Aloo Ke Samose

Ingredients:
1. Potaotes 1 Large boiled and mashed
2. Green Chillies 6-7
3. Garlic Cloves 2-3
4. Cumin seeds 1 tsp
5. Mustard seeds 1/2 tsp
6. Curry Leaves 3-4
7. Salt as per taste
8. Turmeric Powder 1/4 tsp
9. Green Coriander Leaves as per need
10. Oil 2 tbsp+ for frying

Ingredients for Samosa Cover:
1. All Purpose Flour/ Maida 1/2
2. Ajwain seeds 1/4 tsp
3. Rice Flour 5-6 tbsp
4. Salt as per Taste
5. Ghee 2 tbsp

Method:
1. Mix all the ingredients for samosa cover very well and with the help of a little water knead them into a soft dough. Let this dough rest for 1-2 hours
2. In a pan add oil, once it is hot add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves.
3. Now lower the flame a little bit and and the chilli garlic paste(u can coarsely grind the chillies and garlic together to get a fresh paste). Saute it for a few seconds on low heat and then add turmeric powder and salt
4. Immediately after that add the mashed potatoes and mix well
5. Cover and let it cook for a few mins and add finely chopped coriander leaves.
6. Mix this masala really well and check salt and let it cool.
7. Now make equal sized balls of the dough and roll it with the help of a rolling pin. Roll it to size of a puri.
8. Cut thed puri into half and add the cooled potato mixture and shape it like a samosa.
9. Repeat the same procedure for the rest of dough
10. Heat oil in a vessel on medium flame. Do not change the flame during the entire frying process
11. Now add the samosas one by one and deep fry on medium heat so tht they become crispy.
12. Serve hot with any chutney

Gurda Masala

Ingredients:
1. Kidney 6 nos
2. Onions 1 large
3. Tomato 1 medium
4. Yogurt 1 tsp
5. Coriander Powder 1 tsp
6. Red chilli Powder 1 tsp
7. Ginger Garlic Paste 1 tbsp
8. Mint leaves chopped 1/2 cup
9. Green Chillies 3-4
10. Oil 3 tbsp or as per need

For Garam Masala:
1. Cloves 2-3
2. Green Cardamoms 4-5
3. Cinnamon Stick a small piece
4. Shah Zeera 1/2 tsp
Grind all these together to make your fresh garam masala for this recipe

Method:
1. Cut every kidney into 4-6 pieces, clean them and let it sit in water for 10- 15 minutes.
2. Heat oil and add the finely sliced onion to it, and fry untill it turns golden brown.
3. Now add the slited green chillies and ginger garlic paste and fry it for a few seconds.
4. Now add the kidney pieces to this mixture and mix well. Add a little salt at this stage and cover it and let it cook for 5-10 minutes on medium flame.
5. Add half of the mint leaves now, mix a little and let it cook for another 10 minutes, add a little water if needed
6. Now saute the kidney masala for a little while and add very finely chopped tomatoes to it, cover the lid and let it cook for a few more minutes without adding water.
7. Once you see the oil floating on top add yogurt to this masala and saute untill there is now raw aroma of yogurt or again till oil floats on top
8. Add the remaining chopped mint leaves to it and the freshly grounded garam masala, adjust salt to your taste and serve hot with phulkas or chapatis.

Iftar Platter

Iftar: Basically the time when muslims all over the world break their fast during ramdan. Iftar is mainly heavy comprising of fruits, sweets and savoury treats, besides the staple Dates and Water.
The Iftar is often , but not necessarily, followed up by a regular dinner late during the night.

Here the platter consists of some fruits, dates and a variety of pakodas and chicken patties.

And the recipe is:

Chicken Patties Ingredients:

1. Chicken mince 3/4 cup

2. Potato 1 medium

3. Carrots 1 grated

4. Capsicum grated 1 small

5. Green chillies 4-4

6. Green Coriander leaves

7. Black pepper powder 1/4 tsp

8. Salt as per taste

9. Egg 1

10. Bread Crumbs as per need

11. Milk 1/4 cup

12. Oil for deep frying

Method:

1. In a vessel add finely chopped potatoes, chicken mince, milk, salt and black pepper.

2. Cover the vessel and let it cook on high heat for 5-8 mins, then lower the flame and cook till there is no moisture remaining and the potaotes are all mashed up.

3. Cool this mixture and add the grated carrots, capsicum, green coriander leaves, finely chopped green chillies and mix really well. (Before adding capsicum and carrots to the chicken mince sqqueeze out excess water from it.)

4. Add bread crumbs and mix well so that the mixture binds easily.

5. Make equal sized balls of this mixture and flatten them with your plam to give it a patties like hsape.

6. Dip it in whisked egg and deep fry till golden brown and serve hot with any sweet and sour chutney.

Pakodas Ingredients:

1. Spinach leaves as per ur need

2. Small Brinjals/eggplant as per ur need( sliced)

3. Jalapenoes as per ur need

4. Sliced Potatoes as per ur need

5. Tamarind and dates chutney

For the batter:

1. Gram flour 1/2 cup or as per ur requirement

2. Rice flour 4 tbsp

3. Ajwain seeds 1/4 tsp(crushed)

4. Cumin seeds 1/2 tsp(crushed)

5. Salt as per taste

6. Turmeric Powder 1/4 tsp

7. Red chilli Powder 1/2 tsp

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients for the batter with a little water, mix well and keep it aside. Let it rest for 1 hour before using

2. Now dip the spinach , brinjals, potatoes one at a time in the batter and fry till golden brown

3. For the jalapenoes u need to slit them in between and deseed them. Fill a little tamarind and dates chutney as a filling and dip them in the batter and deep fry till golden brown.

4. Serve hot and crispy with any sauce of your liking

Ramdan Kareem

Ramdan Mubarak to all my Family and Friends

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.

Naan (Khaliya, Khalia, Qalia) (Aurangabad Special)

Naan Qalia is a dish that originated from Aurangabad in India. It is a concoction of mutton and a variety of spices. Naan is the bread made in tandoor (Hot furnace) while Qalia is a mixture of mutton and various spices.

History:

When Mohammad Tughlaq shifted his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad, there was a mass exodus of people from Delhi to Daulatabad. On the way to Daulatabad, the huge army of Tughlaq was exhausted. It was an uphill task to provide such a big army with food. But the smart Bawarchis (cooks) came up with a dish that could suffice the imposing army. They conceived the dish we call today as Naan Qalia. They dug a hot furnace and rolled out thusands of golden colored naan. Meanwhile Qalia was prepared by cooking mutton and adding number of spices in the huge cauldron.



Ingredients:
1. Mutton 1 kg
2. Khuskhus 45 gms
3. Dried Coconut 45 gms
4. Yogurt 200 gms
5. Onions 3 medium
6. Ginger and Garlic Paste
7. Coriander Powder 2 tsp
8. Bhilawe Ki Chironji(i dont know any other name for this ingredient) 40-45 gms
9. Turmeric Powder 1/2 tsp
10. Red Chilli Powder 3-4 tsp or as per your need
11. Mint Leaves 1 cup
12. Coriander Leaves 1 cup
13. Bay leaves 1-2
14. Patthar Ka Phool 2-3
15. Cloves 4-5
16. Cinnamon Sticks 3-4
17. Shah Zeera 1 tsp
18. Salt to taste
19. Oil 1/2 cup or according to your need
20. Green Chillies

Method:
(Preparing Dry Masala)

1. In a pan dry roast the coconut pieces or shreds on medium heat until they are light brown.
2. Soak khuskhus in water for 10-15 mins. Drain khuskhus in a strainer and roast it on a pan on medium heat till it is light and changes colour.
3. In the same way dry roast the bhilawe ki chironji till it releases nice aroma and changes colour.
4. Dry roast the bay leaves and patthar ka phool together on medium heat untill it changes colour

(Grinding Masala)
1. In a mixer add all the dry roasted bhilawe ki chironji and grind it without adding water to a fine powder. Set aside
2. Finely crush the bay leaves and patthar ka phool. In a blender add the roasted coconut, khuskhus and coriander powder and grind it to a fine powder. Now add the finely crushed bay leaves and patthar ka phool into this mixture with a little water and blend it into a very fine paste.

Main Masala:
1. In a pressure cooker add mutton pieces, ginger and garlic paste, salt, turmeric powder, yogurt, shah zeera, cloves, cinnamon sticks,and onions, half of coriander and mint leaves.
2. Pressure cook this mutton till it is 70 percent cooked.( The rest 30 percent will be cooked afterwards). Do not add any water while pressure cooking meat. It will cook in its own water
3. In a wide open vessel add oil, once it is ready add vertically slitted green chillies, and a little ginger garlic paste to it, saute it for a few seconds and add the grounded coconut,khuskhus paste and saute this mixture on medium flame for 10-15 minutes.
4. After that add red chilli powder to this mixture and remaining mint and coriander leaves.
5. Saute until the mixture oozes oil out of it and it doesnt release any raw smell of masalas.
6. At this stage add the 70 percent cooked mutton mixture and let it cook on high heat.Keep on stirring so that the masala doesnt stick on the vessel base.
7. Keep on doing this untill oil oozes out.
8. Add water to this mixture according to the consistency you want. Generally the consistency of the khaliya is quite thin.


9. Now cover the vessel half with the help of a lid and let it cook on medium heat untill the meat is fully cooked.
10. In the mean time take the grounded bhilawe ki chironji and add a little water to it. Dissolve chironji nicely into it so that no lumps are formed.
11. When you think the khaliya is done, add the bhilawe ki chironji paste to this and stir continously for a good 5 mins, let the khaliya come to a boil and serve really hot with Aurangabadi special Naan

Sabudana vada (Ramdan Special)

Ingredients:

1. Potato 1
2. Sabudana 1/2 cup
3. Green Chillies 5-6 or as per ur need
4. Chopped coriander 2 tbsp
5. Curry Leaves 3-4
6. Red Chilli Powder 1/2 tsp
7. Salt as per your taste
8. Onions 1 small finely chopped
9. Chaat Masala 1/4 tsp or as per taste
10. Rice Flour 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Soak the sabudana in water for 2-3 hours.
2. Wash and peel the potato and then grate it with the help of a grater
3. Squeeze out excess moisture from it and put it in a bowl
4. Add chopped chillies, chopped coriander leaves, chopped curry leaves, red chilli powder, chopped onions and salt to the grated potaotes. Mix well
5. Squeeze out excees moisture from soaked sabudana and add to the potato mixture.
6. Add rice flour and chaat masala powder and knead like a dough.
7. Make equal sized balls out of this mixture and them flatten them like tikki(keep it a little thin as it will become crispier)
8. Deep fry them in hot oil untill golden brown and serve hot with curd, tamarind and date chutney

Mutton Curry/ Aloo Gosht

Ingredients:

1. Mutton 500 gms

2. Onions 2 large 1 small

3. Tomatoes 2 large

4. Turmeric Powder 1/2 tsp

5. Coriander Powder 2 tsp

6. Ginger Garlic Paste 2 tbsp

7. Salt as per taste

8. Oil 2-3 tbsp

9. Green Chilli slit lengthwise 5-6

10. Garam Masala Powder

(5 Cardamoms, 4 cloves small stick of cinnamon, shah zeera,crush them to a coarse powder and use as garam masala)

11. Green Coriander chopped as 1/2 cup

12. Potatoes 3-4 medium cut in 4 pieces

Method:

1. In a pressure cooker add washed mutton, sliced onions, chopped tomatoes, salt, little oil, ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder and pressure cook till mutton is done.

2. In a big vessel add the potatoes and fry them a little, set aside

3. To the same oil add the green chillies and fry them a little, add a little ginger garlic paste, and then immediately transfer all the contents of the mixtue.

4. Cook the mixture on medium high flame, and after 5-7 mins add the coriander powder.

5. Add the fried potatoes to the gravy, sprinkle little chopped coriander, cover the vessel and cook untill the oil floats on top and the potaotes are done.

6. Now add the garam masala powder and cook for another 5 mins. Taste the salt and adjust as per your need

7. Garnish with coriander leaves

8. Serve hot with boiled rice



Note:
There are many ways to cook this particular gravy, but i like to lessen my work by pressure cooking meat with onions and tomatoes. It a very tiring job to fry onions and then pressure cooking thm and the saute again with tomatoes in it. This way everything gets cooked at one time

Chicken Mayo Sandwich

Ingredients:

1. Chicken breast as per requirement
2. Mayonnaise as per requirement
3. Salt to taste
4. Bread slices 4-6 or as per ur requirement
5. Black Pepper Powder 1/2 tsp
6. Oil 2 tbsp
7. Butter as per requirement

Method:

1. Cut the chicken breast into desired size, preferably small
2. In a pan add oil and put the chicken pieces in it
3. Add salt and pepper with a few drops of water to it, cover and let it cook untill there is no water. Cook on low medium flame
4. Once the chicken pieces are done remove them from flame, once it cools shred the chicken pieces. Set aside
5. Now mix the mayonnaise with the shredded chicken
6. Apply butter on the bread pieces and grill the bread slices on a grill pan or normal pan. It should be slightly crispy.
7. Repeat the process for all the slices.
8. Now spread the chicen mayo mixture on the bread evenly, form such multiple layers of bread slices.
9. Once done serve with wafers and sauce of your choice.

Note:
Do not grill the sandwich after spreading the chicken mayo mixture. otherwise the bread will become soggy.

Cheese Sausages

Ingredients:

1. Boiled Potatoes 2 nos

2. Peanuts crushed coarsely 1 cup

3. Grated carrots 1/2 cup

4. Grated capsicum 1/2 cup

5. Onion 1 small

6. Egg 1 nos

7. Black Pepper 3-4 pinches

8. Salt as per required

9. Bread crumbs as per required

10. Green chillies 2-3 finely chopped

11. Oil for frying

12. Mixed Cheese as per need

Method:

1. Mash the boil potaotes and add black pepper and salt to it.

2. In a pan add 2 tbsp oil and add the finely sliced onions and saute until transparent

3. Now add grated carrots, capsicum and sauteed onions to the mashed potaotes and check the salt at this stage.

4. Make equal sized balls

5. Take a ball, faltten it a little bit and add the cheese. Close the edges and press them with your palms to give it a sausage shape. Similarly make all the sausages

6. Whisk an egg and dip these sausages into the egg mixture, and roll them on the bread crumbs.

7. Repeat the same procedure for all the sausages

8. Now Again dip these sausages in the whisked eggs and roll them onto roughly crushed peanuts

9. Repeat the same for all the sausages.

10. Once all the sauges are done refrigerate it for atleast 5-6 hours, so that the sausages becomes firm and it doesnt break while frying

11. Heat oil in a vessel on medium flame and fry these sausages untill golden brown.

12. Serve hot with any sauce of your choice

Baigan Ka bharta

Ingredients:

1. Bharta Baigan 1

2. Onion roughly chopped 1

3. Green chilllies as per your taste

4. Garlic cloves 3-4

5. Cumin seeds 1 tbsp

6. Oil 2 tbsp

7. Turmeric Powder 1/2 tsp

8. Salt as per taste

Method:
1. Apply a little oil on raw baigan and put it on medium flame. Turn sides as it gets softer. Keep doing it untill the whole baigan soften and water oozes out of it. As shown in picture

2. To check whether it is done or not u can pierce a toothpick and if it pierces easily that means the baigan is done.

3. Now try to remove its skin as much as possible,if the baigan is done completly the skin will come out very easily, take care as it will be very hot. Once that is done try to chop it or mash it

4. Roughly grind the green chillies, garlic cloves and cumin seeds.

5. In a pan add oil and add the roughly chopped onions to it saute untill it becomes transparent.

Now add the green chilli-garlic and cumin seed paste to it and saute for a few seconds untill it releases a nice aroma.

6. Now add the turmeric powder, mix it well and add the mashed baigan to this. Mix very well and add salt accordingly and let it cook on low flame for 10-15 mins.
7. Once that is done serve with hot phulkas

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