Lemon Rice

My son these days gives his orders and I have to make them ASAP coz he is quite an impatient customer. He loves rice items and for the last 2-3 days it has been ghee rice and mandhi rice. Yesterday night while checking out Eliza's, Lincy's Cook Art, my son caught sight of the lemon rice... and he wanted me to make it. He was like, "Take recipe! Go to kitchen!!" :D
He has always seen me checking out recipes for whatever I want to make and he thinks I can make anything... even fruits. Yesterday he was asking for oranges. Told me to check for recipe... :D

Lincy's Cook Art is one of the many lovely blogs I came across while checking for recipes. Her blog is such a pleasure for the eyes. The clicks are just perfect. This is the first recipe I've taken from her and I must say its a simple one too. I had all the ingredients with me. I didnt make any changes what-so-ever.... wasnt in any mood for trying out new stuff coz to be honest I have never had lemon rice before and I didnt know what it tastes like :D

So this is how mine turned out. And I got an A+ from both my son and husband(who unlike me has had it before :P).

There were times when I used to get too excited with my turmeric and almost always add a bit too much... but those days are long back. Now I add the littlest possible. I was a bit reluctant to add mustard seeds to this coz I dont like seeing mustard seeds in anything... only chutneys and thoran's. But as I wasnt sure if lemon rice usually had mustard seed it in or if it was just a malayali thing. I had a neighbour back in Bahrah, Saudi Arabia, who used to put mustard seed in spaghetti. The spaghetti was yum, but I felt odd seeing mustard seed in it. She was an extremely caring lady from Thrissure... :)

Anyway, here's the recipe I took from Eliza...

Ingredients

• 2 cups basmati rice, washed and drained
• 1 big onion chopped
• 1 inch ginger chopped finely
• 2 green chillies
• 1tsp mustard seed
• 1/4 turmeric powder
• 2 tsp urud daal
• 2 tsp moong daal (the original recipe from Eliza said chana daal, but I had only moong daals)
• 6-7 roasted cashew nuts
• 7-8 curry leaves
• 3-4 tbsp oil (I used sunflower oil)
• Juice of 2 lemon

Directions to make: 

• Boil the basmati rice in water with salt and a tbsp oil. Drain when it is almost cooked. Dont let it fully cook or when they sit for a minute or 2 they'd become over-cooked (which is soo not what u would want for ur lemon rice)
• Take a big pan, big enough to contain all the cooked rice, and heat oil in it. Add mustard seeds. Let it splutter. Add in the urud daal and moon daal. Roast for a minute or two until they turn a light shade of golden brown (Don't let it burn).
• Add in the curry leaves and green chillies. Give that also a minute then add in the onions and ginger. Add salt and turmeric. Now cook this until the onions start turning slightly brown(That would take only a minute or 2). Add a few drops of water. Mix well. Switch off flame. Add rice. mix well. Check salt. Add lemon juice. Garnish with  roasted cashews. 
• It's done!

It is a must to add lemon juice only after u have taken the pan off the stove. Coz the heat will turn the lemon juice bitter.. which would spoil the whole rice.

We had this with grilled chicken, yogurt and garlic achaar.

Now, I dont know if my opinion is coz I'm pregnant with my taste buds having a will of their own, but I didnt find it so 'wow'. Don't put much stock in my food opinions these days. I have always been a chocolate and sweets lover... used to crave them when I was pregnant with Ayaan. But in this pregnancy I dont want any. But I sure can eat as much dahi batata puri as possible :D.

Considering lemon rice: Yes, it was nice; but no, I wouldn't want to make it again unless my husband or son or anyone else wants it. It's biryani for me. Nothing can compare. I can have biryani for breakfast, lunch and dinner.. and even in the evening with tea :P I have had it that way when my mom used to make it back in Saudi :). I miss my mom's cooking. Especially her gravy chicken 65, which she makes in a yogurt gravy. Mouth-watering! Mine just never comes out as good as hers.

Anyway, for the rice lovers this would definitely be a must try recipe... :)

Chicken Kabsa

It's so beautifully arranged on the plate - you know somone's fingers have been all over it.

- Julia Child

I have always preferred the Mandi rice to kabsa rice but a lot of people I've met seem to prefer the latter. Kabsa rice is known to be of Yemani origin, mostly served in Saudi Arabia and famous all over the Gulf. I got this recipe from Sun Cuisine. Another beautiful blog I came across while searching for recipes.

What all you'll need:

• 1 whole chicken cut into 4 pieces
• 3 cups Basmati rice washed and drained
• 1 large onion chopped
• 4-5 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
• 1/2 an inch ginger, chopped finely
• 1/2 a small chopped tomatoes
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp All spice (Now this was not there in the recipe. I simply added coz I wanted to check out what difference it would make to the rice.. and uh... I couldn't make out a difference :P)
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2-3 pieces of cinnamon stick
• 3 dried limes
• 3 bay leaves
• 4 cardamon 
• 4 cloves
• salt to taste
• oil for cooking

How to make:

• In a pressure cooker heat oil.  Add in the chopped onions, ginger and garlic. Cook for a minute or two. Add in the chicken, tomatoes, all the spices and salt. Add 3 cups water. Cover and pressure cook on medium flame for 10-15 minutes or until 2 whistles or until u feel ur chicken is almost cooked but not fully cooked. Switch off stove.
• Cook the Basmati rice with salt... not half way but almost half way cooked. Drain and rinse the rice with cold water so that it does not get fully cooked with the heat. 
• Open the pressure cooker once it has cooled down (or if u want to open immediately without waiting for it to cool: Place the pressure cooker under cold running water. It'll cool the lid and you'll be able to open safely. I always do this). Check the amount of sauce. As the rice is a little cooked and the chicken almost cooked, there should be only about 1 cup sauce in the pressure cooker. Adjust by adding water or removing sauce accordingly. Now add the rice and cook for 10-12 minutes. 
• Switch off stove and place pressure cooker under cold running water and check rice and chicken. Make sure its not overcooked. 
• Garnish with some roasted cashew nuts.

It took me a few tries with mandi rice and kabsa rice to get this pressure cooker process proper. The water rice consistency. And the chicken too. The rice and chicken has to be just rightly cooked. I used to get the top layer well cooked and the rice near the chicken pieces a bit over cooked. But once I got the handle of it, its sooo much faster to use pressure cooker for making kabsa or mandi rice.

My husband and son both enjoyed this! And that's all what I need.... :) Alhamdulillah!

Ghee Rice - Neychor

My son loves ghee rice, biryani, fried rice, mandi rice, kabsa and all rice items other than the everyday sada rice. He woke up today morning asking me to make ghee rice. Making ghee rice is pretty simple and I made this for him right now. The name might be Ghee rice, but I use only sunflower oil. I dont like the ghee taste.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups basmati rice, washed and drained (The proportion of rice and water for ghee rice is 1:2. For each cup of rice u add 2 cups of water)
• 1 large onion, sliced thinly
• 3 cloves, 3 cardamons, 3 small pieces of cinnamon sticks
• 1 tbsp raisins(I didnt put it in what I made right now. Just made it as fast as possible for Ayaan. He was being a bit short-tempered with me :P) 
• A handful cashew nuts (I didnt use this either)
• 5-6 tbsp of sunflower oil (or ghee if that's what u want)
• 4 cups water
• Salt to taste

How to make:

• Take a big saucepan add the oil and let it heat up. Add the cloves, cardamon and cinnamon and let it roast a minute then add the sliced onions.
• Saute until they are about to turn brown. The onions should be cooked but should not turn brown. If they turn brown the whole ghee rice will get a brown colour.
• Add the 4 cups of water. Add salt. 
• When water starts to boil add the 2 cups rice. I usually boil water in my electric kettle and use 4 cups from it. It's quicker than waiting for the water to boil.
• Check salt. Put flame on simmer. Cover the saucepan with lid and let the rice cook. It will take some 10-15 minutes. Do check. Don't let it overcook and become a paste.
• Roast the cashew nuts and raisins in a tbsp of oil and garnish before serving. 

When I make  ghee rice for the whole family, I'll take pics of the garnished one with raisins and cashews. Right now its the demand of a 3 year old I'm trying to satisfy ASAP :D

Happy cooking!
Enjoy! :)

Vegetable Pulao

Here is an easy Vegetable Pulao recipe. You'll need at least 3 vegetables. I used carrots, Green peas, chick peas and beans. It doesn't take much effort or time.... plus doesnt create that much of a mess to clean up :P

Things you'll need are:

• Basmati rice - 2 cups (This would server 4+ ppl)
• Vegetables (I used 2 carrots, 4-5 Beans, half a cup cooked chick peas and half a cup cooked, frozen green peas) 
• Chopped Onions - 2 medium sized
• Ginger - 1 inch
• Garlic - 6 cloves
• Green chillies - 2
• Coriander leaves - a handful
• Cinnamon - 1 stick
• Cardamon - 3-4
• Cloves - 3-4
• Salt to taste
• Sunflower oil/ Butter - 4-5 tbsp
• Lemon juice - 1 tbsp
• Chilly powder - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder -1 tsp
• Garam masala - 1tsp

Direction to make:

• Chop all the vegetables and keep aside.
• Grind the garlic, ginger, green chillies and coriander leaves.. keep aside
• In a heavy bottom vessel (which has a tight lid), heat the butter/oil and add the cardamon, cloves, cinnamon sticks. Saute for a few minutes, lower flame and add the onions.
• When the onions start to turn brown add the ginger-garlic-coriander. Saute.
• Add the red chilly powder, turmeric powder, garam masala and salt
• Mix well. All these should be done on low flame so as not to burn them.
• Now we add the vegetable. Between the carrots and beans, the beans take longer time to cook, so I added that first. Let it cook for a minute then added the carrot. Let that also cook for a minute. Then I added the cooked chick peas and green peas.
• Now turn up the flames and add 4 cups of water. Use the same cup u used for measuring rice. If ur taking 2 cups rice, u need to take 4 cups water. The ratio is 1:2. 
• Add the lemon juice and  rice. Mix well. Check salt. Cover with lid. Lower flame.
• Check after 10-15 minutes. I didnt check the exact timings, so can't say if it took more than that to cook. Do check the rice and dont let it go mushy.

Serve with raita and pickles if u want. The rice would be spicy enough. We had it with raita :)

Try it out.. simple enough recipe...
Make and let me know how it turns out....

Egg Fried Rice

Ingredients

1. 3 tbsp oil
2. pinch of salt and pepper
3. 1 tbsp onion, chopped
4. 1 tbsp spring onion chopped  
5. ½ green capsicum, chopped
6. 1 cup mixed vegetables - diced
7. ¼ tsp. garlic paste
8. splash of soya sauce
9. 2 egg
10. 2 cups cooked rice (boiled with salt and a tsp. of oil, then drained and cooled completely)

Instructions

1. Heat the oil, add the garlic, onions and spring onions and sauté for a minute.
2. Then add the egg, salt and pepper and scramble it.
3. Now add the mixed vegetables and stir fry for a few minutes.
4. Once the vegetables are done, add capsicum and stir fry for a minute. Make sure not to over cook vegetables.
5. Add the cooked rice and fry for few minutes
6. Splash some soya sauce on it, then put the heat on very low and cover the pan.
7. Remove from fire after few minutes. 
8. Serve with Chicken Manchurian or Chilli Chicken!

NOTE / TIP : Make sure not to over cook anything. Fried rice won't taste good otherwise.
This is not a spicy fried rice. If you want you can add more pepper powder or chilli flakes.

Kerala Fish Biryani

"The Belly rules the mind." - Spanish Proverb

The soul reason I made this for dinner Friday night was because my elder sister had mailed me pics of what she had made for lunch.
Fish Biryani. Her husband loves it.
It was so mouth-watering to look at that I just had to have it!
So I made it!

I love biryanis. I prefer chicken thou. I like mutton biryani only if the mutton is tender and juicy.
My husband had got some fresh King Fish on his way back from Jummah prayer. And everything else I had at home... just needed to get a good recipe. I have never made fish biryani before.. needed to find a good one...

While searching in Google (as usual :) ) for a good fish biryani recipe I came to this amazing site ( http://www.desimelange.com/ ) This site is awesome!! I love the photography! The pics would tempt even those who hate cooking into making it. You just have to check this site. I'm sure you'll love it as much as I do. And the fish biryani recipe I got from it was perfect. I'm no great shakes at fish biryani, but I loved the resultant biryani I managed to cook up in my kitchen :)

As usual I got a bit too excited with the turmeric.. :) My biryanis are always very yellow :D
Once I remember (a few months after marriage back when we were in Bangalore) I made prawns biryani which had sooo much turmeric in it that our hands were all yellow even after washing it with soap :P

So here's how I made it:

Ingredients:
1/2 kg King fish... there'll be about 6 steaks..
2 and 1/2 cups of basmati rice (I use the Mumtaz Basmati rice we get here in Dubai)
3 big onions sliced finely
2 large tomatoes chopped
1.5 tbsp of garlic(crushed)
1.5 tbsp of ginger(crushed)
Green chillies, sliced (add according to how spicy hot you want it)
1.5 tsp garam masala powder
1/4 tbsp turmeric powder
1/2 tbsp chilli powder (Add only if u need more chilli to ur masala!!)
3-4 cloves, cardamom and 2-3 small pieces of cinnamon sticks
2 tbsp lemon juice
A handful of fresh coriander and mint leaves chopped
Sunflower oil (traditionally biryani is made using ghee but i prefer sunflower oil)
Salt according to taste
Some roasted almonds and cashew nuts for garnishing

While making a fish biryani its best to fry the fish lightly first so that it does not break while making the masala and mixing with rice.

So for the marination part we will need:
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 and 1/2 tbsp chilli powder (Here u can use the Kashmiri chilli powder if u have. It will give a nice red colour to the fish)
1 tbsp of vinegar
Salt according to taste
(All this u can adjust according to how u like your fish, after all that's the best thing about cooking at home: You can eat food exactly the way you like it.)

Now first marinate the cleaned fish and keep aside.
Wash rice and cook it in a heavy bottom vessel with enough water. Add 1-2 tbsp oil and a little salt to it. Keep checking the rice. When its almost cooked (kinda like 3/4 cooked... is there something like 3/4 cooked? :) but u get my point, right? It should be a little more than half cooked but not completely cooked) drain water using a colander and keep it aside.

Next we fry the fish
Place a big wide pan with lid (big enough to accommodate the masala + rice) on the stove, put 5-6 tbsp of oil. When the oil is hot fry the fish in it lightly. Mine went a bit over cooked at one side as u can see...

After you've removed the fish from oil and done with frying,  put cloves, cardamom and cinnamon sticks into that same oil. Saute it for a minute and then add the sliced onions. When the onions soften and starts browning a little add the ginger and garlic. Add tomatoes & green chilies when the raw smell of the garlic disappears. Now mix in the turmeric, chilli powder, garam masala, salt and lemon juice. You will know the tomatoes are cooked when u can see that all the water in it has evaporated and oil starts accumulating on the sides. Now this is one tip from that site which i really liked: To debone one of the fried fish and mix the shredded pieces in the masala.
Add some of the mint and coriander leaves now.. Keep some aside for garnishing...

Switch off stove, place the fried fish on top of the masala and  cover with lid.

Now for the layering...
(Usually when I make biryani just for me and my husband, I put the cooked rice on top of the masala(It'll be rice for 2.. so not much there for layering)... roast some almonds and cashew nuts in 3 tbsps of oil... put that on top of the rice and pour that same oil, in which I roasted the nuts, on top. Cover it up and place in oven for 10-15 minutes on 175 degree C. That's why I make the masala in a pan big enough to hold the rice too...
I mix up the rice and masala 5 minutes before serving... garnish with a few mint and coriander leaves)

Anyway, layering really is like this(using a heavy bottom vessel):
The bottom most layer should be a bit of the fish masala. Keep all the fish outside. Mix fish with rice only while serving. This is not a must.. its just to make sure they dont break into pieces.
Now make the second layer with rice over the masala layer. Sprinkle lemon juice, garam masala powder, fried onion, roasted cashewnuts, almonds and coriander leaves over this (I didnt do this. I didnt even have coriander leaves for this biryani. It didnt make a noticeable difference thou. But mint should always be there in the masala... it gives more of a biryani flavour than coriander does)

Then reapt with masala layer then rice... The topmost layer must be the rice...
Cover with lid and place in oven for about 10-15 minutes on 175 degree C. Or place it on stove on low heat for 5-10 minutes.

Serve with the fish :)

This was my first try at Fish Biryani and Alhamdulillah it turned out good.
My taste buds loved it :)
That's the best part of cooking.... we make the way we like :)