Coconut Milk Infused Vegetable Biriyani - Eat Till Your Heart's Content:)

Thengai Paal Sertha Kaikari Biriyani:

Ingredients:

Short Grain Rice 2 cups
Mixed vegetables 1 bowl full
Coconut milk(thin) 2 cups
Green chilies 6 slitted
Onions 1 sliced
Tomatoes 2 chopped
Salt
Chili powder
Mint leaves 1 fistful
Cilantro few leaves
Ghee 1 cup.

Spices:

Cloves 3
Cinnamon 2 sticks
Cardamom 6 crushed
Bay leaves 3 crumbled
Star anise 2
Black cardamom 1
Rose petal few(dried)
Birinji flower 1
Saffron few strands - tapped

Method:

In a wide crock pot, heat ghee. Throw in all the spices. Let them crackle up.

Then add chilies, wait till it splutters and turns white.

Followed by onions...fry real good till fragrant. Maybe add salt to hasten your process.

Now add tomatoes, cover and cook. When tomatoes turn pulpy, add chili powder and rice to it. Let the oil coat to all the sides of rice, then add coconut milk. Cover and cook briefly.

When the rice is half the way done, add vegetable and 2 cups of water. Cover and cook, under pressure...over low-medium heat.

Once the rice and veggies are done, remove from heat. Give 2 minutes resting time, before serving.

Serve warm as a main dish.

Snow Peas Stir Fry - Cheating Myself With More Veggies!!

Snow Peas Poriyal:

I am finding it hard to drag myself to the kitchen! I am getting lazy and lethargic, due to weather. Waiting for the sunshine, desperately. Otherwise this winter was rather good and pretty fast too! One thing' I like about winter is...making that special trips to farmer's market to take look at the fresh produce.

That is how...when I first saw this veggie...I was thrilled and related it with our 'Indian Broad Beans'...later discovered its just 'young pea pods':( Anyhow, when I cooked it for the first time...it turned out very sweet and not-so-edible!! After that, never cared if they resembled 'avaikai' or not:(

Well, somehow...there was time, when I ought to comprise with this veggie and bring them home! But, now pre-planned the recipe artfully with lots of seasoning to disguise it. In order to suit the needs of an Indian palate. I can't say I failed...it ended up better this time:)

Ingredients:

Snow Peas - finely chopped 1 bowl full
Spanish onion 1 grated
Ginger 2" grated
Fennel seeds 1 spoon - crushed
Cumin seeds 1 spoon
Red chilies 5
Coconut 1/2 shell grated
Salt
Turmeric 1 pinch
Mustard seeds 1/4 spoon
Curry leaves few
Coconut oil few spoons.

Method:

In a wide wok, heat oil. Add the mustard seeds, curry leaves and grated onions. Fry real good, till fragrant.

Meanwhile, blend the coconut, cumin seeds and red chilies. Set aside.

Now add the snow peas, salt, turmeric and fennel seeds powder...cover and cook briefly. Followed by wet-ground paste...fry real good, till fragrant.

Serve warm to go with your South Indian Meals.

Peas Pilav - Super Quick...Rescues your Day!

Peas Pilaf:

If you have high demanding work schedule and still wanna be on the track'(that is eating healthy meals, without getting carried away from those highway junks!). Probably we should thank the Internet world for keeping us all well-motivated to cook and clean, (everyday or few days a week) hehe:) No, jokes apart' whenever I feel all exhausted...and allow my tummy to think for itself, oops am trapped into one of those 'ready made crap' that is loaded with salt, sugar, refined flour and what not! It takes few mouthfuls to realize that...boy, I should have cooked...I shouldn't be lazy anymore!! And moreover it takes only 10 minutes to create a meal (if am super organized that day). So, focus-focus is the mantra here, I guess!! Before doing huge damage to the waistline, let us cook a meal and catch up a movie...how is the deal sound to you?

Ingredients:

Basmati rice 1 cup
Fresh/frozen peas 1 cup
Onions 1 large sliced
Ginger-garlic paste 1 spoon
Green chili 1 large
Salt
Cloves 3
Cinnamon 1
Bay leaves 1
Cumin seeds 1/4 spoon
Ghee/oil 1 table spoon
Cashew nuts to garnish.

Method:

Heat up a vessel, add oil and followed by whole spices. Further add chilies, ginger-garlic and onions. Fry briefly.

Add rice, peas, salt...2 cups of water. Set the stove at low-medium heat. Cover and cook.

Once the rice is fluffy and tender, its done....ta-da:)

Serve warm with raitha or spicy gravy.

Malai Mattar Masala - Green Peas in Rich Creamy Sauce

Malai Mattar Masala:

Malai Mattar Curry. Paalaadai-Pachai Pattani Masala.

Ingredients:

Green peas / fresh or frozen 1 cup
Onion 1 large grated
Green chili just 1 minced
Ginger-garlic paste 1/2 spoon
Tomato 1 large
Salt
Dash of coriander powder
Dash of cumin seeds powder
Dash of garam masala powder
Pinch of dry methi leaves
Milk 2-4 cups / Fresh Cream as per taste
Oil / ghee few spoons
Coriander seeds 1 pinch
Cumin seeds 1 pinch
Cilantro leave to garnish.

Method:

In a wide vessel, heat milk, place them in low-medium temperature...constantly stir and bring a heavy cream. Set aside.

In a separate vessel. Heat ghee. Add coriander and cumin seeds. Wait till they splutter.

Now stir-in grated chili, onions and ginger-garlic paste. Fry real good.

Peel the tomatoes and chunk them out, add this to the above set-up as well. Also add all powdered items now(coriander, cumin, garam masala and methi leaves). Add 2 cups of water and peas, cover and cook over low heat.

Once the gravy thickens and oil shows up on the top, add the fresh cream and bring to one boil, and remove from heat.

Serve warm to go with your pulkahs, chappathis or rotis. Enjoy:)

Thai Fried Rice - Jasmine Rice with Peanut Sauce!

Jasmine Rice n Peanut Sauce Fried rice:(Thai Style)

This is just a well known Basic Thai Fried Rice...with jasmine rice and peanuts. But it has a secret ingredient; Yes...Home Made Peanut Sauce! Have you ever tried them this way? It’s totally awesome:)

Hmmmm, it isn’t exactly real Thai peanut sauce, anyway...but it’s definitely inspired by one:) Peanut sauce is one of those things that is really easy to fix at home...quite successfully:) So, if something was stopping you from getting one' from the stores...no probs, forget it. It literally has five basic ingredients, and obviously you could get fancier with it:)

Soy Sauce
Brown Sugar
Peanut butter
Lemon juice
Coconut milk

I further added things of my own wish' Sesame oil, Garlic powder, Chili flakes etc...

...whisk everything together. That’s it, friends. Mix with your sticky jasmine rice, stir-fry over heat, and eat up:)However, I’m not sure...if this is a common way to substitute things'!!! Perhaps people familiar with authentic Asian/Thai cooking would definitely kill me:( But, its good, it’s tasty and so there you go...

Mixed Vegetables Paaya

I am trying my hardest to not complain, and to pretend its too comforting to eat vegetables:( But, in my mind there is no better food than animal protein:)It looks like an order to follow the meat and veg diet plan, like a rhythm in my cooking. The moment I decide, I want to cut down my animal instinct(of being so meat-a-holic), I don't do my home work properly...yeah, something or rather comes up, and I am forced to travel!!! And you all know...how hard it is to pick lettuce and citrus in the restaurants, here...Oh my, don't even think:(

This recipe was created on, one hell of a evening' to calm down my senses for that ultimate cravings for Goat's Meat Paaya!!! Well, I went kidding myself with another servings of mixed vegetables, from this disguise Veg Paaya...not to mention that, it was devastatingly late dinner! Verdict??? Please don't ask a mad carnivore' how the grass taste like?

Ingredients:

Mixed Vegetables of your choice
Green chilies 3 slitted
Green chili 3 grated
Onion 1 grated
onion 1 finely chopped
Ginger-garlic paste few spoons
Salt
Turmeric powder 1 spoon
Coriander seeds powder 1 spoon
Mint leaves few chopped
Lemon juice few spoons(optional)
Coconut milk thick extract 1 cup
Bay leaves
Black cardamom 2
Cloves 3
Green cardamom 2
Cinnamon sticks 2-3
Oil few spoons.

Method:

Heat oil in a wide pan over medium-high heat, add whole spices...bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon & cardamom pods) saute for few minutes.

Followed by slitted chilies. Wait up to crackle. Then add chili and onion paste....fry until golden color.

Add ginger garlic paste and fry till raw odor leaves the pan.

Stir-in turmeric and coriander powder.

Add vegetables, bring this to boil and stew like consistency.

Add a cup of coconut milk. Allow this boil.

Garnish with mint and cilantro leaves.

Serve warm to go with Aappams and Iddiappams.

Marina Beach Special - Thenga Maanga Pattani Sundal

Beach Sundal:

I feel awful that I didnt fall in love:( Never got a chance to take that romanantic(eeeewh)beach walk...eating that dho' rupiah sundal...talking sweet nothing(stupid)... master planning to elope away...are the kind of moments' completely missing in my life:(

So, whenever my friends talk about their pre-marriage love affairs, I will be ready to listen to their story, but fail to catch up the actual romance'. I always end up asking some logical but lame questions and completely miss the fun of L-O-V-E; which will eventually make my buddies very angry at me!!!

Anyhow, so most of my Chennai friends, did have boy friends or friends who are boys or more than a friend & less than a lover kind of relationships(whatever, it doesnt matter now). They used to talk with great zeal, how they enjoyed talking hours together in that dirty beach, in an extremely crowded sandy land,...I dunno whats big romance in that!!!

Few a times, roamed with my friends (girls ofcourse) to marina beach...hmmm, I have to admit, it was really fun.:) I really didnt care much about the filth filled sundal or oily bajji...gosh they tasted heaven. With so many people passing by you...you catch up that energy. I agree, Chennai may be a den of mosquitos, polluted to charr black, rough on innocent travelers...but sure the city and the beach has its own energy!

And I did like the sundal very much, guess that salty air makes it much more incredible. Aaah, what the heck if miss that boy friend stuff...I do know how to treat myself with food, he he:):)

Ingredients:

Dry yellow peas 1 cup
Fresh coconut - sliced
Raw green mango - sliced
Cilantro - chopped
Salt
Curry leaves
Green chilies
Salt
Turmeric 1 pinch
Asafoetida
Mustard seeds
Cumin seeds
Oil few spoon.

Method:

Soak the peas overnight and cook them the next day, in a pressure cooker...with enough salt.

In a wide wok, heat oil. Add the tempering items and followed by peas. Once the peas are done and no moisture left in the wok, remove from heat.

Now garnish with cilantro, coconut and mangoes. Wow, that is done...enjoy with your companion, people say they taste better:):)

Paneer Muttat Masala - from Kranthi's Kitchen

Muttat Paneer Masala:

My friend Kranti(from Herndon, Virginia) has generously contributed her recipe to my blog! I feel proud to display her recipe here!:) A few words about my best friend. We were hostel mates, back then at Hyderabad. Also serious Civil Services aspirants.

I practically survived with her Mommy's pickles and podis, at hostel. Later when she permanently shifted to Hyderabad from Vijayawada...It became like my second home! Kranthi's mother is my culinary guru! I love her so much as a person and as a great home chef!! Each time, just before leaving to my place for vacation(Tamil Nadu). She used to prepare and pack me...my favourite pickles(Chicken pickle, Pandu Mirchi Pachadi & Allam Pachadi etc). How sweet, right! Even my mother started admiring her culinary skills! I learnt a lot from her...Bobatlu, Pesarattu, Sugar cane juice - pongal...and her famous authentic Andhra Oorugai(pickles).

Well...my Sweet friend Kranti never picked up her spatula(back then). Whenever she comes to my place(I was self cooking). She will assist me to go to the market, buy vegetables, meat and what not! As I will be cooking for both of us...she will feel bad, that she couldn't help me in cooking! I enjoyed cooking for her! But she always puts effort like, lending my the wrong spatula...removing the pressure cooker whistle, when it is still in hyper pressure, planning to put salt in coffee(okay this she never did, I am exaggerating). Anyways...after me finishing cooking, we used chat and eat for hours. Talk talk talk the whole night(that's our kind of Saturday fun). Oh boy, that was some time! We girls had a great time. If I need to talk about Hyderabad stories...I will be going on and on. So let me come to the point.

Now the same Kranti after marriage has become an amazing Cook! Whoo-Aaah!! 'Puli-kku pirandhadhu Poonai aaguma?'!!! This is a Tamil proverb...literally can be translated like this 'She is born to the Tigress, can she be a cat?? She did inherit the quality gene from her mother! Its innate property, the style in cooking and bringing taste in cooking (beyond basic science). I am proud of my friend!:)

In her Exact Words:

Paneer Mutter Masala:

Paneer cubes -1 1/2 to 2 cups
Peas- 1cup
Onions(blanched and pureed)-2
Tomatoes(blanched and pureed)-3
Cashew paste-2 tsp(soak few cashews in milk and grind them)
Chilies-3
Turmeric-pinch
Chili powder-1 1/2 spoons
Salt as per taste
Butter-3tbsp
Oil-little
Corriander powder-2 tsp
Garam masala-1/2 tsp
Whole spices(cinnamon, 1 elachi,2 cloves)
Ginger garlic paste-2 tsp
Cilantro and cream for garnish.

Procedure:

1. Fry the panner in a tbsp of butter till light golden brown.keep them aside
2. Heat the pan ,add butter and little oil,add the whole spices .
3. Add pureed onion and fry for 3-4 mins on medium flame.
4. Add pureed tomato and fry for few mins.
5. Add ginger garlic paste and let them be cooked for few mins till all the raw smell
is gone.add corriander powder and give a stir.
6. Add cashew paste ...
7. Add panner cubes and frozen peas.u can add little water at this stage
keep the lid on and simmer it till u reach the consistensy.
8 Add garam masala before u switch off the stove.
9. Garnish with cilantro and fresh cream.
best combo:roti.can be had with rice

Thenga-Maanga Pattani Sundal:

Beach Pattani Sundal. Pattani Sundal.

Ingredients:

Yellow-dry whole peas 1 cup
Salt
Raw mango 1 small(I could'nt find here) peeled, deseed & grated
Fresh coconut half shell - grated
Red peppers 3
Mustard seeds 1/2 spoon
Asafoetida 1 pinch
Ginger 2" peeled, grated/minced
Cilantro leaves few
Sesame oil few spoons.

Method:

Soak Dry-yellow whole peas overnight with sufficient amount of water.

The other day, pressure it with limited salt in it. Maybe still intact but cooked. 1 whistle will do.

In a seperate kadai/wok, heat oil. Add mustard, asafoetida, ginger and red peppers.

Stir-in cooked peas. Further add grated coconut, grated mango and cilantro leaves.

Remove from heat, serve warm as an evenning snack.

Pattaani Biriyani.

Dry Peas Rice:


Pattani Biriyani (Vegetarian's Mutton Biriyani, he he). Pataani Masala Saadham. Kaintha Pattani Saadham. Peas Pulav. Yellow Peas Spicy Rice. Dry Peas Pulav.

Dry Peas is widely used in Non-Vegetarian's house on those strict 'fasting months'...where we really feel hard to pass the days without meat. So just to tickle our taste buds...my relatives used to prepare anything 'extra spicy' for us. One of my Small Grandma (yeah yeah, not my own gradma...but her sister, so this is how I could intro' her) is a genious in fixing such meal. When I happened to visit their home (during fasting month...probably Purataasi Maasam), she prepared a spicy korma for me, with dry yellow peas and all vegetables that are equivated to Mutton in it. I have to admit, it was awesome. The taste still lingers in my mind. Well...anyway thats the day, I found out...I can manage without meat, by respecting few vegetables and dry legumes. Later I applied this 'technology' widely during my rough hostel days (I lived most of life in the hostel, with the exception of self cooking, few years).

Ingredients:

Dry green/yellow peas 1 cup soaked overnight in water.
Raw rice 1 cup
Salt
Ghee 1 cup
Dry red chilies 6-8
Mustard seeds 1/2 spoon
Cumin seeds 1/2 spoon
Chana dal 1/2 spoon
Urad dal 1/2 spoon
Asafoetida 1/2 spoon
Garlic 3-5 cloves chopped
Onion 1 small chopped finely
Curry leaves crisply fried 1/2 cup.

Method:

In a pressure pan.....heat ghee/butter. Add mustard, cumin, asafoetida, red chilies, urad and chana dal. Let them pop and splutter well.

Now add garlic and onions and fry well. Then add peas and rice. Add enough salt and water. Pressure cook till 3 whistle sound.

Garnish with crisply fried curry leaves.

Serve hot with fried potatoes.