Egg Biryani | How to make Egg biryani recipe andhra style

Egg Biryani - One fine weekend I felt to eat something heavily particularly something in Non-veg and that too something soo filling and a heavy stuff like a biryani. But I felt bored of eating the same chicken dum biryani. So I wanted to try out something new and this idea of making Egg Biryani striked my mind abruptly and here it is.

           
It is an easy to make biryani when compared to chicken biryani i.e. unlike chicken biryani, egg biryani can be prepared in a comparatively lesser time. It can be served with raitha and mirchi ka salan like any other biryanis. I wanted to make something special and different so served it with rich Tomato Cashew Gravy which tasted awesome with the biryani. It appeared as a perfect n yummy accomplishment. I'll update Tomato Cashew Gravy later, now let us get into the making of yummy in andhra style

Egg biryani recipe andhra style - Ingredients

1. Eggs - 4 (boiled and halved)
2. Rice - 4 cups (Preferrably Basmati Rice)
3. Onions - 2
4. Tomatoes - 3
5. Mint Leaves - 1/4 cup
6. Coriander Leaves - 1/2 cup
7. GG Paste - 1 n 1/2 tbsps
8. Bay leaves - 2
9. Cinnamon sticks - 1 to 2
10. Shajeera - 1 tsp
11. Green Cardamoms - 2 to 3
12. Cloves - 3
13. Pepper Corns - 4 to 5
14. Red Chilli Powder - 2 tsps
15. Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
16. Garam Masala Powder - 1 tsp
17. Salt - To taste
18. Saffron - 1 tbsp (Soaked in warm water)
19. Green chillies - 6
20. Fried Onions - 1 cup or 2 onions
21. Oil - 3 tbsps
22. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
23. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
24. Curd - 1 cup
25. Water - 8 to 9 cups
26. Hing - 1/4 tsp
27. Coriander Powder - 3 tsps (2 tsps while roasting eggs + 1 tsp while cooking biryani)

How to make Egg biryani recipe andhra style - Procedure

1. Soak rice for 30 minutes and also boil, peel and cut the eggs to halves, also make fried onion pieces by deep frying onion pieces in medium hot oil

2. Heat oil in a kadai, add mustard and cumin seeds, whole garam masala, green chillies, onion pieces, GG Paste, mint leaves, hing, turmeric powder and fry nicely

3. Add tomato pieces and cook till tomatoes turn mushy

4. Add curd, salt, red chilli powder, garam masala powder, coriander powder mix well and add water, cover with lid and let the water boil

5. Once water boils add coriander leaves and soaked rice, mix well and let the rice cooked

6. While rice gets cooked, proceed with roasting eggs
7. Heat a tawa, drizzle some oil, place halved eggs, sprinkle salt, red chilli powder and coriander powder and roast the halved eggs on both sides

8. When rice gets cooked, place roasted eggs over the rice and add fried onion pieces, coriander and mint leaves and saffron soaked in water 

9. Simmer and cover with lid, cook for 5 more minutes and switch off
10. Hot, fuming and delicious Egg Biryani is ready to serve
11. I served it with Tomato Cashew Gravy which is a yummy and thick, rich gravy suitable for any flavoured rice varieties, quick and easy one too. Will post Tomato Cashew Gravy too asap :)

Tags: Egg Biryani, egg, Dum biryani, Egg dum biryani, Tomato gravy, Tomato curry, Egg tomato gravy

Vermicelli Kesari | How to make Semiya payasam recipe

Vermicelli Kesari or Semiya kesari is a very simple, easy-to-make and a tasty traditional south indian sweet recipe. We have many varieties of Kesaris. Vermicelli Kesari is one amongst them. We can make it by using either fine or thick vermicelli. It tastes good both the ways. 

  

Ingredients:
1. Vermicelli Semiya - 1 cup
2. Milk - 1 cup (if using thick vermicelli)
3. Water - 1/2 cup (optional)
4. Sugar - 1/2 cup
5. Cashew nuts - 5 to 6
6. Raisins - 5 to 6
7. Ghee - 2 tbsps
8. Vanilla Essence - 2 to 3 drops
9. Green Food Colour - 1 to 2 drops (I used green, you can use any colour of your choice) 

        
Procedure:
1. Heat ghee in a pan, fry cashews and raisins
2. Add vermicelli and fry nicely

3. Add milk, water(if needed) to the vermicelli and keep stirring till vermicelli gets cooked well, also the milk and water should evaporate completely

 

4. Now add sugar and keep stirring, sugar melts and vermicelli gets cooked in sugar

5. Finally add vanilla essence and green food colour, or any food colour of your choice, mix well and serve vermicelli kesari hot and fuming.

Notes:
1. If you are using fine/thin vermicelli then no need of adding water
2. Also you can reduce milk to half 

Tags: Sweets, Desserts, kesari, semiya, Payasam, vermicelli, Halwa

Chicken Roast

This Chicken Roast recipe is an easy breezy one where no spices i.e. garam masalas are used. It's made just by using very few ingredients. 

              One more interesting point in this recipe is no hours-long marination is required. We can just make it in very short time. This recipe is very useful when you want to relish your guests or family members with a crunchy n yummy chicken starter and that too in a very short time.

      Now let us proceed with the making of Chicken Roast.....

Ingredients:
1. Chicken - 250 gms (Boneless and cut into small pieces i.e. to the size of small paneer cubes)
2. Cashew nuts - 10 (Slit vertically to half)
3. Curry Leaves - 10 to 15
4. Green Chillies - 5 (slit vertically to half)
5. Onion - 1 (chopped very finely)
6. Spring Onion Leaves - 3 to 4 strands (chopped finely)
7. Pudhina Leaves - 5 to 6
8. Lemon Juice - 1 n 1/2 tsps
9. Salt - To taste
10. Red Chilli Powder - 3 tsps
11. Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
12. Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tsp
13. Oil - 3 to 4 tbsps

Procedure:
1. First marinate the boneless small chicken pieces with salt, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and gg paste
2. Set aside for 20 to 30 mins
3. Heat oil in a pan, add cashew nuts and fry nicely
4. Once cashews are fried, take them out and drain on a tissue paper
5. Now fry green chillies and curry leaves
6. Once these are fried nicely take them out and drain on tissue paper
7. In the same oil add chopped onion pieces, pudhina leaves and once the onion pieces turn golden brown, add marinated chicken and fry till it turns light blackish i.e. the roasted effect and the chicken is nicely cooked from within
8. Do not cover the pan with lid while frying the chicken. If you do so, the chicken instead of becoming crispy will become soft and moist
9. Once the chicken is fried nicely, add chopped spring onion leaves and toss for few seconds
10. Now dish out and add lemon juice, garnish with already fried cashews, curry leaves and green chillies
11. Also garnish using finely chopped coriander and onion roundels
12. Chicken Roast is ready. Serve it hot, it will be so amazing, you can't refrain yourself any second more from tasting the yummy and crunchy chicken roast.

Tags: Chicken, starters, chicken roast, roasted chicken, murg roast, non veg starters

69 Calories in Cantaloupe Smoothie-Muskmelon-Kharbuja Juice

Only 69 Calories in Cantaloupe Smoothie ? yes its one of my best low calorie smoothie in every summer. just like banana cantaloupe fruit is rich in potassium which maintains blood pressure by balancing fluids and minerals in our body.

I saw this fruit in market and was very much attracted to its colour and the outer hard rocky texture. I came to know that its another breed of muskmelon also called Kharbuja With out making any delay I purchased it, brought home  and started cutting it.             

   
I want to dice the fruit into cubes and mix with sugar. I love eating the melon cubes tossed with sugar. But my hubby likes the fruit's juice. So I started making this Cantaloupe Smoothie. 

Ingredients for Cantaloupe Smoothie

1. Cantaloupe - 1 (250 gms)
2. Sugar - 8 to 10 spoons  
3. Water - 1/2 cup

Procedure - How to make low Calories Cantaloupe Smoothie

1. Cut cantaloupe into 2 halves. Discard seeds and scoop the fruit
2. In a blender add fruit, sugar, water and blend to a thick smoothie
3. I called it smoothie as I didn't discard the pulpy part which we get after blending, bcoz pulp contains many nutrients.

4. I served the smoothie by topping with some finely chopped cantaloupe fruit pieces to get some nice crunchy taste while drinking the smoothie

5. Here presenting a beautiful cantaloupe rose :)

Health benefits of eating cantaloupe

• How many calories in cantaloupe - It has 69 Calories and 16g of carbohydrates in cantaloupe and are mostly from sugar. 

• Cantaloupe during pregnancy - It is really good for pregnant women as it has essential nutrients required for pregnancy Healthy vitamins in cantaloupe are A and C, B1 which relieves heart burn in stomach and lowers metabolic syndrome.

• Cantaloupe melon helps in curing lung diseases so it good for people who smoke.

Veg Kheema Curry

Veg Kheema Curry, I tasted this dish in a restaurant. My hubby n me both of us loved this
dish. The key point in this recipe to get its finer taste is obviously its scrumptious thick gravy and the variety of veggies used which were chopped very very finely.

The veggies were minced almost like mutton kheema hence the name veg kheema curry....i.e. kheema of only veggies. Veg Kheema Curry tastes awesome with
all rotis n flavoured rices.

Ingredients:

1. Cauliflower - 1 cup
2. French Beans - 1/2 cup
3. Carrot - 1/2 cup
4. Capsicum - 1/4 cup
5. Potatoes - 1 cup
6. Paneer - 1 cup
7. Onions - 1 cup
8. Tomatoes - 2 cups
9. Green Chillies - 4
10. Coriander Leaves - 1/4 cup
11. Mint Leaves - 2 tbsps
12. Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
13. Red Chilli Powder - 2 tsps
14. Salt - To taste
15. Garam Masala Powder - 1 tsp
16. Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp
17. Curd - 1 cup
18. Butter - 1 tsp
19. Water - 1/2 cup
20. Oil - 4 tbsps

Procedure:

1. Mince all veggies and paneer very finely

2. Heat 2 tbsps of oil and fry paneer. Drain on tissue paper

3. Now in the same oil fry all veggies i.e. Cauliflower, potato, beans, carrot n capsicum. Drain on tissue paper

4. Now add 2 tbsps oil in the same kadai, add chopped onion, mint leaves and green chillies

5. Now add tomatoes and let them turn mushy

6. Now add all the fried veggies, cover with a lid and cook well
7. Once veggies are cooked, add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, salt, garam masala powder and coriander powder. Cover and cook for 3 to 5 mins

8. Now add paneer, curd and water. Mix well and cook for 5 more mins

 

 
9. Once the curry is cooked well, dish out, garnish with butter,  coriander leaves and serve hot
10. Veg Kheema Curry tastes awesome with all rotis n flavoured rices.

Notes:
1. For more gravy, you can grind onion and tomato and then add, instead of adding them finely chopped.


Tags: Veg kheema curry, mixed veg curry, mix veg curry, kheema curyy, vegetable curry, vegetable kheema curry

Sprouts Dosa

Sprouts Dosa is a very healthy version of dosas. Its almost similar to pesarattu but with a little variation. The difference is, we make this using both moong dal(Green gram) and channa dal(chick peas) i.e., in short, sprouts. This is another way of using sprouts. 

Now let us get into its making......

Ingredients:
1. Moong Dal - 1 cup
2. Channa Dal - 1/2 cup
3. Rice - 1/2 cup
4. Green Chillies - 5 to 6
5. Ginger - 1 inch piece
6. Garlic Cloves - 6
7. Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
8. Coriander Seeds - 1 tsp
9. Coriander Leaves - 1/4 bunch
10. Salt - To taste
11. Oil - As needed
12. Water - As needed

Procedure:
1. Soak Rice, moong dal and channa dal overnight

2. Drain water and grind adding ingredients from 4 to 10

3. Add little water as needed, the consistency of dosa batter will be thick like pesarattu batter only

4. Heat a griddle, drizzle some oil and lay dosa using the batter. Roast on both sides and serve hot with Pudhina Tomato Chutney

5. Sprouts Dosa tastes extremely heavenly with Pudhina Tomato Chutney

Chocolate Ganache glazed Pistachio Cake - Christmas Special cake

Chocolate Ganache glazed Pistachio Cake, ohh what a lengthy name. Chocolate Ganache means melted chocolate, it is glazed on a Pistachio flavoured cake. The cake is also loaded with small pistachio and chocolate chunks.

I have baked this cake in my new Little Master i.e. my new oven. I took the cake to a family get-to-gather organized by my hubby's cousins. My Little Master baked its first cake, the cake which won a remarkable applause from all my relatives on this new year 2014. 

Ingredients:

1. All purpose flour (i.e. Maida)- 1 and 1/2 cups
2. Eggs - 2
3. Butter - 1/2 cup
4. Sugar Powder - 1 cup
5. Milk - 1/2 cup
6. Baking powder - 1 and 1/2 tsp
7. Vanilla Extract - 2 tsps
8. Green Food Colour - 5 to 6 drops
9. Oil - As needed
10. Pistachios - 100 gms
11. Chocolate Bars (any) - 2

Procedure:

1. Grind pistachios coarsely and keep aside. I have grinded it coarsely so that to get nutty texture while eating the cake.
2. In one bowl beat eggs and keep aside.
3. In another bowl sieve flour, sugar powder, baking powder.

4. Pour melted butter, milk, beaten eggs and vanilla essence, green food colour to this flour mixture and mix properly.

5. Add ground pistachios powder also to this and mix well.
6. Grease a pan using oil or butter.

7. After greasing the pan place a wax paper in the pan and pour cake batter into the pan.

Using Oven:
8. Pre-heat oven for 10 minutes on 350 degrees F(175 degrees C) temperature and then bake the cake for about 30 to 40 minutes.

9. Cake is done when you insert a knife or toothpick in the cake and it comes out clean.
10. Take out the pan and allow it to cool. After cooling, demould the cake from its pan. 

Using Pressure Cooker:

11. In the absence of oven you can bake the cake in normal pressure cooker as well.
12. For this, pour water upto 1 inch high in a pressure cooker which is of 3 litre and above capacity.
13. Now place a stand in the water and then place our pan with cake batter on this stand.
14. Close the cooker with lid.
15. Do not put whistle.
16. Steam for 30 minutes on a medium flame.
17. After 30 minutes, open lid and allow steam to escape.
18. Now heat without lid for another 5 minutes. Take out and cool the cake at room temperature.

Preparing Chocolate Ganache cake:

19. Melt chocolate bars using double boiling method i.e. heat 2 glasses of water in a wide round pan. Take 2 tsps of water and chocolate bars in a small bowl and place the bowl in steaming water. Chocolate bars will melt and you get liquid chocolate which is what called as Chocolate Ganache.
20. Pour this melted chocolate ganache carefully on the cake as shown in pic so that it doesnot flow away from the cake.
21. The poured ganache cools down immediately and gets solidified staying still warm in the middle and a bit crunchy along the sides.
22. Now top the ganache on the cake with small bits of chocolate and pistachios.
23. Chocolate Ganache glazed Pistachio cake is ready. Serve it chilled :).....

Linking my cake recipe to Bake Fest #28 Event: