Mixed Vegetable Raitha

Raitha are an excellent accompaniment to not just briyanis but beyond that. I love to pair them up with poha, pulao, briyani, paratha, upma and what not. This is a very crunchy delicious raitha that has goodness of all crunch vegetables. Let's jump to the preparation.

Serves: 3 bowls

Ingredients

1. Thick Curd - 2.5 cups
2. Roasted Cumin Powder - 1.5 tsp
3. Red Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp
4. Black salt - 1/2 tsp
5. Needed Table salt
6. Coriander leaves - few for garnishing

Veggies

• Carrot - 3 tbsp (chopped)
• Cucumber - 3 tbsp (chopped)
• Onion - 3 tbsp (chopped)
• Capsicum - 3 tbsp (chopped)

Method

1. Whisk curd well and add all the chopped vegetables, coriander leaves,salt and mix well.

2. Sprinkle roasted cumin powder and red chili powder as shown in the picture.

3. Serve chilled with any Pulao or Briyani varieties.

Buttered Vegetables in Fresh Cream Dressing

Buttered Vegetables are classic salad recipes which you can find in any buffet spread. The first time when I tried this was at Taj Fishermen Cove.I simply loved it. The veggies were fresh, crunchy and delicately cooked in butter. Salads are never boring if you find your own way of tossing them in your favorite dressing. Here, I have used fresh cream dressing to toss the vegetables in addition to butter and this just tasted yummy. Fresh Cream and butter are source of good fat. Fat is never an unhealthy option. Good fat taken in the right amount helps in absorption of proteins,amino acids and also reduces risk of stroke.

This is highly low in carbohydrates and high in good fat making it ideal for Ketogenic Diet.

Serves:2

Ingredients

1. Unsalted Butter - 2 tbsp
2. Mixed Italian Herb Seasoning - 2 tsp
3. Pepper - 1.5 tsp
4. Fresh Cream - 2 tbsp
5. Water - 1/4 cup
6. Sugar - 1/2 tsp
7. Needed Salt

Veggies Used

• Red Bell Pepper - 1/3 cup(cubed)
• Yellow Bell Pepper - 1/3 cup (cubed)
• French Beans - 4 (cut in 1 inch length)
• Baby corn - 4 (cut lengthwise)
• cauliflower - 6 florets
• Onion - 1 (sliced thinly)

Vegetables sauteed in butter

Method

1. Rinse all the vegetables nicely. Soak cauliflower in hot water with a tsp of rock salt for 15 mins. If there are any worms inside the cauliflower, it will come out in this process. After 15 mins, rinse and strain the cauliflower once again.

2. Heat butter in a non stick pan, add all the veggies and saute well on a medium-low flame.Add needed salt,sugar and saute well until onions turn transparent.

3. Add water to the above pan and cover the lid. Allow the vegetables to be steamed on low flame. Ensure the vegetables are not overcooked and they are just cooked 90 percent.

4. After the veggies have cooked, add the fresh cream, mixed herb seasoning and pepper. Give a gentle mix. 

5. Serve the salad warm with sprinkled pepper/ seasoning of your choice.

Nizami Sarkari Briyani - Dum cooked Vegetable Briyani

I have been wanting to try briyani for a long time at home. But I was not very sure what is the right method of making it and how to get the perfect dum cooked style briyani. Predominantly, briyani is always done with non veg items and is never considered an ideal vegetarian dish. But when made in the right way, Vegetable briyani can be as tasty as its non veg counterpart. I haven't tried Briyani at hotels much as the Veg Briyani they serve at veg hotels are very average. I wanted to make the best one at home and relish to my heats content.

When I googled to find the perfect recipe,I found Chef Venkatesh Bhat had made a special episode on briyani where he had made this nawabi sarkari briyani. You can watch the episode here. 

I have been a great fan of him. In the world of fast cooking and 1 minute cooking videos, one really can't learn the right techniques of cooking. He teaches you the perfect techniques and why it is done that way. This helps us to understand and learn better and fine tune our cooking. All the recipes tried from watching his samayal samayal has been a great hit. If you blindly follow his techniques, I am damn sure you can never go wrong in getting the right taste and texture.

This is a hyderabadi style dum cooked vegetable briyani. I have explained the techniques that suits the best for a perfect home cooked dum style briyani. Making this has been a great learning experience for me. I will try to provide as much details I can to make the best briyani easily at home.

serves:3

Ingredients

1. Good quality Basmati Rice - 1.5 cups ( I used Kohinoor Briyani rice)
2. Ghee - 3 tbsp
3. Unsalted Butter - 3 tbsp
4. Green Chili - 2 big
5. Tomatoes - 3 big
6. Ginger garlic paste - 2.5 tbsp
7. chopped mint leaves and chopped coriander - 1 cup each
8. saffron strands - 4 soaked in 1/4 cup of warm milk
9. Whisked thick curd - 1/2 cup
10. Needed salt

Masala Ingredients

1. Shahi jeera- 2 tsp + 1 tsp
2. Cumin seeds - 2 tsp
3. Black cardamoms- 3
4. Green cardamoms - 3
5. Cinnamon stick - 1 inch piece
6. cloves- 3
7. javithri/Mace-2
8. Bay Leaf - 1 
9. Star Anise - 2 for cooking rice

Powders

1. Turmeric powder - 2 tsp
2. Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
3. Garam Masala - 1 tbsp
4. Red Chili Powder - 3 tsp (depending on how spice you want)

Vegetables Used

1. Potato - 1 big (cubed)
2. Cauliflower - 7 florets
3. Green Peas-1/4 cup
4. Carrot - 1 big
5. Beans - 6 (chopped big)
6. Onions - 2 (Thinly sliced)

Method

1. Rinse the Basmati rice for 2-3 times to remove the excess starch from rice.

2. Soak the basmati rice for 20 mins in normal water.

3. In a pan, heat ghee and butter on a low medium flame. Add all masala ingredients and give a good saute.

4. Add onions and saute until nice golden brown. Add ginger garlic paste and saute well for the raw flavor of the paste to go off.

5. Grind Tomato with green chili to a puree and add it to the above pan and give it a good mixing.

6. Add all the powders. Add whisked curd and 1 tbsp salt.

7. Cook the vegetables in gravy with closed lid for about 7 mins on medium low flame.

8. Switch off the flame after 7-8 mins and garnish with some mint and coriander leaves.

Cooking the Basmati Rice

1. In a big pan, take 4 cups of water, add a tbsp of ghee, tsp of shahi jeera,2 star anise and 1 tbsp of salt. Bring the water to boil.

2. Strain the soaked basmati rice and add it to the above boiling water. 

3. Add some chopped mint and coriander leaves to the above.

4. Cook for 5 to 6 mins with occasional stirring. Please Note: Rice should not be fully cooked but only 90 percent done. The remaining cooking will happen during the dum process.

5. When the rice is 90 percent done, you can feel it with hand. The rice should break yet it should not be too soft.

6. Strain of the rice and washe once again in cold water to prevent further cooking.

Layering and Dum cooking

1. Take a heavy bottomed vessel, I used my pressure cooker bottom for layering.

2. The first layer will be vegetable gravy followed by layer of rice.

3. Another layer of vegetable gravy followed by layer of rice. Add the saffron milk, a tbsp of ghee, some crushed mint and pudina leaves.

4. Seal the vessel tightly so that no heat is escaped. You can use wet cloth, atta dough or any mechanism, but the criteria is heat should not escape.

5. Heat a dosa tawa and place the pressure cooker bottom/heavy bottomed vessel on top of it.

6. Dum cook on low flame for about 20 mins. 

7. Open after 20 mins.There you are into heaven of aromatic rich flavorful Briyani.

Serving Suggestions

1. Take some layer of rice and some layer of vegetable and place it on a plate. Do not completely mix it. Briyani should be served layered and that is the best presentation way.
2. Serve with Mixed veg raita or cucumber raita.

Cook the vegetables in in tomato butter gravy with spices

Subzi ready to be layered

Basmati Rice ready to be layered

Alternate layers of rice and subzi

Warm milk with soaked saffron

Adding fresh chopped coriander and pudina leaves

Dum cooking

After 20 mins of dum cooking

Yummmmm Briyani Ready:)

Shahi Pulao

I have been wanting to try this pulao for a long and was waiting for a right occasion to make it. I had invited my sis -in law and her husband for a lunch after a very long time. So I really wanted to make something special and surprise them. I was thinking hard as to what to make for rice as my husband doesn't like briyani much.As far pulao, I wanted to make sure this should be something unique and different. So this has been inspired from various recipes like mughlai pulao, jaipuri pulao and finally I devised this recipe of "Shahi Pulao".

This is highly rich in flavor,ingredients and aroma. This does not taste sweet and is a mildly spiced pulao which is made using fresh cream,Ghee,saffron milk and cashews and is truly a Royal Delight.:) The color to this pulao which you see in the picture is purely from saffron milk and I have not added any extra color.Everyone just loved this and this is sure to make your guests fall for your cooking:)

I have skipped adding paneer to it as I had already made Paneer Kurchan as one of the side dish separately on that day of lunch. 

Let's look at the preparation.

serves:3

Ingredients:

1. Basmati Rice - 1.5 cups
2. Paneer/cottage cheese-1/2 cup cubed
3. Ghee - 3 tbsp
4. Pepper powder-2 tsp
5. Garam Masala powder-1 tsp
6. Coriander powder-1 tsp
7. Saffron strands -4
8. Warm milk-1/4 cup
9. cashews and raisins -2 tbsp each
10. Coriander leaves - for garnishing
11. Salt to taste

To Grind-Shahi Paste

1. Fresh Cream - 1/4 cup
2. Green Chilies-2 (slit lengthwise)
3. Ginger - 1.5 inch with skin peeled
4. Garlic Pods-5

Masala Ingredients

1. Star anise(anaachi poo) - 2-3 
2. Cinnamon stick - 1 inch
3. Cloves - 3
4. Green Cardamom - 2
5. Black Cardamom - 2
6. Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
7. Shahi Jeera - 2 tsp
8. Bay Leaf-1 big crushed
9. Mace/Japathri -2

Vegetables Used (Can be anything of your choice)

• Beans - 6-7
• Carrot – 1
• Onions -1 medium sized
• Cauliflower florets-5-6 
• Potato-1 small

Method:

1. Rinse basmathi rice well and soak it in lukewarm water for 20-30 mins.

2. Soak the saffron strands overnight in warm milk.

3. Grind all the ingredients under "Grind" to a smooth paste and keep it ready.

4. Boil cauliflower with a pinch of salt and turmeric separately for 2 mins and then strain them. This is to get rid off worms present in the cauliflower.

5. Fry the raisins, cashews and paneer in a tbsp of ghee, gently on low flame until they turn golden brown .Keep them separately.

6. In a pan, heat ghee and add all the masala ingredients and saute for 2 mins on low-medium flame until the jeera and fennel seeds crackle completely.

7. Now, add onions and saute until the onions become transparent.

8. Now, add the shahi paste and saute until the raw flavor of ginger and garlic goes off.


9. Next, add all other vegetables(including cauliflower) to the pan and mix gently.

10. Strain the soaked basmathi rice completely and add it to the pan.

11. Add garam masala,coriander powder and pepper powder and mix evenly and gently in low flame till the rice is fully covered with masala mixture and evenly coated.

12. Now transfer the content of the pan to a vessel for pressure/electric cooking.

13. Add salt and soaked saffron milk to rice and cook the rice as mentioned here.

14.  Add the fried cashews,raisins,paneer and mix gently.

15. Garnish with tender chopped coriander leaves and some cashew-raisins.

16. Shahi Pulao is now ready to be served hot with papads or raitha.

Notes,Tips & Add-On's

1. Use good quality saffron to get the bright golden color and aroma.
2. Adding paneer definitely adds richness to the pulao. So do not skip it:)

Garden Fresh Vegetable Soup

This is one of the most healthiest and nutritious soup. This makes a great appetizer as well as a comforting meal. Yes, this can be a great comforting meal because all the veggies loaded in this soup is sure to satisfy your hunger. This is a very good low calorie substitute to a satisfying full course meal. I had made this for a dinner as an appetizer. This is my version of making a simple and healthy Soup combining the goodness of all the healthy vegetables.

Serves:4

Ingredients

1. Red Onions- 2 tbsp (finely chopped)
2. Carrot-2 tbsp (finely chopped)
3. French Beans-2 tbsp (finely chopped)
4. Capsicum-2 tbsp (finely chopped)
5. Cabbage -2 tbsp (finely chopped)
6. Garlic Pods-5 (crushed)
7. Key Chinese Seasoning - 1.5 tsp (optional)
8. Butter-1 tbsp
9. Celery-1 tbsp (roughly chopped)
10. Bay Leaf-1
11. Water-4 cups
12. Cornflour paste-1 tbsp cornflour +1/4 cup of water
13. Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. In a pan, add the butter and bay leaf and saute for a minute.

2. Add Onion,garlic pods,celery leaves.Saute till the raw flavor of garlic goes off and onions become translucent.

3. Add all the other chopped vegetables and saute for 2 mins. Add the necessary salt to taste. Add water and close the lid and allow it to simmer for 8 mins on a low flame.

4. Open the lid, add the cornflour paste and mix gently. Allow it to simmer for another 2 mins.

5. Season with pepper and serve it hot.

Notes,Tips & Add-on's

Butter can be substituted with olive oil for a healthier version. This is a great recipe for a vegan detox diet.

Vegetable Pulao

Are your kids bored of traditional style cooking,you have guests coming up and you don't know what to prepare,well the best solution is to go for a Vegetable Pulao. Goodness of all the veggies combined in one meal.This is a very common and standard menu in any of the restaurant menu cards.This can also be a very good weekend menu where your family wants a break from traditional cooking of sambhar and rasam. Though there are several ways of preparing vegetable pulao, I always prefer it to be mild yet more aromatic.My style of making pulao has been very much appreciated and my friends too love it. Hence,I am confidently posting the recipe here.Here goes the recipe for milk aromatic vegetable pulao.

serves:3

Ingredients:

1. Basmati Rice - 1.5 cups
2. Ghee - 3 tsp
3. Green Chilies-2 (slit lengthwise)
4. Garam masala powder-1 tsp
5. Ginger garlic paste-1 tbsp
6. Lemon extract-1 tsp
7. Coriander leaves - for garnishing
8. Salt to taste
9. Turmeric - 1 tsp

Masala Ingredients

1. Star anise(anaachi poo)-2-3 
2. Cinnamon stick-1 inch
3. Cloves-2-3
4. Green Cardamom-2
5. Pepper powder-2 tsp
6. Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
7. cumin seeds - 1 tsp
8. Bay Leaf-1
9. Mace/Japathri -2

Vegetables Used (Can be anything of your choice)

• Beans - 10-15
• Carrot – 2
• Onions -1 medium sized
• Cauliflower florets-6-7
• Peas - 2 tbsp

                                     

Method:

1. Soak basmathi rice in water and keep it aside for 30 mins.

2. Cut all the vegetables lengthwise (Except cauliflower,Peas). Boil all the veggies with pinch of salt and turmeric in a pan for about 5 mins. 

3. In a pan, heat some ghee and add all the masala ingredients and saute for 2 mins.

4. Now, add onions,chili and saute until the onions become transparent.

5. Now, add turmeric and ginger garlic paste.Saute till the raw flavor of ginger and garlic goes off.


6. Next, add all other vegetables to the pan.

7. Strain the soaked basmathi rice completely and add it to the pan.

8. Add garam masala and mix evenly and gently in low flame till the rice is fully covered with masala mixture and evenly coated.

9. Now transfer the content of the pan to a vessel for pressure cooking.

10. Add salt and lemon extract to rice and pressure cook the rice as mentioned here.

11.  Garnish with fresh tender coriander leaves.

12. The Vegetable Pulao is now ready to be served hot with papads or raitha.

Vegetable Fried Rice

This is an exotic recipe from the Indo-Chinese cuisine.The rice is being fried after cooked.This is also a very popular menu in most of the restaurants. In restaurants, they make small batches by tossing the vegetables and rice in a big wok high in the air. However, this can be done in a very simple way at home and yet get the same taste as that of restaurant. I have used Keya Chinese Seasoning to get the flavor more authentic. However, adding this is completely optional.
Check out Baby Corn Manchurian and Gobi Manchurian which can be used as an amazing accompaniment for this dish.

serves: 3

Ingredients

1. Basmati rice - 1.5 cups
2. Garlic Pods-3-4 (finely chopped)
3. Oil-2 tbsp *You can use either olive oil or any refined oil
4. Sesame oil - 1 tbsp 
5. Keya Chinese Seasoning - 2 tsp (optional)
6. Star Anise-2-3
7. Cloves-2-3
8. Salt to taste
9. Soy sauce-1 tsp
10. Vinegar - 1 tsp (balsamic/apple cider/white/rice vinegar) 
11. Pepper Powder-1 tbsp
12. Sugar-1 tsp

Vegetables used

• Beans-1/4 Cup(finely chopped)
• Carrot- 2 Nos.(shredded finely)
• Onions- 1 big (sliced thinly)
• Spring Onion-5 (finely chopped-both onion and leaf part)
• Cabbage-1/4 cup (shredded)
• Capsicum-1( Red,Green or Yellow -Cut into julienne)

Ready to cook the rice

Vegetables being Fried

After mixing the rice and veggies

Method

1.  Cook Basmati rice as mentioned here with star anise, cloves and 1 tbsp sesame oil.

2. Heat oil in a pan, add spring onions and onions and saute till they become transparent.

3. Add garlic pods and saute till the raw flavor goes off. Add keya chinese seasoning and saute for 2 mins on medium flame.

4. Add all the vegetables with a tsp of sugar and salt. Saute well on medium flame until they are cooked. Make sure the vegetables are not overcooked that they become too soft. The veggies should be crunchy.

5. Add soya sauce,vinegar,pepper and mix well for all the flavors to combine.

6. Add cooked rice to above vegetables and mix well. 

7. Garnish generously with chopped spring onion leaves and serve hot.

Notes,Tips & Add-On's

1. The most important thing in preparing fried rice is that, it is being continuously stirred on a medium flame. Hence,ensure continuous stirring so that the bottom of the pan is not burnt.
2. The vegetables have to be finely chopped so that they are cooked easily and at the same time they are crunchy too.
3. Soy sauce already contains salt and adjust adding salt accordingly.
4. Ensure that the rice is dry,separate and not sticking to each other.