Kofta Pulao

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This is another form of Biryani whick is hugely popular in Hyderabad. Its my personal favorite too along with so many other delicacies in Mughlai Cuisine.

This is also my first ever entry to any event and I'm sending it to RCI: Authentic Hyderabadi Cuisine at Mona's blog Zaiqa. It also happened to be my older son's birthday and I thought what better way to celebrate it than with this fabulous pulao. It certainly bought a smile on his face :)


Ingredients:
4 tbs oil for frying onions

Marinate Mix
2 cups yogurt
1 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 turmeric powder
2 tbs ginger garlic
3 onions
32-35 kofte/meatballs
1 green chilli, slit


Note: I deliberately kept the spices in the yogurt to a minimum because the meatballs in itself are very spicy and once all of it is cooked, its gonna taste awesome.

For Boiling Rice
6 cups basmati rice washed and soaked in water for 30 min's
5 tsp salt
Garam masala (6 cardamom, 2 sticks cinnamon, 4 whole black peppers, 4 cloves, 2 tsp shahzeera and 2 bay leaves)

For Garnish
a few strands of saffron soaked in milk
3 tbs lemon juice
4 tbs ghee
1 whole bunch or more of cilantro


Method:
Heat oil and thinly slice the onions and fry them until golden brown, freeze them for a while and crush them lightly before garnishing.

In the remaining oil, add the marinate mix and cook till oil seperates, add the meatballs just long enough for them absorb the spices. Let it cool.

Boil rice and add the salt and garam masala...till half done. Strain the rice in the collander and oil a baking dish liberally with 2 tsp oil.

Spread the rice and top it with the cooked meatballs, ghee, lemon juice, saffron soaked in milk, fried onions and cilantro. Add the second layer of rice and top it with any leftover garnish.

Preheat the oven to 350*F and bake for about 1/2 hour. Serve with Tamate ki Chutney or Mirchi ka Salan, like I did and enjoy!

Note: I dug up the draft for Mirchi Ka Salan and blogged it recently, follow the link if you are looking for the recipe ;)

Mango Lassi

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Ah we are knee deep in summer, and what better way to beat it than with this lassi. And mango being my perennial fave...you will find my place flooded with either fresh mango or the next best thing, its pulp. This lassi is very easy to make and tastes heavenly.

Ingredients:
850 gms can mango pulp
4 tbs yogurt
6 tsp sugar
1 1/2 cup milk
Ice as needed

Method:
Blend the mango pulp with the milk and yogurt in Vitamix. Add sugar and ice and blend till it becomes thick and creamy. Serve chilled!

Lamb in Fragrant Spinach Sauce

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I recently bought a cookbook judging merely by its cover, which looked absolutely delish and mouth watering. Now as I was browsing the recipes on my kitchen island, my hubby glanced and said "Another cookbook?" when he actually meant "Oh God another round of experiments". But I quickly put his doubts to rest with this recipe ;p and boy was he happy!

The cookbooks a good buy...the collection of recipes is however brief but very precise, delectable and surprisingly easy to make. Here's the cookbook by Mridula Baljekar, from the Food Lovers' Collection.

I decided to make the recipe on the cover, although it didn't turn out to be in the exact rich color, it tasted heavenly...next time I should probably put a little less spinach. Here's the list of ingredients, some of which have been altered according to my taste.

Ingredients:

1 lb boneless lamb

1/3 cup yogurt

2 tbs vinegar

2 tbs gram flour or chana besan

1 tsp turmeric

4 tbs oil

2 inch cinnamon stick

5 cloves

5 cardamoms, crushed

2 bay leaves

1 onion

1 tsp ginger garlic paste

2 tsp black cumin seeds

1 tsp red chilli powder

5-6 tomatoes, chopped

3/4 cup warm water, plus another 4 tbs

1 tsp salt to taste

1 tsp sugar

9 oz fresh/frozen chopped spinach

2 tsp ghee or butter

1 tsp garam masala

1/2 cup light cream

Method:

Take yogurt in a glass mixing bowl, add vinegar, gram flour, turmeric and beat till well blended. Remove excess fat from the lamb and add it in and let marinate for 4-5 hours.

Heat oil, fry cinnamon, cloves, cardamoms, bay leaves and stir gently for a few sec's. Add the onion and fry till its tranlucent, put ginger garlic and cook for an additional 5-6 min's, until the onion is gloden brown.

Add black cumin seeds and red chilli..cook a further 5-6 min's, stirring frequently, add warm water and cook till oil seperates from the paste.

Add the marinated meat and increase the heat, until meat changes color. Sprinkle salt and sugar and the 3/4 tsp water. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally for almost 1 hour.

Meanwhile blanch spinach in a large saucepan of boiling salted water and cook for 2 min's. Drain and plunge into cold water.

Heat ghee or butter in another saucepan and add ginger garlic paster and garam masala, stir until slightly brown. Drop the spinach into this spiced butter and stir to mix in thoroughly.

Add the spinach mixture to the curry, stir in the cream. Mix well and let it simmer uncovered for 2-3 min's. Once nicely mixed, remove from heat and serve.

Baked Tomato Yogurt Chicken

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This recipe is taken from Mona's Zaiqa, a link to the original recipe can be found here
I must say its super quick, easy and not to forget delicious. The only exception I made was to add the chopped green chilli...it made the chicken very zesty. For people looking for the ingredients, here they are.

Ingredients:
Chicken: 2 lbs, cut into bite size pieces
Tomato Paste: 3 tbsp
Oil: 1 tsp
Red Chilli Powder: 1 tsp
Salt: 1 tsp
Yoghurt: 2 tbsp
Ginger Garlic paste: 1 tsp
Garam Masala: 1 tsp
Turmeric: 1/3 tsp
Green chilli: 1, chopped
Cilantro: as needed, finely chopped


Method:

In a flat baking dish mix all the above ingredients, except the cilantro. Let it marinate for 30 minutes at room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 350°F

Cover the dish tightly with an aluminium foil and slid it into the middle rack of the oven.

Remove from oven after 25 minutes, and mix it well. Cover it again with the aluminium foil and put it back and let it cook completely.

Remove the dish after 45 minutes. Stir it well and garnish with the chopped cilantro. Serve hot.

Dahi Wade

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Ooohh the inviting iftaars never complete without this delicious accompaniment. I remember Mom making it almost every other day of Ramadan. Making this dish brings back so many memories!


Ingredients:
5-6 tbs yogurt
1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste
salt to taste
1/2 cup water, as needed

For the batter:
1 cup chana besan flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
a pinch of baking soda
1 green chilli, finely chopped
a handful of cilantro leaves


For tempering:
1 tsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
2 dried red chillies
a few curry leaves
pinch of turmeric powder for color

Method:
In a bowl take yogurt and add salt and ginger garlic paste. Add water if the yogurt is thick, set aside.

In a small bowl take a cup of water and add less than 1/2 tsp salt, keep this aside to soak the bhajiyas after they are deep fried.

In a seperate bowl prepare the batter and deep fry the bhajiyas, till golden brown, toss them into the salty water and let them soak for a few minutes.

Transfer the bhajiyas into the yogurt mixture, set it aside.

Heat oil and add the temepering ingredients. Add turmeric powder a while before removing it from the stove. Turmeric is added to give the lovely yellow color to the tempering.

Splash it onto dahi wadas and refrigerate it, serve chilled by itself or a variety of sauces of your choice.