CHICKEN BIRIYANI RECIPE, CHETTINAD STYLE !!

Serves 8.

Marinate: 45 mins - 1hr
· Chicken – 1 medium sized full chicken, cut into medium pieces(1 kg approx)
· Salt
· Ginger-garlic paste (add 3 green chillies to the grind) - 4 spoons,
· turmeric – a pinch
· Curd - half litre

Ingredients:
· Basmati rice – 1 Kilo
· Oil – 100 ml
· Cardamom – 8
· Cinnamon stick -1 inch sized piece
· Bay leaves – 5 nos
· Onions – 4 medium sized, cut in halves and then thinly sliced
· Green Chillies – 8 slit lengthwise
· Ginger garlic paste – 2 spoons
· Mint leaves – 1 cup
· Corriander leaves – ½ cup finely chopped
· Tomatoes – 3, finely chopped
· Dhaniya powder (coriander seeds powder) – 2 spoons
· Chilli Powder – 1 spoon
· Garam masala – 2 spoons
· Salt to taste

Directions:

Wash and drain the rice, sauté rice with oil or ghee for 5 mins and set aside
Heat oil in a round bottom vessel or in a pressure cooker. Sauté the cardamom, cinnamon stick and bay leaves. Add onions, green chillies, ginger garlic paste and continue to sauté till the onions are transparent. Add mint leaves and coriander leaves, sauté and add tomatoes, dhaniya powder and chilli powder.
Transfer it all to a pressure cooker or electric rice cooker and add rice & water (1 part rice : 1.5 parts water for pressure cooker or 1 : 2 ratio for electric cooker). Add garam masala and salt.
Mix it all well and taste the water for salt, it should be a little saltier than desired before cooking.
For pressure cooker, cook with the weight on in a full flame till the first whistle, then simmer the flame and cook for 7-8 mins.
For Electric cooker, after 10 mins of cooking, open the lid and mix the rice and meat softly. Do it just once or the rice will break. After cooking, leave it in the “keep warm” setting for a minimum of 15 mins before serving.

Serve with raithas and mint chutney. potato wafers and coke go great with any biriyani.

South Indian Chicken Masala(gravy) - simple recipe

Ingredients (serves - 4)
Marinate:
1. Chicken – 750 grams
2. Curd – half cup
3. Salt – half spoon
4. Turmeric pwdr – a pinch
Rest:
1. Onions – 2 big or 3 small, finely chopped
2. Bay leaves – 2 (optional)
3. green chillies – 3 slit
4. garam masala – ¼ spoon
5. ginger garlic paste – 2 spoons
6. tomatoes – 3 finely chopped
7. curry leaves – 2 twigs

marinate chicken atleast for an hour in the refrigerator

Directions:

· in a round bottom kadai heat oil and sauté bay leaves and add ginger garlic paste and continue sauting
· add garam masala and green chillies, sauté and add onions.
· When onions are golden, add tomatoes and sauté till all water leaves the tomatoes. (5 mins approx)
· Add marinated chicken and sauté till the chicken turns pale and then browns a little.
· Add water till all the chicken are immersed and salt to taste (remember you have already added some salt while marinating) and half the curry leaves
· Cook for 30 – 40 mins or till chicken is tender.
· Add the remaining curry leaves a few mins before taking off the flame.
You can replace the tomatoes with two spoons of tamarind paste for a different consistency. Play with variations.
Serve with any type of rice or bread or idly or dosa.

Festive Sambar !

Ingredients - serves 3-4 :
1. Dhal(toor) – half cup
2. Tamrind – small lemon size
3. Coconut – grated 3 to 8 spoons (depending on taste and preference of thickness of sambar)
4. Fenugreek seeds – 1 spoon
5. Small jeera – ½ spoon
6. Mustard – ½ spoon
7. Urud dal (broken preferable) – ½ spoon
8. Small sambar onions – 8 to 12 or 1 ½ big onions, cut into wedges
9. Tomatoes – 3 big or 4 small
10. Preferred vegetable – 250 grams, cut into 1 ½ inch sized pieces ( i suggest black brinjals 250 gms plus 1 drumstick)
11. Sambar powder – 3 heapy spoons
12. Asafoedita powder – less than a quarter spoon
13. Curry leaves – 2-3 twigs
14. Coriander leaves – chopped or cut with scissors 2 spoons

Direction
· Cook the toor dal with 2 cups of water till its over cooked and soft. Set it aside.
· Boil the tamarind in ¾ cup of water for a minute and set it aside.
· Take the biggest round bottom kadai you have and heat two spoons of oil, add fenugreek seeds, jeera, mustard and urud dal.
· After the seeds sizzle and splutter, add small onions whole, sauté till golden.
· Add tomatoes finely chopped and your preferred vegetables and sauté till all the water leaves the tomatoes and its nothing more than just skin.
· Add water till all the vegetables are immersed and add sambar powder and asafoedita.
· When the veggies are 80% cooked, add the tamarind water extract and salt to taste and curry leaves.
· Wait for the raw smell of tamarind and sambar powder to go and add the toor dal along with the water( if the dal is not over cooked, beat it before adding to sambar)
· After it starts to boil again, add grated coconut. Add water to set the consistency right if you want or let it boil more to make it thicker.
· After you remove from flame, add coriander.

Serve with steamed rice and ghee or idlies or dosas.