Chicken Fry ( KFC style )

This is  one  of recipes i got  from my friend and neighbour   from chennai , But the  same  recipe  is also posted by vah chef. Its almost the same  with a little a difference  in the  first  step. But  both taste  great .Its  simple  to make but  people  who  hate il will stay  away from it  as it requires deep  frying.

Item : Chicken fry ( KFC Style)
Source:  My friend Sameera and  Vah chef

Ingredients:

To  marinate ;

•   1 lb of  chicken  ( washed  cleaned and  if  pieces are big then  you have a  make  tiny slits  on them )
•  1tsp Chilli powder
•  1 tsp Ginger garlic  paste
•  Lemon juice ( from one lemon  medium sized)
•  Salt

 To Coat:

• 1 egg
• 1/2tsp of  Ginger garlic  paste 
• salt 
• 1/2 tsp of  chilli powder
• Curry leaves
• Cilantro/ coriander leaves
• 1cup maida
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• food  colour 
• Oil for  frying 

How  i did  it  :

  Take water and add ginger garlic paste, chilli powder, salt , and lemon juice  now add the chicken pieces to it. Should immerse completely,  the  water  level should  be above the  chicken pieces . Soak it for 4-5 hrs.  I prefer to leave it in the fridge overnight. If u are in a  a  hurry  u  can  do the whole process  using  warm  water and  leaving  it for  1  hr .

Drain  the  water and  take  the  pieces in a dry  plate . 

In  another  bowl  add 1 egg, add  chilli powder, salt ( add a  little  as u have added it  n marination too), ginger garlic paste  and  curry leaves and  cilantro. mix  well.

In another  plate  take  your  all purpose flour, mix  bread crumbs , add a  pinch  of  food  colour and  salt and chilli powder( adjust the  amount of  chilli powder  and  salt in all the three steps  so that  u  do  end  up adding more.)

Take the  chicken pieces  dip it in the  egg mix, roll  in to the  dry  flour  and  then  deep fry it in  oil  at  medium  flame .

Molten chocolate lava cake

 Oh!!!  this  is  a very  yummy  cake  and  heaven for all  chocolate lovers. This  cake  has  a  runny chocolate inside  and  was  my all time  favorite. I used to  eat  a lot in  CCD (cafe coffee day) @ Bangalore. This   goes  best  when  served  warm  with cold plain vanilla  ice cream. Wow!!!,  this  is  really very  tempting  and I bet, you  cannot  resist  it . I  never  ever  thought i will bake this  cake at home. Applause to me!!!!!!,   that was  a  super  hit  at  home  and   with all my  friends . Today  on occasion  of our  fourth anniversary, i made this  cake  and  served to all my friends. i was  on cloud nine  when i  received the comments for the cake. The  recipe  of  it is  from a  famous  cooking website show me the curry and  and  blog i follow edible  garden. Thanks  to them.

This  is   third  time  in a  row  that  i am trying this recipe , first  time  i baked,  it  was a  super duper  hit.  Being very  enthusiastic  with all the praises i  got,i made couple of mistakes in my second try and went  into  drains ,   First  was to use the  wrong chocolate , i used the bitter  chocolate for the  semi sweet once, this  was  not a  delibrate mistake  but  was side  effects  of being  over enthusiastic,  i picked the  wrong packet  from the  freezer. and  second  one  is  i  baked it  for almost 20 mins , end  result was a  completely bitter  chocolate  cake  which was  no good. Learn from  my  mistake plzzzzzzz will u?

Item : Molten Lava cake
source : show  me the curry  and  edible  garden
baking  time  10-15 mins
preperation time   20 mins

Ingredients:

• 4oz (113g) of semi sween baking chocolate (i used the  chocolate chips )
• 4oz (113g) of  unsalted butter 
• 2eggs
• 1/3 cup (75 gms) of  sugar 
• 1/4 cup (40 gms) of  All purpose flour
• Powdered Sugar  for dressing 

How i made it .

• In a double  boiler  melt the chocolate ,  once  it  gets  soft and  shiny  add  butter  to it , mix well till the better  gets  meletd . Take  it off from the flame and cool it .

• In a seperate bowl  add eggs and  sugar   and  beat  it untill light and  fluffy .

• Mix the  melted and cooled  chocolate to the  egg and  sugar  mixture

•  Now add the all purpose flour and  mix  it   well.
• Butter  up  your ramekins and bake  pans  and  pour the  batter  till 3/4th  way full.
• Bake  it in a preheated oven for 350 degree Fahrenheit for 10-15 mins  , do not  over do  it .

Mango Lassi

Mangoes are the king of  fruits,  and they taste good  in any form . I love  this  fruits , ever since i  moved  to US i longed  for  mangoes. We d get  mangoes here but the  variety  and  the  flavor and taste  that we get in  India  is not in match. But  at Costco we  got good mangoes and  believe  me all the  8 mangoes were done in a day. had  go to get more of them. here is an all time  favorite summer drink we all love. my mom loved mangoes, lassis and mango lassi was her  favourite too.

Mango Lassi:

• 1 ripe mango  pealed  and  cut  into  pieces
• 1 cup yogurt /curd
• 1/2 cup milk (optional)
• cardamom powder
• sugar  depend on ur taste  and also the sweetness of the mango.

Take  all the above ingredients ina  blender jar  and  belnd it  to   for  few minutes  and the  pour  it  glasses and  serve it  cold.

Green Mutton gravy

Let  me  not  give any introduction but straight away go to the recipe .

What we need :

•  1lb Mutton 
• whole garam masala
• 2-3 onions 
• ginger- garlic  paste
• Bunch of  mint ( 15-20 strands)
• Fresh ginger
• Coconut powder
• 2 medium sized potatoes diced.
• Oil
•  Turmeric
• Garam  masal  powder
• 8-10 Green chillies (depends on u r taste)
• Lime .

How I made it 

Step 1; Boil the mutton .

Wash the  meat to it add 1 tsp ginger -garlic paste, one slmall onons  diced, salt , turmeric and  whole gram masala , take  in  a  pressure coker and pressure cook it for 2-3  whistle  ot  till the  meat  is  soft.

Step  2: making the masala

In a  mixer or  blender cup take  mint leaves, coriander leaves, ginger piece and coconut powder and  green chillies. grind  with little  water to make  it to nice masala.

step  3:

Now in another pan  pour  oil  when  heated add  grated  ginger , fry till its brown  and  now  add  whole garam- masala , wait  for  few seconds and  add ur  onions, potatoes, half of  mint and  2-3 green chillies , fry them  till   onions are brown , now  add tomatoes cook till it  is soft. Now  add the mint  coconut  ground masala. mix weel and   cook in a  slow  falme  till the raw  smell is  gone and  oil seperates. At the end  add 1 tsp of  lime  juice to the  gravy mix  well and  is  ready to be  served. Do not  skip the  lime  part as  it enhances the taste.

Plain fried rice (bagar rice ) indian style

I really  dont know  how  to  name this  dish in  english , we all at home  we  call it bagar rice . Bagar  in hindi means seasoned . This  is  actually a  simple  but  rich  dish.  It  goes with all veg and  non veg gravys. It adds a  rich  feel  to your food. its not the chines's  fried  rice  types  too. so  i have  christened  it with  my  own  name. To be   true  the  name  dosent  matter  when  it  comes to  taste.  if the  dish tast  good  i  dont  mind it  with any name. My friends  in  my apartment  love  this   dish  and its  always in demand  list for any potluck we have  here . Specially   Abhi  who has this rice on her top priority. This  recipe is  for   u Abhi , have   fun  making and also eating it . All others too im sure u will like  it  its  simple  yet  rich , easy making and  best  when  u have  guests on a short notice .

Item:  Plain fried  rice .

source: My  Mom

Time : 15-20 mins .

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup Basmati rice 
• Whole garam masala( 1/2 inch cinnamon stick, 4-5 cardamon, 1/2 tsp shahi jeera . bay leaf , 1 star aniseed, 4-5 cloves)
• 1-1/2 tsp of  gingergarlic paste
• 2 tsp of freh curd (yogurt)
• 1medium onions
• oil
• Mint leaves( 4-5 Springs )
• cilantro
• 1 1/2 cup water 
• pinch of  turmeric 

How i Made it.

Take oil in a  pressure cooker , when hot add  your whole garam masala,  after  few seconds add  finely sliced onions and mint leaves,  fry till the onions is  brown , now add  ginger garlic paste , fry till the raw smell is  gone . Now add  your yogurt  and  fry  till u get  nice aroma, and add  1 1/2 cup water. then add in  your  washed basmati rice   and  salt and pinch of turmeric . mix well and  close the  cooker  wait for 1 whistle and  turn the flame off. Open it cooker when the pressure is  gone and is  ready to serve . Garnish with fresh cilantro and fried onions .

Gongura chutney

 Gongura is every andhraite's favourite , since i   have  a andhra link i too love Gongura, it taste great in  any  form, in  dhal, as  chutney,  as pickel or  in meat . Needless to say  i  love it  with the meat . In  our wedding  too we had this  dish gongura mutton served on haldi function and  it was a great  hit. This  recipe  is  from my mom kitchen. This  is a  very simple dish  but needs a lot of muscle power to actually make the  greens to a  nice  paste, u can anyway do in a blender or a mixer  but  using a  wooden smasher has its own taste. This  will go with  jowar roti , plain white rice or even chapathi.

Item : Gongura chutney
Source: Mom

Ingredients :

• 1 bunch of  Gongura ( Red sorrel leaves)
• 1 medium sized onion  diced 
• 4-5 peeled  garlic pod
• 6-7  green chillies (based on how much  spicy u  want  it )
• salt

For  tempering 

•  4-5 tsp of Oil 
•  1tsp Cumin seeds
• 4-5  dry red chilli
• spring of  curry leaves
• 4-5 smashed garlic pods

How i made it .

 Pluck the leaves  and  wash it throughly , take a big  vessel , add oil to it , when  hot  add onions, curry leaves, garlic pods green chillies and  fry them  for  1 min , then add your gongura leaves and  salt. Allow these to cook  in medium  flame   till the  leaves  become soft . Do  not any  water  to it , and  cook it all the  water  from the  leaves  gets evaporated. Once its  done switch off the flame allow it  to cool. then with the laddel or potato smasher  try  make  it  to  a paste , if u cant do it u can use a  blender for  it  but do  not make a  fine  paste. Now  temper it .

In another  wok or kadai  pour some oil when  hot add your cumin seeds , red  chillies , garlic pods , fry them till they  a  slightly brown, now  add your gongura paste  and  allow  it to get blended  with the tempering. Its  ready to be  served and  can be stored.

Green Peas Pulav

 Peas Pulav is  my daughters  favourite , its  very  easy   and  handy when u  have  guest at a  short notice  its  rich  and  delicious and  also nutritious.   It  goes well with all the veg  gravy dishes and  needless say with all the  non veg dishes. Its  easy and   quick recipe.

Item: Green Peas Pulav .
source: My  Mom
Time : 15-20 mins .

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup Basmati rice 
• 1/2 cup Green peas (fresh is  always  better  but  frozen works  great too)
• Whole garam masala( 1/2 inch cinnamon stick, 4-5 cardamon, 1/2 tsp shahi jeera . bay leaf , 1 star aniseed, 4-5 cloves)
• 1-1/2 tsp of  gingergarlic paste
• 2 tsp of freh curd (yogurt)
• 1medium onions
• oil
• Mint leaves
• cilantro
• 1 1/2 cup water 

How i Made it.

Take oil in a  pressure cooker , when hot add  your whole garam masala,  after  few seconds add  finely sliced onions and mint leaves,  fry till the onions is  brown , now add  ginger garlic paste , fry till the raw smell is  gone . Now add  your yogurt  and  fry  till u get  nice aroma, add in  your peas, fry  for a minute and add  1 1/2 cup water. the add in  your  washed basmati rice   and  salt . mix well and  close the  cooker  wait for 1 whistle and  turn the flame off. Open it cooker when the pressure is  gone and is  ready to serve .

Hyderabadi chicken biryani

This one is  not  from my moms  diary  but  its  from my aunts , thats is  my  moms  sister (Sheela)  I call her Maa. .She is  an expert in cooking biryani and   i am one  of  her countless fan  her biryani has. Maa dose it  with  so ease and that makes  me  thinks that  preparing biryani shouldnt be tough and that is  what made me  try this .Intially i was not very good  at  it  but now  i love  cooking  and serving biryani .Thanks  to maa  who constantly encourages me to cook specially biryani. Thanks Maa.
Comming to  biryani  there  are  numerous variation and  all the  variety differs  and  i  think  king of biryani is hyderabadi biryani. The  way  the aroma , rice and the meat  gets blended is real wonderfull. All those who have tasted hyderabadi biryani will surely vouch for  it , its  very royal  and very aromatic. There are two types of biryani , first being the kachi (raw)dum (slow cooked in the steam )biryani , and  the other one being the paccki  (cooked)biryani . The  first  where in the meat (chicken or lamb) is  raw and  gets cooked in the process, the second one per say is  where we used boiled or cooked meat.The  Kacchi  or raw biryani  is very  famous  but  both taste good.
Todays  menu is kacchi (raw) chicken biryani  with raitha .

Item Chicken Biryani
source : Maa (my aunt)
Time : 1hrs 30min.

Ingredients ::

• 2 cups Baskmati rice 
• 1lb chicken de-skined

 Step 1:   frying onions :

• 3-4  big onions  sliced finely and  deep fried  to  brown in colour.
• oil

  Step 2 : Marination  of chicken

• 500gms of chicken
• 2 cups  curd 
• 4 -5 tsp of freshly ground ginger garlic paste
• whole garam masala ( 1inch cinnamaon stick, 4-5 cardamon,1 big black cardamon, 5-7 cloves, bay  leaf . shahi-jeera, aniseed )
•  1-1/12 tsp garam masala powder
• 1tsp of coriander powder,
• 1tsp of chilli powder,
• Salt 
• Turmeric
• 1 medium sized tomato
• 1 bunch of mint leaves ( 8-12 strands )
• 1 bunch of cilantro (coriander leaves)
• 7-10 green chillies 
• lime  juice  from  3-4  medium sized limes 
• Saffron colour 
•  Fried onions. ( half  of from the step 1 )
• oil . (can use the same oil used for  frying)

 Take the chicken in a  big vessel (the vessel u  want to cook biryani) and add all the above ingredients and mix well. Crush  the fried onions and  add  it to the marinate. Cool the oil  that wass used to fry onions and add about 50-100 ml of it .  keep it marinated  for 30-40 mins.

 Step 3 : Preparing the Rice 

• 2 cups  basmati rice (soked for 30 mins prior use )
•  1-1/12 cup  water  ( chicken stock can be  used , or coconut  milk can  be  used instead of water )
•  salt 
•  whole garam masala 
• Mint leaves 
• coriander leaves 
• saffron color
• 3-4 spoon of oil

  Wash and  Soak the  basmati  rice  30 mins  prior to the use in a  pressure cooker ( u can opt for not using the cooker and  cook in a  regular vessel  but   cooked in a tradional way , where u have  to keep monitoring for the rice  to be cooked  upto 60-70% , we  donot want the rice to be completely cooked )  cooking in a  pressure  cooker makes the process easy and  fast. To the  rice  add 1-1 1/2 cup of water or chicken stock . T;o  it add the whole garam masala , mint leaves coriander leaves and salt . add a pinch of saffron colour. Keep it on medium flame with out the pressure weight .Allow the  rice to  cook only 70%. Put the flame off when the steam starts gushing out wait for couple of minutes and then open the cooker.

Step 4 : Layering the rice.

• Saffron colour  diluted in  about 4-5 spoon ful of water or  milk.
• lime juice from 2-3  lime
• 50 ml of oil
• mint and criander leaves 
• Fried onions.

 Once the rice is  ready , carefully layer it on the marinated chicken. Top it  with saffron colour , lime juice . mint and coriander leaves,  oil  and fried onions  . Close the vessel with the tight glass lid so that the steam dose not escape if u dont have a  vessel with  glass lid the  u can use regular lid but u have seal the lid with chapathi dough so  that the steam dosent escape and Keep the biryani on medium flame .

Step 5 : Cooking the biryani

This is the most important step . Here is when the glass lid comes in handy , when the biryani get  cooked on medium heat , u can see the vapour droplets  forming on the glass lid (which will take  around 15-20 mins)  leave  it  in the same  stage for  another  5-10 mins  and then  reduce the flame  now keep a  griddle  underneath  your  biryani vessel ( i forgot  to take the pic will update it  soon )  and leave it to be slowly cooked  for another 20-30 mins . If  u  dont have the the glass lid then  what u can  do all the checking  manually , check after 20- 30 mins  and  then  keep the griddle  under the  biryani vessel. The  time  will differ with the quantity of biryani.. Once its done its ready to be served .

Enjoy the royal aromatic delicious biryani with raitha.

Dry Mutton chukka

 This  will be a bliss for all the meat lovers, all my friend and my hubby loved it  when i made it  for yamini . its  a quite a  simple  recipe  and  would   serve as a side  dish for  rice or chapathi . This  is   from one of the recipes my friend  gave me .  Try this  out  i am sure  u will like  it.

Item : Dry Mutton Chukka
source : Friend

Ingredients :

To Boil the meat

• 1lb of  meat  
•  1 tsp of  ginger garlic paste 
• 1small onion
• whole garam masala( 1/2 inch cinnamon stick, 2-3 green cardamom, 4-5 cloves)
• Mint leaves 
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• Salt

 Wash the meat  thoroughly  and add turmeric and all the above mentioned ingredients  and  pressure cook it  to 2 whistles or till its 70% cooked. keep it  aside .

Ingredients for the dish

• 2 onions diced
• cumin seeds
• 4-5 garlic cloves 
• 1tsp of pepper corns  ( crush the  cumin , garlic  and pepper in motar and pestel and keep the paste  ready)
• Butter
• turmeric 
• 1tsp of chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp of criander powder
• 1/2 tsp of zeera powder
• 1/2 tsp of garam masala powder
• oil
• curry leaves 
• 4-5 slit green chillies
• cilantro
• 1 tsp of ginger garlic paste

How i did it 

Take a heavy bottom wide pan , heat it and  add butter , as the butter melts  add cumin seeds and  onions , when the  onions turn slight brown  add  the  ginger garlic paste let  it  fry  till the raw smell is  gone and  now  add the garlic,cumin and pepper crushed paste , let it  fry . Add curry leaves and slit green chillies fry  them  add turmeric, chilli and coriander and cumin powder. fry  it and add the boiled  mutton  with very little  stock in it. let the  whole  thing cook  on a  slow  flame  till the  meat  is completely cooked. Check for  salt as we added salt while the meat boiled, adjust the  salt if  less. now  at last  add garam masala powder and cilantro. fry till the mixture is  dry  and is ready to serve.

Sweet Dosa

 I have  been out  for  a long weekend to florida  and  later  was  very tired to  write  or make  something at  home,  the next week end  was  very  much  fun with lots  of celebrations and  friends which occupied  my complete week end and couple  of  days  in the   new week  so could not do much ...  will be prompt in posting recipes from now  on . first  one  after th e break is  for  kids

Sweet  Dosa

This   one  is  specially for kids  i had   it  when i was small and  i like it a  lot. Can be  prepared  inan instant and  sure is  tasty  my  daughter  loves it .

Item : Sweet  Dosa\

Time  taken 10-15 mins

Source : Mom.

Ingredients 

• 1 cup Wheat flour 
• 1 cup powdered jaggery or  sugar (both will taste  good )
• 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
• shredded coconut
• water 

 Take  jaggery in a  bowl and  add water to it ot dissolve it, if u using the cubed jaggery then add water  to it microwave it for  couple of  minutes and cool the  mixture. Add this  mixture  to the  wheat  flour  to make a batter of   dosa consistency. Mix thoroughly  so that  there are no  lumps in it .Finally add cardamom powder for nice sweet flavour. Heat the  griddle   and pour a cup full of batter smear it  to make  nice thin dosa add oil and  wait  till its  brown and cooked on both the sides  now add shredded coconut to  it  and is ready to  be served.