Salsa Rice

  
Ingredients:
White rice/ basmati rice- 1.5 cup
Salsa (thick, chunky & mild) - 1 cup
Chopped cilantro-4 tsp
Olive oil- 2 tsp
water

Method:
Wash and drain rice. Mix rice, salsa, oil, and half of chopped cilantro and cook with required amount of water, in a rice cooker. Sprinkle the rest of the cilantro and serve hot.

Chicken Biriyani...New year special..!

Ingredients and method:  (serves 6)
Chicken-1 Kg, cut into medium pieces
----for marinating chicken
Yogurt-3 tsp
Chilly powder-1.5 tsp
Coriander powder-1 tsp
Pepper powder-1/2 tsp
Chicken masala/biriyani masala-2 tsp
Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp
Salt

Marinate the chicken with the ingredients listed above and keep in refrigerator for 2 hours(the more you keep the softer the chicken would be)


---for cooking rice
Basmati rice-3 cups
Melted butter/ghee- 1/4 cup (or mix 1/8 cup of oil and 1/8 cup of butter)
Spices:(Cardamom-6,Cloves-7,Cinnamon-1" stick,Mace(jathipatri)-2,Bay leaves-4 )
Salt
Water

Wash rice 4-5 times in water and drain. Heat butter/oil in a pan, add spices and saute for while til you get the nice spicy fragrance. Transfer the rice into cooking vessel and add the spices along with butter/oil. Add water(I used 1.5 cup per cup of rice in rice cooker) and salt. Cook rice and once it is cooked spread it in a wide plate, it will prevent sticking of rice. Take care not to overcook rice.



----for making chicken masala/gravy
Onion-3, thinly sliced
Green chilly- 10-12, crushed
Ginger-1" piece, crushed
Garlic-3, crushed
Crushed spices(Cardamom-3,Cloves-4,Cinnamon-1" stick)
masala powders(Coriander powder-2 tsp, chicken masala/biriyani masala-2 tsp)
Yogurt-1/2 cup
Cilantro-1/4 cup, chopped
Salt
Oil-2 tbsp

Crush together green chilly, ginger and garlic. Heat oil in a pan and add crushed spices followed by crushed green chilly, garlic and ginger. Stir until their raw smell has gone. Add onions and saute till they are transparent. Add masala powders, saute for a while and add marinated chicken, yogurt, cilantro and salt. Cook chicken covered till the gravy become thick.


---for garnishing and layering
Onion-1, (to make fried onion-fry thinly sliced onions in butter till they are brown in color add 1 tsp of sugar and keep aside)
Cashew nuts and raisins-1/2cup(fry them in butter/ghee)
Cilantro, chopped-1/2 cup
Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp(for yellow color, heat turmeric in 2 tsp of butter, let it settle and take the supernatant liquid for giving yellow color)
Melted butter/ghee-4 tsp
Boiled eggs-4

 Apply butter on a baking dish and layer half of the chicken masala evenly (evenly spread chicken pieces). Then make a layer of cooked rice. Drizzle half of the melted butter and spread half of the cilantro. Repeat layering once again and finally garnish the top rice layer with fried cashew nuts, raisins, fried onions and cilantro. Keep boiled eggs on the top of the  rice. Drizzle the remaining butter and  yellow color(turmeric). Cover with an aluminum foil. Bake for 20 min at 350F. Serve hot with raita, pappad or pickle.


Tips:
1.If you want to warm the biriyani on stove top, prepare the layers of chicken gravy and rice in a big vessel and cover with a lid and cook in medium heat for 10-15 min until you get nice aroma of biriyani.
2. Just before baking/warming the biriyani, make few slits reaching up to the bottom of the pan/dish. Add few drops of butter/ ghee. The slits would help to warm up/ steam the biriyani fast.

പുട്ടും മുട്ടക്കറിയും (Steamed rice cake with egg curry)

Ingredients: for puttu (makes 6-8 chiratta puttu)
Rice flour/puttu podi-3 cups
Grated coconut-1 cup
Water~2 cups
Salt
equipments needed: puttu kutty
Method: (for puttu)
Mix well rice flour and salt. Wet the flour by adding water little by little till it gets the correct consistency (usually determined by pressing a handful of wet flour, and it should assume the shape of the hands and should be easily powdered if you break it ). 
Add a layer of grated coconut and then flour finally top with one more layer of grated coconut. Attach to a pressure cooker and steam it for 5-8 min. Serve warm with any veg/non veg curries.

Ingredients for egg  curry:
egg-6 (boiled, halved)
Onion-2, thinly sliced
Tomato-2, finely chopped
Ginger-a small piece, chopped
Garlic-2, chopped
Green chilly-2, slit lengthwise
Thnin coconut milk-2.5 cups
Thick coconut milk-1/2 cup
Chilly powder-2 tsp
Coriander powder- 3 tsp
Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
Garam masala- 1 tsp
Mustard seeds-1 tsp
Curry leaves- 2 sprigs
Salt

Method:
Boil eggs, remove shell and slice each  into two. Heat oil in a a pan. Splutter mustard seeds and add curry leaves, green chillies, ginger, garlic, saute for few min. Add onions and stir till the onions are transparent. Add chilly powder, coriander powder, garam masala, salt and saute until their raw smell is gone. Add tomato and cook until the tomatoes are mashed. Add thin coconut milk, bring it to boil and add eggs. Cover it for 5 min. Afterwards simmer it and add thick coconut milk, mix well (take care not to boil after adding thick coconut milk). Switch off the stove, add a small crushed garlic and cover with a lid. This would give a nice aroma to the preparation. Serve warm.

Tomato rice (Thakkali choru)

Ingredients: (Serves-4-5)

• Basmati rice- 3 cups
• Tomato-3 
• Onion-1, thinly sliced
• Green chilly-3-4
• Ginger-1 inch piece,
• Garlic- 3-4,
• Curry leaves- few
• Cilantro-10 sprigs, chopped
• Thick coconut milk- 1 cup
• Whole garam masala- (Cloves-5, Cardamom-5,Cinnamon- 1 inch piece)
• Cashew nut and raisins-1/4 cup
• Butter/veg oil-2 tbsp   
• Salt

Method:

1. Wash rice in plenty of water and drain.
2. Crush together ginger, garlic and green chillies.
3. Dilute thick coconut milk by adding 3.5-4 cups of water.
4. Fry cashews and raisins in butter and keep aside.
5. Thinly slice tomatoes and cook with 1 cup of water. Mash the tomatoes well or strain to get ~1/2-1 cup of puree. Heat oil/ butter in a pan, add cloves, cardamom and cinnamon. Saute for a while and add crushed ginger, garlic, green chilly and curry leaves followed by onion.Stir until the onions are transparent. Add tomato puree and stir until the preparation is thick. Add this into rice along with half of the cilantro, salt and cook the rice in diluted coconut milk (You can use 1.5-2 cups of coconut milk for 1 cup of rice). Garnish with the remaining cilantro, fried cashew nuts and raisins and serve hot with any spicy curry.

Kerala fried rice

Ingredients: (Serves 6)

1. Basmati rice- 3 cups
2. Cardamom-9
   
3. Cloves-10
4. Bay leaf-4
5. Cinnamon sticks-5
6. Green chillies-2
7. Garlic-1
8. Ginger-1/2 inch piece
9. Green peas-1/2 cup
10. Carrot-1/2 cup, chopped
11. Beans-1/2 cup, chopped
12. Soy sauce-1 tsp
13. Vegetable oil-1/4 cup
14. Melted butter-1/4 cup
15. Salt
16. Water for cooking rice
    

For garnishing:

1. Onion-1, thinly sliced
2. Raisins and cashew nuts-1/2 cup
3. Cilantro
4. Curry leaves

Method:

1. Wash rice and drain.
2. Crush together ginger, garlic and green chillies.
   
3. In a pan pour half of the melted butter and add cardamon, cloves, bay leaf and cinnamon sticks, saute until you get a nice aroma.
4. Transfer the rice into a cooking vessel and add crushed ginger, garlic, green chillies and fried spices into rice along with the melted butter. Add water just enough to cook the rice. (I used a rice cooker and it need 1.5 cup of water for 1 cup of rice). Add enough salt and cook the rice. Take care not to overcook the rice. Rice should not stick together.
   
5. Mean while slightly fry chopped carrots, beans and green peas in 1-2 tsp of oil and 1 tsp of soy sauce and stir. Add salt and keep aside.
   
6. Fry cashew nuts and raisins in 2-3 tsp of the melted butter and keep aside.
7. Finally fry thinly sliced onion in 1 tsp of oil or butter until it is crispy and brown. Transfer into a plate and add 1 tsp of sugar and mix well(this is to keep them crispy and would give a nice taste to fried rice)
8. When rice is done transfer into a big flat tray and mix well with fried vegetables. Finally garnish the top of the rice with fried raisins, cashews, onions and chopped cilantro and curry leaves. Sprinkle 2-3 tsp of melted butter or oil. Serve warm with chilly chicken or chicken curry.