Curd Rice

Curd Rice is a meal from Southern part of India. It’s full of probiotic goodness and cooling properties , just the kind of meal you need when you want something simple, easy to digest, fast track food and a nutritious meal. Curd Rice is a creamy and traditional preparation of soft pre-cooked rice and thick yogurt all combined together and crowned with a South Indian style tempering.

Curd Rice is a gluten-free, savory Indian dish prepared with yogurt and pre-cooked rice. For the flavor, it is often tempered with ghee, mustard seeds, urad daal, ginger, asafoetida, cumin seeds, curry leaves, green chilies and dry red chilies.

Curd Rice is great for digestion, since the good bacteria in the yoghurt/ curd may help the body digest food easier and smoother. For generations, in South India, this has been the cure for an upset stomach or gastric issues including constipation and bloating. This dish also happens to have a milder version made with thinner curd or even buttermilk and is excellent for fighting acid reflux. Curd rice balances out the internal temperature of your body and is an excellent coolant during the hot summer months. Since it is served cold, one can almost immediately feel the respite from blazing temperatures even externally, before the nutrients begin to break down in one’s system. This is relatively low in calories and can still be eaten by itself as a meal and is quite filling, you can include this in your low-calorie diet as a menu choice.

All you need for this simple preparation is boiled rice, I usually throw away the water, but you are free to add less water in boiling the Rice and let the Ric soak it all up. Just make sure you use small grained Rice, as its a better option when it comes to over cooked and mushed up Rice. Basmati Rice is better with Biryani and Pulao. The Rice needs to be at Room Temperature, so make sure you give it at least an hour on a wide dish so it cools down completely. You can also use leftover steamed rice for making the dish. If using leftover cooked rice, add a tiny amount of water and mash it to a soft consistency (like broken wheat consistency). Soft rice that is overcooked or slightly mushy is perfect for making creamy curd rice.

 Full-fat Yoghurt is great if you want super soft and creamy curd rice, but you can use low-fat Yoghurt as well. Although the traditional Curd Rice is cooked with slightly sour Yoghurt, but I prefer the regular one.

 The tempering for the Curd Rice is a typical South Indian style packed with cumin seeds, mustard seeds, urad dal/ chana dal, curry leaves, ginger, green chilies, whole dry red chilies, and a pinch of asafoetida (aids in digestion). You can mix grated carrot or pomegranate as well in your yogurt rice for that extra crunch and freshness.

It is always ideal to combine chilled yogurt and room temperature rice to make creamy and delicious yogurt rice. If hot rice is combined with curd, it affects the nutritional properties of yogurt, and the digestion problems are bound to happen. Also, the curd might turn sour after mixing the hot rice. Hence, it is best to enjoy yogurt rice cold or at least room temperature.

Tandoori Chicken Pizza

Who doesn’t love Pizza? We all have a heart that has a special place for Pizza, no matter the changes it brings to the scale…LOLzzz. Though I have always enjoyed making Pizza at home and since we cannot consume chicken pizza outside, making it at home is kind of the only option left. But, more than anything during this lockdown I realized how much fun it is to cook with my boys. My older one almost mastered the skill of making a perfect pizza and it left me very proud that my son was becoming independent. I prefer thin crust Pizza it to the regular pizza, usually a little extra sauce which to me is always a little better and a little low on cheese. But then, my son argued that it makes the pizza more of the flat bread and not a Pizza. Flat breads usually also have a little sprinkled dry Parmesan cheese on it and it makes it look different from pizza and if you are not a very big cheese fan like me, you will definitely like the taste of dry cheese powder. Sprinkling a little dry oregano or chili flakes also enhances the flavor. Now coming back to this experiment, we love tandoori chicken and I always try to make my pizza with an Indian touch. There is always so many real flavors of pizza and flat breads available at restaurant and I think if you try and make the same thing at home, it beats the purpose of us going out to eat. So, when trying something at home, I always try to make it different from what we get outside. It could be a little different or more different depending on what you are making, but if its made at home try to add your flavor to make it unique. So, to make this recipe, you will need around 2 cups of tandoori chicken. I made mine fresh, but leftovers from dinner should also be fine. You can always feel free to make tandoori chicken any style you like or can follow my Chicken Tandoori recipe. This Pizza can have Paneer or Tofu as well, if you want to have it as a vegetarian option. You can always marinate them with tandoori flavors and make it the same way.

Tandoori Chicken

Tandoori Chicken is most common, easy and easily available chicken kebab. The Chicken Tandoori can be made in small pieces, Chicken legs. My Mother used to make Tandoori Chicken for almost the whole world and I mean it, the whole world. My friends who loved non vegetarian food loved her Tandoori Chicken.

Tandoori Chicken though is a fusion between Middle eastern or Mughlai Grilled chicken mixed in with Indian spices and must have been an experiment by Mughal Khansamas to incorporate and use the local chilies along side of the Afghan or Persian spices.

There is a very funny story to this too. My mother had a best friend from school, who moved to Kolkata after marriage, and one of her daughter’s fell sick and the doctor recommended Chicken soup to her. When the family traveled to Jodhpur, the daughter had already became a hardcore non veg lover, but had not ventured out with other varieties. So when they came, she requested my mother to make soup for her which my mother delightfully fulfilled. Then one fine day, my mother was making Tandoori Chicken for some guests when her friend’s daughter happened to be at our house. The fragrance of Tandoori Chicken is hard to say no to, hence she wanted to try it out. And that was it, Tandoori Chicken found itself a fan for life. And my Mother would never ever make an excuse for not cooking or going through the pain of fulfilling her special request despite her busy schedule.

Well, what I meant was that Tandoori Chicken was kind of the only Chicken kebab that my mother made and it was out of this world and loved, not just by us but even others. Now, I make huge varieties of Kebabs and Tandoori chicken also happens to be one of those, but when it comes to adding chicken to your pizza, Tandoori chicken is the best. One you don’t really need an old fashioned Tandoor to make it. It can be made in your oven or incase of boneless, it can easily be made in a pan too.

A simple marinade of Yogurt, chili powder, salt, tandoori powder, red food color, Ginger garlic paste and lemon juice is sufficient to bring out an extremely delicious kebab dish. Its one of the best and the easiest kebabs i have ever made.

Dumm Aaloo

Potatoes, whether they are made in anyway or style, boiled, mashed, baked, fried or roasted, are one of the most loved and easily consumed vegetable around the world. Potatoes are believed to have been domesticated around 7,000 -10,000 years ago near modern day Peru, South America. Today, nearly a third of the world’s production is harvested in India.

So how did the Potato reach India? The Portuguese introduced potatoes to india in the early 17th century and cultivated it around the western coast. The name Batata is actually Portuguese. By the end of 18th century, it was being grown around the northern hilly areas of India. This amazing vegetable was born in India and dishes made of potatoes spread to each and every corner of the country.

One such dish is the Dum Aaloo. This dish has numerous variations in our country. It is prepared differently in different states and regions, depending on the taste, spices available, cooking styles of the regions. This is one of the most fancy ways of cooking Potato curry.

Its usually made with baby potatoes, but I just preferred cutting my big potatoes to pieces. You can always use whatever you prefer using. My logic was to get more sauce on my potatoes and making them a little more flavorful and spicy. But you can always pick baby potatoes if you prefer the sweetness of potatoes with a little spice. This curry goes well with parantha and Roti or as a side dish. Enjoy!!!

Bengali Fish Curry

I do not have an idea about what connects me to Bengal, but I am one big fan of their cuisine. It all started from the Kolkata Chicken Roll, went on to Biryanis, from their to their mind blowing Bengali sweets and now to the awesome fish curries that they make.

Honestly, I am a no fish curry person. I have no idea why, but I could just never bring myself down to liking fish curries. God bless my Late Father, he was a big fan and always looked forward to the fish curries my mom made. Jodhpur, the city I belong to does not get fresh fishes very often. The chicken market also sold fish when the season would be on and my father happened to be one of their regular customers. My father would always get enough to be made into curry and to be fried as well. I would never try the fish curry and would love the fried fish and that’s how it continued.

When I got married, Mr. Parveez loved the fish fried on the side with Daal-Chawal, but he also loves his Fish curry, so he would make his favorite fish curry just few times a year. I tried my level best to like it but its just something that puts me off. Then, one fine day comes in the phase of me finding my new love in Bengali cuisine and you know how Bengali food and fish go hand in hand. So, I came across this wonderful recipe of Bengali fish curry. now, honestly my search was for an authentic “Machhar Jhol” recipe and my search is still on. But this fish curry is the closest I could get to an authentic Machhar jhol.

This fish curry is also made in Bengali style and the taste is amazingly delicious. The flavor is mild and different from the regular fish curries. The recipe is pretty simple and easy to make, and the the recipe does not require any fancy ingredients either. I made this curry using Tilapia fillet, but you can use Halibut, Sea Bass or any other fish of your choice. The fish should be slightly mild for this recipe, so whichever fish you pick, it should not be extremely fishy in taste. Enjoy!!!

Besan Halwa

It is the month of September and despite the pandemic, the festival mood has been set all over the world. Autumn season is coming and the cool breezes brings nice nip in the air and declares the beginning of the festivities. Besan ka Halwa is the quintessential dish to celebrate the season for every reason. The rich and decadent Besan ka Halwa takes you over the moon and make you fall in love it.

Besan is also known as Chickpea Flour or Gram Flour. Besan has a high protein content that makes it good for weight watchers. It is also good for heart health and managing the cholesterol. But, I don’t mean you eat Besan ke Pakode and Halwa everyday, I wish we could but NO. But, what you can do is eat this Halwa with a little lesser guilt than what you would usually do.

There are many ways that people prepare Besan ka Halwa. Everyone makes it super amazing. Honestly, I don’t think there is any way you can go wrong with Besan ka Halwa, its so easy to fix if you do go wrong by any chance. I start with roasting besan in ghee and once it is done roasting, I add hot milk infused with little saffron and once the milk is all absorbed, I add sugar and cardamom powder for sweetness and enhancing taste and cook till desired consistency.

A lot of times people turn on their “guilt mode’ while cooking sweets and substitute Ghee with a healthy Oil. What you need to understand is that you cannot make such changes and complain of the flavor. If you are avoiding any dish for health reason then either you do not make it altogether or make it only once in a while, but do not substitute Ghee or Sugar. Using the right quantity of ghee will also give your halwa the right texture.

There are few things to remember while making besan ka halwa.The Besan flour needs to be sifted through a sieve, to make sure that there are no lumps. Besan flour has tendency to clump up into mounds, so make sure it is a fine flour. The Besan tends to burn easily, therefore the roasting needs to be monitored at all times, while you saute’e and roast the besan.

Besan ka Halwa is more regularly made during winters. My Grandmother and Mother and My Mother in law always say that Hot or warm served besan Halwa is great during winters specially because it keeps our body warm and also is soothing when you suffer from cold and congestion. I also feel that Autumn brings in ,more Orangish and Golden foods, specially the sweets, Pumpkin pies, Apple pies and Besan Halwa. This moreish halwa redolent with fragrant ghee, saffron and dry fruits is perfect for celebrations or any time you crave a sweet treat. So, make it and Enjoy!!!

Lahori Chicken Chargah

Lahori Chargah Chicken is one of the easiest and yummiest kebabs that I make. I believe there are few different recipes for Lahori Chargah and you might find some recipes different from what I make. My recipe is based on the first and the only Lahori Chargah I have tried.

There was a small restaurant that we used to go to when my first born was a few months old. We had a pediatrician for him who had her office pretty far from our house. Now those days, I wasn’t driving hence we always had to get a weekend appointment since it would otherwise be hard for Mr. Parveez. For some reason we always got an afternoon appointment and despite the appointment and reaching there on time. The lady who ran it had a very limited menu, one kind of Biryani, 2-3 curries and 1-2 kinds of Kebabs. This happened to be one of them that we really loved and this was a part of our regular order. She also made a different kind of Biryani which we later on found out that she actually didn’t make it herself , but used to get from a near by restaurant. We still loved going to the little cozy restaurant as we were pretty satisfied with the little menu with simple dishes, until one day she decided to move and close the restaurant.

That’s when my search for making a perfect Chicken Chargah started. I saw a famous brand name that sold Chicken Chargah masala, so I bought it and followed the instructions. Now knowing how particular Mr. Parveez and I are about the store bought Masalas, we couldn’t really continue with the box Masalas and I had to get down to figuring out and making my own masalas at home and following the flavor, I actually did. Its amazing how flavors communicate with your taste buds and I believe communication is the key to every successful relationship, be it any.

So, there I was mixing in my Roasted cumin powder, Black Pepper, Red Chili Powder, White Pepper Powder and Tandoori Powder with Apple cider Vinegar and Ginger Garlic Paste. The reason for using both Black Pepper and White Pepper is that adding too much of Black pepper tends to make the food bitter, so adding a little gives you the kick and adding White Pepper along side gives you flavor similar to Black Pepper without adding the bitterness to the food. Chargah is usually made using whole chicken but I always use Chicken legs, as I find them better and easier to serve. So, make them anyway you like and enjoy.

Salem Biryani

 The word Biryani is derived from the Persian word Birian, which means ‘fried before cooking’ and Birinj, the Persian word for rice. There are various theories related to the origin of this scrumptious dish. Biryani originated from Persia and was brought to India by the Mughals.

I love reading about the Mughal Era and its food in the history. Its amazing to read about so much variety of food flavors that they added to the Indian cuisine…. Gulab Jamuns, Jalebis, Imartis, and so many other rich desserts and numerous curries and the most amazing out of all are Biryanis…so many varieties, so fragrant, so delicious and so different from one another. The best part was that they always incorporated local spices with their Biryani recipes coming up with distinguishably different flavors each time. Each region has a completely different way of making Biryani from another.

The state of Tamil Nadu has some really celebrated Biryanis, most of which have evolved in the state’s smaller towns. A beautiful example is Ambur Biryani. As the folklore says, Salem Biryani actually developed in a particular small hotel, a military hotel to be precise. Its funny but most of the restaurants serving Non vegetarian Biryani in Tamil Nadu are referred to as “Military Hotel”.

The best thing I like about these South Indian Biryani is that the ingredients are always pretty simple, nothing fancy, nothing that requires you to urgently run to a store and despite the simplicity, the outcome is always so deliciously fancy.

Chawal ki Kheer

Chawal ki Kheer is a popular meetha/sweet dish in all Indian/ Pakistani/ Bangladeshi homes. For every special occasion when Kheer is supposed to be made, of all the different varieties of Kheer, Chawal Ki Kheer is made the most.

My love for Chawal ki Kheer is probably since birth. I have never come across any chef/cook or for that matter any person who can make Chawal ki kheer as good as my mother. Since I could understand things well, I would always look forward to days when she would make Kheer. A spoonful in your mouth was enough for anyone to experience a taste of heaven. The funny part is that I never liked the Kheer anyone else made, it was in my view a complete injustice to the dish. I expected people to work harder and make it just like my mom. Since I was a kid, I never realized the amount of effort and hard work she puts into it. When I grew up, and with time started getting ready to explore the world of spices and learn the art of cooking good food is when I saw how many hours it took her to actually make something so deliciously wonderful and that’s when I understood why I see so many faces of relatives and friends on Eid, that I do not see all year round and requesting for my mother’s special Kheer.

There is no way that I will be able to describe the number of hours she gave into it, but I can definitely give you an idea. So, we are a family that comprises almost 150+ members, almost. Please do not get shocked reading this. This includes my grandfather’s children and their families and considering that my grandfather had 9 children, all kids have large families and most of my aunts had grandchildren while I was still in my teens. So it was this plus distant family and friends. Making Kheer for these many people made my mom look like a “Khansama”. I am sure she felt that at times too. She would get around 40-50 liters of milk, maybe more and slow cook that milk till it reduces to almost 2/3 of the original quantity. Now, reducing the milk isn’t as easy as it sounds. That’s actually the first and the most important step. The Milk has to be stirred continuously so it’s evenly cooked and it shouldn’t get burnt at the bottom either. The flame or heat should be kept low. The process is tiring but worth it. The way my mom taught me was to stir once in a circular way and the second time makes the number eight. Honestly, I never realized till I was a grown-up that this is the best way to cover the whole base of the pot.

So, once the milk is reduced, you add cashew powder to it. The cashew powder does not just add some thickness and texture to it but also gives out a little sweetness and nutty flavor that is super amazing. Besides that adding, chopped almonds are a delicious add-on as well. After that, add khoya/maawa or Khoya powder, but that’s completely optional. I prefer using small grained Rice for the kheer because they are easier to mash and the texture is perfect for the Kheer after being mashed. You can use Kani ke chawal or Kaima Rice or any other small grained Rice. My mother always added condensed milk to her Kheer and some people thought that was the secret ingredient, but honestly, it’s just the magic of her hands and all the hard work. Only ingredients never make a dish great, it’s mainly the effort put in by the person cooking.

This is a wonderful way of making Kheer. I am still not as good as my mom when it comes to making it but it still comes out delicious and each spoonful makes you crave more.

Murgh Sabz Korma

This Chicken curry recipe is from Mr. Parveez’s family. I was given the recipe by my Mother in law. The dish uses a variety of veggies, which honestly at times makes it difficult to make because if you miss out on one, it changes the whole taste. From the stories I hear of Mr. Parveez’s childhood, this dish was cooked almost every Friday and he would always look forward to his mom making it. I believe even today when he eats this Korma, it makes his mind go down the memory lane and remember the awesome dishes his mom made.

Now Bangalore is the garden city of India. The city with loads of greenery and always has an availability of fresh flowers and vegetables, therefore most dishes that you look at comprises of fresh vegetables and other ingredients. those dishes necessarily do not have to be under the category of “vegetarian food”, even the non vegetarian dishes, cooked in most almost all Muslim families use a lot of vegetables with their meat/chicken as well. Initially I wasn’t too big of a fan to be very honest. Coming from Rajasthan, I wasn’t used to mixing up vegetables and meat. We, in Rajasthan prefer keeping them separate, but with time I started enjoying the flavors of the veggies more and understood that this is one of the best ways to incorporate more vegetables in your diet as well.

I got the recipe of this dish from my Sister in law after I became the member of the new family. In fact most of the recipes that I learnt from Mr. Parveez’s family were given to me by my third sister in law. This dish can be made with meat or chicken so feel free to switch the chicken with Lamb/Goat meat. You will have to cook longer though and also make sure that you add the vegetables only after the meat is properly cooked. Chicken takes less time, so adding the veggies quickly is fine.

The chicken is cooked with Potatoes, Bell Peppers, Fenugreek/ Methi leaves, Lima beans and dill leaves. You can always substitute Lima beans with peas if you want. While coming across Turkish, mainly Middle Eastern Cuisine I did learn that most meat/ chicken curries are cooked with a variety of vegetables. That makes me think that this dish is also influenced from the Mughal Era, not something they learnt from the Indian soil, but something that they taught Indian cuisine. Because, coming to think of it, if you analyze most Non vegetarian Indian/ Pakistani dishes, you will know that they exclude vegetables. I would love to cook this Korma in one of the Turkish Earthen pots some day.

Usually this Korma is served alongside Rice dish called Khushka, which is Rice cooked with Mint leaves. You can also serve this Korma with Parantha, Naan or Sheermal.