TamilNadu Muslim's wedding special Biryani

Unusually the anecdote for this post has to be longer. This can be one of the posts I enjoyed writing:) . I intend to register some of my memories on this 'TamilNadu Muslim marriage special Biryani'. North Indian biryani and Hyderabadi Biryani are entirely different from the TamilNadu Muslim's version. Both have different but adorable taste:) In TN , the rice is cooked in the gravy along with meat (known as the Arabian method). While in the other versions, they cook the rice and meat separately and mix afterward in the dham process. I am sure any one out there who have tasted the biryani in a TN Muslim marriage (or the one prepared by a chef trained to do so) can never forget that stunning taste. Some years ago , as soon as I started my career, I happened to work in an office , where I met an interesting Accountant, whose hobby is to cook for wedding parties. Beyond the regular office job and despite of his wealthy background he had a crew to join him for this extra job, which he liked very much. One of my colleague told me about this famous chef who happened to sit in the midst of many files. On my request, without any hesitation he shared me the secrets beyond this famous biryani and some interesting facts too. From then whenever I prepare a biryani, I remember the way he passionately explained me:) Noting his version below to appreciate and enjoy. 1.They use only halal meat. (So crazy viki, started buying halal meat only). Weight of meat should be equal to that of rice. 2.They pray to God before making biryani, as they consider it as food for the God. (I always appreciate the dedication and love). 3.They consider inviting all the people they know for the feast. (oh yeah , how can we feast a tasty food without any social consciousness). 4. They start cooking as early as 2 AM to serve for a feast in the lunch. The secret is the long hours of dham in low heat. (That 10 hrs of cooking makes it yummy!). 5. Don't use chilli powder, coriander powder, curd, poppy seed, Turmeric powder , garam masal powder. 6. Use good milk, saffron , rose essence , ghee. 7. They serve the food in a very large plate (called thambalam) and the close family members eat together in the same plate, whereas guests are served separately. (Most of the Muslim marriages serve Mutton biryani, but I have used chicken and simplified the procedure enough to make it in small batches at home. If you are using mutton,then don't cook it in a pressure cooker. Instead cook mutton in direct heat, but add a pinch of meat tenderizer powder)

Ingredients: Basmathi rice - 1/2 kg (approximately 3 cups) Chicken - 1/2 kg (with bone / leg piece is good. Don't use breast piece / white meat for this recipe) salt - To taste Green chilly - 6 Red onion - 100 gms (2) Tomato - 100 gms (4) Lemon - 1/2 ghee - 1/4 cup oil - 2 tbsp Rose water - 2 tbsp (or a drop of rose essence) Milk - 1/4 cup saffron - a pinch Cashew - 15

Raisin - 10 Paste 1: cilantro - 10 plants (leaves only) mint leaf - 4 sticks (leaves only) green chilly - 4 Paste 2: Ginger - 2 inch garlic - 10 pearls To dry roast and powder: Fennel seed - 1 tbsp cinnamon - 1 inch cardamom - 4 cloves - 6 Black pepper - 1 tbsp For tempering: a small bark of cinnamon, 1 star aniseed, cashews ,1 tsp Sea weed (kalpaasi), a small chip of Nutmeg (jathikkai), little mace. Preparation: First wash and clean the rice. Soak it in water for 10 minutes , drain water and let it remain for 1/2 an hour. Next, clean the chicken and cut it in to big pieces. Wash and Keep aside. Rub a tsp of salt + juice of 1/2 lemon, 1 cup curd and leave it for an hour. (overnight marination inside fridge yields very tasty juicy chicken pieces in biryani). Chop the onion in lengthwise. Chop Tomato into small cubes. Keep the green chillies as full, don't cut it. Dry roast and powder the items given. Grind ginger and garlic together to a fine paste. Grind cilantro, mint, green chilli to a very fine paste. Method: Heat oil + ghee in a thick bottom vessel. Toss in a small bark of cinnamon, 1 star aniseed, cashews , 2 rose bud, 1 tsp Sea weed (kalpaasi), a small chip of jathikkai . Immediately add the chopped onion + little salt and fry till it becomes golden brown. Add the ginger garlic paste and stir well till the raw smell vanishes. Now add the finely chopped tomato and cilantro paste (paste 1). Saute till the tomato gets mashed and oil starts showing off. Now put the chicken pieces along with some more salt, a cup of water , powdered masala and

cook it covered. Cook till all the water gets absorbed by the chicken and the chicken is almost cooked . Now add the soaked rice without any water and fry in that gravy for some time till the rice gets swollen. Now add water just enough to immerse the rice and meat completely. Water should stand 1/2 inch above that rice. (No need to measure the water. Literally it is not possible to measure the amount water if biryani is prepared in large quantities. ). Before water starts to boil, check for salt by tasting the water:) Put some freshly chopped mint, cilantro leaves and uncut green chillies. As soon as the water starts boiling, we can see some holes start appearing on rice. close the vessel with a tight lid and let the rice absorb all the water. Now the rice will be 70 % cooked. Switch off the flame. Dhum process: Actually while cooking for large parties the chef used to cook the biryani in large stoves burning with fire wood. And at this point they put off fire and make the biryani sit over hot charcoal. Moreover they close the edges of the lid with wet chapathi / roti dough to prevent steam to escape and cook the food in low heat.They put lot of hot charcoal also above the lid. After 5 hours they will get a perfect biryani, with that long grain rice becoming soft, firm and some what short:) I simplified the above process with a home adopted dhum process. Home adopted dhum process: Start heating a thick dosa tawa . (Dont't use your regular dosa tawa. Because you may spoil the dosa tawa while doing so. So I use my chapathi tawa) Place the biryani vessel over the hot tawa. Now mix the milk , rose water and saffron and sprinkle it all over the rice. (This generates enough steam to slow cook the rice). Spread the raisins all over the rice. Sprinkle some more ghee (2 tbsp) over the rice. Reduce the heat to minimum. Close the vessel tightly using a flat lid / plate. Using a wet chapathi dough, cover the lid's edge to seal completely. Before hand bring 2 liters of water to boil in a vessel. close it with lid. Place it above the biryani vessel and lid. Let the setup remain for nearly 2 hours. (2 hours is enough for a smaller batch , less than 2 kg rice). After that we need not stir the biryani. After 2 hours we can get a good biryani smell filling the house. Take it out and enjoy.

TamilNadu Muslim style Biryani is ready ! Serving suggestions: Mostly in TamilNadu Muslim marriages they Serve it hot with Thakkali thithippu (a kind of Tomato jam) , onion - carrot raitha , any spicy non veg curry , of course a semiya javvarisi payasam and a special dish called dhalsa (a thick dhal curry made with some mutton). The above said quantity would be enough to serve 4 adults. Note: Rice calculation - for 1 adult use 3/4 cup of rice. Jeeraga samba rice (Jeera rice) will give more flavorful Tamilnadu biryani than the basmati.

Coimbatore Roadside Kaalan Recipe/ Coimbatore Roadside Mushroom Recipe/ Coimbatore Road side Chilli Mushroom Recipe This is a very famous roadside snack in Coimbatore. I was asking my dad to get hold of a
street vendor and mail the recipe to me ;). A person promised to share and asked to come to the shop, but he didn't share the recipe, when he went to the shop. During this India visit ( after losing the hope of getting the recipe), another roadside vendor shared the recipe. We just dropped to get the "kaalan", but my DH asked him to share the recipe with me, telling him that we miss the dish so very badly in US;). So nice of that person, he just gave me the important ingredients he uses for the stock. He kept on rolling his eyes over the other customers ;), while I was torturing, asking for the ingredients. He asked me to make the stock with the ingredients that I normally use to make for biriyani and in that he specifically mentioned about nutmeg powder and lots of ginger garlic paste. First time when I tried this recipe, I included all the basic ingredients that I add in Biriyani along with the NUTMEG ;). I thought it will no where taste like the roadside mushrooms. But, my DH who almost finished two plates ;) . told me that it tasted even better than the one we get from the roadside stalls. We are really grateful to the vendor who shared this recipe with us :). And, I guess this recipe is not posted anywhere in the internet ;) as I have searched a lot for it ;). So, I feel so happy posting it here :) I was receiving constant e-mails from a reader named Sathiya, asking for this recipe. Sathiya, here is the Kaalan Recipe. ENJOY :)

Coimbatore Roadside Kaalan Recipe/ Coimbatore Roadside Mushroom Recipe/ Coimbatore Road side Chilli Mushroom Recipe

Ingredients For the stock 1 medium size onion finely chopped 1 to 1 /2 tbsp ginger garlic paste salt. To be finely powdered 1 bay leaf 1 tbsp coriander seeds a small piece from mace 1/4 portion of 1 star anise 1 tsp black pepper a small piece of cinammon 1 cardamom 1 clove 1/4 tsp jeera

1/4 tsp saunf 1/2 tsp nutmeg powder To Deep fry 16 oz button mushroom cut into small pieces 1/4 cup all purpose flour 1/4 cup cornflour a big pinch of red or orange food color 1 1/2 tbsp ginger garlic paste 1 large egg (optional) some salt For the final kaalan/ mushroom mix 1 tsp red chilli powder 1 tsp garam masala powder or south indian meat masala powder or south indian biriyani masala powder. 1 medium sized onion, extra finely chopped ( for the garnish and for the mushroom mix) finely chopped coriander leaves ( for the garnish and for the mushroom mix) 2 green chillies extra finely chopped Salt ( as needed) Method For the stock Add the oil in a pan. Once it is hot, add the onion and saute until translucent. Add the ginger garlic paste saute until the raw smell goes. Add about 3 to 4 cups of water and 3 to 4 teaspoons ( or as needed) of the spice mix and some salt.Bring it a boil. Allow it to cool. This is the base for this recipe and this stock can be refrigerated for a week. For deep frying 1. Wipe off the mushroom with a clean cloth or paper towel. Do not soak them in water. Cut into small pieces.Make a batter with the ingredients (AP flour,cornflour, gg paste, salt, egg/water, food color) other than mushroom.Marinate the mushroom with the given ingredients. Egg is optional, if not using egg, just mix the ingredients with little water.Even if using egg , if u feel that the batter needs water, add a very little amount of water to the mixture. This mushroom batter can be immediately dropped into oil. 2. Heat a pan with oil. Once it is hot, add tablespoon amount of mushroom batter into the oil and fry until crispy. 3. Remove and drain over a paper towel to remove the excess oil. For the final kaalan/ mushroom mix In a wide pan, add a teaspoon of oil, once it is hot, add the fried mushroom and saute until the oil is absorbed at medium high heat. Add the stock about 1/4 cup and increase the flame to HIGH. and saute until the stock is absorbed by the mushroom. Now add the stock as needed in 1/4 cups. I add about 3/4 to 1 cup stock to the measurement given.This dish should not be dry, let a very little sauce remain in the mushrooms. Just a minute before removing the mushrooms, add the chilli powder and garam masala powder and the remaining salt needed. Add the extra finely chopped onion, extra finely chopped green chillies,some finely chopped coriander leaves and stir well with the mushroom ( The onion we add finally will give a crunchiness along with mushroom, so do not cook longer after adding the onion). Serve it very hot, garnishing with onion and coriander on top.

Notes When it is bought from the roadside shops, the mushoom is added for name sake and most of the content in it is AP flour + cornflour. Do not worry about the measurement given above for deep frying if it doesnt yield a crispy mushroom when deep fried. It is the same ingredients used for mushroom 65, but I have increased the AP flour and cornflour, as needed by this recipe. Salt is added in various stages in this recipe. So, be careful while adding to the mushroom while deep frying and also while adding it in the stock. If it is less, it is not a problem, as it can be added as needed in the final stage. This dish should be served very spicy and hot. Else, the taste of the dish cannot be felt ;). So, generously add the red chilli powder and green chillies. A pinch of ajinomotto can be added to the mushroom marination, which I never add. I have tried the recipe using cauliflower also. Just boil the cauliflower floret for a minute or two, before adding it to the AP flour + cornflour mixture.

Pattani Sundal
BY SSUJATHA, ON MAY 31ST, 2007 2:17 PM, ADD TO FAVORI TES

Description

This is famous in chennai road side stalls.

Ingredients

1 tsp 2 nos tsp 1 tsp 1 cup 1 cup 2 cup 1 tsp

Chili powder Green chili(crushed) Turmeric powder Ginger & garlic paste Tomato(very finely chopped) Onion (very finely minced) Yellow peas Besan flour

Instructions

Soak the yellow peas in water for 3-4hrs.Pressure cook until the peas are well cooked.Heat oil in a wide mouthed vessel add onion,ginger garlic paste and crushed green chilies.Fry them till the onion color changes.Now addtomatoes,salt,turmeric and chili powder.Let them cook till the tomatoes are mashed .Add the cooked peas along with water.If u feel its too thick add some more water ,stir and bring it to boil.Mix the besan flour in 1/2 cup water and pourthis mixture to the boiling gravy.stir continously so that no lumps are formed.Let this boil for 5 mins.

Serve it with mint chutney,tamarind sauce ,chopped onions and coriander leaves.

Notes
While serving u can also add scrambled samosas or masal vadai as per ur liking. I have used the maggi brand tamarind sauce.u can also use the homemade ones.

How to make puri for chaat(Chaat Puri)

Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on email Share on print More Sharing Services ? I tried making puris when I made pani puri which was a different recipe. Last weekend when I planned to make chats I took the recipe from vahchef and tried it and enjoyed dahi puri and masala puri(recipe coming soon).

Puri for Chaats - Ingredients Recipe Source : Vah Chef

Rawa(semolina/sooji)- 1/2 cup Maida(all purpose flour ) - 1/2 tbsp Urad Dhal Flour - a pinch

Oil - 1 tsp Warm water or Club soda water - As needed Salt - to taste

Method:

1.Add rava, maida in a wide bowl, add water little by little, knead it for 10mins to form a smooth dough. Add oil finally and knead it for a minute. The dough should be smooth so be careful while adding water.Keep aside for atleast 15mins.

2.Roll the dough very very thin and cut small rounds with a lid or container rim.Heat oil, carefully add the rolled puris , fluff it up(as we do for normal puris) and fry them to golden brown till crisp. Drain in tissue paper and then store in airtight container

You can store the puris for about 10 days. Here are the chaats which uses these mini puris

Dahi Puri Pani Puri

My Notes:

Make sure to knead the dough well and roll it very thin. The puris will become chewy and will not raise up if the rolled puris are thick. Rolling was a bit tough but somehow I tried to roll thin and the puris were nice cripsy like the store bought ones. Make sure the oil is heated up. Fry till golden brown until crispy.

Adding soda makes the kneading and rolling easier....But if you dont have, then proceed with warm water itself. I didnt use it this time.