Bheja Fry

This dish is Brain Fry, made from Goat or lamb brain. Being from the Muslim community, I have never known a family who does not make this at home, though the opinion of people differ. People like us are big fans and love it each time its cooked, but then I have my kids, who never enjoyed the texture and taste and no matter how much I tried convincing them, it never worked till now. Keeping my fingers crossed that someday they would like it.

Now, brain fry is very popular in traditional dish and is made in restaurants that serve traditional Muslim food and you will never find it on the menu of all restaurants. This dish is popularly served for breakfast with parantha, along side with paaya curry or even on its own. If you ever want to try this dish, I would recommend you to either try it in Muslim home or if you happen to be in a city in India, popular for their Muslim food, like Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai, do try them in the high populated Muslim areas.

This dish is made in a very traditional style. Though its super easy to make, the brain is a little fragile so you cannot cook it the way we cook traditional chicken or meat. Being fragile, you have to make sure you cook it carefully. Turn around carefully specially when you mix it with the masala in the end.

Ambur Biryani

Aambur, is a town in the district of Vellore in Northern Tamil Nadu. Its a signature Biryani is made originally from zeera sambha rice.

As the story goes, Ambur/Vaniyambadi biryani is a type of biryani cooked in neighboring towns of Ambur & Vaniyambadi in the Vellore district in the north-eastern part of Tamil Nadu, which has a high Muslim population. It was introduced by the Nawabs of Arcot who once ruled the place. There are also some stories that believe that Mughal soldiers once while they were down in the southern region of India, craved Biryani and ended up with this recipe as they had to make up their favorite dish with locally available spices and rice, hence the use of Zeera sambha.

The Ambur biryani is accompanied with ‘dalcha’, khatte baingan curry or raitha. It has a distinctive aroma and is considered light on the stomach. The usage of spice is moderate and curd is used as a gravy base. It also has a higher ratio of meat to rice.

Now continuing with my story, as most of you who follow me know that I love tryong new recipes of Biryani. So this one day, while watching an Indian TV channel, my hubby, Mr. Parveez  came across a restaurant serving Ambur Biryani and it happened to be a Friday morning, [every Friday without a miss, I cook biryani for dinner] and he facetimes me from his office while I am out for grocery shopping, “Baccha , can you look up for Ambur Biryani and make that today?”

While I am always happy to try something new, I also get upset if I have to rearrange my shopping list. To my surprise, when I found the recipe, it didn’t use any fancy ingredients and I basically had them all at home. Making the Biryani was so easy, that I looked through the recipe twice after being done to make sure I wasn’t missing on anything. Its definitely pleases the crowd and easy to make too. So, if you are a Biryani fan like me, this is a must try.

Carrot Masala Toast

This masala toast is a famous snack from Iyengar bakery, which I had never tried. Being from North India, there are these few things that you miss out on. Like the fresh made veggie toast. Ohhh!!! Don’t get me wrong, I love the north Indian malai bread and potato sandwich or paneer sandwich, but I still fell completely in love with this iyengar bakery masala toast.

This was first made by my husband, Mr. Parveez when he wanted to flaunt his cooking skills, show casing how breakfast can be made quick, delicious, light and above all, healthy.

This toast can have variety of veggies put but, the authentic iyengar bakery toast only has carrots, tomatoes, onions with a few spices and chilies. It’s a perfect breakfast for on the run, or a perfect snack for warming up those after school/evening cold winters with a warm drink.

Bourani Baingan

This is a middle eastern recipe, to be specific, an “Afghani” recipe. There used to be an Afghani restaurant near our old house. Mr. Parveez and I loved the food they served. Beinf authentic Afghani, there rice pilaf would always be served garnished with shredded carrots, cashews and raisins and of course grilled Chicken / meat. But what we loved the most was the Bourani Baingan [pronounced as Bow-rani Bain-jan].

It was served as an appetizer with Afghaan bread called Noni. Bourani Baingan is dish made with eggplants cooked with tomatoes and garlic and served with whipped yogurt on top. I was so madly in love with that dish that loads of time I would give up my rice pilaf and chicken just to have that. And, just like that one fine day, the restaurant shut down for renovation and eventually opened up as a pizzeria. I believe the owner thought that pizza sells more than the Afghani food and preferred changing the business.

And, like they say, necessity is the mother of invention. Meanwhile, we found another Afghani restaurant and loved their food too but, we were deprived of our favorite Bourani Baingan. This is when I decided to follow my taste pallets and come up with the recipe. As I always say, trials and errors till I got it right. This recipe is a perfect dish for a weekend brunch or a perfect appetizer for a small in house party. It goes perfectly with Afghan Noni which you can find in the bread section. Unlike the popular belief of connecting Middle east food with only Non vegetarian food, both these dishes are vegetarian.

Bhuna Gosht Masala

As a kid, I never liked mutton curries. I grew up believing that Goat/Lamb is something I just never enjoy until, I started my cooking experiments and realized that the problem is not with mutton, its the way it was cooked in my house. There were just 2 kinds of curries and I just happened to not like any. Though, I did prefer one and found it a little easier to gulp down somehow. I think the reason that I didn’t have too many options as a kid when it came to food choices is the reason I make so many varieties…LOLzzz.

So, when I started cooking lamb/goat, I preferred cooking them as kebabs. Different kebabs, with bones, boneless, minced meat, but never a curry. I could just never gather courage to make a curry, because I was convinced that it wouldn’t be good.

All that changed after I got married. Mr. Parveez has some fabulous goat curry recipes, passed down from his family and that’s when I started following the recipes and got more confident about it. Experimenting with different flavors added a lot of variety to my lamb and goat dishes. This recipe happens to be one of them.

This dish is a little thick in gravy, so its great to be eaten with phulkas or Rotis or a side dish with Daal-Chawal.

Malabar Chicken Biryani

Malabar food is a Biryani dish from Kerela. The famous dish is made by layering aromatic Rice with chicken masala, mostly made in Ghee. The recipe demands the pot to be sealed with flour or tight cloth, after the Rice and chicken are layered and Biryani is set to dumm. It should be cooked on low heat to get the perfect Biryani that has been one of Kerela’s most popular and beautiful recipes.

The great town Calicut, now known has Kozhikode is known for its amazing cuisines along with beautiful beaches. The place has had many settlers and the cuisines show an influence of the the travelers from different countries that had once been the part of Calicut’s gorgeous history. Biryani of course shows a clear influence of Persin / Mughal era. the local cuisine is known for its sumptuous non vegetarian food and Chicken Biryani seems to be one of the top favorites.

Coming back to today’s recipe for Malabar Biryani, its usually made with Chicken, but I am sure the recipe would work great on Meat and Fish too, though you might want to change the proportion of spices. The Malabari call the cooking of this Biryani to be a “Pakki method” in which Rice and chicken are cooked separately and then layered and put to dumm.

Malabar Biryani is usually cooked in Ghee. The liberal use of ghee along side of whole spices, like Cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and star anise make an awesomely fragrant dish. I am not a big fan of cooking the whole Biryani in Ghee, so I have been slightly careful. But you can always substitute Oil for Ghee if it suits your taste buds. This dish is spicy, but not spicy enough to make you cry. So, if you like Biryani, but aren’t a fan of Indian food that’s “hot”, this dish is for you.

Malabar Biryani uses Khaima Rice and I tried to look for a good quality Khaima Rice in United States. Since my search didn’t give me any results, I am sticking to my original long grained Basmati Rice. My Mother in law loves her Biryani cooked with Jeerakasala Rice, which is close or same as Khaima Rice. So, if you do happen to find a good brand, Please use it and also let me know in the comment section. The extra water in the Rice is drained and the rice is cooled slightly. Unlike the absorption method of cooking, this method of cooking rice in an open pan in excess water and draining it like pasta will always give you perfect Rice thats needed for a good Biryani.

The chicken is first cooked in onions, ginger, garlic, fresh cilantro, mint and green chilies and yogurt. Tomatoes can or cannot be used. I saw different recipes and I preferred the one with tomatoes. Once the chicken is all cooked, layer it with the Rice and seal the Biryani with a cloth and a tight lid. Adding some kind of weight to the lid is advisable too. I usually keep my Biryani in the oven but you can always dumm it on the gas at low flame for around 30 minutes.

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.

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.

Mughlai Biryani

This Biryani is very close to my heart. This recipe was shared by Mr. Parveez, some 4 years ago and since then it has been a family favorite. My younger son calls it “Mogli Biryani”, since he feels that Mughlai is very close to”Mogli”, and I am sure somewhere he also believes that this recipe came in from the Jungle book…LOLzzz.

Mr. Parveez came across an article about Mughal migration and food and thats when he learnt that the initial use of spices in Biryani was actually white pepper and not the chilies. Though with time, chilies made a very special place in the Biryani recipes and no Biryani recipe seem to be complete without them, but that wasn’t the way it all started.

Black pepper has a very strong flavor and if you use it often, you would know that using black pepper even little more than required makes the taste of a dish bitter, therefore you need to be careful when handling that spice. Unlike, black pepper, white pepper is easier to handle and does not add bitterness if slightly over used.

This dish has flavors from the Middle east. it isn’t too spicy so it matched perfectly with Mirch ka saalan or Baghare Baingan or khatte Baingan. I have made this for my son’s school party for teachers and it was a big hit. You can use regular chicken cut to medium or small size pieces, though I preferred using chicken legs. It doesn’t change the taste but definitely enhances the look. I have used green chilies, but from the article that I read, it wasn’t a requirement so, the use is optional. Also the garnishing with boiled eggs is completely optional. You can also use cashews, and/or almonds to garnish if you feel like.

 

Methi Murgh Biryani

For the huge variety of Biryanis that I have cooked, I sometimes feel I should make a separate section for “Hyderabadi Biryanis”. The city is as popular for Biryanis as much as its for Falakhnuma Palace. Talking about Falakhnuma palace, though I am from the state of Forts and Palaces, Falakhnuma happens to be one palace that I would want to visit only because my favorite actor, Salman Khan had his sister married there and that’s when I was in love with the interiors.

Hyderabad does excite me for food, not just Biryanis but Haleem and samosas too. I love watching food shows and one such had details of a famous joint who cook their Haleem all day in nuemerous different large size pots only to last 2 hours. Its that popular and I am sure super delicious. Hyderabad has at least 20 kinds of different Biryanis but I think its more for the Hyderabadis to understand and for the rest of the world, its just Hyderabadi Biryani. I love to cook the different recipes of Hyderbadi Biryani. They are all so distinct from one another that tasting them is any Biryani lover’s dream come true.

Each Biryani is so distinct and as much as I read more, the ingredients that makes each Biryani stand out are so simple and yet make the Biryani so exclusively delicious.

This Biryani is very delicious and the flavor of Fenugreek adds a very different taste to the Yakhni. This Biryani actually is one of my older son’s favorite Biryanis, who loves kebabs and honestly isn’t a big fan of Biryani. This is a great recipe for people who enjoy their Biryani spicy or masaledaar. It tastes best with Dalcha and Onion Raita. Since, the Biryani is high in spices, you would want to serve it with something that mellows down the spice level.