Chicken Dum Biryani

Chicken Dum Biryani is the authentic and Very famous dish of Hyderabad. Let us directly jump into making of this hot spicy dhum biryani.

Ingredients: (Serves 3)

1. Chicken (On Bone) - 300 gms
2. Basmati Rice - 3 cups
3. Fried onions - 2
4. Green chillies - 2 to 3
5. Ginger Garlic (GG) Paste - 1 tbsp
6. Mint leaves - 1/4 cup
7. Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup
8. Saffron - few strands soaked in milk/water
9. Red chilli Powder - 1 tbsp
10. Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
11. Salt - To taste
12. Garam Masala Powder - 2 tsps
13. Thick Curd - 1 n 1/2 cup
14. Lime - 1
15. Whole Garam Masala :
 a. Bay Leaves - 2
 b. Cinnamon Sticks - 1
 c. Cloves - 4
 d. Cardamom - 2
 e. Pepper Corns - 6
 f. Shajeera - 1 tsp
16. Ghee - 2 + 3 tbsps
17. Oil - For deep frying onions
18. Water - 5 to 6 cups

Procedure:

Soaking Rice:

1. First wash and soak the rice for 30 mins

Marinating Chicken:

1. In a heavy bottomed vessel, add washed chicken, GG paste, few mint leaves, few coriander leaves, green chilli pieces, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt, 1 tsp of garam masala powder, curd, lime juice, 2 tbsps of ghee and mix well and keep aside

2. Rest the chicken for atleast 30 minutes so that it gets marinated nicely

Cooking Rice:

1. Now cook rice, for this, boil water, pack whole garam masalas in a muslin cloth, put it in boiling water

2. Add salt to the water, check salt taste, water should be salty enough

3. Add rice soaked for 30 mins and cook till 70% done i.e. the rice grain should just break, it should not be soft or mushy

Frying onions:
1. While the rice gets cooked we will proceed with frying onions
2. Slice the onions and deep fry till they turn brown, drain on a tissue paper and keep aside. Take care not to burn them while frying

Keeping for Dum:
1. Now when the rice is 70% done, take away the pack of whole garam masalas from the rice, add half of the rice on top of rested chicken in the heavy bottomed vessel
2. Some water along with rice when placing on top of chicken is mandatory.
3. After putting half of the rice, add half of the fried onions, mint leaves and again put rest of the rice

4. Now again put rest of the fried onions, mint leaves, 1 tsp of garam masala powder, saffron soaked in milk and 3 tbsps of ghee along the sides and in middle of the rice.

5. Seal the vessel with dough, cover with lid tightly, and keep for dum i.e., cook on high flame for 5 mins, then on medium flame for 10 mins and on low flame for 15 mins

6. You can use a tawa after cooking on High flame for 5 mins so that chicken may not get burnt, use it as shown in the pic

7. After 30 mins, you can see pressure coming out of the sealed dough. Now switch off and don't open the lid immediately. If you won't seal the vessel with dough properly then steam comes out in the initial stage only, So seal properly.
8. After 30 mins of dum, Wait for just 5 mins and then open the lid.
9. Nice flavours coming out of the vessel tells that chicken didn't get burnt
10. Put a spatula in the center of the vessel till its bottom and take out the spatula to check or see if any moisture is left
11. Scoop along the sides of the pan and from bottom and take out the scoop of biryani into a plate. 
12. Tasty Chicken biryani is ready, serve with raitha and mirchi ka salan :)

Boondi Raita - How to make Dahi Raita with Boondi

Boondi Raita is another raitha which I personally felt the tasty raitha I have ever had. I love it with flavoured rices, Biryanis, Bagaras. Mixed Raitha, Onion Raita are the common raitas we usually get with Biryanis in restaurants. I love Pineapple Raitha also but with less spicy flavoured rices. We will talk about Pineapple Raita later but for now, let us get into the making of Boondi Raitha which is a quick and an easy accomplishment.

This is a very common raita recipe for pulao or rice in north india.

Let us learn how to make raita for biryani or any rice varieties.

Boondi Raita - Ingredients:

1. Curd - 1 cup
2. Onion - 1 (very finely chopped)
3. Tomato - 1 (very finely chopped)
4. Green chiliies - 2 to 3 (very finely chopped)
5. Baby Carrot - 1 (Grated)
6. Coriander Leaves - 2 to 3 tbsps (very finely chopped)
7. Plain Boondhi - 1/2 cup
8. Salt - To taste
9. Water - As needed

How to make Dahi Raita with Boondi - Procedure:

1. Whisk curd properly to remove lumps

2. Add very finely chopped onion, tomato, green chillies, finely grated carrot, coriander leaves, salt and mix well. Better to squeeze these ingredients with hand in the curd so that flavours mix with curd nicely

3. Add water as required based on your desired consistency of raitha either thicker or thinner one, mix well and finally add boondhi and mix gently

4. Boondhi absorbs curd with flavours and here is tasty boondhi raitha ready :)
5. I garnished it with few strands of fried onion and with some coriander leaves

Also try another simple yet unique recipe: How to to make Dahi Raita with Namkeen Mathri and i bet you will definitely love it and share it.

Veg Dum Biryani

The word "Biryani" is very appetizing by itself. Hyderabad is world wide renowned for its Hyderabadi Biryani, but that biryani comes in the non veg section. Then, what about vegetarians? Vegetarians do have many veggy biryanis so that they too can relish the taste of biryani and one amongst those biryanis is, here comes...."Veg Dum Biryani". I have prepared this biryani for the very first time, and it came out very perfectly without any comprises in taste. My hubby enjoyed it a lot as if he is eating chicken dum biryani :). So with that confidence let us get into its making :)

Ingredients: (Serves 4)

1. Rice - 4 cups
2. Potatoes - 2 (diced to cubes)
3. Carrot - 1 large (diced to cubes)
4. Cauliflower Florets - 10
5. Green Peas - 1/2 cup
6. Beans - 4 (chopped to 1 inch piece. I didn't use as I don't like beans much)
7. Onions - 4
8. Green Chillies - 3
9. Ginger Garlic (GG) Paste - 1 n 1/2 tbsps
10. Mint Leaves - 1 small bunch
11. Saffron - few strands soaked in milk/water
12. Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp
13. Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
14. Salt - To taste
15. Garam Masala Powder - 2 tsps
16. Thick Yogurt - 1 cup
17. Lemon - 1/2 Piece (Optional)
18. Whole Garam Masala :
 a. Bay Leaves - 4
 b. Cinnamon Sticks - 2
 c. Cloves - 6
 d. Cardamom - 4
 e. Pepper Corns - 8
 f. Shajeera - 2 tsps
19. Ghee - 2 to 3 tbsps
20. Oil - 3 tbsps + For deep frying

Procedure:

1. Wash and soak rice for about 30 mins

2. Heat a heavy bottomed kadai, add oil upto 3 tbsps
3. Add half of the above mentioned quantity of Whole garam masala and shajeera  

4. Don't boil any of the vegetables. Also for veg dum biryani the veggies should be diced big in size not small

5. I didn't boil any of the veggies, but I blanched cauliflower florets in hot water
6. I added salt and turmeric powder 1/4 tsp each in 2 cups of boiling water and blanched the florets for about 5 mins so as to remove dirt or any insects from them

7. Add potatoes, carrot, cauliflower florets and cook well. Sauting vegetables takes around 5 minutes

8. Now add GG paste and saute

9. Add Mint leaves, slit green chillies
10. Add green peas, beans and fry for a minute

11. Add red chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt and mix well

12. Cook vegetables completely
13. Switch off the flame and add thick yogurt and mix well

14. Add Garam masala 1 tsp only, 1 tbsp of ghee, few mint leaves, mix well and keep aside

15. You can squeeze half a lime at this stage if your curd is sweet and not sour
16. Keeping aside helps in marinating the vegetables which infuses much more flavours into them. Its better to rest it for about 30 mins

17. Deep fry 4 sliced onions in hot oil and drain on tissue paper. Frying takes a bit longer time. You can do this step while cooking rice also.

18. Now cook rice
19. In a vessel, boil water
20. Add rest of the shahi jeera, whole garam masala and salt is mandatory. 

21. Add rice to it which is soaked for 30 mins
22. Taste water after adding salt to ensure its taste is perfect. The water should be salty
23. Cook rice till 70% done. Grain should be pressed easily but should not be too soft nor too fat which is an indication that it is 70% done

24. Now take a thick bottomed vessel, place cooked vegetables in the vessel

25. Strain rice using a strainer and place rice in the vessel. Some water along with rice while straining it and adding on top of the vegetables is required. This helps for moisture which is needed while cooking on dum so that rice gets cooked completely
 

26. Put only half of the cooked rice over cooked vegetables
27. Put half of the fried onions, some pudhina leaves, and add saffron water over the rice

28. Now put rest of the rice and again put rest of the fried onions, some pudhina leaves, add saffron water and 1 tsp of garam masala powder over the rice
29. Pour 2 tbsps of ghee along sides and center of the vessel over the rice

30. Now cover with a lid tightly and keep on high flame for 5 mins and again on simmer flame for almost 8 to 10 mins

31. You can also use a tawa if you are frightened that the bottom part of the biryani might get burnt. For this, place a tawa on the flame and then this vessel over the tawa and then keep for dum

32. You can even seal the vessel with dough
33. In a whole of 10 to 15 mins by keeping on dum our biryani is ready
34. Serve hot hot Veg Dum Biryani with onion raitha or boondhi raitha as I did or with Mirchi Ka Salan or with any other gravy of your choice and enjoy the biryani's delicacies :)

Serving Suggestions:
1. Keep the biryani covered till serving
2. While serving, always take out the biryani from the vessel only along the sides and not from the center
3. Also keep layering the biryani one scoop on the other while serving, it looks perfect presentation

4. Do not mix entire biryani neither while scooping nor while serving

You might also like:

Egg Biryani

Chicken Dum Biryani

 

Carrot Halwa | Gajar ka Halwa

Carrot Halwa or Gajar Ka Halwa is a very easy to make dessert. Gajar is a juicy variety of carrots which will be a bit red in colour and are much juicy than carrots and suits better to make carrot halwa than carrots. Khowa also called Mava is added to this dessert to increase its taste even more. I added milkmaid also which gives a creamy texture and nice aroma to the dessert. 
 

The only tiresome part is grating carrots.
But the yummy and mesmerizing taste of the dessert makes you wipe off the tiresome grating process of carrots.
 
Ingredients:
1. Carrots or Gajar - 2 cups (Grated)
2. Milk - 1 cup
3. Sugar - 1/2 cup
4. Cashews - 1 tbsp
5. Raisins - 1/2 tbsp
6. Pistachios - 5 (for garnishing)
6. Cardamom Powder - 1/2 tsp
7. Ghee - 5 tsps
8. Milkmaid - 3 tsps

Procedure:
1. Heat ghee in a pan and fry cashews and raisins, keep aside

2. In the remaining ghee add grated carrot and fry till the raw smell of carrot leaves, it turns little golden in colour and nice flavour comes out of it

3. Once carrot is fried, add milk and Keep stirring till all the milk evaporates and carrot becomes soft
4. Once the milk evaporates, add sugar and cardamom powder and cook till sugar melts
 

5. Now switch off and add milkmaid and fried cashews and Raisins
6. Transfer to serving bowl and garnish with chopped pistachios

7. Carrot halwa tastes awesome and its colour will be so appetizing
 

Fruit Sponge Cake

Fruit Sponge Cake I prepared this cake on my hubby's bday...He liked it a lot.
Fruits like Peaches, lichee and kiwi along with some berrys like strawberry, blueberry, raspberry etc will be usually seen on any fruit sponge cakes. 

Ingredients:

1. All purpose flour (or Maida)- 1 and 1/2 cups
2. Eggs - 2
3. Butter - 1/2 cup
4. Sugar - 1 cup
5. Milk - 1/2 cup
6. Baking powder - 1 and 1/2 tsp
7. Vanilla Extract - 2 tsps
8. Oil - 1/2 cup
9. Dry nuts powder - 5 tsps (Optional, I used it for nice taste)

For Decorating: (You can use fruits of your choice. I used these below)
1. Apples - 1 Big
2. Grapes - 10 to 15
3. Pomogranates - 1
4. Oranges - 1

Procedure:
1. In one bowl beat eggs, add vanilla extract to it.
2. In other bowl whisk butter and sugar properly.
3. In another bowl sieve flour, add dry nuts powder and baking powder and sift the flour carefully into bowl of sugar and butter mix and whisk properly. Meanwhile add egg mix and milk to this.
4. If you have an electric whisk then you can add all the above ingredients at a time and can whisk easily.
5. Grease a pan or steel bowl of desired shape square, rectangular or probably a round pan particularly with a flat bottom and grease using oil or butter.
6. Pan of any shape particularly flat bottomed ensures even baking of the cake.
7. After greasing the pan you can apply a parchment paper or wax paper on it and then pour the above cake batter into the pan. Using such paper is optional. But greasing is mandatory.
8. Instead of using paper, it is preffered to sprinkle some flour on the greased tin and pat along sides and bottom and remove the excess flour which oozes out after sticking to the greased pan.

Using Oven:
9. Once you pour in the cake batter into the pan, place it in the oven which is pre-heated to 350 degrees F(175 degrees C) and then bake for about 30 to 40 minutes.
10. Cake is done when you insert a knife or toothpick in the cake and it comes out clean.
11. Take out the pan and allow it to cool for 1 hour approximately. After cooling cut the cake from along the sides of the pan. Then you can refrigerate or cut and serve. Plain vanilla cake is ready to eat.

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

I skipped icing the cake. Its upto your choice. After baking the cake, cut it to 2 horizontal halves, apply a thick coat of icing on one layer and cover it with another layer of the cake. Also apply icing on top and on all sides of the cake and then proceed for garnishing with fruits of your choice.

You can use fruits of your choice and availability.

Procedure For Decorating:
20. First place the cake in a plate or a turn table on which you desire to serve the cake.
21. Slice apple as shown in the pic.
22. Take out the outer skin of orange wedges and keep the fruit within aside.
23. Deseed grapes, extract seeds from pomogranate.
24. Now, Place apple slices carefully on the top and around the sides of cake as shown in pic.
25. Between 2 apple slices on top, place orange pieces, sprinkle some pomogranate seeds and place a grape.
26. Now pour pomogranate seeds around and on top of the cake.
27. Place some grapes on center of the top as in pic. And here's ur fruit sponge cake ready to serve :).

Here comes a great, new and an innovative vegetable carving from my hubby :)

Its named as "ULLI BAALU" means onion bear in telugu....:)

Linking my cake recipe to Bake Fest #28 Event: 

Veg Spring Rolls

Veg Spring Rolls is one of the popular veg starters.  Takes a bit longer time for preparation but tastes amazing :)

Ingredients:

For Spring Roll Sheets:
1. Maida - 1 cup
2. Salt - To taste
3. Water - As needed

For Stuffing:
1. Cabbage - 1 cup
2. Capsicum - 1/2 small
3. Carrot - 1 small
4. Beans - 6 to 8 small
5. Onion -1 Large
5. Tomato - 1 Large
6. Salt - To taste
7. Red Chilli Powder - 2 tsps
8. Oil - For Deep Frying


Also read: Veg Kathi Roll Recipe

Procedure:
1. Cut all the veggies and boil them till soft

2. Heat 2 tsps of oil in a wok and cook boiled veggies along with salt and red chilli powder till the flavours blend in completely

3. In a bowl mix maida, salt and water as needed to a consistency much thinner than dosa batter and make dosas without using oil

4. Heat oil for deep frying in a kadai, place spoonful of prepared stuffing on one dosa, roll it like spring roll and close edges with the dosa batter itself. Stick properly so that the stuffing inside may not ooze out during frying

5. Make all the rolls using dosa batter and prepared stuffing and deep fry in hot oil.It doesn't take much time for frying
6. Now lay the fried rolls on kitchen towel so that excess oil gets drained out
7. Cut the spring rolls in 2 inch size each and serve hot with tomato ketchup.