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Kala Jamun/ Fried milk sweet dumplings

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A double fried dark colored jamuns soaked in rose scented sugar syrup. This is a darker version of famous Indian dessert Gulab jamun. Gulab jamuns are fried milk dumplings in rose scented sugar syrup. These are larger in size when compared to the gulab jamuns and also much tastier.

It gets dark color from the sugar added in the dough. I have used color inside the jamun, you can even use nuts inside and make them. It takes more soaking time than normal gulab jamuns. SO do not try to taste them in 30 minutes.I have a normal gulab jamun recipe in my list. No one would say no to that as well. But if you have tasted kala jamuns from India, you would just go yum! They are beautiful sexy dark colored jamuns which is sweeter than normal jamuns.

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 Tips to make them perfect: (almost similar to gulab jamun tips)

If you get the right consistency in the gulab jamun dough, you will never buy in the stores. I have mentioned some tips and suggestions, which might help.

  1. If you are making this with readymade mix, just mix it with milk till you get the right consistency, (not dry crumble but stickly soft)
  2. For sugar solution, on cooling if the sugar syrup crystallizes, then just add two or three tablespoons of water and warm the syrup again. It will be back to the syrup consistency.
  3. Apply some oil on your palms and make smalls balls from the dough. It may double the size after soaking in water, so be careful to make them small sized.
  4. There should be no cracks on the dough balls. They should be smooth, If there are cracks, then just add some 1 oe 2 tbsp of yogurt/milk and continue making the balls.
  5. Do cover them and keep aside for ten minutes before frying them. it makes a great difference.
  6. Do not make the jamun dough hard, it should be soft or else the syrup will not go inside after soaking.
  7. When you fry them, when the oil becomes medium hot, lower the flam, add a small in the oil, it should slowly rise to the top from bottom. If it rises instantly, then the oil is too hot to fry which is not good. One jamun should get fried for about 6 -8 mins, its that slow for a perfect jamun.
  8. If jamun cracks while frying, then add 1 or 2 tspof flour to the dough and form the balls again.
  9. Don’t crowd the pan when deep frying, it might make the oil totally zero hot.
  10. Fry the jamuns for 5-6 minutes, remove from heat. Drop the jamuns again after 10 minutes, and fry them for 3-4 minutes till they are dark brown colored jamuns.
  11. Use a wooden spatula to rotate the oil after adding the jamuns without touching them, so that they are evenly gold.

I have few other delicious sweet dessert recipes in my website. 

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5.0 from 1 reviews
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Kala Jamun/ Fried milk sweet dumplings
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 20
 
Ingredients
  • Khoya (milk solid) – 2 cups, homemade or store bought
  • Crumbled Paneer – 1 cup, homemade or store bought
  • All-purpose flour – 5 tbsp
  • Baking powder – a pinch
  • (or)
  • Ready made gulab jamun mix - 3 cups


    For Inner jamuns:
  • Cardamom powder – 1 tsp
  • Sugar – 2 ½ tbsp.
  • Color – green/red (optional)
  • Ghee – 1 tbsp (to knead)
  • Ghee/oil – for deep frying


    For sugar syrup:
  • Sugar – 5 cups
  • Water – 2.5 cups
  • Rose essence – 1 tsp
  • Saffron – a pinch
  • Cardamom powder – 1 tsp
Instructions
  1. To prepare the sugar syrup:
  2. Mix water, sugar, cardamom and saffron in a pan, heat it till you get a syrup consistency. There should not be any thread formation, as it might form crystals later. Usually it takes around 8 – 10 mins for that consistency in medium flame.
  3. Add the rose water and keep it aside.


    To prepare the jamuns:
  4. In a wide bowl, add the crumbled khoya, all-purpose flour, paneer and baking powder. Mix it gently. Or you can use ready-made gulab jamun mix.
  5. Add little bit of water and make it into a smooth dough and knead the dough well. Use 1 tbsp of ghee and knead.
  6. Take ¼th of the dough, add cardamom powder, sugar, color and mix well.( you can even add chopped nuts to it). Make small balls.
  7. Divide the colored and white dough into equal portions.
  8. Take the white dough spread, spread it and then stuff the coloured dough into it and close. Make a round shape or bullet shape ball. Keep aside and repeat the same process for entire dough.
  9. Once the jamuns are ready, Heat oil. In a low flame, fry the jamuns till they are golden brown for 5-6 minutes.
  10. Remove (with no oil totally) and keep aside for ten minutes.
  11. And fry the jamuns again after ten minutes in low flame for 3- 4minutes; they will get a black color outside. But do not keep in high heat and burn them.
  12. Add these jamuns to hot sugar syrup soak for atleast 3 hours and serve.
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Gujarati Surati Dal / Peanut Tomato Lentil Recipe

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Dal-4Sweet, sour and crunchy lentil curry with peanuts and tomatoes – simple, flavorful and delicious!

I make dal always at least once in a week. But I really do not take pictures of it as it will be very late for me for have the food. I always feel it is delicious and comfort food. And also healthy 🙂 This dal recipe has sweet and sour taste together and still it is delicious. And that peanut gives the extra crunch to it. Sweet, sour, crunchy -this combo looks crazy but trust me, Its yum!!!

I have other lentil recipes: Garlic dal, Chana dal Paratha,tomato dal rasam and Sambar.

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Gujarati Surati Dal / Peanut Tomato Lentil Recipe
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 3 cups
 
Ingredients
  • Pigeon Pea Lentils/ Tuvar Dal – 1 cup
  • Tomatoes – 2 medium sized, chopped
  • Onions – 1 medium sized, chopped
  • Green Chilli – 1, chopped
  • Ginger – ½ inch, finely chopped
  • Red chili powder – 1 tsp
  • Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
  • Cumin powder – ½ tsp
  • Garam Masala – 1 tsp
  • Jaggery – ½ tbsp
  • Unroasted raw peanuts – 2 tbsp
  • Lemon juice – ½ tbsp
  • Dry Methi leaves – 1 tsp
  • Salt – 2 tbsp

    For Tempering:
  • Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
  • Dry Red chillies – 3, broken
  • Asafoetida – a pinch
  • Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Instructions
  1. rinse lentils and keep it in pressure cooker with tomatoes, onions, green chilles with 3.5 -4 cups of water for 7-8 whistles in medium heat.
  2. Mash the lentils using a wooden spoon or a masher to a smooth mixture.
  3. Add the peanuts, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, cumin powder, garam masala,ginger and salt to the dal.
  4. Bring the dal to boil in medium-low heat for 5 minutes and add jaggery and methi leaves to it in this step. If you find the consistency to the dal becomes thick, add more water. If you think its too liquidy, boil it for few more minutes.
  5. Its time to temper by heating oil or ghee in a pan, then add the mustard seeds and then when its pops, add the asafetida, curry leaves and red chillies. Fry for a few seconds but don’t burn it.
  6. Pour the tempering on top of dal. and squueze some lemon juice and stir with the seasonings. Garnish with coriander leaves.
Notes
1. If you think its too spicy, you can reduce the green chillies.
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Dal

Serve the hot surati dal with parathas,rotis or rice and side dish like potato roast.

Rice Kheer / Milk & Rice Pudding:

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Ricekheer-4_nameRich, creamy and delicious kheer infused with cardamom, garnished with almonds & pistachios & the addition of saffron makes it more flavorful.

This rice kheer is a simple Indian dessert made of rice and milk and can be made for any festival or celebration. This is very easy to make and does not need much cooking skills 😉 ! I don’t make them much but when I wanted something sweet, quick and easy to make, I tend to make these. If I wanted to make for any festivals in the mornings before I go to work, I make this rice kheer 🙂 Perfect! Sometimes I even make these with left over rice. But the one I have posted here was made from scratch. You can add any dry fruits of your choice to garnish 🙂

Ricekheer

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Rice Kheer / Milk & Rice Pudding:
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2
 
Ingredients
  • Milk – 5 cups ( I used full fat 3.25% milk)
  • Rice – 3 tbsp (raw rice or basmati rice)
  • Ghee – 1 tsp
  • Sugar – ½ cup
  • Salt – a pinch

    Garnish:
  • Ghee – 2 tsp
  • Cashews – 4 (broken)
  • Almonds – 4 (Blanched and sliced)
  • Pistachios – 2 ( broken)
  • Raisins – 4
  • Saffron – a pinch
  • Cardamom powder – 1 tsp
Instructions
  1. Method:
  2. Heat a pan and add 1 tsp of ghee and roast the rice in medium flame. Keep it aside.You can break the rice (powder the rice). Optional.
  3. In the same pan, pour milk and bring to boil. When it is boiling, add the rice and cook in slow flame for 20 minutes or pressure cook for a whistle.
  4. When the rice is boiled, now add the sugar, pinch of salt and continue boiling in low flame for another 10 minutes until you a thick consistency.
  5. In a small pan, add the ghee for garnish, when it is hot, add the cashews, pistachios, almonds and when the cashews are golden brown, switch off and add the raisins.
  6. Top the rice kheer with the garnish nuts, saffron and cardamom.
  7. Can be served hot or chill
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Vegetable Bread Toast Sandwich:

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BreadToast-3This is one of my favorite open faced sandwiches. Easy, Quick and tasty one. Takes about 10 minutes to get ready and are super fresh and delicious. Bored with your toast? Spread this delicious homemade vegetables sauce on your bread and enjoy!

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I have had this bread toast in India in a bakery called “Iyengar bakery”.  If you have tried this in that bakery, you will surely say how tasty it is. I got a lot of request for sandwich recipes. It is just I try lot of sandwiches recipes in the morning but never take pictures as they have become a day to day morning routine. I mainly did this recipe as I wanted to make in pan rather than sandwich makers. You can keep this as open sandwiches or closed sandwiches. I left it as open sandwich to remind me the bakery sandwich. Do not add water to the vegetables and make it mushy, the vegetables should be crunchy in this. I still remember, my dad used to get this sandwich from a bakery when I was doing my third grade in Madurai. My sister was in sixth grade only, but still she used to get me this after school for me with her pocket money 🙂 ! This bread toast is easy to fix up with less effort for kids. I made this on a weekend with some avocado and banana coffee milkshake.

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Vegetable Bread Toast Sandwich:
Author: 
Recipe type: Breakfast
Cuisine: Indian
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2
 
Ingredients
  • Bread slices – 4
  • Oil – 1 tsp
  • Cumin seeds – ¼ tsp
  • Onion – 1, finely chopped
  • Green chilli – 1, finely chopped
  • Tomato – 1, finely chopped
  • Carrot – 1, finely chopped/ grated
  • Bell pepper/capsicum – 1 small, finely chopped
  • Salt – 2 tsp
  • Red chilli powder – ¼ tsp
  • Chaat masala – ¼ tsp
  • Tomato ketchup – ¾ tsp
  • Butter – to toast bread
  • Coriander leaves – 2 tsp, finely chopped to garnish
  • Lemon juice – 1 tsp, to garnish
Instructions
  1. In a pan, add oil and add in the cumin seeds and then add the chopped onions and green chillies. Sauté till the onions are light golden brown.
  2. Add in the carrots, bell pepper, chopped tomatoes,chaat masala, red chilli powder, salt and the tomato ketchup.
  3. Sauté in a low flame for 5 minutes and switch it off.
  4. Place a pan and when the pan is hot, toast the bread with little butter on both sides.
  5. Spread the filling on the top side and garnish with coriander leaves. Squeeze some lemon/lime juice to garnish.
Notes
1. You can leave it as open or closed sandwiches.

2. Do not add water and make the vegetables mushy. The vegetables should be crunchy here,

3. You can add any vegetables of your choice like potatoes, cabbage, peas or beans.
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 BreadToast

Aloo Rasedar Recipe

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Aloorasedar1Easy spiced potato curry from Uttar Pradesh cuisine – Winter special.

The rice is also no onion no garlic recipe. You can also make this curry for fasting. This recipe is so quick and is very easy. You can even add tamarind sauce to it when you prefer, it gives great twist to the recipe. Some add peas and cauliflower to the curry, it’s a great way to have any veggies. This recipe is popular all over India. I made this with channa paratha. But it taste great with just plain rice or poori or parotta.

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Aloo Rasedar Recipe
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • Potatoes – 3 medium
  • Tomato – 1 large
  • Ginger – 1 inch, finely chopped
  • Green chilli – 2, chopped finely
  • Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
  • Red chilli powder – ½ tsp
  • Cumin powder – 1 tsp
  • Fennel powder – 1 tsp
  • Coriander powder – 1 tsp
  • Dry mango powder – 1 tsp
  • Garam masala powder – 1 tsp
  • Asafetida/hing – ½ tsp
  • Water – 1.5 cups of water
  • Oil – 1 tbsp
  • Salt – 2 tbsp
Instructions
  1. Boil the potatoes in cooker for two whistles or just boil the potatoes for twenty minutes so that it can be easily crumbled. Now peel and crumble the potatoes and keep aside.
  2. Heat oil in a pan in a very low flame; add the spice powder – Cumin powder, coriander powder, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, fennel powder, asafetida, Amchur powder, ginger, green chillies. Stir quickly so that they don’t burn.
  3. Add chopped tomatoes and stir. Saute the tomatoes till they soften, crush and you will see oil releasing from the sides.
  4. Add the crumbled potatoes, salt and stir well. Saute for a minute. You can also mash potatoes with a back of spoon if you think it’s too big.Add water and stir again. If you think this consistency is not good, you can add more or less water. Stir & mix well.
  5. Bring it for simmer for about 10 minutes so that the curry thickens slightly.
  6. Finally add chopped coriander leaves, methi powder and garam masala powder.
  7. Switch off and serve with rotis or parathas or with plain rice.
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Taste great with just plain rice or poori or paratha or peas pulao.

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Chana Dal Paratha/ Stuffed Lentil Paratha

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ChanaParatha-5Popular Indian Whole wheat Flatbread stuffed with Chana dal. Healthy, delicious & vegan!

It is one of the best and popular breakfasts of India. It is stuffed with chana dal, cooked in a tawa and served with a knob of butter. It is even delicious with a bowl of plain curd or yogurt. I usually like to have rotis,phulkas,parathas for dinner only. But I really don’t like to cook something for dinner and then something else for lunch. Because I usually prepare something for dinner and pack the left over’s for the lunch. But these parathas are even good for breakfast. Many have them for breakfast, as they are healthy and filling.

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These parathas are very filling than the usual parathas. I couldn’t even finish 1 ½ parathas. I usually like to prepare parathas once in a while and each time I would like to prepare a new filling variation J And also if you have don’t have vegetables at home, these chana dal parathas are the best! J Did I tell you that I prepared this because I did not have vegetables at home ;)!

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Chana Dal Paratha/ Stuffed Lentil Paratha
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 8-10 parathas
 
Ingredients
  • Wheat Flour – 2 cups
  • Salt – 2 tsp
  • Oil – 2 tsp
  • Water – to Mix
    For Filling:
  • Chana dal – 1 cup, (soaked for 3 hrs)
  • Green chillies – 4
  • Coriander – 2 tbsp, chopped
  • Amchur Powder – 1 tsp
  • Coriander powder – 1 tsp
  • Ginger – 1 inch
  • Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
  • Garam Masala – ¼ tsp
  • Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
  • Salt – 2 tsp
  • Ghee/oil to roast parathas.
  • Whole wheat to roll parathas
Instructions
  1. In a bowl, mix the flour with salt. Add the oil and add water little by little ( I added around ¾ cup of water) and knead everything till they begin to form as a soft and pliable dough.
  2. If the dough becomes sticky then add some flour. If it looks dry and crumbly, add some water and knead well.
  3. Cover the dough and let it rest for 20-30 mins.


    Preparing the chana dal stuffing:
  4. Wash and soak chana dal for 3-4 hours. Drain the excess water and grind it in two pulses (coarse mixture). Do not grind it to a fine paste. You can even grind the chillies and ginger with the mixture.
  5. Add amchur powder, Chopped coriander leaves, red chilli powder, garam masala, salt, coriander powder, green chillies, ginger and turmeric powder. Mix well and keep it aside.



    For parathas:
  6. Pinch the dough and take big lemon sized dough and roll in between your palms.
  7. Then on dusted flour, roll it out to a small circle with a rolling pin.
  8. Now add the chana dal filling in the center of the rolled out dough. Bring the edges together and join them in the center.
  9. Just tap the center and it would look like a neat stuffed ball.
  10. In a dusted rolling board, use a rolling pin to roll the stuffed dough ball gently to a 6" disc of ½" thickness Make sure not to break them. If some chana dal pieces come out, it is fine. But it should not totally come out.
  11. Heat a tawa or a pan, put the rolled chana dal paratha. When you see some bubbles on paratha, Apply some oil or ghee and flip it. And apply some oil and ghee and fry the other side also. You would see some brown spots. It is perfect and try following the same procedure and do the rest of the parathas.
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Serve with some raita, pickle or some cashew paneer or some gravy side dishes.

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Hyderabadi Egg Biryani

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EGgBiryani-5_nameGot some rice and eggs? Turn them into famous scrumptious one pot meal – Egg Biryani.

One of the famous Indian one pot meal biryani using hard boiled eggs. It has amazing flavors. Biryani has become one of my all time Sunday recipes. I guess I have posted 4 biryani recipes – Lamb Biryani, Shrimp Biryani, Paneer Biryani and Vegetable Biryani. Now this is the fifth one! We can make the Biryani and just have it with no Eggs also. It still tastes great.

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I used to frown to prepare biryani before 4 years. I thought it was a big thing, and it is best had only in restaurants. But now 🙂 it has become a part of my Sunday lunch. It took about an hour to prepare. But on weekends, it is fine and also we don’t need to prepare side dish for this. It is great to have with any raita 😉 and especially with garlic raita. I blended the masala and all ingredients and then cooked the rice and masala together and topped the fried masala egg on it.

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4.7 from 3 reviews
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Hyderabadi Egg Biryani
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 3 cups
 
Ingredients
  • • Oil – 1tbsp
  • • Bay leaf – ½
  • • Cinnamon – 1 thin piece
  • • Cloves – 3
  • • Cardamom pods -2
  • • Tomato - 1, small, chopped
  • • Yogurt – 2 tbsp
  • • Basmati Rice – 3 cups
  • • Biryani Masala – 1 tbsp
  • • Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
  • for garnish:
  • • Saffron – ½ tsp dissolved in ½ cup warm milk
  • • Ghee – 2 tbsp
  • • Mint – 2 tbsp finely chopped (to garnish)
  • For the Egg masala:
  • • Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp
  • • Red chilli powder – 2 tsp
  • • Black pepper powder – 1 tsp
  • • Besan flour- 2 tbsp
  • • Salt – 2 tsp
  • • Boiled eggs - 4
  • For fried onions:
  • • Onions – 2 small onions, ½ cup, sliced thinly
  • • Cashewnuts – 6
  • • Oil – to fry (3 - 4 tbsp)
  • For rice masala:
  • • Cashew nuts – 6
  • • Khus khus (white poppy seeds) – ½ tbsp.
  • • Cumin seeds/ jeera – ½ tbsp
  • • Fennel seeds – ½ tbsp.
  • • Coconut – 2 tbsp
  • • Garlic – 4 pods
  • • Ginger – 1 inch
  • • Green chilli – 4
  • • Mint – ½ cup, chopped finely
  • • Coriander leaves – ½ cup, chopped finely.
Instructions
  1. Wash and soak rice for at least 30 -40 minutes.


    For Fried onions:
  2. Heat a pan with oil, add the sliced onions and cook in medium heat till turn golden brown. Add cashews in the end and fry too. Stir in the middle so that it does not stick to the bottom. Set aside.



    For Egg masala:
  3. Mix all the ingredients under “Egg masala” with little water and add the Eggs. Heat a pan with 1 tbsp of butter. Now add the marinated eggs and coat till the eggs gets golden brown.




    For masala:
  4. Grind the garlic, ginger, mint, coriander, cashews, coconut (optional), poppy seeds, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, chillis with two tbsp. of water into a smooth paste.
  5. Now take a big pan, add oil or ghee in medium heat, add the spices (cardamom, bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves), and then add the tomatoes and grinded paste and sauté them till the tomatoes are not raw and little mushy.
  6. Now add the yogurt, chilli powder, biryani powder and mix well. I always move the skillet away from the heat when adding yogurt which prevents it from curdling.
  7. Now after returning the skillet back to the stove, add the rice and salt and water. (Quantity of water to be added is for one cup of rice, it is 1.5 cups of water). Mix well and close the lid tight and keep it in medium heat for 10 minutes.
  8. Now add the marinated eggs, fried onions and chopped mint for garnish and keep it in low for 5 minutes.
  9. Drizzle the saffron and milk over the rice and Switch off, and keep it closed for another 5 minutes. They will help the eggs get the masala flavors from rice and vice versa.
Notes
You can skip coconut while grinding and add coconut instead of water while boiling.
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Taste perfect with raita or mirchi ka salan. Even having it plain is delicious.

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Masal Vadai/ Masala Vada/ Paruppu Vada recipe:

by 4 Comments

MasalVada3NameCrunchy and delicious deep fried lentil fritters. Perfect snack on this cold winter day!

It is a popular snack in southern India. It is super addictive snack. Perfect party snack and also it taste best with tea time snack. And if you make these for parties, it is a great hit. Whenever there is a tea time here, people tend to have biscuits or cakes. But I guess in India, It is always spicy crunchy snacks with tea. Whenever I walk in streets in Chennai, I used to have this masala vada aroma near the road side shops. It smells so good! I have never got the chance to taste them. It is been in my drafts for a long time to post, so I am posting it today.

MasalVada

The tips to make these vada tasty are by adding the shallots, mint and fennel seeds. And also people think it’s hard to make these. If you make them once, you will know how easy it is to make them. But make sure to not add water when you grind them. I have mentioned some tips in the notes. Do look at it.

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Masal Vadai/ Masala Vada/ Paruppu Vada recipe:
Author: 
Recipe type: Appetizer
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 15 Vada
 
Ingredients
  • Channa Dal – 1 cup
  • Shallots/Small onions – 1 cup, chopped
  • Corainder leaves – 2 tbsp, chopped
  • Mint leaves – 2 tbsp, chopped
  • Curry leaves – 1 sprig
  • Green Chillies – 4
  • Fennel seeds/ Soambu – 1 tsp
  • Ginger – 1 inch piece
  • Garlic – 6 cloves
  • Rice flour – 1 tbsp
  • Salt – 1 ½ tbsp
Instructions
  1. Soak channa dal for 4 hours.
  2. First grind ginger, chillies, garlic and fennel coarsely in a blender jar.
  3. Drain channa dal completely and add it to the same jar of the ginger paste and grind coarsely. 4-5 channa dal pieces can be whole.
  4. Mix finely chopped onion, mint, coriander, salt, rice flour and curry leaves.
  5. Heat oil in pan/kadai.
  6. Meanwhile Keep a bowl with water and wet both hands. Make equal sized balls first for uniform sized vadas. Shape each ball to flat patties of medium thickness.
  7. The oil should be hot and when it is hot, Drop the vadas. Simmer the heat and deep fry them in hot oil until golden brown in color, flipping once in between. It is always good to cook in medium flame to ensure even cooking and golden colour.
Notes
1. Make sure not to add water while grinding.
2. Make sure to soak vada for three to four hours. It is hard to grind them otherwise and also if it is not soaked well, it may turn hard and too crisp.
3. Rice flour helps to make it crispier. It is optional. You can soak 1 spoon for rice with the dal and grind instead.
4. Garlic is optional too.
5. Shallots can be replaced with normal red/white onions. But shallots give great texture and flavor.
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Paneer Biryani

by 11 Comments

paneerbiryaniname

This is a treat for the vegetarians. Aromatic and flavorful one pot meal!

I usually do biryanis on weekends. I had half of the paneer left over from paneer burji. So wanted to do something with paneer for weekend. And i asked my friend for paneer recipe ideas 🙂 and she did say me few amazing ones but more of sweets :)! I did not want to make a lunch and also sweet. So, wanted to cook quickly but a heavy happy sunday lunch. And 🙂 I did this lovely paneer biryani. I have had paneer biryani only once in my life. But as I always say Paneer is my favorite. If you say “Paneer”, I am in! There are a lot of ways to do a biryani. You can do layering like this “vegetable Biryani“, or boil the meat and then do layering like this “lamb biryani” or just marinate overnight and cook the biryani like this “shrimp biryani“. For all the above recipes I cooked the rice separately. This time for the paneer briyani, I blended the masala and all ingredients and then cooked the rice and masala together. It was just lovely.

I have few other paneer recipes 🙂 here and I loved every single recipe!!! 🙂 – Cashew paneer, paneer Makhanwala, Malai Methi paneer , Matar Paneer, how to make paneer at home

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5.0 from 1 reviews
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Paneer Biryani
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 3 cups
 
Ingredients
  • Oil – 1tbsp
  • Bay leaf – ½
  • Cinnamon – 1 thin piece
  • Cloves – 3
  • Cardamom pods -2
  • Yogurt – 2 tbsp
  • Basmati Rice – 3 cups
  • Biryani Masala – 1 tbsp
  • Red chilli powder – 1 tsp


  • for garnish:
  • Saffron – ½ tsp dissolved in ½ cup warm milk
  • Ghee – 2 tbsp
  • Mint – 2 tbsp finely chopped (to garnish)

    For the paneer masala:
  • Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp
  • Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
  • Black pepper powder – ½ tsp
  • Besan flour- 1 tbsp
  • Salt – 2 tsp
  • Paneer cubes – ½ cup

    For fried onions:
  • Onions – 2 small onions, ½ cup, sliced thinly
  • Cashewnuts – 6
  • Oil – to fry (3 - 4 tbsp)

    For rice masala:
  • Cashew nuts – 6
  • Khus khus (white poppy seeds) – ½ tbsp.
  • Cumin seeds/ jeera – ½ tbsp
  • Fennel seeds – ½ tbsp.
  • Coconut – 2 tbsp
  • Garlic – 4 pods
  • Ginger – 1 inch
  • Green chilli – 4
  • Mint – ½ cup, chopped finely
  • Coriander leaves – ½ cup, chopped finely.
Instructions
  1. Wash and soak rice for atleast 30 -40 minutes.

    For Fried onions:
  2. Heat a pan with oil, add the sliced onions and cook in medium heat till turn golden brown. Add cashews in the end and fry too. Stir in the middle so that it does not stick to the bottom. Set aside.


    for paneer:
  3. Mix all the ingredients under “paneer masala” and add the paneer cubes. Heat a pan with 1 tbsp of butter. Now add the marinated paneer and coat till the paneer gets golden brown.


  4. For masala:
  5. Grind the garlic, ginger, mint, coriander, cashews,coconut(optional), poppy seeds, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, chillis with two tbsp. of water into a smooth paste.
  6. Now take a big pan, add oil or ghee in medium heat, add the spices (cardamom, bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves), and then add the tomatoes and grinded paste and sauté them till the tomatoes are not raw and little mushy.
  7. Now add the yogurt, chilli powder, biryani powder and mix well. I always move the skillet away from the heat when adding yogurt which prevents it from curdling.
  8. Now after returning the skillet back to the stove, add the rice and salt and water. ( Quantity of water to be added is for one cup of rice , it is 1.5 cups of water). Mix well and close the lid tight and keep it in medium heat for 10 minutes. Now add the marinated paneer, fried onions and chopped mint for garnish and keep it in low for 5 minutes.
  9. Drizzle the saffron and milk over the rice and Switch off, and keep it closed for another 5 minutes.They will help the paneer get the masala flavors from rice and vice versa.
Notes
1. You can skip the paneer marination and add paneer directly.
2. You can skip coconut while grinding and add coconut instead of water while boiling.
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Serve with garlic raita/ cucumber raita or Mirchi ka salan.

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Spinach Garlic Curry

by 54 Comments

SpinachGarlicCurry

A simple garlic spinach curry, uniquely flavored with milk. I’ll place this right up with my most-loved comfort foods.

To be frank, when I really feel like having comfort home food, I have few recipes that I would like to make –  vengaya kuzhambu, rasam, mor kuzhambu, potato roast and there comes this recipe “spinach garlic curry”. I just love this recipe. This makes me feel good after having it 🙂 I am not exaggerating. I feel so! I always make this spinach curry with potato roast and basmati rice. I really like the flavors of spinach curry and basmati rice and with sides I need my potato roast. You should try this combo! It is just awesome! You can even have this as sides to roti or just plain rice. It can be made as vegan by adding coconut milk or soy milk. I came to know about this recipe from my friend Priyanka. She used to make it for us 🙂 I just adapted this recipe from that. Before having this, I was wondering spinach and milk combination, it did not feel good 🙂 Now I am in love with this! Thank you Priyanka :)!!!!

Vegan Note – . You can use coconut milk/ soy milk instead of milk to make it completely vegan.

Spinach-2

4.7 from 14 reviews
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Spinach Garlic Curry
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2 cups
 
Ingredients
  • • Cumin seeds (jeera) – 2 tsp
  • • Garlic – 8, chopped finely
  • • Onion – 1, chopped finely
  • • Green chilli – 1, chopped finely
  • • Tomato – ½, chopped finely
  • • Turmeric powder - ½ tsp
  • • Spinach – 3 cups, chopped or whole
  • • Chilli powder – 1 tbsp
  • • Coriander powder – 1 tbsp
  • • Cumin powder – 1 tbsp
  • • Milk – ½ cup
  • • Oil – 2 tbsp
  • • Salt – as needed
  • • Coriander leaves – For garnish
Instructions
  1. Heat oil in a large heavy bottomed non-stick skillet over medium heat, add jeera, garlic and add the onions and chillies and fry until they are golden brown.
  2. Now add the tomatoes, salt and turmeric and fry until golden brown.
  3. Now stir in the chopped spinach to this and add 2 tbsp of water and close the lid. Simmer it for few minutes till the spinach leaves shrink.
  4. Now add the chilli powder, coriander powder and cumin powder. Fry this for a minute.
  5. Now add milk and Stir in the mixture few times and the milk should evaporate 90%.
  6. Now switch off and Garnish with coriander leaves.
Notes
1. You can use coconut milk/ soy milk instead of milk to make it completely vegan.
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Spinach-5

Restaurant Style Lamb Biryani

by 7 Comments

LAmbBiryani-5

Rich and delicious biryani made with lamb. It is surely a festive dish and this is perfect to cook when you have guests over or make it for dinner parties. You are going to love this rice flavorful rice. This is an exotic Indian lamb biryani in a restaurant style. Each and every time when I make lamb biryani, I try different methods 🙂 just to differentiate and have different taste each time.


 LAmbBiryani-4

 

There are varieties of biryani are prepared like Hyderabadi biryani, Mughal biryani, chettinadu biryani, Kashmiri biryani. The style of preparation and the rice used to make this biryani gives a unique delicious taste. In lamb biryani, the main thing is that the lamb has to be cooked for long or have to be in whistles. Even you can use meat tenderizer. But I personally boil them for long or put in pressure cooker for 5 – 6 whistles to make the lamb perfectly cooked.

LAmbBiryani-2

5.0 from 1 reviews
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Restaurant Style Lamb Biryani
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 5
 
Ingredients
  • For the masala:
  • • Cashew nuts – 6
  • • Khus khus (White poppy seeds) – ½ tbsp.
  • • Cumin seeds/ Jeera – ½ tbsp.

    For fried onions:
  • • Onions – 1 cup, 2 onions, sliced thinly
  • • Cashewnuts - 6
  • • Oil – to fry

    For layering:
  • • Mint leaves – 1 tbsp, chopped
  • • Cilantro Leaves – 1 tbsp, chopped
  • • Saffron – ½ tsp dissolved in ½ cup warm milk
  • • Ghee – 2 tbsp

    For the rice:
  • • Basmati rice – 2 cups
  • • Salt – 2 tbsps
  • • Cumin Seeds/ Jeera – 1 tbsp

    For the lamb:
  • • Oil – 1 tbsp
  • • Bay leaf – ½
  • • Cinnamon – 1 thin piece
  • • Cloves – 3
  • • Cardamom pods – 2
  • • Onion – 1, sliced thinly
  • • Ginger garlic paste – 2 tsp
  • • Full fat yogurt – ½ cup
  • • Garlic – 4 whole
  • • Green chilli – 5, slit
  • • Tomato – 1, sliced thinly
  • • Biryani masala – 1 tbsp
  • • Red Chilli powder –1 tsp
  • • Mint – ½ cup, chopped finely
  • • Coriander leaves – ½ cup, chopped finely
  • • Lamb – 1 lb
Instructions
  1. Grind the cashew, poppy seeds and cumin seeds into a smooth paste, using as little water as possible. Set aside.
  2. Deep fry the sliced onions when it is hot. Don’t overcrowd the oil. When the onions turn light brown, remove from oil and drain on paper towel. The fried onion will crisp up as it drains. Also fry the cashewnuts till golden brown. Set aside.
  3. Wash the rice and soak in water for twenty minutes.
  4. Meanwhile, take a big wide pan, add oil in medium heat, add the sliced onions, add the blended paste, to it add the green chillies, ginger garlic paste and garlic and fry for a minute.
  5. Then add the tomatoes and sauté them well till they are cooked and not mushy.
  6. Then to it add the red chilli powder, biryani powder, mint, coriander leaves and sauté them well.
  7. Add the yogurt and mix well. I always move the skillet away from the heat when adding yogurt which prevents it from curdling.
  8. Now after returning the skillet back to the stove, add the washed lamb and salt and ½ cup water and mix well. Cook for 1 hour and cook it covered in medium low heat or put it in a pressure cooker for 6 whistles. If the water is not drained totally, heat it by keeping it open.
  9. Take another big pan, add thrice the cup of rice you use, and boil it. When it is boiling high, add the rice, salt and jeera and mix well. After 7 minutes exact or when the rice is 80% done. Switch off and drain the rice.
  10. Now, the layering starts. To the lamb, pat and level it. Add the drained hot rice on the top of it. Garnish with fried onions, ghee, mint, coriander leaves and saffron dissolved in milk.
  11. Cover the dish and bake in a 350f oven for 15 minutes or till the cooked but not mushy. Or cook in the stove medium heat for 12 minutes and lowest heat for 5 minutes. And switch off. Mix and serve hot!
Notes
1. If you are cooking in oven, do make sure to cook in a big oven safe pan and cover it tight and then keep in oven for the final step.
2. You can skip biryani masala if you don’t have and add just garam masala (1 tsp and red chilli powder – 3 tsp instead of 1 tsp)
3. If it is spicy in the end, squeeze some lemon, it will reduce the heat and enhance the flavors also.
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Taste perfect with raita or mirchi ka salan. Even having it plain is delicious.

LAmbBiryani-3

Mumbai Style Egg Bhurji

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EggBhurji_nameIndian scrambled eggs, spicy and loaded with veggies. Perfect for a healthy breakfast or pairs well with rotis or a sandwich filling.

I would say it is one of the Mumbai’s famous and fast selling foods when it comes to street corners and food stalls. It is also called as Anda bhurji, scrambled eggs, Bhurji pav. This will stand out of all the dishes on your dining table. I used colorful peppers to make it look more beautiful.

EggBhurji-3

It has onions, ginger, tomato, green chillis and green red peppers. You can even use peas in these. I have used pav bhaji masala in this recipe. Pav bhaji is a popular Indian chat food in India and this masala is used in this recipe. You can get this masala at any Indian grocery stores. You can replace 2 tsp of pav bhaji masala with 1:1 Red chilli powder and garam masala powder.

It is so easy to make these. And as I always say, eggs are saviors if you don’t have anything or lazy to make a time consuming dinner. They serve best when had in the breakfast. Very healthy! You can also have them with rice and some curry. Or just have it as a snack in the evening with some tea. You can also place them in pita or taco or have it in a sandwich filling.

4.0 from 1 reviews
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Mumbai Style Egg Bhurji
Author: 
Recipe type: Breakfast
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2 cups
 
Ingredients
  • Eggs – 3 large.
  • Onion – 1 small, finely chopped
  • Green chillies – 2, finely chopped
  • Green capsicum – 1, finely chopped ( I added green and red half and half)
  • Grated ginger – 1 tsp
  • Tomato – 1 small, finely chopped
  • Pav bhaji masala – 2 tsp ( or 1 tsp chilli powder and 1 tsp garam masala)
  • Pepper powder – ½ tsp
  • Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
  • Butter – 1 dollop
  • Coriander leaves – 3 tbsp, finely chopped
  • Milk – 2 tsp
  • Salt – 1 tbsp
  • Oil – 2 tsp
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl, break one egg at a time and whisk the egg yolks and whites together until light and fluffy.
  2. To the egg mixture, add the salt, turmeric powder, pav bhaji masala and pepper powder. Whisk well till they all combine well.
  3. Take a wok/ pan on medium heat and add 2 tsp of oil, add the grated ginger, the chopped onions, the finely chopped bell peppers and the green chillies. Sauté those until the onions and peppers are soft and tender.
  4. Now add the chopped tomatoes to it, and then sauté those until the tomatoes are lightly softened but not very mushy.
  5. Now add the egg mixture to it, keep stirring the mixture continuously until you begin the eggs coming together. And also they should have the crumbly texture. Keep stirring or else it may stick to the pan.
  6. When they have cooked completely, add the butter and milk and stir well.
  7. Switch off and Garnish with coriander leaves and serve.
Notes
1. Adding milk makes it not dry.
2. reduce the green chilli if you like it not spicy.
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Serve these delicious egg bhurji with bread for breakfast or make it as side dish for any curry and rice or make this dish for tea time snack.

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