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Saturday 5 March 2016

Thalappakatti Chicken Biriyani

Preparation Time : 20 minutes | Cooking Time : 60 minutes

Ingredients

For the Masala
5 Green Chillies
3 small two inch cinnamon sticks
3 cardamom
3 cloves
⅛th of a nutmeg (Jaadhikai)
1 small piece Mace (Jaadhi Pathiri)
50 grams ginger

Main Ingredients
500 ml Seeraga Samba Rice
750 grams Chicken with bone
Meat to Rice Ratio - 1 Rice 1.5 Meat

Other Ingredients
25 grams Ghee
75 grams Sunflower Oil
50 grams crushed Garlic
50 grams crushed shallots (small onions)
1 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
½ cup curd
11/2 teaspoon salt
1 hand full Mint Leaves
2 hand full Coriander Leaves
Juice of half a lime

Method
Peel the garlic. Crush the garlic in a mixie without adding any water. Set aside. Crush the shallots in a mixie without adding any water. Set aside.
Grind all the masala ingredients to a very fine smooth paste. Add ¼ cup of water while grinding. Chop the ginger into small pieces and break the cinnamon into bits before grinding.
Soak the rice in water now. The rice needs to soak for half an hour.
Heat Oil and ghee in a heavy pan and add in the Masala paste, crushed garlic and crushed shallots-small onions. Fry on medium flame for a good 10 minutes until the oil separates from the mixture.
Add in the chicken. Add in the chilli powder. The ratio of rice to chicken should be 1 rice to 1.5 meat. Saute the chicken so the masala coats evenly. Reduce the flame to simmer and cover it with a lid and let it cook. Don’t add any water. The chicken will cook in its own juices. Just saute once in 5 minutes so the chicken doesn’t scorch in the bottom. After 15 minutes, the chicken should be done and there should be some gravy too.

Add in the yogurt/curd. Cook with the lid open for 5 minutes.
Remove the cooked meat to a bowl and roughly measure how much liquid is left behind. Mine had about 1.5 cups of liquid. Just measure roughly. It need not be accurate.
We are using 2 cups rice and 750 grams meat. We require 2 times water to the quantity of rice. So we need to add 4 cups water. There was already 1.5 cups gravy that we measured before. So I added 2.5 cups water to the mixture. Add salt. Add in the chopped coriander leaves and the mint leaves. Let the mixture come to a boil.
Add back the meat and let it come to a boil again. Check for seasoning. Add more salt if necessary.
Drain the soaked rice and add it to the pan. Wait for it to boil. Add in the lemon juice.
Cover the pan with a lid and let it cook for the first four minutes on medium flame. Open the lid. Gently mix once from the bottom, cover the lid again and simmer for 10 minutes on very low flame.
After that time, open the lid and see if the rice has been cooked. Cook for a couple of minutes more if necessary. Switch off the flame and close the pan with a lid. Do not disturb for the next 20 minutes. The rice will get swollen and absorb all the left out moisture. This time is very important. Do not rush.

Enjoy with raitha and salad!

Courtesy - Suguna Vinod


Monday 18 January 2016

Butter cake

Preparation Time : 15 minutes | Cooking Time : 45 minutes

Ingredients
Plain flour (Maida) – 1 1/2 cups
Baking powder – 3/4 tsp
Baking soda – 1/4 tsp
Salt – a pinch
Eggs - 3
Unsalted butter – 125 grams
Milk - 1/2 cup
Caster sugar – 1 1/4 cup
Vanilla essence – 1 tsp

Method
Preheat oven to 180 C for 10 minutes before baking. Grease a deep 8 inch round cake tin. Line base with baking paper, beat ingredients in a bowl on a low speed with electric mixer until just combined. Beat on medium speed until mixture is smooth. The batter might look curdled but it is fine. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan.


Bake the cake in the oven for 40 to 45 mins until the inserted skewer comes out clean. Let it cool for sometime and then turn it over a server plate. Do not cut until it is cooled down.

Courtesy: Maria Jose (mariasmenu)