Nimmakaya Pulihora

 

Nimmakaya pulihora is a great rice dish that is very easy to make. Personally I like this dish due to its taste and easiness.

Ingredients

Rice – 2 1/2 cups (Rice cooker)

Lime - 2

Green Chillies – 2

Ginger - 1/2 inch root

Groundnuts/Cashews – fistful

Chanal Dal – 2 tsps

Urad Dal – 2 tsps

Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp

Curry Leaves – 1 Sprig

Jeera – 1 tsp

Chopped Cilantro – 1/4 cup

Turmeric - 3/4th tsp

Red chillies – 3

1. Cook rice by adding 5 cups of water

2. Add 2 tbsps of oil to a pan. After oils heats up, add mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds start to splutter, add jeera, chana dal, urad dal, red chillies and peanuts. Fry everything until the dals turn to golden brown color. If you are using cashews instead of peanuts, add them now instead of earlier.

3. Chop greenchillies and ginger and add the same along with curry leaves to the pan.

4. Fry everything for a minute. Squeeze juice out of lemon.  Turn down the heat to Low. Add lemon juice, turmeric and salt to the pan and mix everything well for few seconds. This mixture is called pulusu. Turn off the heat and let the pulusu cool down.

5. Take a wide container. Slowly add cooked rice to the same. Make sure the rice does not have any lumps and does not become mushy. Let the rice cool down for a minute while mixing it occassionally.

6. Now, add pulusu to rice in smaller quantities. Keep mixing everything gently along with cilantro.

7. Pulihora tastes more delicious, the next day.

Vegetable Biryani

Ingredients

Basmati Rice – 5 cups

Onion – 1 big

Ginger Garlic Paste – 3 tbsps

Green Chillies – 5 Medium

Meal Maker / Soya Chunks – 1 cup

Pudhina/Mint Leaves – 1/2 cup

Coriander/Cilantro Leaves – 1/2 cup

Butter – 2 tbps

Cashews – 20

Oil – 1 tbsps

Chopped Vegetables – 5 cups

Spices

Cinnamon sticks – 7 medium
Cloves – 5
Elachi – 5
Bayleaves – 7
Shajeera – 1 tsp
Jeera – 1 tsp
Anise Star – 1

Procedure

1) Heat Butter and Oil in a wide pan.

2) Cut onions and green chillies length wise. Add them to the pan and start frying them.

3) Crush Anise Star to a powder. Add that powder along with all other spices to the pan.

4) Chop pudhina finely. Add cashews and pudhina to the pan and fry everything until onions become transperant.

5) Boil Meal Maker in salted water until they become soft. Squeeze out the water from boiled meal maker. Add it to the pan and fry for 2 more minutes.

6) Add Ginger Garlic paste and fry until raw smell disappears.

Bon Appetite

Hyderabadi Dum Ka Mutton Biryani

Hyderabad is famous for its Dum Biryani. Being a Hyderabadi, I have always savoured this dish. Whenever we go to Devon Street in Chicago, we never miss the opportunity to enjoy authentic Hyderabadi Dum Biryani.

It is a traditional celebration meal made using goat meat and rice and is the staple of a die-hard Hyderabadi. The Hyderabadi Biryani is so named as it is created in the city of Hyderabad, India. The blending of mughlai and Telangana cuisines in the kitchens of the Nizam (ruler of the historic Hyderabad State), resulted in the creation of Hyderabadi Biryani. [1]

Ingredients

Mutton – 1 lb

Basmati Rice – 1 lb
Kesari food color – 1/4 tsp

Butter – 3 tsps

Onion – 3 large

Milk – 10 tsps

Ginger Garlic Paste – 2 tsps

lemon – 1

Eggs – 5 Boiled

Green Chillies – 1

Chopped Cilantro – 2 cups

Mint Leaves – 1 whole bunch

Spices

Cloves – 10
Cinnamon Sticks – 10 medium
Anise Star – 2
Elachi – 10
Bayleaves – 5
shajeera – 1 tsp
Jeera – 2 tsp

For Marinating Mutton

Yogurt – 1 cup
Turmeric – 1 tsp
Green Chillies slit (small) – 2
Ginger Garlic Paste – 3 tsps
Garam masala powder – 1 tsp
half lemon squeezed juice – 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
Salt – 2 tsps

Wash Mutton thoroughly. Make medium sized pieces of Mutton and marinate the same with all the above ingredients for atleast 24 hours.

Procedure
1) Cook basmati rice with half of all the spices, salt, 1 tsp butter (not completely cooked)
2) Drain water from rice and keep it aside.
3) Take a big vessel and add 2 tsps butter, 3 tsps oil. Dice 1 onion and start frying it in the vessel. Add copped Mint Leaves to the same.
4) Crush Anise Star into powder. Add the same along with remaining spices, slit green chillies and fry.
5) After the onions are cooked, add 2 tsps Ginger Garlic paste and fry it until the raw smell disappears.
6) Add the marinated mutton and let it cook until almost done. The curry should come together. I normally cook mutton in a pressure cooker for 2 whistles or until done.

7) Add salt if necessary. Add 2 tsps Shan Biryani Masala (Sindhi Biryani) and 2 tsps Garam Masala Powder. Cook it for 5 more minutes and turn off the stove.
Take milk in a container, warm it. Add kesari color to the milk. Add 2 cups of cooked rice to the same and mix it well. Keep it aside.
9) Cut 2 Onions thinly sliced length-wise. Fry them in butter+oil until it gets a good brown color (caramalized) and keep it aside for Garnishing.Layering
1) Preheat oven at 375 deg.
2) Take a deep bottomed alluminium tray. Butter its inside walls properly.
3) Keep one cup of cooked rice aside. Divide each of rice, mutton curry, coriander leaves, caralamized onions and saffron colored rice into 2 portions.
4) Add one layer of rice (1/2), one layer of mutton curry ( 1/2 ), one layer of coriander leaves, one layer of caramalized onions ( 1/2) and one layer of Saffron colored rice ( 1/2) in the same order.

5) Repeat this process for one more time with the rest of the portions in the same order. So, the top most layer now is saffron colored rice. Layer it with 1 cup of cooked rice that we kept aside in Step 3.

6) Garnish it Cilantro. Make holes for eggs on the top layer. Make 2 halves of each egg. Place eggs in the holes we made.
7) Place the tray in the oven carefully and cook the same for 40 mins. Check if the rice is cooked. Ifnot, keep the tray back in the oven and cook until done.
After it is done, allow the biryani to rest in the oven for 10 more minutes. Take the tray out and squeeze half lemon on the top and mix it slowly.Biryani tastes great with Kheera Raitha and Mirchi Ka Salan.

References:

1. Wikipedia

Indian Thali

Chapati, Chole, Sona Masuri Rice, Tomato Masala Rasam