What the Heal-thy Biryani!

 Hello people! Ever wondered, that something as tasty like a biryani can be eaten without the guilt of putting on some extra-kilos? Well, it's not totally deprived of the feel-good ingredients but leaves you light after eating it. So, here is some nutritious and tasty Biryani! 

Serves 8 people

Ingredients:

2 cups white rice (soaked, drained and boiled)

4 medium- sized potatoes cut into long pieces (Peeled and boiled)

1 medium-sized tomato finely chopped

2 medium sized onions cut into long pieces

2 large carrots chopped into long pieces (boiled for 15 minutes)

150-200 gms of french beans cut into long pieces (boiled for 15 minutes)

200 gms of green peas (boiled till soft, for 30 minutes) 

1 cup hung curd/ chakka (drain the whey) 

3-4 tbsp Biryani Powder (See below for the recipe) 

(salt, aamchur powder, ginger paste, green chili paste according to taste)

Prep-picture- 1

Biryani Powder: Why make your own?

It is convenient to buy a Biryani powder from the nearest provision store but it is an inconvenience. You might spend 4 hours in the kitchen cooking the perfect Biryani and  what if it doesn't turn out the way you want? The powder has to be exact according to one's liking. Here's the recipe, which'd go with any biryani whatsoever. 

Ingredients: (powder) 

6 whole red chillis (for moderately spice use 4)

6-7 whole black pepper seeds 

5 large garlic cloves (optional, but recommended)

1 small handful cumin seeds 

1 small handful coriander seeds

1 small handful kasoori methi 

2-3 small pieces of cardamom (optional)

4-5 clove seeds and cinnamon 

Method: 

Combine all the ingredients in a pan and roast them until brown. Stir continuously so that the ingredients aren-t burnt. This exercise will take about 10-12 minutes. Allow them to cool for sometime, and crush all of them together in a mixture and the powder is ready. 

Method: (Biryani) 

Take a large pan and heat about 4-5 tbsp of cooking oil, adding cumin seeds. Add the finely chopped onions, and saute until golden brown. Add the tomato, ginger paste and the green chili paste stirring for another 5 minutes. Add about 4-5 tbsp of the Biryani powder (depending upon how spicy you want) and stir until the vegetables and powder from a thick paste. Add little salt, 1 tsp of Aamchur powder (if required) and 2 tsp of garam masala (if required). Take the pan off the stove and allow it to cool for sometime. Add the finely chopped boiled potatoes, French beans, carrots and green peas to the mixture. Lastly add the hung curd/ chakka. 

Mix the three well, to form a well mixed gravy. Take a large vessel (suitable for Oven) and grease it with butter. Pour one layer of the vegetable mixture, and a layer of rice over it. Repeat the same if using a larger vessel and the biryani is in a larger quantity, forming colored layers. 

(Tip: Add little Saffron to the cooked rice, if not economizing. Gives a savory look to the biryani)

Garnish it with deep-fried Onions and Potato crisps (The unhealthy option). Bake in the oven for 20 minutes and serve hot. 

Happy Feasting! :) 

South-Western Potato skins (Vegetarian)

Hello! This is a typical fatty recipe from the Western Coast of America, the prime ingredient being Beef & Beans. However, we have turned it into a vegetarian marvel which I assume, tastes as good. (The picture isn't very appealing, nonetheless, the dish was savory)

serves 6-7 people

Ingredients:

8 medium/large potatoes 

1/2 cup canned sweet corn 

2 medium onions finely chopped 

1 medium tomato finely chopped 

1 green bell-pepper finely chopped

5 cloves of garlic finely chopped

Olive oil (organic if available) 

1 cup Cheddar cheese (optional: parmesan)

(chili powder, oregano, parsley, salt, pepper, paprika and cumin powder to taste)

Potato skins:

Take 8 large Potatoes and using a fork, pierce them several times. Grease them with olive oil, and put them on the oven plate. Allow them to roast for about 1 hour. (Take additional 10 minutes if the crust isn't very crispy)

After 1 hour take them out of the oven and allow them to cool for about 20 minutes. Cut them into huge sections/chunks. Make sure that the skin doesn't peel off in the process. After they're cut into sections (width depending upon one's liking, I'd cut most of them into four fat pieces or into half for a bigger piece), scoop the insides carefully and do not leave the skins too thin or fragile. Leave enough potato to hold the filling. 

After they're cut and scooped, put them in the oven and bake the sides with the skin for 8-10 minutes. Invert the potato and bake the scooped sides for 5-7 minutes more. Remove from the oven and set aside.

For the Vegetable filling:

In a non-stick pan, heat 4 tbsp of olive oil and add garlic and chopped onions to the same. sauté the onions and garlic till translucent. Add the tomatoes later and saute for another 3-4 minutes. add the 1/2 cup of tinned sweet corn and add the chili powder, cumin powder, dried parsley, (thyme for a more exotic taste), paprika, oregano and pepper. 

Later, stuff the potato skins with vegetable filling, garnishing with the right amount of cheese, baking it for 10 minutes more and serve hot with a dip (preferably Sriracha's hot fiery sauce) of your choice. 

Note: (The original recipe includes black beans also. Considering one would want to use this as a starter and not the main-course, not using beans is the trick.)

Happy feasting! :) 

Vegetable & Bean stack enchiladas

(serves 6-7 people)

10 Corn Tortillas (to make it @ home, combine salt, maize flour and all-purpose flour in equal proportions)
3-4 cups Enchilada sauce (recipe: see below) (tomato puree, garlic powder, cumin powder, 1 tbsp all-purpose flour, vegetable stock, mixed herbs)
1 cups black beans (drained and cooked)
2 cup spring onions
6 large bell peppers (use 2 squash if available)
3 medium onions (finely chopped)
a handful of sun dried tomatoes and black olives
3 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese (if not available, use Mozarella instead)
olive oil (organic if available)
(salt, chili powder, chili flakes, pepper, mixed herbs, to taste)

• Corn tortillas:

Buy 10 Corn tortillas (soft) from the nearest store or, the easy way to prepare your own is as below:

sieve 200 grams of maize flour and all-purpose flour, adding salt according to taste. Mix the three well, adding water and 4 tbsp of vegetable oil. Prepare the dough and making round tortillas not bigger than size of a pancake, and set aside. 

• Enchilada sauce:

Drain 10 medium-sized tomatoes in hot boiling water for not more than ten minutes. Peel off the skin and allow them to cool for sometime. Grind the tomatoes in a mixture till minimum amount of tomato chunks remain. pour the puree in a colander placed over a vessel. Allow it to settle for sometime, and you'll have a dense tomato paste in the colander. Keep aside the tomato juice collected in the vessel, as you might need it later. 

Take a huge pan, and heat up 2-3 tbsp of Olive oil. Add the dense tomato paste collected in the colander, adding chili powder (1-2 tbsp), cumin powder (1/2 tbsp), chili flakes and Mixed herbs. Now slowly stir in the Vegetable Stock, and 1 tbsp of all-purpose flour (for a thick consistency). Let it boil for another 5-7 minutes, and then set aside. 

*(If the vegetable stock isn't available, add additional Onion powder and garlic powder to the same, or add the tomato juice that we set aside earlier.) 

• Roasted Vegetable mixture:

Chop the bell-peppers and onions into long pieces, and grease them with 2-3 tbsp of olive oil adding salt and pepper to the vegetables. Grease a pan (suitable for an oven) with butter and roast the vegetable mixture for about 30 minutes. Allow them to cool and then set aside. 

• Beans:

Soak about 1 cup of black beans in hot water overnight. Boil the beans in a pressure cooker for about 30-35 minutes (6-7 whistles). 

Heat 3 tbsp of olive oil in a frying pan and add the 2 cups of spring onions. Sauté the Onions for 2-3 minutes before adding the bean mixture. Add salt according to taste, and 3 tbsp of Taco seasoning/ Fajita seasoning.*

*(If the seasoning isn't available in a market, then you can DIY like this: 

50 gms of Cayenne  50 gms cumin seeds, fresh basil, fresh parsley, paprika, salt, dried oregano, dried thyme and onion powder. Dry the above ingredients for a day or two and as soon as they've dried crush them in a grinder and you'll have your very own seasoning to add in any Mexican Recipe. 

Method:

Take any vessel in which you'd like to serve the enchiladas (suitable to bake in an oven) and grease it with butter. Pour about 4-5 tbsp of the enchilada sauce towards the bottom. (The sauce shouldn't be too thick as a lot of it would dry up during baking.) Place the tortillas over the sauce-bed and adjust the stack according to shape and size of the vessel (I chose to cut the round tortillas into half placing them next to each other). Pour the bean-mixture next on the tortillas, covering the mixture with year another layer of tortillas. Next place the roasted vegetable mixture and finely chopped sun dried tomatoes and black olives, glazing it with a thin layer of our sauce. Add another layer of tortillas over it. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the same (depending on the gravy you want) and the last layer would be of our 2 cups of Monterey Jack/ Mozzarella cheese. 

Bake it in the oven for about 25 minutes, and serve it hot with Iced-teas. 

Happy feasting! :)