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Anyone who is regular to this blog, knows my love for biryanis or any kind of flavored rice. It is also known fact that, I like to make something new instead of following same recipe again and again. When we were in India, we had so many favorite restaurants and whenever we felt like, we would go out and eat. But here, the Indian food choices are not very good. So cooking these favorite dishes is the only way out.

This time when I bought chicken, I wanted to change my recipe slightly. This is pretty much a combination of all other biryanis on this blog. The final result was amazing. I want to cook this for my dad, brother and SIL when I meet them next time, I am sure they would love it.

I made a huge batch of it and had it for two days. I served it with a cold raita. Yumm.

Rice preparation:
2 cups basmati rice
4 cardamom
3 cloves
2″ cinnamon
2 bay leaves
1/4 tea spn turmeric
Ghee & Oil
Salt
3 cups water

Method:
Wash rice, drain and spread on a kitchen towel for about 15mins.
Heat ghee and oil, add cardamom, cloves, bay leaves, cinnamon. Add rice, turmeric powder and fry for 2-3mins till a nice aroma comes out. Add salt water and cook till all water is absorbed. (Remember, here we are adding less water than normally required to cook the rice completely, this is done to undercook the rice).

For chicken marination:
1/2 kg (17oz approx) chicken
1/2 cup onion
1/2 cup tomato
1/2 cup coriander leaves
1/4 cup mint leaves
3 tea spns green chillies
3 tbl spn thick yogurt
2 tea spns ginger
2 tea spns garlic
1 tea spn biryani masala(home made or store bought)
1 and 1/2 tea spns chilli powder
Oil
Salt

Method:
Heat oil and add onion. When they turn brownish, add tomato and fry till they are mushy. Grind these with coriander leaves, mint leaves, ginger, garlic, biryani masala, chilli powder, salt to a smooth paste. Add this paste and yogurt to chicken pieces. Leave the chicken to marinate for about 30mins.

Remaining ingredients:
1/2 cup thin slices of onion
1/4 cup finely chopped tomato
1/4 cup water
2 tbl spn yogurt
Ghee and oil
2 tbl spn cashews
Salt(only if required)

Assembly:
Heat a little ghee and oil and add onion. Fry for 2-3 mins till they are translucent.
Add the chicken along with marinade. Fry for a minute. Add water.
Cover with rice. Top with tomatoes. Spread yogurt.
In another pan, heat ghee and fry cashews till they are brownish. Spread these on top of rice. Cover with a tight lid. Keep something heavy on the lid to press it down(I keep the pan on a tava while cooking to give extra thickness). Cook on a medium low flame until done.
Keep it undisturbed for another 15mins.
Serve hot.

Serves : 5
Preparation time : 90mins

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I am using salmon a lot these days, because of the high Omega-3 content in this fish. Usually I bake it or make some spicy dry dish, something we both really enjoy. This time, I wanted to try it in this spicy gravy. This was inspired by a fish gravy I tasted at an Indian restaurant here 2 years ago. I have not seen this recently on their menu. We had a very satisfying lunch with rice and this gravy.

Ingredients:
1 big salmon fillet (about 18oz)
3/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 big tomatoes – blanched, peeled and pureed
1 tea spn ginger
1 tea spn garlic
1 tea spn chilli powder + 1/2 tea spn to spread on fish
2 tbl spns chopped coriander leaves
1 tea spn cumin seeds
Oil
Salt
Spice powder(Do not roast. Grind to a coarse powder):
1 tea spn coriander seeds
3 cloves
1″ cinnamon

Method:
Spread salt and chilli powder on salmon.
Heat tava and keep the spiced part down on tava. After 1-2min, turn upside down. Leave for 1 more minute. Turn again. Now slowly pull out the skin. Spread some more chilli powder and salt on this side. Let the fish get done from both sides. Take off heat and cut it into about 1X1 inch pieces.
Heat oil. Add cumin seeds. Add onion, ginger and garlic. Fry till they turn brownish. Add the tomato puree, spice powder and salt. Cook till the gravy thickens a bit.
Slowly slide the fish pieces into gravy. Let it cook for about 1-2mins. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with rice.

Serves :2
Preparation time : 30mins

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We get white colored huge radishes here in Indian stores. The size of them is quite intimidating to me as I had not seen so big ones before. I never bought them because I thought I cannot finish them in one go, the ambat I make with radish does not require so much. I usually go for the small red ones and use it both for ambat and this other dish.

But few weeks ago, V brought this white colored big radish. When I cut into it, it looked very tender. I wanted to make some hot dish with it. To mask any remaining radish smell, I used garlic. It came out great. Now, this is on the menu regularly. Any kind of radish can be used for this, as long as it is tender. Do not use any leaves/stems for this dish. Keep it simple and it turns out great. I am sure even the radish haters would love it.

Ingredients:
2 cups radish(mulangi) pieces
1 tea spn garlic
1 tea spn chilli powder
A pinch turmeric
Oil
Salt

Method:
Peel radish. Cut into small pieces.
Heat oil (since water is not used for this, use little more oil than you would normally use to avoid sticking, or use non stick pan) and add garlic. Now add radish, chilli powder, turmeric, salt. Fry for 2-3 mins on medium heat.
Cover the lid and let it cook till completely done. (If absolutely necessary, add 1-2 tbl spns water, but do not add more).
Serve hot with rice and dal or with chapatis.

Serves : 2-3
Preparation time : 20mins