Indians and their love for lentils and beans is known worldwide. Most homes in India cook some kind of lentil or beans everyday. The dishes in North India and South India, basically my in laws and my mom’s family cook are very similar, except for the modes of cooking.
Being from Rajasthan, we cook more of mung, chana, chanwle, chhole where as, my in laws cooked more of whole mung, toovar and horse gram. Now don’t get me wrong, its not that my mother in law never cooked yellow mung, but it wasn’t cooked like Toovar, which is cooked in 4 different varieties in the house. Where as, my mom only used Toovar daal for khichdi or for making sambhar. All great beans and lentils and so many varieties and I consider myself really fortunate that I have the honor to learn all these great dishes. Its not just a delight to cook them all and enjoy a huge variety, but its a great pleasure to be able to share them all with the world.
Getting back to Chanwle or Black eyed beans. This dish is my own creation and I have a beautiful story attached to it. Mr. Parveez had not tried Chanwle, except at restaurants. So, once we happened to be eating some north Indian thaali and chanwle made their way to one of the foods served. They were cooked lightly in mild spice and had an amazing taste. I, then mentioned to my better half that I have grown eating these beans and since he likes I would love to cook them at home. My next trip to the grocery store had chanwle in the list. I knew I had to soak and boil them, and I thought I would ask my mom for the recipe, not realizing that the time I started cooking dinner in USA, my mom was sleeping in India. The soaked and boiled chanwle looked at me with high hopes of being cooked for dinner and that’s when I made up my own recipe, which was loved by my husband and kids.
I will share my mom’s recipe too on this site. Meanwhile, this recipe is simple, amazing and super delicious and healthy.
I am from North of India, Rajasthan, to be precise. There was just one kind Biryani that my mom made, similar masalas with either mutton or chicken and always served with Boondi Raita. Once I got married, everything changed. I got introduced to the real Biryani world. Getting married to a family who are vaguely connected to the Mughals [believe me] and a good food loving family.
I got introduced to not just varieties of Biryanis, that are almost close to the language dialects of our country with basic ingredients being the same, while spices, marination time and other requirements change and the result each time is fabulous biryani with different taste, leaving you craving for a new and different biryani every time.
So, coming back to Biryani accompaniments, I also discovered new side dished for Biryani, like Khatte Baingan, Cucumber Raita, Onion Tomato Raita, Dahi ki chutney, Mirch ka salan and Dalcha. Earlier, Mr. Parveez would always make Dalcha when I made Biryani. He took a lot of pride and would always be more than happy showing off his cooking skills, specially since its one of the few things that only he made. Until one day, my high tech husband had a last minute work call and he came out with the secret recipe and I made it…Its easy, thought you might find it difficult the first time but you get the hang of it and trust me, it makes you perfect Biryani outstanding.
We love Biryani. Till date, I have cooked over 45 varieties of Biryani, with different flavors and different styles of cooking. Its amazing how beautifully the flavors blend in together and give out fabulous taste.
Biryani was introduced by Mughals in India. But with time, the addition of spices, chilies, local produce were added to enhance and make numerous varieties of Biryanis. And, I believe that with time, the vegetarians in India adapted the dish and decided to make the vegetarian option. Nevertheless, meat/ chicken/ vegetables, Biryani is always delicious.
Usually, Biryanis always goes hand in hand with chicken/ meat and is a non vegetarians delight. But, little do we realize that vegetarian Biryani would be equally delicious. While making vegetable Biryani, its always advised to use a variety of vegetables, of your choice. The good thing is that veggies are incorporated so easily that even with people who dislike them, enjoy it in this form.
Chicken baida roti is an easy and scrumptious dish that can be served as a snack or light lunch. Chicken stuffed in the roti, folded into a square and cooked until crispy. Chicken Baida is similar to Katlamma. Chicken keema cooked with the spices and stuffed in the paratha. Its great by itself, without any sides or serve it with chutney. It is an excellent kids lunch box option. The stuffing and dough can be prepared ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator and make it into a parantha the next morning for a lovely school lunch.
It makes an excellent Sunday/ holiday lunch for me. My kids and hubby love it. Even this is a favorite on play dates when my boys have their friends over. So make it, its easy and will be loved by all ages….
