Coorg Masala Powder

Every region has their own spices and generally their food has very prominent flavor of those spices, either individual or a mixture of the spices.

Coorg is a beautiful hill station in Karnataka. We visited Coorg in 2015 and the place just doesn’t have amazing scenic views, it also has one of the most beautiful Monastery that we have ever visited. Coorg serves wonderful coffee as well. Coorg has many coffee plantations and it offers coffee powder that is spiced up with cinnamon powder and cloves powder.

This Masala is a mixture of different spices and is used in Coorg Biryani and a few curries too. The masala is pretty easy to make and can easily be stored in an airtight container at a cool and dry place.

 

Chicken Tikka Masala Biryani

Biryani is a gift from the Mughals to India, but certain recipes are so purely Indian that when you try making them, you know that they are just inspired by Biryani as a cooking method and not really the recipe. Sometimes, when you cook these recipes by combining them, the final result comes out so fabulous that you question for not trying your hand on it before.

Chicken Tikka is and official tikka starter that I believe is the first kebab anyone tries when they try Chicken kebabs. And, Chicken Tikka Masala is a favorite chicken curry for all ages. My boys love Chicken tikka masala any day, any time.

So, One fine day I decided to take a step further and make Biryani with flavors of Chicken Tikka Masala. The curry is made with boneless chicken, but I chose to make Biryani with regular chicken with bones. So, if you choose to go boneless with this one, its fine too.

Though, I was a little nervous at first but the Biryani came out amazing. The taste is something every one who loves Chicken Tikka Masala would love and since we normally consume the curry with Naan, this being with Rice makes it taste super amazing.

Bohri Biryani

Dawoodi Bohras are a Shia Muslim community. Most people from this community are settled India and Pakistan. As much as the people are loving, they are very generous hosts and love serving their guests to the best of their ability. We happen to have few friends from the community and we love their food.

My Mom had a best friend who passed away a few years ago and also happened to be a Bohri Muslim. She was a super fabulous cook and made amazing food and some of her recipes were just hard to make since, it missed out the flavors of her hand. I still remember tasting my first home baked bread at her house and the way she smothered the butter on the bread slice and I loved each bite of that slice. May her soul rest in peace.

So, with all the fabulous people around me, surprisingly no one cooked Biryani. Now, as a Biryani lover I had so much about how their families cooked Biryani in those Big “deg” [a big vessel made of copper or iron] but, they just couldn’t get down to following the hard recipe to make the same Biryani.

I have never met another crazy woman like me, who goes around collecting recipes from different places and communities. I bet sometimes people find that super annoying and honestly, after so much research I have lost the count to how many trials of different Biryanis I have done. Some got wasted since they weren’t so good. But, the collection I offer are from the best ones I made and they came out to be super delicious and fabulous.

Coming back to the Bohri Biryani. After a lot of research from different people, I made this Biryani which is as good as it can be from a Bohri family. Bohri Biryani uses Nutmeg and Mace. So, if its your preference to not use it, then its your personal choice but otherwise Bohri Muslims are allowed to consume both the spices. Do try it and if you miss out on anything or find anything confusing, feel free to ask.

Bihari Chicken Biryani

This Biryani is from Bihar. I got the recipe while I was reading a book on Bihari cuisine by a famous chef who hails from the state. Its a shame, but Bihar isn’t very popular for its non vegetarian cuisine. Like, most of us, when we talk about Bihar’s cuisine, we do not go beyond Litti chokha. The fact is that Bihar offers some of the best recipes for kebabs and Biryani.

The flavors are pretty spicy, like the Bihari movies and for sure would make any Biryani lover super happy. Its one of best Biryani recipes and pretty easy for beginners too. You could always make a little change to the spice level to suit your taste buds. You could always ask for changes you’d like to make, if you aren’t too sure. After all, Biryani is a way big of a dish for anyone to mess up. You have to be very careful before you start.