Chicken Biryani (North Indian style)

Overview:

To all my non-vegetarian friends searching for delectable and healthy Non-vegetarian cuisine, this one is easy , requires comfortable preparations and of course, is a delight for eyes and taste buds!!

A biryani, traditionally has to be spicy, with aromas from green chillies and cardamoms whether it is non-vegetarian or vegetarian. These two things will give the best flavor to it. The rice has to be Basmati/Tilakchandan because they give the best Rice-Aromas. In North-Indian cooking the biryani's are given a distinct aroma of cardamoms by a special technique of flavoring the rice. I learned it from my mom who in turn learned it from her father.This method was used by the chefs of "Nawaabs" at that time.. well atleast that is what my mom told me :)

Cooking Time : 50 mins (excluding Marination and Baking) , serves 4-5

Ingredients:

You will need

• Boneless Chicken Meat of your choice cut into 2X2 inch chunks.
• 1 cup Yogurt (Dahi) : With water  drained.
• 1 onion (chopped)
• 2X2 inch peice of ginger (chopped)
• 2-3 garlic cloves(chopped)
• Spices : Tandoori chicken masala(3 tbsp), Red chilli powder( 2 tsp), salt, Dhaniya Powder(2 tbsp), 2-3 cloves(laung), 2 bay leaves(tej-patra)
• tomato puree( one cup)
• green chillies diced into halves
• chopped coriander(Cilantro)
• lemon juice
• crushed black pepper
• 3-4 cups of boiled rice.
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp cumin seeds(jeera) 
• 3 cardamoms(break opened)

Marination:

For marination, drain water from yogurt by keeping it in a seive/peice of cloth for around 2 hours. Collect a cup of water drained yogurt. you might need around 3 cups of standard yogurt for this purpose. Now in a bowl mix some salt, red chilli powder, 2 tbsp Tandoori chicken masala and a little crushed black pepper.

Now add all the chicken in the bowl, mix well and set aside with a cover. The chicken needs to be marinated for around 10 hours, so its best to do it first thing in morning if you are planning for dinner, or a day before if you are planning a lunch.

Baking:

Bake the marinated chicken for around 35 minutes at 450 degree Fahrenheit or around 232 degree Celsius.

After baking separate the chicken in a bowl and splash some lemon juice evenly over it.

Recipe for chicken:

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet and add the cloves(laung), and bay leaves to it. Now add onion, garlic and "half" of the chopped ginger and saute for a few minutes until the onions turn golden brown.
2. Now add the spices like Dhaniya powder, 1 tbsp tandoori chicken masala to it and stir well. Add the baked chicken to this and mix well. Cook for a minute with a lid on.
3. Now add the tomato puree and cook covered for 2 minutes. Add salt if necessary.
4. Simmer for a few minutes and add chopped green chillies and coriander.

Flavoring the Rice:

The rice should be freshly boiled. Now, flavoring the rice is extremely important to give the Biryani its authentic aroma and even taste. This is a very common method practiced in North Indian culture as I mentioned earlier too. Just heat 2 tsp oil/desi ghee in a large spoon or small skillet and add the mentioned quantity of jeera and cardamoms to it. Make sure, you break open cardamoms so that few seeds get into the   ghee. I recommend ghee instead of oil for a better taste and aroma, but if some of you are really picky about the ghee fat, you can replace that by oil. Fry for 5-6 seconds and add this to rice. Mix well so that all of rice gets the aroma from cardamoms.

Presentation:

In a large serving bowl, make a layer of flavored rice and run a layer of chicken gravy on it. Run alternate layers of rice and chicken till you reach the top of bowl. Decorate with green chillies diced in halves and cilantro, serve hot !!

Farfalle Pasta in sauteed peppers, onions,eggplant and mushrooms with rosemary chicken

Overview:

The Farfalle pasta is yet another ingredient that will add an aesthetic look to your food. Pasta is not a very healthy meal altogether, but when blended with vegetables or your choice of meat, it can be a delight for eyes and taste buds and will keep a good score on health factor as well. So, this mix and match came up in my mind just a couple of days back and I started cooking it in my head even before actually trying it for real.. !

Italian food mostly makes use of vegetables like onion, garlic,peppers,eggplant,tomatoes and mushrooms. Sometimes greener ones like romaine lettuce etc. but for this recipe I have used the ones I mentioned first.

Cooking time : 50-60 mins , serves 3-4

I really hope someone would try this recipe someday and let me know if they liked it :). It feels like "Julie and Julia" playing around. But thankfully, I am not obsessed with the cooking :)

Ingredients:

You will need :

• Farfalle pasta (one cup)
• Diced mushrooms(around 5-6) and 1 small diced eggplant(around half a cup)
• 1 Diced pepper each of your choice : Red, green, yellow
• 2 Diced onions
• Tomato puree
• Parmesan-romano pasta sauce(available at stores)
• grated Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese
• Italian Bruschetta dressing
• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• Salt as per taste
• 1 tsp Margarine/butter
• 7 garlic cloves (grated)
• boneless chicken thighs (2)
• Italian seasoning with dried Thyme, rosemary, oregano and basil.
• crushed black pepper
• lemon juice
• some red wine

Recipe:

1. In a pan, boil pasta along with some salt, drain it and set aside.
2. Wash chicken and cut in small pieces(1 x 1 inch). Sprinkle some salt, crushed black pepper and Italian seasoning over the chicken and set aside for 15 mins. Preheat the oven at 420 degree F or 215 degree Celsius.
3. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil and add a tsp of grated garlic. Saute for a few seconds and add all the chopped vegetables like onions, mushrooms, peppers and eggplant. Saute or stir fry for a few minutes until the vegetables start loosing water. Add salt as per taste and cook covered for a minute.
4. Now add 2 tbsp of Italian Bruschetta dressing and saute well.
5. Cook open until the water starts drying up. Pour some red wine over the vegetables(around 2 tbsp) and then sprinkle Italian seasoning all over the mixture and set aside covered so that it doesn't loose heat and gravy.
6. Now in the preheated oven, bake the chicken for around 6-7 minutes. After that take out the chicken, drain the fat lost by it and pour some lemon juice over it. Set it aside.
7. Now add together the pasta and vegetable mixture and mix well without disrupting the shapes of individual ingredients.
8. In a separate skillet, heat some margarine/butter and add the rest of grated garlic. Saute until light brown and then add tomato puree. Heat for a minute and then add the Parmesan-Romano pasta sauce. Heat this mixture well. This will be the sauce for our pasta salad made in step 7.

Serving/Presentation :

In a platter, serve the pasta salad of "step 7" and top up with the baked rosemary chicken. Now pour some pasta sauce over it centrally and sprinkle the grated Parmesan,Mozzarella and Ricotta cheese. Sprinkle some Italian seasoning at the end to increase the rosemary aroma. Serve hot.

** For Vegetarians :Just Don't add chicken !!! ;)

Roasted Minced Eggplant with tomatoes (Baingan Bhartha)

Overview:

Among most of the North-Indian, central and western Indian cuisine, this is my favorite dish. I am a sucker for eggplants. Like, such a big fan that I can eat eggplants in any form, shapes, sizes and cuisines. Someday, I am going to learn to make authentic "Eggplant Parmesan" and I'll share the recipe too. But for today, its an Indian thingy !!

The characteristic of this dish which really stands out is that it has a really nice smoky flavor because of the roasting process. If its there, then you are in a for a real good eating time.

Cooking time : 60 mins including pre-cooking preparations and roasting the eggplant.

Ingredients:

You will need :

• 2 big eggplants 
• 2 onions finely chopped
• 3 tomatoes finely chopped
• 4-5 garlic cloves (chopped)
• half cup finely chopped ginger
• coriander powder (2 tbsp)
• red chilli powder (1 tsp)
• salt as per taste
• Zafrani Garam masala (from shan foods)
• cooking oil (2 tbsp)
• 3 chopped green chillies
• chopped cilantro(coriander) leaves

Roasting the eggplants:

Roast eggplant on flame directly. In case of  metallic plate burners/glass lid heaters use a grill stand to cover the burner and roast eggplant over it. It might take some more time in the later process.The roasting process should be slow so that the smoky flavor resides in the eggplant without actually burning it. Try using eggplants with thinner skins, they have juicier pulp and it makes the roasting process faster. The roasting should be done evenly all over the surface and you'll know when its done. The eggplant will loose water and become soft throughout and the skin will start to crack in many places.

Set the eggplants aside in a large bowl to cool down. After cooling, peel the skin off and mash the eggplants together into a large soft lump. 

PS: This process will look gross, but you will get over it soon ;)

Recipe:

1. In a small bowl take mentioned amount of coriander powder, red chilli powder, 1 tsp  garam masala, salt as per taste and add water in it to make a smooth paste.
2. Heat the oil in a large skillet on high flame.
3. Add the chopped onion, garlic and half the amount of ginger to be used into the oil. Saute till golden brown.
4. Now add the masala paste we made in step 1 to the skillet. Saute for a couple of minutes.
5. Now add the mashed eggplants and stir nicely. Cook covered for around 5 mins on medium flame.
6. Add the diced tomatoes, green chillies and rest of ginger and stir evenly. Again cook covered for around 5 mins on high flame. If needed, add more salt.
7. You can add some tomato puree or amchur to give a more tangy taste to the eggplant. In some time you can whiff the roasty smell :)
8. Cook until the eggplant mixture turns brownish in color. This means that the eggplant is thoroughly cooked and even somewhat extra-roasted. This almost does it !

Serving/Presentation Instruction:

Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve hot with chapaties/paranthas.