Veg Dum Biryani

Today's recipe is Veg. Biryani. Am very fond of eating lot of vegetables in my meals, not just as salads. Biryani was nice way to eat all my favorite veggies in a meal. It is perfect combo of Carbs, fiber and protein. So what we waiting for.. Lets get started......

This is cooked in 3 steps viz., step 1 consists of cooking vegetables (Partially), step 2 partial cooking of rice and last step is combining veggies with rice and cook completely. 

Ingredients

• Carrot - 1 medium
• Potatoes - 1 medium

• Paneer - ½ cup

• Green peas - 1 tbsp.

• Yogurt - ½ +1/2 cup

• Coriander - 1 tbsp.

• Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 tsp.

• Green chili - 4 to 5

• Oil - 2 tbsp

• Salt 

• Biryani Masala - 1 and ½ tbsp.

• Red Chili Powder - ½ tsp.

• Whole Garam Masala

• Basmati Rice(soaked for 1 hour) 1.5 cups

• Water - as required

• Oil - 1-2 Tbsp.

• Salt - 3 Tsp.

• Saffron strands - dipped in milk, a few

• Chopped Nuts - As desired

• Fried onions - two handfuls

Instructions

Step 1:

Heat oil in a kadhai, add whole garam masala (I have used Cloves, Cardamom, cinnamon, pepper and bay leaf) and ginger-garlic paste. Saute for a minute. Add carrot, potatoes, peas and salt. Saute until they are partially cooked.

Time to add biryani masala, red chili powder, and gradually add yogurt stirring well to prevent curdling of curd. Throw in coriander and paneer. Cook until the moisture is dried. 

Make sure veggies are not cooked completely as it will get cooked again in process of dum.

Step 2:

Boil water. Add oil, whole garam masala (I have used Cloves, Cardamom, cinnamon, pepper and bay leaf), salt. Boil until roaring boil. Add the soaked rice. Cook rice until it is 70% cooked. Strain it and spread on a big plate to cool it and prevent it from getting it cook further.

Step 3:

Take any utensil which has a tight lit. I used cooker and removed whistle from it. Make first layer of vegetables, almonds, cashew, raisins, fried onions and handful of coriander. Spread it evenly and throw in a good layer of rice.

Repeat this process once again with remaining veggies and rice. 

On the final layer of rice pour saffron mixture. 

Now sprinkle some water over it, cover and cook for 2 minutes in lowest flame.
Transfer the cooker to a bigger utensil with some water (Double boiler). This technique will prevent the dum to get burnt. Cook on slow flame for 30 mins.  

Step 4:

Once rice and veggie are cooked stir a little and serve along with raita or mirch salan. 

 Would love to hear from you.. Let me know if theres any other better way to cook dum biryani..

Till then take care

Avocado cup cake

Other day we went to Sam's club for shopping and bought a bag of avocados. I used half of it for gauc. I didn't wanna use remaining for gauc not that we don't enjoy it but wanted to enjoy avocado in various other ways. I started googling and guess what.. I found a nice recipe of a cup cake. Sounds so very appetizing .. so what we waiting for.. Let's make note of ingredients

Ingredients - 

Cupcake - 

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons lime zest
•  teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup mashed avocado
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil/ olive oil/ canola oil
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup non-dairy milk ( you can also use regular dairy milk if you are not vegan)
• 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.  

Frosting:

• 1/2 cup mashed avocado
• 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lime juice
• 2 cups icing sugar
• Milk if needed for thinning

Directions - 

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and line a muffin tin with 12 liners. In a large bowl combine the flour, lime zest, baking powder and soda, and salt. 
• Puree the avocado in a bowl or blender then mix in the oil. Stir into this the sugar followed by milk, lime juice and vanilla extract. 
• Stir wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Make sure there are no lumps. 
• Pour batter into prepared liners and bake for 15-20 minutes or until cooked. Let the cupcakes cool in pan. 

Frosting Directions - 

• Mash avocado with the lime juice in a medium bowl until smooth then stir in icing sugar. Cover and refrigerate it until cupcakes cool and ready for frosting. 
• Spread about a tablespoon of frosting on each cake. 

Let me know if you like them. I enjoyed the new way of consuming avocado. To avoid calories, I skipped frosting :P

Banana-choco bread

I found this yummy recipe on one of the groups on facebook called Chef at large. It was super hit amongst everyone. The best part of this recipe is it is yeast free and zero oil, uses whole wheat flour. Very healthy and absolutely no compromise on taste. Let's get started without further delay -

Ingredients - 

• 1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour 
• 2 banana
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup crushed almonds and walnuts
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
• Pinch of salt

Directions - 

• Preheat oven at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and prepare a tin/ pan
• In a bowl; mix flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda. Keep aside. 
• Blend bananas and sugar with electric mixer for 3-4 minutes
• Add vanilla extract and yogurt to the banana mixture and mix well. 
• Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Add nuts to the mixture. 
• Pour batter in the prepared tin and sprinkle some nuts on top of the batter. 
• Bake for 45-60 mins or until done.  

Please do leave a comment and help us bake better. 

Amish White Bread

Bread is such a staple food in everyone's home these days. From west to east, all of us enjoy eating bread with butter, cream cheese, jam, spreads, etc etc.

It avoided baking this for very long due to my apprehensive nature and am glad not only that I overcame my apprehensions but it was softest bread and from now I intend to bake bread and stop buying from market.

Trust me after you have tried this, you won't ever wanna buy it from market.

Let's dive in -

Ingredients - 

• 1 cup warm warm (about 110 degrees F)
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 2-1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 cups bread flour/ all purpose flour

Directions - 

• In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam. 
• Mix salt and oil into yeast. Mix in flour and knead dough until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. 
• Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes and shape into loaves. Place into well oiled loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes or until dough has risen 1 inch above pan. 
• Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 20 minutes. 

It rose so much that it touched upper rack and those marks are visible on bread... Had to adjust rack position but was too late by then.  

Tip: 

If you don't like sweet bread reduce sugar according to your taste. 

Timing to bake bread varies depending in oven. So you may be more or less than 20 minutes.  

Do try this and post your opinion in comments below.

guacamole

S, had asked me to prepare guac way long back. I finally surprised him last evening with guac during our snack time. S, loves food (good food) and he doesn't praise unless I nailed it perfect. When he tasted guac, he gave me a pat on my shoulder. I was on cloud nine :)

Let's get started - 

Ingredients 

•  3 Avocados - Peeled, Pitted and mashed
• 1 small lime juiced
•  Salt to taste (add little less than what usually you use) 
• 1 small onion (you could also use spring onion/ scallions/ green onion)
• 3 tablespoons of chopped cilantro (coriander)
• 1 large tomatoes - diced
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic (optional)
• 2 jalapenos (depending on spice level of your choice).

Directions 

In a bowl, mash together avocados, lime juice and salt. Stir in onion tomatoes, cilantro, garlic and jalapenos. Serve immediately.  

Tip: If you have prepared this ahead, keep stones of avocadoes in gauc and keep it refrigerated to retain green color. 

Enjoy and relish this healthy snack without any guilt. 

Very soon will upload recipe of baked chips to munch with gauc. Till then goodbye. 

If you like my post please do leave a comment.