CHICKEN BIRYANI

Ingredients

1 kg chicken
4 cups biryani rice
4 nos onion , finely sliced
1 inch piece ginger
8 cloves garlic
4 nos green chillies
2 nos tomato
1/2 cup yoghurt
1/2 tbsp chilli powder
3 tbsp coriander powder
pinch turmeric
1/2 tsp garam masala
3 piece cinnamon
5-9 nos cloves
5 nos cardamom
4 sprigs coriander leave
4 leaves mint
3 tbsp coconut oil
salt to taste
15 nos cashews
15 nos raisins
3 tbsp ghee

Method

Wash biryani rice , soak in water for 30 minutes and drain it well.
Grind ginger, garlic, green chilli to a paste. Add curd and salt to this paste. Marinate chicken pieces with this paste for 1 hour.
Now prepare garnish for biryani. - Heat 1 tbsp ghee in a vessel, fry cashew nut, raisins and 1 finely sliced onion till golden brown and keep aside.  ( while frying onions , when its almost done , add 1 tsp sugar so that fried onion remain crisp throughout)
Heat 3 tbsp coconut oil in  vessel, put remaining onion and salt to taste.
Saute untill golden brown. Reduce flame , add chilli, coriander, turmeric, garam masala powders. Stir it for 2 minutes. Add slicetomatoess and saute for few minutes.
To this add marinated chicken pieceanddn stir it well . Add 1 cup water and cook untill done.
Heat 1 tbsp of gee in other vessel  , put cinnamon, cloves, cardomom, and stir it. Put drained rice and stir for 2 minutes.
Pour water and salt salt as needed. Cook it until 3/4 done and drain the water.
Spread evenly 1 tbsp ghee in a vessel and layer it with rice and cooked chiken. Arrange in such a way that bottom and top layers have rice.
Garnish each layer wit onion, cashew, raisin, finely chopped coriander and mint leaves.
Pout 1 tbsp ghee on top of chicken biryani. Cover the vessel.
Heat a heavy tawa, put biryani vessel on the tawa and heat it on low flame for 15 minutes.
Turn off flame and leave it for 15 minutes.( instead of cooking on tawa, you can also cook in preheated oven)
Serve chicken biryani hot with salad, pappad, pickle.

CHOCOLATE CAKE

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa power
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp espresso powder
1 cup milk,buttermilk,or coconut milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil, canola oil or melted coconut oil
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
frosting

Method

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Prepare cake pan by spraying with baking spray or buttering.
Add flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powdr, baking soda, salt, espresso powder to a large owl. Combine well all dry ingredients.
Add milk, oil, eggs and vanilla to flour mixture and mix together until well combined.
Add boiling water to cake batter until well combined.
Pour cake batter into pan and bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of cake comes out clean.
Remove from oven and allow it to cool .
Remove from pan and frost the cake.
Enjoy !!!!!

SWISS CHARD SABZI

Ingredients

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 tbsp finely chopped ginger

3-4 cloves garlic

3 large tomatoes, roughly chopped

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 bunch swiss chard stems, chopped into 1/2 " pieces

1 bunch chard leaves, rolled into cigars and cut into strips

1 1/2 tbsp coriander powder

1 tsp cumin powder

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 pinch chili powder

Method

Heat oil or ghee in a pan. Add onion, saute well.

Add ginger and garlic ans saute well.

Add tomatoes, tomato paste, spice mixture. Cover and let it simmer until tomatoes break apart easily with spoon and begin to look like sauce for 5-10 minutes. 

Add chard stems and simmer , until tender.

Add chard leaves, cover and let it simmer until leaves wilt.

Add salt to taste.

MATAR PANEER

Ingredients 

To make a paste

1 cup chopped onions
1 ¼ to 1 ½ cup ripe tomatoes
8 to 10 cashew nuts or skinned almonds (use 5 to 6 more to skip cream)
1 green chili(optional)

other ingredient for gravy

1 to 1.5 tbsp butter or oil
1 ½ tsp ginger garlic paste
½ cup green peas
1 ½ cups paneer/ indian cottage cheese
2 green cardamoms
½ tsp cumin
1 bay leaf
half inch cinnamon stick
2 cloves
½ to ¾ tsp kashmiri red chili powder
¾ to 1 tsp garam masala
salt as needed
¼ tsp kasuri methi
few coriander leaves chopped finely

¼ cup cream(substitute with 5 to 6 cashews)

Method

Make a fine paste of onions, tomatoes, chili, cashews. You can also blanch onions and use them here. Refer step by step instructions for details.
Optional step. Saute paneer in little oil and immerse them in hot water until used.
Saute cumin, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and bay leaf in oil for 1 to 2 minutes. Fry ginger garlic paste until the raw smell goes off.
Add the ground paste and fry until it leaves the sides of the pan.
Also the raw smell must disappear. Add chili powder, garam masala, coriander powder and salt. saute for 2 to 3 minutes.
Add peas and 1.5 cups water. Cook until the gravy thickens. When the gravy turns thick, you will also see some oil on top of the gravy. There is not much oil used in the recipe so you can see very little oil on top.
To the thick gravy, add paneer and kasuri methi. Cook for just 2 to 3 minutes.
Using cream is optional. Pour cream to a bowl, add little gravy and mix well. Stir this in to the pan.
Switch off the stove and add finely coriander leaves.
Serve matar paneer with roti or rice.

TOMATO CORIANDER CHUTNEY

Ingredients:

4 tomatoes, sliced

1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves

12-15 mint leaves

1 tsp urad dal

1 tsp cumin seeds

2 green chilies

1 tbsp oil

salt to taste

For tempering

1 tsp oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 dry chili

pinch asafoetida

8-10 curry leaves

Method

Heat oil in nonstick pan. Add cumin seeds , urad dal, let it splutter .

Add green chilies and saute for few seconds. Now add coriander and mint leaves, saute for 2 minutes.

Remove and keep aside.

In the same pan, add remaining oil, add chopped tomatoes and saute till mushy.Remove and cool.

Grind cumin mixture and them add tomato mixture, salt. grind to coarse paste adding 2-3 tbsp water. Remove into a bowl.

Hat oil in pan, add mustard seeds, after it pops, add dry chili , curry leaves, and fry for few seconds. Now add asafoetida and add the seasoning to the ground mixture.

Serve with dosas and idli.

Cajun Honey Lime Chicken

Ingredients

3 pounds chicken wings
1/3 cup Cajun seasoning
1 cup BBQ sauce
2 tbsp Honey
1 tbsp Sriracha sauce
1 fresh lime

Method

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray baking sheets with cooking spray.Place chicken wings on baking sheet in a single layer, without crowding. Sprinkle each wing liberally with Cajun seasoning.
Bake on middle rack of the 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. ( you can also place the chicken in BBQ grill)
While the chicken is baking begin preparing the basting sauce.While uncut, zest the lime until you have 1 tbsp of zest. Cut the lime in half and juice 1/2 of the lime, reserving juice and setting aside the other lime 1/2 for later.
Add the BBQ Sauce, Honey, Sriracha and the juice from 1/2 of the lime to a small bowl. Stir until blended. Set aside.
After 30 minutes, remove the chicken from the oven and baste with 1/2 of the prepared sauce using a basting brush. 
Return the chicken to the oven  for 10 minutes.Remove the chicken from the oven oand baste again with the remaining 1/2 of the basting sauce. 
Return to the oven  for a final 10 minutes to complete cooking and to caramelize the basting sauce on the wings.
Remove the chicken onto a serving tray. Squeeze the juice from remaining 1/2 of lime over the wings and sprinkle the wings with the lime zest. 
Serve hot!

OAT BARLEY ADAI

Ingredients

1 cup brown rice

1/2 cup moong dal

1/2 cup pearl bar;ey

1/2 cup cooking oats

6-7 green chili , according to your taste

7-8 curry leaves

3-4 dry red chili

1 tsp chopped ginger

asafoetida pinch

salt to taste

tsp sesame oil

Method

In a large bowl mix first four items. Wash and drain these four grains together.

Soak the grains in sufficient water for 3 hours .

Drain water and grind these in blender with curry leaves, ginger, green chili, red chili ,oats along with water.

This does not have to be ground very smooth, the grains could be texture of rava.

The batter should be of pouring consistency but not too thin and runny. Add salt to taste.

Heat a tawa on medium high heat.

When tawa is hot, pout ladle full of batter abd spread quickly and evenly to create thin circle.

Pour sesame oil on the side facing uo.

When lower side is browned, flip it over ans cook other sides for few seconds.

Serve with chutney.