Prawn Fried rice

It was weekend and had to make something nice for dinner. Weekend outing and lot of sea fish shopping :) ..Basa , surmai & prawn. I wanted to cook goan prawn curry but the ingredients seemed to be unavailable & hence dropped the idea. Also PB said not to make any dal or curry. Instant dish came to my mind - lets have prawn fried rice with surmai fry. It came out to be tasty juicy and full of flavour. Here is the recipe for you.. Sorry  I could not take the stepwise pictures this time as I was in a hurry preparing the same after getting home late. Shall update as and when I cook it again.


Ingredients:

Prawn: 250gms (cleaned, washed. Make sure you soak the water after washing them)
Basmati Rice: 1 cup (washed & cooked)
Spring onion: 2 (sliced)
Garlic: 5-6 cloves grated
Carrot: 1 cut into juliennes (you can use other vegetables as well e.g. beans/capsicum)
Green chilli: 1-2 (optional)
Soya sauce: 2 tsp
Vinegar: 1 tsp
Chilli sauce: 1-2 tsp
MSG (ajinomoto): a pinch (avoid if you don't want to use)
Salt to taste
Oil: 2 tbsp.



Method:

If you pressure cook the rice, take it out to a bowl or dish & spread with a spatula/spoon once the cooker releases the pressure on its own. This will prevent the rice from sticking to each other.


Heat oil in a non-stick pan. Fry the spring onions & garlic together till translucent. Add the prawns and fry till they turn into light brown colour. If the prawn releases water, fry them till it dries up. Now add the chilli and vegetable. Fry in high heat stirring continuously for a minute or 2. You don't need the veggies to get cooked completely. Time to add the ajinomoto, salt, cooked rice and then the sauces ,in no particular order. Mix everything well , again in high heat and stir continuously. This would take you about 2-3 minutes or so. Put the flame off and transfer it to a serving dish/bowl.

At this stage you can sprinkle some more chopped green part of the spring onion and also sprinkle some scrambled egg. This will give you a nice crunchiness in every bite of this yummy prawn fried rice.

 

Bengali Mishti Pulao

Having been stayed for 6 years in the city of joy I was totally in love with Bengali food culture, foodies around each and every corner of the city , their love for GOOD food. Today's recipe is a traditional Bengali rice dish. It is rich flavourful with a mild sweetness and simple to prepare.

Even before I started developing my passion for cooking, the only blog I was following at that time was Preeoccupied : http://preeoccupied.blogspot.in/
I followed the recipe of Bengali mishti pulao from her blog and made it on a weekend for my family and in the first attempt only it came out just perfect with the colour, flavour everything!! ANd then there was no stopping. Made it many times for family & friends and I was always been appreciated by everyone.  Today after a long time I have made this pulao with chicken curry and we relished it totally.

This  aromatic sweet rice dish goes very well with mutton curry specially. Try out this awesome pulao preparation , I am sure you are gonna love it.


You may find a slight variation in the measurements of the ingredients from the original recipe ,because of me & my family's taste and requirement.

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice: 1 cup
Green peas: 1/2 cup
Ghee: 1 tbsp.
Freshly Grated ginger: 2 tsp
Raisin/cashew nut: A handful of them altogether
Cardamom/cinnamon/cloves: 2-3 of each
Bay leaves: 2
Turmeric powder: 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Sugar: 1 tsp
Few drops of lemon
Water 2 cups

Method:

Wash and soak the basmati rice for about half an hour. Then sieve for 10-15 minutes.

Heat the ghee in a pan/kadhai . Add bay leaves, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and allow them to crackle. Now add the raisins, cashews and fry them till golden brown. Remember to keep the flame at low.  Add rice once the dry fruits turn to golden brown. Mix everything well and keep stirring for about 2-3 minutes . Add the peas, ginger & turmeric powder at this stage. Keep mixing everything for another 2-3 minutes and then add sugar & salt in low to  medium flame and keep mixing again for say about a minute.

Now add 2 cups of water , few drops of lemon juice and give it a nice stir and cover it. Keep the flame between low to medium. Check in between and mix with gentle hands and cover again. Repeat the same procedure until the rice is cooked.

Once the pulao is ready  sprinkle few more drops of lemon again & give a mix so that the rice does not get stick. Serve hot with chicken or mutton curry.

You can cook this pulao in pressure cooker as well following the same procedure. Water requirement would vary.

 

Paneer Pulao

So the girl's school reopens after a long vacation and I am back to my work. Its been a relaxed vacation for both me n my girl. We only ate slept had lots  of fun time together. So last night's dinner I prepared with lot of effort and love for the little one specially. She wanted to have some yummy food and I thought of making some paneer pulao . We as a hard core non-vegetarian I hardly cook paneer/cottage cheese at home. Mostly on Thursdays I get it home being it a vegetarian day for us. So I freezed the menu with a paneer Pulao and corn capsicum masala gravy. Easy to prepare this pulav is lick-smacking that you can always serve your guests with any main course side dish of chicken / fish. I made this pulav in a very small quantity of ghee than the usual amount required in a Pulao. You can increase it as per your taste or requirement.


Ingredients:

Basmati rice: 1 cup
Paneer: 150 gms
Carrot/beans/capsicum: 1/2 cup chopped (you can add veggies of your choice)
Onion: 1 large finely sliced
Ginger & garlic paste: 2 tsp - I made the paste at home only
Green chilli: 1-2 (optional)
Cardamm/Cinnamon/clove: 2-3 of each
Cumin seed or Shah jeera: 1 tsp
Curry leaves: 5-6 leaves
Salt to taste
Ghee: 2 tsp
Oil: 1 tsp
Water as required

Method:

Wash and soak the basmati rice for about half an hour.

Heat 1 tsp of ghee in a pressure cooker.  Strain the soaked rice and roast it for about a min or so till it becomes dry. Transfer the rice to a bowl. Now add the remaining 1 tsp ghee in the pressure cooker and add the jeera, chillies, curry leaves, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and allow them to splutter. Add the sliced onion, ginger garlic paste and fry till light golden brown. Now add the chopped vegetables and mix everything well. Cook the vegetables for about 2-3 minutes by stirring continuously to avoid burning. At this stage add the rice and salt and give it a nice mix. Add sufficient water to cook the rice. Pressure cook  up to 2 whistles.

By the time heat 1 tsp of oil in  a non-stick pan. Cut the paneer/cottage cheese into small sized cubes and fry in the oil till golden brown from sides. Once done keep them aside.

Let the pressure releases on its own after 2 whistles. Open the lid and transfer the pulao to a large bowl so that the rice doesn't stick, with a spatula or ladle softly. Now add the fried paneer , garnish with fresh coriander and serve hot .

 

Finger-licking Chicken Biryani in a simple & easy way

 

Sometimes I feel lazy to cook a proper meal and I try to find an easy way to make a filling dish. Last sunday when I saw some chicken lying In my refrigerator I somehow had a  craving for biriyani. But then biriyani Is again a long process I would have to follow. Without much of a thinking I decided to make it in a simple easy way with whatever ingredients available at home that day. Heres how it came out. Look wise taste wise it really came out to be great. I have cooked biryani before also but this time PB just loved it and complimented without me asking for it.
I made a simple pineapple pomegranate raita to go with it and that tasted awesome as well.


Ingredients:

Basmati Rice: 1 cup
Chicken: 500 gms
Onion: 1 medium sized finely sliced
Garlic cloves: 10
Ginger: 1 medium sized
Potato: 2 medium sized cut into two (optional)
Egg: 1 hard boiled cut into two halves (optional)
Cinnamon stick: 1 medium sized
Cardamom: 2
Cloves: 3-4
Mace: 2-3
Biryani Masala: 2 tsp
Chicken Masala: 1 tsp
Chilli powder: 1tsp
Turmeric Powder: 1 tsp
Juice of one lime
Curd: 1 cup
Salt to taste
Saffron: few strands soaked in 2 tbsp. warm milk in a small bowl
Fresh Coriander leaves : roughly chopped handful
Mint leaves: roughly chopped handful
Ghee:  2 tbsp.
Refine oil: 2 tbsp.
Water as required to cook rice & for  chicken gravy

Method:

Soak the rice in water for at least an hour or so.

Make paste of ginger and garlic.

Clean and wash the chicken pieces. Add half of the ginger garlic paste, salt, chilli powder, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder, curd and mix everything well. Keep it in refrigerator for about an hour or so. I kept it for only half an hour as I had less time in my hand.

Heat oil in your biryani making handi. I used my non-stick deep bottomed pan with lid. Fry the sliced onions till they are golden brown and keep them on tissue once done. Now fry the potato pieces till golden brown and transfer to the tissue paper. In the same oil add the remaining ginger garlic paste, saute them. Add the chicken masala & biriyani masala, fry them for few seconds. Now add  the marinated chicken ,mix everything well. After some time add about half cup of water to it and half -cook the chicken.

At the same time, boil water in a large saucepan to cook the rice. Add the cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, mace, salt and bring the water to boil. Add the rice and remove from gas when its half cooked. Strain the water through a strainer. Add a spoon of lemon juice to the rice and mix gently so that the rice does not get stick and looks fresh.

Once the chicken is half done put the flame off. Don't make the chicken complete dry , let it be in a gravy form. Transfer half of the cooked chicken to a bowl. Layer half of the rice on the chicken on the pan, add the potatoes, add half of the fried onion, sprinkle the chopped coriander & mint leaves. Layer the remaining chicken on this, egg and then the remaining rice. Now sprinkle the rest of the fried onions, coriander & mint leaves and the ghee. Take the lime juice in a bowl and add the remaining 1/2 tsp turmeric powder and mix well. Now make holes on the rice layer and pour in the saffron dipped in milk and the lime juice-turmeric powder mixture. Cover tightly the pan with the lid ensuring no pressure gets releases. Let it be on a low flame for about 20 minutes.

Serve this hot biryani with some raita of your choice and enjoy. 

 

Corn Pulav

Few days back I was searching for some pulav options where I got to know about this sweet corn pulav. As corn is something that all three of us like to eat so I thought to give it a try yesterday for our dinner. It is a easy and quick flavourful recipe , a delicious indian recipe served as main course. I made makhni paneer as side dish with the pulav, a nice combination altogether and we all loved it.

Ingredients:

For the masala:

Onion: 1 medium sized
Garlic: 4-5 cloves
Ginger: one small portion
Cashew nuts: 5-6 soaked in water for 10-15 mins
Black pepper corns: 7-8 number
Cinnamon: 1 stick
Cloves & cardamom  : 2-3 of each


Other ingredients:
Basmati rice /or any other rice with nice aroma: 1 1/2 cups
Sweet corn: 1 cup
Milk: 1/2 cup
Water: 1 cup
Green chillies: 1 or 2
Salt to taste
Mint and coriander leaves: handful
Bay leaves: 1 or2
Cardamom: 2-3
Oil: 2 tbsp.

Method:

Soak the rice in water for about an hour or so.

Make a smooth paste out of the ingredients mentioned under ingredients for the masala.

I cooked the pulav in pressure cooker. If you wish you can make it in handi as well.

Heat oil in the pressure cooker. Add bay leaves, cardamom, chilli and let it splutter. Now add the masala paste and stir fry. Add the corn and mix everything well and fry for about a minute or so. Add the milk , keep stirring for another minute or two and bring it to boil. Add rice, salt, coriander and mint leaves , combine all well and add water. Give it a nice stir and pressure cook upto 2 whistles.

Once done, let the pressure gets release on its own. Transfer the pulav to a serving dish and serve hot with any side dish you wish to enjoy with this delicious pulav.

 

Spicy Mint & Coriander rice

This particular dish has happened just like a new experiment by me. The other day I made a Mint & Coriander chutney which I am sure we all love to eat. Love this multipurpose green ! So this time I used it with my regular rice cooked for lunch. As I keep cooking tomato rice , I thought why not to cook normal rice with this chutney. Also I had to clear out this chutney within few days itself. So I went ahead and tried this awesome rice preparation. Easy to prepare and full of flavour. Mint & coriander surely enhanced the nutritional value .


Ingredients:

Cooked rice: 1 cup
Mint & Coriander chutney: 3 tbsp.(you can check the recipe for this in my blog)
Onion: 1 medium sized finely chopped
Cumin Seeds: 1 tsp
Black mustard seeds: 1 tsp
Curry leaves: 4-5
Salt to taste
Dry red chillies: 1-2
Amchur powder/dry mango powder: 1/2 tsp
Ghee/refined oil: 2 tsp

Method:

Heat the ghee/oil in a pan. Add dry chillies, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, curry leaves and allow them to splutter.  Now add the onion and saute till translucent. I am not using ginger & garlic here as I already  have used a good quantity of it while making the chutney. Add salt,  amchur powder and mix well. Now add the cooked rice and the mint coriander chutney. Mix everything very nicely so that all the ingredients combine with the rice. Cook this in a low to medium flame. Stir continuously for about 5 minutes until all the ingredients are well-combined.

Now put the flame off. Serve this rice hot with raita/pickle and enjoy.
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Cheesy baked capsicum rice

Sometimes the days of the weeks are hard to make my little girl eat her regular meals. Obviously as mothers we always try and want them to eat healthy and properly. So today I thought to surprise her by cooking something with rice only for her in lunch, but in a healthier way.

This was just a random thought of mine to bake rice other than cooking pulao or fried rice. And honestly I was not even aware of any baked rice dish(until I saw someone commented on my post that she had it in Singapore). Thought if everything can be baked , why not rice, that too if loaded with veggies. So I tried & tested this for the first time ever in my kitchen and it was a hit for sure. Minimum ingredients and easy to prepare recipe this one. Do give it a try and share your feedback .

 

Ingredients:

Rice: 1 cup washed and strained
Salted Butter: 1 tsp
Pepper powder: 1 tsp
Salt to taste
red/yellow/green capsicum: 1 cup cut into julienne
Onion: 1 small sized finely chopped
Garlic: 1 tbsp. crushed
2 cups water
Cheese: 1/2 cup grated. I have used processed cheese. (You can avoid if you want)
Oil: few drops to grease the baking tray/tin (You can bake this in any oven proofed borosil/ramekin bowl)
One strand of Rosemary roughly tore & Finely chopped Lemon grass for that extra flavour

Method:

Heat butter in a pan. Add the onion & garlic & saute for sometime.  Add the capsicum, pepper & salt & stir. Saute for about 2 minutes and then add the rice, rosemary and lemon grass. Mix them well . Saute for another 2-3 minutes. Now put off the flame. In the mean time , preheat the oven at 220 degree Celsius. Grease the dish/bowl/tin/tray with oil and keep aside. Once the rice and vegetables are cooled, transfer it to the bowl ,add water and bake it at 220 degree Celsius  for 20-25minutes covering properly with an aluminium foil. After 20-25 minutes take out the dish/bowl and remove the aluminium foil and sprinkle the grated cheese on the top and bake again for another 10-15 minutes so that cheese melts on the top. Remove from the oven carefully as dish/bowl will be very hot. Serve this cheesy baked capsicum rice hot and enjoy.

I served this rice to my little girl with some home-made French fries and I had with my home-made chilli pickle. You can add variation to this dish by including some other veggies like mushrooms/potato/carrots etc. or can make it non-veg with boneless chicken .

 

Tangy & teekha Tomato Rice

This is a spicy and tangy rice preparation best served with papads and coconut pachadi. Also is best suited to pack in the lunch box, for kids and elders alike! This has become a favourite dish of the family in weekdays. Variation that I do sometimes is by putting less chillies so that the little girl can enjoy to the fullest.

The recipe of this tomato rice is by Tarla Dalal which I searched and found in internet. Perfect for this monsoon season .

Ingredients:

For The Masala

2 tsp coconut oil or any other refined oil
6 whole dry Kashmiri red chillies , broken into pieces
2 tsp coriander (dhania) seeds
1 tbsp chana dal (split Bengal gram)
1 tsp urad dal (split black lentils)
1/2 tsp asafoetida (hing)
2 tbsp grated dry coconut

Other Ingredients3/4 cup tomato pulp
1/2 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
salt to taste
1 tbsp coconut oil or any other refined oil
2 tsp ghee
1 tsp mustard seeds ( rai / sarson)
3 tbsp peanuts
6 to 7 curry leaves (kadi patta)
2 tsp finely chopped green chillies
1/2 cup chopped onions
2 1/2 cups cooked rice

Method
For the masala

1. Heat the oil in a small pan, add all the ingredients and sauté on a medium flame for 4 to 5 minutes or till the flavour releases, while stirring continuously. Keep aside.
2. When cool, blend in a mixer to a fine powder. Keep aside.

Rest of the method:

1. Combine the tomato pulp, turmeric powder and salt, mix well and simmer for 5 to 7 minutes or till the mixture thickens, while stirring continuously.
2. Add the prepared masala, mix well and simmer for a minute. Keep aside.
3. Heat the oil and ghee in a kadhai and add the mustard seeds.
4. When the seeds crackle, add the peanuts and curry leaves and sauté on a slow flame till the peanuts turn light brown in colour while stirring continuously.
5. Add the green chillies and onions, mix well and sauté on a medium flame for 4 to 5 minutes, while stirring continuously.
6. Add the cooked tomato pulp, rice and salt if required, mix gently and cook on a slow flame for another 2 minutes. Serve hot.