Samosa

Samosa sure qualifies as the most popular and most likeable Indian snack item. Garam garam samosas on a cool wintry afternoon is the best treat you can give yourself. Again, I'm posting this now (after weeks of clicking the pic) since I so much want to eat it right away (its 15degrees where I stay), but laziness is what is holding me back from cooking. Bah! Its too cold outside, who'll go and cook. So, satisfying my appetite by drooling at this picture below:

Now, don't laugh looking at the shape of the samosa :) My Second attempt, I think I did a decent job. 

Recipe is from Sanjay Tumma @ vahrevah.com. He's right about adding oil while kneading the dough. Samosas were lot crispier than what I made earlier.

Vegetable pulao

I prefer calling this pulao, and not biryani. For biryani is a very divine dish, with lots of hardwork involved. What I'm blogging here can be made real quick.

Version 1 - Healthy and tasty

Ingredients:

Pictorial version first. :)

1. Basmati rice - 1.5 cups
2. Vegetables - carrot, potato, beans, green peas, etc etc
3. Onion - 1 medium size
4. Green chillies - 3,4 (depends on the heat of the chillies)
5. Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
6. Whole garam masala (cardamom #3, cloves #3, bay leaves #3, cinnamon 1 inch stick)
7. Biryani masala (any brand) - 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Wash and soak the rice for 20 minutes
2. Cut the veggies into inch long pieces. Heard that adding potato causes the pulao/biryani to become sticky/mushy when you finally mix the biryani before serving. But still, I can't do without aloo.
3. Onion needs to cut into thin and long pieces
4. Slit the green chillies vertically
5. Heat a tbsp oil and fry the whole garam masala. Don't add too much oil in this step as the GG paste (added next) takes up all the oil that you add.
   
6. Fry the GG paste in oil, followed by onions and chillies
7. Add some ghee, little more oil and fry the veggies. Cover the pan and let the veggies cook on medium flame for 5min
8. For 1.5 cups rice, add 1 tbsp salt and biryani masala
9. Drain the water from rice and add it to the veggies. Stir fry everything for another 5 min
10. Pan to cooker plus water (as reqd)
    

Serve hot with yummy raitha (curd+onions+cucumber+salt).



Version 2 - Less healthy but more tasty

Drop all the masalas above (ginger garlic, whole masala and the garam masala powder) and use Parampara Biryani Mix instead. This is a semi-solid paste made with a whole bunch of spices and is sold in most Indian grocery stores.



For making "parampara" biryani, fry the onions - then the paste (half packet for 1.5 cups rice) - & then the veggies followed by rice - add salt (a little less 'coz the paste already has salt), water & cook.

Since the paste is oily, and has been made long before we use it, I call this a "less healthier" version of the veggie pulao recipe I wrote above. But, taste-wise, I have to admit, it's amazingly delicious!!! Almost like the one served at Hyderabad House. If you want to prepare authentic hyderabadi biryani without much effort, Parampara comes to your rescue!

Jeera rice

Been a while since I blogged. Was pre-occupied with a million other things over the last 2.5 weeks. Finally, I'm back to blogger!

As an employee, I used to wait for the work-week to end, so that I'll have two days all for myself. Each Friday morning, I'd say "TGI (Thank God It's) Friday" when I wake up :) Even though I'm not working anymore, I still love Fridays. At home, I welcome the weekend with a nice yummy dinner on Friday nights. On a Friday, I'm posting what I made on another TGIF. Bah! Too many Fridays in one paragraph.

As promised earlier, here comes my post on Jeera Rice. Very easy to make, and quite healthy too.

Ingredients:

1. Basmati Rice - 1.5 cup
2. Jeera/cumin seeds - 3 tbsp
3. Whole garam masala (Cloves #3, Cardamom #3, Cinnamon 1 inch, Bay leaves #3)
4. Onion - 1
   
5. Cashewnuts - to your heart's content :)

Method:

1. Wash and soak the rice for about 20minutes
2. Cut the onion into thin, inch long pieces
3. Add a tbsp of oil + a tbsp of ghee to a saucepan and heat it
4. In go the jeera, whole garam masala and the cashewnuts
   
5. Fry the onions next
6. Drain the rice and add it to the pan. Toss the contents and fry for 2-3 minutes
7. Add sufficient salt and empty the pan into a rice cooker
8. Adding the required amount of water, cook till the rice is done

Here's what we had - Jeera rice with Rajma, Masala buttermilk on the side in a perfect dinner setting on a perfect day :)





Punjabi khana from an Andhra Kitchen. Howz that?

Rajma masala

A great side dish for roti as well as rice. Method of preparation is very much similar to chole masala.

Ingredients:

1. Rajma beans (washed & soaked for atleast 8hrs) - 1 cup
2. Tomatoes (pureed) - 3 medium sized ones
3. Onion (chopped into small pieces) - 1 large
4. Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
5. Dhania jeera powder - 1 tbsp
6. Garam masala - 1 tbsp
7. Amchur powder or lemon juice - 1 tbsp
8. Chopped coriander leaves

Method:

1. Pressure cook the beans with salt until soft.
2. Fry a tbsp of oil, and add the GG paste.
3. Once the paste is fried, add some more oil & fry the onions.
4. Tomato puree goes in next along with a pinch of salt.
5. Once the raw smell of the tomato disappears, add the cooked rajma (along with the water used for cooking the beans).
6. One by one, add dhania-jeera powder, garam masala, chilli powder, turmeric powder, and a spoonful of sugar.
7. If I have rajma curry with chapathi, I like it lemon-y. With rice, rajma made with amchur powder tastes better. If you're using amchur powder, add it now.
8. Stir the contents of the pan and let it cook (with the lid on) on low flame for about 10min.
9. Adjust salt, masalas as desired. Can add lemon juice now (optional).
10. Garnish with cilantro leaves.

In my next post, I'll share my Jeera rice recipe. Till then, bybye!

Experiments from Lakshmi's Kitchen

Lakshmi is the first "new friend" I made in the USA. A nice girl who's really good at cooking, and the one who kind of got me into food blogging. She blogs at: Lakshmi's Kitchen  

This post is dedicated to Lakshmi. Couple of recipes I tried from her blog would be presented here.

To start with, the mouth-watering Gobi Manchurian

My changes:

Added tomato ketchup along with other sauces

Vegetable Frittata - Not much of an omlette lover, but enjoyed eating this one. May be because of the veggies.

Many more to try....