 cup
18. Tomatoes cut in roundels 2-3
19. Whole Garam masala
20. Shah Zeera
21. Charcoal 2-3 pieces

Whole Garam masala consists of:
(1-2 bay leaves, 2 black cardamoms, 4-5 green cardamoms, 10-12 cloves, 10 black pepper,1 tbsp cumin seeds)



For Marinade

1. In a bowl add yogurt, ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder, coriander powder, nutmeg+mace+cardamom powder, ginger juliennes. Mix all these ingredients really well.
2. Now add lemon juice, chopped raw onions, 3/4 portion of fried onions, salt, mint leaves, whole garam masala, and orange colour
3. Mix everything in step 1 and 2. Now add cleanly cut portions of chicken into this(the chicken should be pat dried).
4. Mix or coat everything to the chicken pieces.
5. After this add the tomato roundels to this marinade. Mix well, do not break tomatoes in this process. Let the chicken marinade for minimum 6-8 hours or maximum for a day.





For rice:

1. In a big vessel add water and a little of the whole garam masala, shah zeera, salt and mint leaves.
2. Bring to a boil and add the presoaked basmati rice and cook till it is half done. Drain the remaining water in a strainer. Keep these half done rice aside.

Smoking the Biryani Marinade:


1. Transfer the marinade into a vessel in which you are going to prepare biryani
2. Now take a piece of aluminium foil and place 2-3 burning charcoal on it. as shown in pic

3. Keep the lid of the vessel ready.
4. Now take about a tbsp of ghee and pour on the burning charcoal and cover the lid immediately



5. Make sure that the smoke doesnt leak out much, you can place a heavy object on the lid of the vessel to avoid large amount of smoke releasing from the vessel.
6. In the same position, with the lid on the vessel put the vessel on medium flame.
7. Do not remove the lid untill the smoke subsides. As shown in pic

8. Once the smoke subsides you can check the chicken and remove the charcoal pieces from the vessel along with the foil.
9. Now let the chicken cook on medium heat until there is only a little amount of water left in the vessel.
10. The moisture content should only be that much where in u can cook the half done rice. If there is more moisture than required then the half done rice will get overcooked and become soggy.
11.Once you are sure of the moisture content check the salt in the marinade, once that is done add the half cooked rice to this chicken marinade
12. Now sprinkle the rest of the fried onions on top. Mix colour with milk and pour it over the rice mixture. Add a little ginger juliennes, little mint leaves and 2-3 tbsp of ghee on top of the mixture, as shown in picture

13. Now cover the lid and let it cook on high flame for 5-7 minutes or till the time you can see the steam on top of rice. Close the lid and cover properly and let the biryani cook on dum for 15-20 minutes.

14. Serve hot with any raita or kachumber of your choice.

Tip:

1. Do not throw away the drained rice water. You can use it, if by mistake you have over cooked the marinade and you feel there is not enough moisture to cook rice , u can any time add required amount of boiled rice water as it contains all the masala fragrance in it.

Vegetable Biryani

Ingredients:
1. Paneer 250 gms
2. Broccoli florets 1 cup
3. Carrots chopped 1 cup
4. Capsicum finely sliced 1 cup
5. Potatoes 2 french fry cut 1 cup
6. Fresh Peas 1/2 cup
7. Onions 2 medium finely sliced
8. Tomatoes 3
9. Yogurt 1/4 cup
10. Whole Garam Masala as per requirement
11. Green Chillies slit vertically 5-6
12. Red Chilli Powder 1 tsp
13. Rice 3 cups washed and soaked
14. Yellow Food Colour
15. Green Coriander leaves as per need
16. Oil as per requirement
17. Salt as per need
18. Milk 1/4 cup

Method:
1. Take sufficient oil in a vessel and fry the onions until crisp and golden brown, set aside and let it cool. Now similarly fry all the chopped veggies lightly for a minute or two and then set aside on a plate to cool. Lastly fry the paneer pieces untill it changes colour slightly.
2. In the same pan add whole garam masala and let it splutter. Once that is done add the chopped tomatoes and a little salt and saute it for a few mintues. Cover the vessel and let the tomatoes cook until it softens and becomes a pulp. When that is done add the yogurt and saute it again untill oil floats on top
3. Now add the green chillies and red chillies and saute it on medium flame for a few mintues.
4. Set this gravy aside for further use
5. Boil water with a few mint leaves, and whole garam masala and once it satarts boiling add soaked rice to it and cook untill it is 85 percent done. Drain rice and set aside
6. Now in a cooker or a vessel put a little oil to grease it and add little rice
7. After that add the tomatoes gravy and fried veggies and paneer and garnish it witha little fried onions
8. Arrange another layer of rice on this gravy. Repeat the same procedure again.
9. Finally add rice and garnish it with fried onions and chopped coriander leaves.
10. Take 1/4 cup milk and dissolve colour in it and garnish it on biryani on circular motions.
11. Cover the vessel and let it cook on high flame for a few mintues intially untill the rice on the top layer has started heating up. or steam is formed.
12. After that lower the flame and let it cook on dum for 20-25 minutes.
13. Serve hot with any raita or gravy of your choice

Prawns Pulao

Ingredients:

1. Rice 2 cups

2. Prawns 15-20 nos

3. Onion 1 large

4. Yogurt 1 cup

5. Green chillies 8-10

6. Cumin seeds 2 tbsp

7. Garlic 2 cloves

8. Ginger garlic paste 2 tsp

9. Tomato 1 large

10. Black Peppercorns 10-12

11. Cloves 4

12. Green Cardamoms 4

13. Black Cardamoms 2

14. Bay leaves 3

15. Cinnamon sticks 2-3

16. Salt

17. Oil 5 tbsp

18. Potato 1

19. Green Coriander finely chopped 1/2 cup

Method:

1. Finely slice the onions

2. In a blender add yogurt, green chillies, garlic cloves, and 1 tbsp cumin seeds and blend into a fine puree

3. Add oil in a pot and and fry onions till translucent

4. Then add cloves, green cardamoms, black cardamoms, cinnamon sticks, black peppers, bay leaves, and 1 tbsp cumin seeds

5. Now add the yogurt puree, ginger garlic paste and saute on medium flame till oil floats on top

6. Add the prawns and potatoes and cook for 5 mins, now add the roughly chopped tomato and saute it for 5 mins( u dont have to cook it too much )

7. Add rice, salt, and green coriander, sautee for a few minutes and then add water accordingly

8.Cook on high flame till there is only a little water left in the pot, cover pot tightly and cook on dum.

9. Serve hot with any salid or raita of your choice

Egg Biryani

Ingredients:
1. Basmati Rice 2 cups(soaked for atleast 3 hours)
2. Eggs 4
3. Onions 2
4. Mint Leaves chopped 1/4 cup
5. Green Coriander chopped 1/4 cup
6. Cloves 5
7. Cinnamon sticks 4-5 small sticks
8. Star Anise 1
9. Black cardamoms 2
10. Green Cardamoms 4
11. Shah Zeera(black zeera) 1/2 tsp
12. Bay Leaves 4
13. Saffron soaked in 1/2 cup milk
14. Tomatoes 3 finely chopped
15. Green chillies 4
16. Red chilli powder 1 tsp
17. Dhaniya 1 tsp
18. Ginger Garlic paste 1tbsp
19. Garam Masala Powder 1/2 tsp
20. Turmeric Powder a pinch
21. Yogurt 3 tbsp
22. Salt

Method:
1. Finely slice the onions and in a pot boil the eggs
2. Add oil in a pan and fry the onions till it turns golden brown and set aside
3. In the same oil add cloves, bay leaves, green cardamoms, black cardamoms, star anise, and cinnamon sticks and fry till it splutters. Remove them from oil and set aside
4. In the same oil add the green chillies, tomatoes, ginger garlic paste, salt mix well and let it cook on low flame till all the tomatoes softens and becomes a pulp
5. Now add red chilli powder, dhaniya powder, yogurt, garam masala, mint leaves and green coriander leaves
6. Mix all these together and cook for a few more minutes and set aside
7. In a vessel add enough water and all the fried (khada) garam masala in the water along with some mint leaves and salt and bring it to a boil
8. Add the rice into the boiling water and cook till the rice is boiled, drain the rice in a strainer and set aside
9. In a heavy bottomed pan add a little oil or ghee and half of the boiled rice then place all the boiled eggs on the rice and pour the tomato masala all over it and sprinkle half of the fried onions
10. Top it up with the remaining rice sprinkle the remaining fried onions, garnish it with a lil mint leaves and pour the saffron milk
11. Cover the vessel and cook on dum till done.
12. Serve hot with any raita of your choice

Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani

Ingredients
(For Marination)
1. Yogurt 1 cup
2. Chicken 1/2 kg
3. Green chillies 5-6
4. Mint leaves chopped 1/2 cup
5. Turmeric Powder 1/4 tsp
6. Red Chilli Powder 1/2 tsp
7. Garam Masala Powder 1/2 tsp
8. Ginger and Garlic paste 2 1/2 tbsp
9. Medium Onions 2 Deep fried till golden brown
10. Salt
11. Oil 1/4 cup

For rice
1. Basmati Rice 2 1/2 cup
2. Saffron few strands soaked in hot water
3. Milk 1/2 cup
4. Lemon juice 2 tbsp
5. Mint Leaves 2-4
6. Shah Zeera 1/2 tsp
7. Green Cardamom 2-3
8. Whole Black Pepper 4-6
9. Cloves 2
10. Salt
11. Ghee 1 tbsp


Method:
1. Clean the chicken thoroughly and cut the pieces according to your need, and fry the onions in 1/4 cup of oil till golden brown
2. Take the chicken pieces into a bowl, add yogurt, green chillies, mint leaves, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, garam masala powder and more than half of the deep fried onions(set little of the fried onions aside for later use) ginger and garlic paste and salt.
3. Mix all the ingredients with your hand till each chicken piece gets very well coated with the marination. This marination should not be very dry,if there is no gravy add a little water to it
4. Refrigerate this mixture for atleast 3-4 hours

For Rice
1. Take 1/2 litre water in a pot and add salt, cloves, shah zeera, green cardamoms, whole black pepper and mint leaves and cover the pot.(Add tht much salt so as the water tastes salty)
2. Allow it to boil nicely
3. Then add the soaked basmati rice to this water and add the lemon juice.
4. Let the rice boil in it for only 2-3 minutes not more than that
5. Strain the rice and water in a strainer,no water should be left in the rice,once that is done set aside the rice
6. Now in a pressure cooker add the ghee, and the marinated chicken mixture
8. On top of it add the boiled rice(do not mix anything, marination wld be the first layer then rice will follow as the second layer)
9. Now decorate the rice with the left over fried onions, and the saffron water, once that is over add 1/2 cup of milk on top in a circular motion, and add the left over oil used for frying the onions,
10. Cover the pressure cooker and let the biryani cook on medium high flame till the first whistle comes then lower the flame till the second whistle and then stop the flame and set aside the cooker and let it stand like that for another 10 minutes, once the 10 minutes are over open the pressure cooker (even if there is some pressure,release it).
11. Serve the biryani hot with any raita of your choice

Important tips while making biryani.
1. The marination should not be too dry there should be some gravy to it
2. In this recipe i have used water to soak saffron ,,u can avoid water if u are not sure,instead u can soak this saffron in 1/2 cup of boiled milk (we have used 1/2 cup milk in this recipe.)
3.You need 1/4 cup oil in this recipe to fry the onions u can use the remaining oil 1/2 in the marination and half on the rice in step number 9.
4. You can very well use the orange food colour while making biryani but saffron strands soaked in boiled water or milk gives the authentic colour to biryani.
5.Do nt overcook rice while making biryani,,, once the water starts boiling u can add rice to it.
and boil it only for 2 minutes ,,they are more than enough
6. This recipe is actually known as kacche gosht ki biryani because we have used raw meat in the marination and during cooking.
7. Always use a heavy bottomed pressure cooker while making biryani coz if the cookers base is thin there is always a fear of burning the marination during the first whislte where the flame is medium high
8. While you dish out biryani in a serving tray never mix the biryani,,always serve it in the original layer form.

Veg Fried Rice

Ingredients:

1. Rice cooked (1 Cup)

2. Carrots chopped (1/2 Cup)

3. Mushroom chopped (1/2 Cup)

4. Green peas (1/2 Cup)

5. Capsicum chopped (1/4 Cup)

6. Onion small chopped (1 No)

7. Green chilli chopped (4 Nos)

8. Spring onions (1 No)

9. Garlic chopped (2 Cloves)

10. Dark Soy sauce (2 tsp)

11. Black Pepper as per taste

12. Salt as per taste

Method:

1. Add oil in a pan, once hot add garlic, onions, capsicum, mushrooms, carrots, green peas and saute it for a while on high flame

2. Add green chillies, salt and black pepper.

3. Saute it for another minute.

4. Now add the soy sauce and mix all the veggies very well in it.

5. Add cooked rice and spring onions to it and let it cook for 5-10 mins on medium flame.

6. Serve hot

White Chicken Pulao

Ingredients:

1. Chicken 1kg

2. Rice 3 cup

3. Curd 1.5 cups

4. Onions 1 big

5. Potatoes 2

6. Peas (Fresh or frozen)1/2 cup

7. Cumin seeds 3 tsp

8. Bay leaves 2

9. Green cardamoms 3

10. Black cardamoms 2

11. Cloves 4

12. Cinnamon sticks 2-3

13. Black Peppers 8-10

14. Fresh ginger 1 inch

15. Garlic 4 cloves

16. Green chillies 7-8 nos or according to your taste

17. Oil 1/4 cup

Method:

1.Soak the rice in water for atleast 2 hours,and chop the onions finely

2. Mix curd,fresh ginger,garlic cloves,green chillies,cumin seeds and a little salt in a blender and blend it finely

3. Put oil in a pan add onions to it,and saute it untill transparent

4. Once that is done add the bay leaves, green cardamoms, black cardamoms, cloves, black pepper and let it splutter

5. Now add the blended curd mixture to it and saute on medium flame until the oil appears on top

6. Once that is done add the chicken to it along with the potatoes and mix it well and cover it and let it cook for about 10-15 mins on medium flame

7. Now add the green peas salt and rice to the chicken mixture and saute it for 5 more mins

8. Add water to it accordingly and simmer it on high flame,once the water evaporates cook the pulao on dum.

Tip: Dont use a pressure cooker for this pulao,it turns out really good if we use a normal cooking pot with a lid.

Ek Handi Dal Bhaat (Gujarati Dish)

Ingredients (for Bhaat):

1. Pigeon Peas or Toor Dal (3/4 Cup)

2. Rice (1.5 Cups)

3. Onions (4 Nos-Medium)

4. Salt to Taste

5. Ghee (4 tbsp)

6. Oil (1/4 Cup)

7. Bay leaves (2 Nos)

8. Ginger paste (3/4 tsp)

9. Garlic paste (3/4 tsp)

10. Green chilli paste (3/4 tsp)

11. Tomatoes chopped (2 Nos - Medium)

12. Garam Masala (1/4 tsp)

13. Turmeric powder (1/8 tsp)

14. Red chilli powder (1/2 tsp)

15. Potatoes (2Nos)

16. Fresh Coriander leaves

17. Cloves (2 Nos)

18. Black Peppercons (2 Nos)

19. Cumin seeds (3/4 tsp)


Ingredients for dal

1. Tamarind

2. Coriander powder

3. Green chili paste according to taste

4. Salt

5. Curry leaves 4-5 Nos

6. Cumin seeds 1 tsp

7. mustard seeds 1/2 tsp


Method:
1:Finely slice 3 onions and chop one, cook dal with 3-4 cups of water and 1 tbsp of ghee.When half done strain and leave it aside.Do not discard the stock


2:Half boil the rice in 3 cups of water as for biryani and drain excess water


3:Heat oil and fry the sliced onions till golden brown and set aside,and fry the potaoes as well


4:To the same oil add ghee and heat.Add bay leaves and the chopped onions and fry till translucent


5:Add ginger garlic paste,green chilli paste,fried onions (leave a lil bit for decoration),tomatoes ,garam masala,and all the dry masalas and saute well


6:Add dal and coriander leaves to the mix and saute for 5 mins on medium flame


7:Then add fried potatoes (u can add boiled eggs at the same time)and then add half boiled rice and garnish it with rest of the fried onions and coriander leaves.cover the vessel and let the steam generate and release a nice aroma


8:once tht is done heat 1 tbsp of ghee add cloves,black peppercons and cumin seeds to it and add this tempering to the dal rice mixture and let it cook on dum.







Method for Dal


1:In the dal stock add 1/4 tsp of ginger garlic paste,green chilli paste,coriander powder,salt and tamarind according to ur taste


2:Bring it to a boil and temper it with cumin , mustard seeds and curry leaves.


3:serve it hot with the rice mixture



Tip:The dal in this recipe is too thin ,,if u feel the need to thicken it ,u can add a lil amount of separately boiled dal to it according to ur requirement