Sheer Korma ! ( Vermicilli pudding)

Sheer Korma is a sweet dish prepared in India on the day of Eid. Eid marks the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting.Its the day of celebrations for us. I prepared sheer korma on the day of Eid. My recipe of Sheer korma is quite easy and it goes like this.

Ingredients:
Seviyan roasted 2 cups(got from Indian store)
Whole milk 1/2 gallon
Sugar 2 cups or less if u prefer less sweetness in your dessert.
Ghee/ clarified butter 3 tbsp
Dry fruits:
Almonds: 1/4 cup
Pistachios : 1/4 cup
Chirongi : 1/4 cup
Pitted Dates : 1/2 cup

Method:
step:1
Blanch the dry fruits and peel the skin of almonds, chirongi and pistachios.
Cut almonds into thin slices.

Step 2:
In a big pan heat ghee and fry all the dry fruits till slightly brown and keep it aside.



Step 3:
Boil milk for nearly 30 to 40 mins on medium flame.

Step 3
Finely break/ crush seviyan and fry in ghee till golden brown and then add sugar and stir it well.
Add this fried seviyan with sugar to the boiling milk. and cook again for 10 - 15 mins.



Step 4 :
Garnish the sheer korma with fried dry fruits and and serve hot.

Perfect Haleem!

Hyderabadi Haleem, the most favoured dish by every hyderabadi. A perfect haleem cant be compared with any other dish. In Ramazan the city is full of vendors selling different kinds fruits and delicious haleem.
I remember the best haleem being cooked by my best friends Mom.I used to love eating haleem cooked by her.Oh !I must say she is a great cook and luckily this Ramadan she happened to be in the States, I called her and took the recipe from her.I bet u will love this haleem.
This is my another entry for the event Joy from fasting to feasting.

Ingredients:
Wheat grains 1lbs
Mutton or beef 3 lbs
Gram lentils(chana dal, urad dal,moong dal) 2 cups
Onions 4 (medium size, thinly sliced)
Ginger and garlic paste 3 tbsp
Whole garam masala:
Shazeera/ caraway seeds: 2 tsp
Dalchini / cinnamom sticks 2 (1' 1/2 inch each)
Whole black pepper / sabith Kalimirchi 2 tsp
Kabab chini 1 tsp
Cloves 4 nos
one cup of chopped coriander
one cup of chopped mint
slit green chillies 8-9
red chilli powder 1 tsp
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
curd 1/2 pound
oil
Ghee/butter
lemon juice 1 cup
For Garnishing
Mint leaves
coriander leaves
lemon wedges
fried kaju/cashew nuts

Method
Step 1:
Soak wheat, and lentils overnight and boil with salt and black peppercorns till it is tender and easily mash able.I used hand blender to mash the lentils. keep it aside.

Step 2:
Wash meat and coat it with ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and keep it aside.
Cut onions in thin round slices and fry in oil until golden brown(be careful not to burn onions). Remove and keep it aside( I kept it in freezer for about 15 mins to make it crisper).
You can also use ready to use fried onions which we get in Indian grocery stores.But fresh fried onions give better results.

Step 3:
In a pressure cooker put oil ginger garlic paste fry for a minute add meat, garam masala, kabab chini, chopped green masala, salt, water, curd and boil the meat till it is so tender that it can be separated by hand.(I separated the bones from meat to make it easier to eat).
Mix boiled meat and lentils.

Step 4 :
In a big bowl heat 1 tbsp oil and 2 tbsp ghee and again put one tsp of ginger garlic paste and fry for about a minute add lentils and meat mixture and cook on medium flame for about 20 mins. Lastly add one cup of lemon juice and again some green chopped masala and cook on low flame for abt 20 mins. keep on stirring it with a heavy spoon.

Step 5: Garnish with boiled eggs, fried cashew nuts,chopped green masala, fried onions ghee and serve hot.

Bhajiyas...

I decided to make bhajiyas today, I remember back at home, my mom used to fry a variety of them. Bhajiyas are great for snacking. It is a must in most hyderabadi families at the time of iftar.
This is one of my recipes for the event joy from fasting to feasting.
We generally use chickpea flour for frying bhajiyas.

Ingredients:
2 cup chickpea flour
red chilli powder 1 tsp
Cumin powder 1 tsp
Coriander powder 1tsp
Ginger garlic paste 1/2 tsp(optional)
Chopped cilantro
a pinch of baking soda
salt to taste
oil for frying.
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl adding enough amount of water so that its consistency is neither thick nor too soupy.We can use this batter right away, but it is better to prepare this batter 2-3 hrs before frying.
Fried Spinach leaves dipped in chickpea flour/ Palak pakodi/palak bhajiyas
Take spinach leaf wash and dip it in the chickpea flour mixture and deep fry it in hot oil.
Try not to burn it .well fried Palak bhajiyas are crispy.


Fried tomato dipped in chickpea flour /Tomato bhajiyas/
Cut a tomato into quarter inch slices and place them on a paper towel so that the water is absorbed. Dip it in the batter and deep fry it.fry well for quite sometime to avoid bhajiyas becoming soggy.

Fried boiled egg /Egg bhajiyas

Boil an egg, remove the shell and use an egg cutter to cut it into fine slices, dip the pieces in the batter and deep fry them.This bhajiyas taste great !

.
Fried potato in chickpea/ aloo bhajiyas.
peel potato and make thin slices, dip and fry,these are everyones favourite !

I tried Jalapeno Poppers too, by deseeding the Jalapenos and filling them with cream cheese. We can use the same batter, but, add an extra coat of cornflour and then di it into the batter again before frying in hot oil.
These turned out to be good but were quite hot, you can use sour cream as a dip for them.

Spicy Boiled Lentil (bengal gram) (ubali hui chane ki dal)

Split chick peas with skin removed is chana dal or Bengal gram ,widely used in Indian food.Quite healthy as it is full of protein.
We usually prepare this boiled dal for iftar as its nutritious and very easy to prepare. This is my ramazan special recipe and goes for the event of "joy from feasting to fasting".

Ingredients:
1 cup chana dal
green chillies 4-5
cilantro 3/4 cup
mint leaves 3/4 cup
fresh lemon one medium sized
black pepper powder a pinch
salt to taste

Method:
Boil chana dal till its very soft but not sticky. To save time of boiling I prefer to soak dal for 3-4 hrs.
Grind or chop finely green chillies, cilantro and mint leaves.
Mix this finely chopped mixture to dal.
Add salt , black pepper and squeeze in fresh lemon juice.
Mix well and serve.



I prepare this quite often and sometimes I substitute the lentils with frozen corn to prepare spicy corn.(add cumin powder if you use corn)

Cracked Wheat Soup

Ramazan Mubarak to all my readers!
This is my first recipe for the event Joy from fasting to feasting hosted by lubna and yasmeen.
Both Lubna and yasmeen are doing great job by posting easy, healthy tips and recipes for iftar and suhoor. well done girls!...
Cracked Wheat soup is full of protein and quite healthy.I hope my readers like and give it a try. Once my neighbor invited us for iftar and made this soup I liked it and took the recipe from him. This soup is quite easy, it is basically cracked wheat cooked in meat and tomato soup.

Raw cracked wheat



Ingredients:
Cracked wheat 1 pound
lamb meat with bones 1 pound
one medium sized onion
2 big tomatoes/ (you can also use tomotao puree if u want)
red chilli powder according to your taste
tumeric powder a pinch
salt to taste
fresh cilantro,green chillies.
garam masala powder(grounded caraway seeds, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom ) 1 tsp
one cube of maggi stock(you can use either mutton or chicken stock, it gives good taste but its optional)
olive oil 2 tbsp( you can use any other cooking oil too)
lemon juice 2 tbsp

Method:
Soak cracked wheat for about one hr.
In a big vessel add olive oil, chopped onions,red chilli powder,tumeric powder, ginger garlic paste, chopped tomatoes, meat and fry for sometime, add ample amount of water and cook till the meat is very tender.( I used a pressure cooker to save time )
add cracked wheat, garam masala, green chillies,maggi stock cube and cook
the consistency should be soupy finally add fresh cilantro, fresh mint and lemon juice. Serve it hot with sliced cucumbers.

Soup ready to be served !

Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani

Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani
Biryani is the south Asian rice dish made with spices, rice (usually basmati) and meat/vegetables.The name is derived from the Persian word beryā(n) which means "fried" or "roasted". There are many kinds of biryanis
made from fish, quail, shrimp, deer and hare.
Hyderabadi Biryani is one of the most popular version non-vegetarian types, and is savored in all parts of India and forms an integral part of Indian cuisine
Hyderabadi biryani is of two types, the Kacchi (raw) Biryani and the Pakki biryani
Kachchi biryani is prepared with raw meat, which is marinated in curd and then cooked along with the rice by sealing the handi (vessel) with a layer of dough, and is cooked on dum - steaming over coals. This is a challenging process as it requires meticulous attention of time and temperature to avoid over- or under-cooking the meat.
In Pakki biryani, the meat marinating time is shorter, and the meat is cooked before being layered with the rice and cooked in a dough-sealed vessel. In Pakki Yakhni (with cooked gravy), the ingredients are already cooked before baking.
(Compiled from wikipedia)

A biryani is accompanied with Dahi chutney (curd & onions); Mirchi ka salan - a green chili curry or bagare baigan or bagare tamata.
The biryani I have prepared today is of chicken and this goes as my post for RCI event for hyderabadi cuisine hosted by Mona



Ingredients for Biryani
Basmati Rice - 2 pounds
Chicken - 2 pounds (chicken pieces should be medium in size)
Ginger & garlic paste- 2 1/2 tbsp
Turmeric powder 1 tsp
Red chilli powder 2 tsp
Black pepper powder 1 tsp
Garam Masala powder - 2 tsp
Curd(thick) 1/2 cup
sour cream 2 cups
Green Masala paste:(either grind these green herbs or finely chop them)
Green chillies - 6
Mint leaves 1 cup
coriander leaves 1 cup
For the boiling water; to cook rice-
Caraway seeds 1 tsp
cinnamon,5 grms
cloves 3 no
cardamom - 7-8 no
Slit green chillies 3
Saffron 5-6 strands soaked in warm milk
Onions 1 pound sliced in circles and deep fried till golden brown in color(I used the ready to use fried onions which we get in Indian grocery.)
Ghee / clarified butter 2 tbps
lemon juice 1/2 cup

Method:
Step1:
Clean and wash the chicken pieces and put it in a strainer so that the water is fully drained and chicken pieces are semi dry.
Add ginger garlic paste, green chilli paste, red chilli powder, powdered black pepper turmeric powder, garam masala powder, crushed fried onions,curd and sour cream,I used more of sour cream as it leaves less water while chicken is being baked.cover it and let it marinate for minimum 2 hrs.(I marinated it for 8 hrs)


Marinated chicken for biryani


Step 2:
Clean,wash and soak the rice for at least 1/2 hr.
Take a big pot with 2 liters of water in it add Caraway seeds,cinnamon,cloves,cardamom ,slit green chillies and when the water beings to boil transfer the soaked rice into boiling water.Add salt and let it cook rice till it is 50 percent done.

Boiling water to cook rice for biryani(called "Adhaan " in urdu language)


Be very Careful not to over cook rice.keep on stirring it and checking it.When the rice is cooked drain the rice and keep it aside.


Drained semi cooked rice for biryani(I got this strainer from Ikea,its really good specially for biryani as u can fix its handles on your sink)


Step 3
Take a big baking tray lavishly apply ghee on it, transfer the marinated chicken.


Marinated chicken transfered in a tray


On the top of chicken put the layer of half cooked rice.Finally spread mint leaves, coriander leaves, fried onions,soaked saffron,pour ghee,lemon juice on top of rice.

Biryani ready to be baked

Seal it tight with aluminum foil.




step 4
Bake biryani for about 30 mins at 400 degrees and for an hour at 300 degrees.
Finally your hard work is paid off and your delicious biryani is ready.
I served it with bagare Tamata(masala tomato curry,I posted this curry recipe before)



Biryani served on traditional hyderabadi "Dastarkhan"(red cloth spread, on which food is served)


Hyderabadi Biryani served on traditional dastarkhan along with dahi ki chutney,bagare tamata and a sweet dish Badaam ki jaali(Almond patties)

Mango Strawberry Delight

Sweets/ desserts of any kind are my favourite. I can eat them any time but my weighing machine stops me to do so.The dessert I am posting today is one of my favourites,it is the yummiest and most delicious dessert I tasted so far.I bet u will start drooling right while making this yummy dessert.
I recently got this recipe from my colleague and I made this twice in just a week's time.Its quite easy and can be made in a few minutes.
Ingredients:
1 tin of mango pulp(I got it from Indian grocery store)
1 tin of condensed milk
1 box of cool whip
1 can of crushed pineapple
Strawberries
The procedure for making this dessert is quite simple; just mix mango pulp, condensed milk, cool whip, crushed pineapple and put in a tray and whip it lightly, cut strawberries and decorate it on top.
PS. u can also add small pieces of strawberry to the mixture while mixing it.
Refrigerate it for an hour. Serve it cool
Ummm... enjoy it.(Don't think of the calories, u will lose its taste :))

Double ka meetha( Bread pudding)

Bread slices 8
Milk 3/4 cup
Condensed milk 1 cup
Cashews, almonds 1 cup
butter/ ghee
Sugar syrup: Boil three fourth cup sugar in three fourth cup of water with cardamom added to it for 15 minutes. keep it aside
Method: Blend condensed milk with whole milk and keep it aside.
Cut the corners of the bread and make 2 pieces of the bread slice(diagonally) Dry the bread by keeping it under fan.Since its summer now, I kept it for few hours under sun in my balcony.I was told we can even put in oven for few minutes but I personally did not try this option.




Fry bread slices in hot butter/ ghee until golden brown.Arrange the pieces in flat tray, sprinkle chopped nuts on these slices then pour sugar syrup all over.Finally pour the milk and keep it oven uncovered for 15 minutes on 350 degrees.Milk will be completely absorbed by the bread slices.
This sweet dish is ready, u can have it either hot or cool it in fridge before serving.Its definitely yummy and is not for the calorie conscious people:)




Double ka meetha baked and ready to be served

Avocado sandwich

Hi! to all my blog readers.Me back to blogging after a long gap:)though I was not blogging but I was sometimes reading my few favourite blogs and trying some quick recipes.
Today I have come up with the avocado sandwich, a nutritious greeny and tasty sandwich.
Avocado sandwich

Ingredients
8 slices whole-grain bread
8 tsp light mayonnaise
2 medium tomatoes (thinly sliced)
1 cup alfalfa or beans sprouts
250 gms cucumber (peeled and thinly sliced)
2 small avocados (sliced)
120 gms cheese (very thinly sliced or shredded)
4 tsp mustard sauce

Method
Spread on bread slices mayonnaise, mustard sauce, put chopped tomatoes, cucumber, sprouts,avocado and finally cheese to get delicious veggie sandwich.
But I have slightly modified it, I made a chutney(paste) of beans sprouts and
avocado with a pinch of salt and pepper and spread it on bread slices and then added the chopped vegetables and cheese, and believe me it made the sandwich more yummier.

beans gosht(lamb and beans)

Beans ki phalli gosht is the typical hyderabadi name for this dish.The procedure to cook is quite easy and very much similar to cabbage gosht.
Ingredients:
Beans cut finely- 1 lbs
onion small chopped
red chilli powder 2 tsp
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
salt
lamb meat 1 lbs
oil 2tbsp
ginger/garlic paste 1 tsp
coriander and green chillies.

Method:
heat oil in a pressure cooker add chopped onions,ginger garlic paste, redchilli powder,turmeric powder lamb enough water(2 cups) and pressure cook till meat it is tender.
when the meat is done add cut beans and fry it(bhunao) add little water(one and half cup)and cook for sometime(6-7 minutes) finally add coriander leaves and green chillies and cook on low flame for next 5 minutes(until all water is evaporated).
beans gosht tastes more good with chappati.

Milad Un Nabi Mubarak!

I wish a very happy Milad Eid to all my blog friends!

Prophet Muhammed(Peace Be Upon Him) was born on 12th of 3rd month of Islamic Calender which happens to be today.He is the last messenger of God and the seal of the prophets.

"Paradise lies at the feet of thy mother" - Prophet Muhammed(P.B.U.H)

"God is Not merciful to him who is Not so to humankind. He who is not kind to God's creation and to his own children,God will not be kind to him.-Prophet Muhammed(P.B.U.H)

Cabbage Gosht (lamb and cabbage)

Iam on my same routine of thinking what to cook for lunch.... and after reading an article about cabbage;:its Consumption is known to reduce the risk of a number of cancers, especially lung, colon, breast, ovarian and bladder cancer and it also has high vitamin C content.I decided to cook cabbage gosht though Iam not a big fan of Cabbage.



Ingredients:
Cabbage(medium size) -shredded
onion small chopped
red chilli power 2 tsp
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
salt
lamb meat 1 lbs
oil 2tbsp
ginger/garlic paste 2tsp
coriander and green chillies.

Method:
heat oil in a pressure cooker add chopped onions,ginger garlic paste, redchilli powder,turmeric powder lamb enough water and pressure cook till meat it is tender.
when the meat is done add shredded cabbage and fry it(bhunao) add little water(one cup)and cook for sometime(6-7 minutes) finally add coriander leaves and green chillies and cook on low flame for next 5 minutes
cabbage gosht is ready for serving! It goes best with chappati or in combination of khatti daal and rice.

Shami kabab

Shami Kabab
Shami kabab, the most popular dish of India, I read it in wikipedia that this dish was brought by Moguls to India and Moguls employed some of the finest cooks of the world to serve royal kitchen,some of them were from Syria so the name shami kabab was given to this dish of lamb.(syria is also called as sham in Urdu and Persian languages)
Quite interesting! .. now I have self employed myself in Mammuskitchen (definitely royal!)to make this dish...
Here goes the recipe for this royal dish:

Ingredients:
2 lb lamb/goat/beef boneless meat.
1 cup chana dal(yellow split chickpeas)
5-6 garlic cloves
3 tsp red chilli powder
1/2tsp tumeric powder
salt according to taste
cloves 4
kabab chinni 5-6(dry roast them first);-optional
whole Black pepper 4-6
shazeera(caraway seeds) 1 tsp
cinnamon 1 small stick
bunch of mint leaves, coriander.
green chillies. 4-6
lemon juice 1 tbsp.
garam masala powder: 2tsp( cloves-4+cardamom5-6+cinnamon 2 small sticks+shazeera 2 tsp,grounded to powder)



Method:
Boil or pressure cook meat with all the ingredients except the garam masala powder.
remove from fire. (if u find any gravy cook till all the water evaporates)
let it cool for sometime. Add the garam masala powder, lemon juice and grind the mixture.



Make diamond shaped kababs(or any shape)from the mixture and shallow fry on a non stick pan.


Points to remember:
*Do not put extra water than required for boiling the meat,more water makes the paste too loose and it becomes it difficult to make the diamond shape shamis.
*reduce the spices if u want less spicy.

What I like more about this is dish is that it can be stored for a very long time if refrigerated.
You can remove it from fridge and shallow fry them and they will be as fresh as just cooked.

Tala hua gosht(fried lamb)

My post today would be recipe of tala hua gosht( fried lamb)as asked by my blog friends.
My recipe is simple and you can add variations to this recipe.This dish is on the favourite list of any non veggie hyderabadi. Its just delicious.

Ingredients:
1 lb lamb.
1 small onion chopped.
2 tsp ginger/garlic paste.
2 tsp red chilli powder.
2 tbsp cooking oil.
1 tsp lemon juice
salt to taste
Green Masala.
3-4 green chillies.
few coriander leaves(2-4 strands)
few mint leaves.(2 strands)

method:
Take a pressure cooker put all the ingredients except the green Masala add enough water and pressure cook till the meat is tender.Remove the lid of the pressure cooker cook and stir it for sometime , add little water( just 1/4 cup water) , finely chopped green masala and again cook and fry for sometime.(depending upon the consistency u want of the curry)
remove from fire serve it in a dish and put some lemon juice on it.

Lal gosht(red lamb meat):
You add more red chilli powder and skip the green masala part and fry .
Hara gosht(green lamb meat):
you have to add whole lot of green chillies instead of the red chili powder and more of coriander leaves and mint leaves to lamb before pressure cooking it.
Some people add Garam masala powder in this curry but I don't prefer it.

Tamatay gosht(lamb and tomato curry)

Tomato curry is one of the easiest thing to cook and the first thing that strikes my mind when i scratch my head as what to cook.It goes well the traditional meethi daal(sweet lentil curry) of hyderabad.
Ingredients:
1 lb goat/lamb meat.
2 lb tomatoes.
2 medium sized onions.
2 tsps red chilli powder.
1 tsp ginger garlic paste.
1/2 tsp tumeric
2 green chillies.
2 tbsp oil.
salt to taste
corainder leaves.

method:
In a cooker put oil, meat,chopped tomatoes,green chillies, red chilli powder,tumeric powder, chopped onions, ginger garlic paste, salt and add enough water to pressure cook till meat is tender.
Remove lid and fry(bhunao) it for sometime till the curry is slightly thick add coriander leaves and put it on sim for 5 minutes. tomato gosht is ready to eat!

iam back

Hello !I am back after a very long vacation.By Gods Grace my Haj program was too good.One can find immense peace for one's soul in Mecca and Medina. Its just great!No words can describe the feeling you go through when you are in front of House of Allah. I wish i could go there again. I flew to India too and enjoyed my stay of two months; ate delicious food cooked by mom and gave her a suprise by showing her my blog of recipes. :)

I browsed my favourite blogs and i did find some delicious delicacies out there.I would be back in my cooking track after i cope up with my jet-lag;snow and cold weather here is making me stay more in my quilts than in kitchen.