Chane ki Daal ka Meetha

This is the first sweet dish that I made from my Sasuraal side. Coming from Rajasthan, I was in love with Moong ki daal ka Halwa and when I heard about Chane ki daal ka Halwa, I was super excited and loved the taste when I tried it. Once we moved to USA, I started trying to make it on home.

The first try was something I did by myself, without asking my Mother in law for the recipe, but for some reason it wasn’t as good as what we had eaten and neither me, nor Mr. Parveez was able to figure out what went wrong or what was missing. And, that’s when my Mother in law came to the rescue. I spoke to her over the phone, giving her details about how I tried making the “meetha” and that I didn’t understand what went wrong. She patiently explained the over all recipe and the “magic ingredient” that I missed was Cinnamon and cloves.

Little did I think that Cinnamon and clove make so much difference to this Halwa. I could never imagine adding these 2 ingredients will actually add so much flavor and fragrance to this sweet.

This sweet dish is one of the easiest sweets I have ever made and it has always impressed everyone. The best part that I like about this sweet dish that, it’s mistake proof. Having said that, I mean that there is no mistake that you make while cooking this, that cannot be fixed and that too easily. So, if you are new at making Indian sweet dishes, this is your go to dish. It’s great for beginners and also great if you have to make something in a jiffy.

Thalassery Chicken Biryani

This recipe is from the land of Kerala. Thalassery food has a distinct  flavor. Thalassery town of Northern Kerala, that has a blend in Arabian, Persian, Indian and European styles of cooking as a result of its long history as a maritime trading post. Thalassery is very popular for its delicious Biryani. Unlike other biryani dishes, Thalassery Biryani, originally uses jeerakshala/kaima rice instead of the usual long grained Basmati Rice. I used Basmati Rice since I cannot see my Biryani any other way. My Mother in law still prefers the kaima rice over Basmati rice, even for Biryani. Kaima rice has its own exclusive flavor and they have a wonderful fragrance as well, but I just come from a very Mughlia thought and prefer my Rice grain to be beautifully long

The influence of Arabian/Mughal culture is evident, especially in the dishes of the Muslim community of Kerala and Thalassery Biryani happens to be one of those dishes that shows it Mughlia flavors and is still enjoyed by all.

We, personally as a family love the food made in Kerala, vegetarian and Non vegetarian. You will find us taking time out if any of the hotels are celebrating “Kerala food festival week” during our stay in India. The best thing I enjoy about Kerala cuisine is the fact that the flavor of each ingredient comes out distinct in its own way making the dish complete. The way the cuisine has its ingredients listed and the process in which you add the spice changes the flavor of a dish. With Kerala cuisine , they make sure that no one ingredient over powers the flavor of the other ingredient. In fact, they blend in symphony making the dish delicious and exclusive.

Rajasthani Malai Biryani

A recipe close to my heart. Rajasthan is my home state. The land of Marwar is popular for its beautiful and sweet spoken people along with the gorgeous forts and palaces. Its also known for its beautiful colors that can be easily seen in the attires and things people use. We proudly call it our “Rangeelo Rajasthan”.

Rajasthan is mostly popular for its vegetarian food but little do people know that Non vegetarian food of Rajasthan is not only very popular between Non vegetarians but also portrays the love for cooking from the Royal Palaces. Most kings in Rajasthan have loved to cook in their leisure time and they enjoy cooking the traditional Marwar recipes that have passed on to us from generations.

Rajasthani Malai Biryani comes in from the kitchens of the Mughals and clearly shows the bond of brotherhood and relationship shared by Rajputs and Mughals. When Princess Jodha married the Great Mughal Emperor Akbar, the Mughal cuisine was all set to merge like the traditions and fesivals of the two different faiths. This dish uses a lot of chili. Well, that’s what Rajasthan is popular for, but to calm it down it uses cream or malai. Mughals used a lot of cream and dry fruits in the cuisine and most dishes that use a lot of cream or saffron are actually a gift from the Mughal Era. In fact, its surprising how many dishes in Persia or Arab countries sound and look similar to Indian/pakistani cuisine and it clearly shows how the foods welcomed the merge and till today we enjoy and take pride of what our history gifted us.

Hariyali Daal

Belonging to Northern west part of India, I grew up eating more of Moong, Masoor and chana daal. Toovar daal was either used to accasionally make sambhar or my mom’s Saturday Night khichdi. Believe it or not, my mom made khichdi every Saturday night and I always tried hard to get an answer to this question. The standard reply to my question was that my Dad enjoyed “Bhuni khichdi” or “pan fried khichdi” for breakfast every Sunday morning, therefore Khichdi had to made for Saturday dinner. Though I loved Sunday pan fried Khichdi, I still could never fall in love with the original Khichdi.

Coming back to Toovar daal. So, after I got married, I found so many different ways of cooking Toovar daal since down south, they cook a lot of Toovar daal. Isn’t it a blessing getting married to someone from a completely different state or region because you both are accustomed to eating similar flavors yet so many varieties add to your table in zoom. Its just amazing. All you need if you get married to someone different from you is keep an open heart, open mind and a pallet that is open to new foods and experiments. At least, thats what Mr. Parveez and I did.

Once when I revisited my hometown, I went to a restaurant and tried “Hari daal”… Now, with the flavor I did realize that its Toovar daal but what amazed me the most was to see my younger son, who was 4 that time, loved the daal and didn’t fuss. Of course, the restaurant owner didn’t share the recipe except confirming that it was Toovar daal. After I returned home, to USA, I still had the daal in mind and decided to trying to make it.

This daal is pretty easy to make and the best part is that because everything is blended, its easier for your kids to eat and enjoy the flavors. I always notice my boys taking coriander leaves, onions or tomatoes out of their daal but with this they enjoy the flavor and eat everything too.

Drumstick Leaves Ka Chaar

“Har Khana kuchh kehta hai…Kuchh meethi yaadein…kuchh kisse…har bachpan ke unchuhe hisse…”

Every dish has a story…some beautiful memories…some childhood stories that you remember with every flavor….This dish belongs to my better half’s, Mr. Parveez’s hometown, Bengaluru. The name has been derived from Tamilian word “Chaaru” that stands for curry.

Living in USA, we Indians learn how to substitute few ingredients with what we have back home to what’s available in our grocery store. So, one day I found a new addition to our local grocer’s Veggie section. Like a little happy child in candy land, I called up my husband informing him about the drumstick leaves, asking him if they can be used.

You might find it extremely funny to read, but I normally text and call him when I am at grocery store. I actually became pretty popular among workers at the store since they always see me clicking pictures and texting someone [my husband] and then come back to the section to pick what I clicked. I really don’t know what kind of husbands take their wives calls in one time because it never happens with me. I usually get a call back after 5 minutes, with a patent dialogue “phone was on silent” or “Dekha nahi” [I didn’t pay attention] or a text back saying “meeting”. And as much as I feel that he should attend me before the rest of the world, I let it go…LOLzzz… Not really, the poor guy works very hard and I know if it isn’t work, he would make sure he talks to me first.

Ohh sorry, the story took a sweet romantic turn, lets get back to the main story. So, I call him all happy that I found drumstick leaves and he got super excited and asked me to buy them.

Once home, he asks me to make this dish which we normally make with spinach [equally flavorful, though]. This dish is healthy and its great for diets or low carb diets. The good thing about this dish is that this two dishes in one. This dish gives out a dry dish and a liquid daal type dish that makes it easy to eat with Rice and parantha/phulkas.

With each bite, he remembered his childhood of how his mother prepared this from the fresh leaves plucked from the neighbor’s tree….childhood flavors stay for life.

Lucknowi Mutton Biryani

Lucknow food is food of the Nawabs and I love the Kebabs, curries and of course, the Biryani. Lucknowi Biryani uses a lot whole masalas and requires the chicken to be marinated in whole spices, powdered spices and Yogurt.

I have been to Lucknow once, with my parents in 2002. Though we didn’t stay for too long, but few days were enough for me to love the flavors and food from Lucknow. I wasn’t a complete cook back then and as much as I loved the food, I wasn’t so keen about doing a research to find out or look for recipes and try them out. Its much later, few years ago when I decided to get on the band wagon of cooking varieties of Biryani and started my journey of getting minute details about everything, is when I discovered the details about the Lucknowi Nawabi Cuisine.

This particular recipe happens to be one of the most old and original recipes from the Khansamas of the Nawabs. There were a few books in Urdu that described the times of Nawabi culture and traditions and how posh the era of Nawabs were and how beautifully and exclusively served food and how delectable the food used to be. The article gave an idea of how the Khansamas marinated the meat/ chicken and the ingredients they used and following the notes, I came up with the recipe as close to the original.

I have also tried making Lucknowi seekh and Galouti kebab and if you check the Kebab section, you will find the recipes for them. This Biryani doesn’t use tomatoes, but uses a lot of coriander leaves, mint leaves and green chilies.

This Biryani is one of my family’s favorite.  This was my first dish from Lucknow and from there on, its been pretty regular in our house. This is a wonderful recipe. Like I say for most recipes, Please read the complete recipe properly before you try this out. Its a sure hit.

Kofte Ki Biryani

Mr. Parveez, my better half is from Bangalore and only after I got marrried, I realized how many varieties of Non vegetarian food Muslims cook. I understand most of you find my stories a little funny to understand and its kind of hard to relate to. Its tough

I hail from Jodhpur, Rajasthan, where muslims probably make only 10% of the total population and most of them do not cook a lot of variety. While growing up, my mom was kind of the only woman I knew who made Biryani and we would see tons of people every Eid to have the special dish. Not just Biryani, but my mom’s Roast Chicken, Keeme ke samose, Tikka Boti and Kebabs were very exclusive and super delicious. I grew up believing that her food was a huge variety and at least it was not the same mutton curry, chicken curry and pulao, something standard at all our relatives.

Our visits to Delhi and Mumbai had us trying different cuisines at restaurants, but in my mind I always thought that it wasn’t something so commonly made at homes. When I got married, my outlook towards Muslim home food changed. This is when I realized that kebabs and curries could be made in so many different varieties and it was kind of important for every Muslim family to make a better variety than others for their gathering. It would amaze you if you were to go for parties to Muslim families, because its a competition to be better than the other.

This was my introduction to my Mughal Family and Mughlai cuisine. They say marriages are made in heaven and the Almighty know the right soul mate for you. In my case, he knew I need to be married in a family that loved food and wanted someone who shared the same passion as them, and I feel blessed.

So, Bangalore is where I discovered this Biryani. Its one of the Mughlai recipes that is pretty popular in Muslim families. But, as much as its popularity is all around Bangalore, not everyone can make it properly. This is my version of Kofta Biryani. I steam the the koftas before i cook them with the gravy and the water that is left behind after steaming koftas can be used to cook rice.

This Biryani is great, but won’t recommend it for beginners.

Khuskhus Aur Khopre Ki Biryani

While I am always on a lookout for new Biryanis that have been made since the invention of this awesome dish, some recipes are just so fascinating that when you read about how they were cooked in olden days, its just hard to not try cooking them.

The land of Hyderabad offers so many varieties of Biryanis and this Biryani happens to be one of the delicious Biryanis that it offers. The Nawabs are always known to have food that is rich. Using cashews and poppy seeds not only adds a lot of flavor to a dish but also makes the yakhni very creamy and rich.

Biryani is inspired by cuisines from Persia. Recipes that have cashews and poppy seeds resemble the closest since the Mughlai recipes had loads of dry fruits and nuts added to their cuisine. Down south, Hyderabad serves the most Biryanis. This recipe is not like Hyderabadi dumm Biryani and not too spicy either but the taste is still lovely and the flavors are divine.

Kanpur Ki Murgh Biryani

Lucknow food is inspired by Nawabs and only for the ones who have tasted the food know what a great taste the Nawabs had. Its the “Tehzeeb” or the culture and traditions of Lucknow that has us all enjoy the delicious cuisines even more. Kanpur has a lot of influence from the Lucknowi cuisine as well, specially for the Non vegetarian food.

The Nawabs of Lucknow were also ruling and settled in areas of Kanpur and therefore, after them the Khansamas also moved and settled in Kanpur. The good thing about moving to a new place is that you get to be more innovative with your recipe and the new ingredients helps you be more creative.

I believe food can be made with a lot of work, love, passion but, what makes the mark is the presentation of the dish, the words that describes the dish and most of all the person who cooks and serves. Nawabs have always been a people of nazakat and nawazish, and it flows in their cuisine.

This Biryani recipe is pretty simple and is great for beginners. The recipe is made in ghee which can be easily substituted with any oil you like. The recipe is rich, like most Nawabi cuisine.

Hyderabadi Kacche Gosht Ki Biryani

I came across an article once, which was based on the Nizams of Hyderabad. Hyderabad has witnessed a great variety of food thanks to the Nawabs and Nizams, who ruled Hyderabad at different times. The food was inspired from the Mughlai cuisine, but the additions that the Nawabs made to the cuisine made the dishes outstanding. A result of that is the great contribution of Hyderabad to the food world.

As I have mentioned in a lot of other recipe introductions as well, that Hyderabad has contributed more than a 100 variety of Biryanis, each distinct and equally delicious as the other. And, as much as its hard to understand how they are different, you will either have to cook or try the variety. The spices, the other ingredients and the process of cooking changes the complete flavor of a dish.

Kacche Gosht ki Biryani from Delhi is pretty popular too, but the recipe differs a little. This Biryani is made with partially cooked rice being layered on top of marinated meat which is ‘raw’ and is then ‘dumm cooked’ till the meat and rice come out perfectly cooked. But this dish is still considered to be the ultimate measure of a chef’s skill.

In Olden days, Hyderabad had special Khansamas, who cooked this Biryani in the  Nizam’s Bawarchikhaana. Later, these Khansamas were called on special occasions to high class families to bring back the taste of authentic Biryani.

I read that the fine art of making kachche gosht ki biryani is almost lost, as it was becoming surpassed by poorer versions. A classic kachche gosht ki biryani requires patience. Its like a love story, that needs what we call zaaiqaa and mohabbat, and there are still plenty of those  emotions in the hearts of Biryani lovers like me.

I believe as the years have passed, people seem to be losing their love for really good, slow food, that is cooked with genuine expertise, and with that they are sadly also losing the taste of authentic food.

Most of these chefs who are still cooking authentic food ended up dying penniless. What a shame for us all, because not only did we lose the art of cooking this dish properly, we also lost a genuine knowledge base and mentoring. But, I believe people like me still exist around the world who are accepting the new quick fixes but, also still cling to the genuine recipes and authentic flavors and love to share and pass along.

 

Since I do not have the complete authentic Biryani recipe, I did make sure I try and follow the steps and make it as close to the authentic recipe as possible.