Dosa in Bong Kitchen

 

We love Dosa, but since it is not our staple food, we do not have the gadgets to make it easily. Unlike a South Indian household we do not have a wet-grinder. Having lived in the South of India for a long time and later with South Indian neighbors in another corner of the world, I picked up this easy recipe which anyone can use to dole out Dosas.

Ingredients

• 4 cups rice flour
• 1 cup urad dal
• 1/2 tsp. fenugreek seeds (Methi)
• 1 tsp. flattened rice (Poha) optional
• 1 tsp. salt
• Oil

Procedure

Wash urad dal thoroughly and soak it for 4-6 hrs. along with the fenugreek seeds.

Soak rice flour in a cup of water.

After the dal is soaked drain the water and in a regular grinder grind it into a smooth paste. Grind till the paste is soft and foamy. You may need to add water.

After the dal is completely ground, gradually add the rice flour mixture to it and grind them together.

Transfer the batter into a large bowl. Add salt and mix it.

Add enough water to the batter so that it is thick but when you scoop it with your hand it falls through your fingers.

Cover the bowl with a lid. Make it sure that the bowl is not airtight.

Keep the batter in a warm place for about 8-10 hrs. to ferment. For those living in a cold area keep the batter bowl inside your oven with the oven light on. The light will provide the temperature of fermentation. The ideal temperature for fermentation is around 95F or 34C.

Once the batter is fermented it will double in volume and should be frothy. If the batter is too thick add little water to make it pouring consistency.

Heat a round non stick skillet. Drizzle few drops of water. The water should sizzle and evaporate. Brush the pan with little oil and now put a ladle full of batter. Swirl the back of your ladle in concentric circles to evenly spread out the batter.

Once the batter is spread out drizzle few drops of refined oil around the edges.

Cook dosa on medium high heat till the bottom appears light brown. To make crispy dosa turn them over and let the other side take a light brown hue.

After you are done cooking each dosa make sure to cool down the skillet by sprinkling water to it. If the skillet is too hot you won’t be able to spread the batter.

Fold and serve either with aloo masala, chutney and sambar or enjoy plain with chutney and sambar. 

Nalli Nihari

Foods like nalli nihari made our stay in Hyderabad oh so enjoyable. One of the delights was to drudge through the insane evening traffic on Fridays to head to old Hyderabad, to pick up some nalli. I have forgotten the name of the restaurant but the taste still lingers on in my memory.
You can make this with lamb or goat. Ask the butcher for shanks (leg meat on bone). Made with a lot of spices this needs some planning, but the results easily make up for your hard work.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. lamb leg on bone
• 2 medium onions sliced
• 1/2 “ ginger cut into thin sticks
• 2 cups mutton stock
• 2 tbsp. clarified butter ( Ghee)
• 2 tbsp. chopped cilantro
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 2 tbsp. whole wheat flour
• 4 tbsp. ghee ( Clarified Butter )
• 1 tsp. sugar
• salt to taste
• 4 tbsp. Nihari masala powder
  • 1 and 1/2 tbsp. cumin seeds
  • 8 green cardamom
  • 3 black cardamom
  • 2” cinnamon stick
  • 10 cloves
  • 3 blades of mace
  • 1 tsp. grated nutmeg
  • 14 black pepper corn
  • 1 star anise
  • 2 tsp. fennel seeds
  • 2 tsp. poppy seeds
  • 1 tsp. dry ginger powder
  • 8 dry red chili
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tbsp. roasted chana dal powder

Procedure

Take all the ingredients listed under Nihari Masala Powder and dry roast them on medium heat till you start getting a nice aroma.  Turn off the heat and bring them down to room temperature. Dry grind them in a blender to make a fine powder of them.
Heat ghee in a heavy bottom pan till it melts. Now add onion slices to it and fry them on medium heat for about five minutes. Add meat pieces to it and sear them on high heat to lock the moisture inside.
Sprinkle 2 tbsp. of freshly ground nihari masala powder and mix well. Saute everything together for about ten minutes on low heat.
Season the meat with salt, sugar and pour six cups of water to it. Give a nice stir and cook it covered on low heat till the meat is tender. it takes about 45 minutes.
Now pour the mutton stock over it along with the rest of nihari masala powder.
Mix the flour with half cup of water the add this mixture to the cooked mutton. Mix well and allow the gravy to simmer till it thickens.
Turn off the heat. Finish it off with freshly squeezed lemon juice. Dish it out and garnish with cilantro and serve.

Chicken Hariyali Kebab

We had a steady stream of guests over the holidays. Especially to cater to the palate of our local friends I chose this mild kebab, which goes really well with wine and beer. I serve this as a starter as Hariyali kebab turns out to be an excellent conversation starter.

Hariyali means green which is the color of the kebab, in this regard this is very different from the other kebabs. The green comes from the paste of cilantro, mint and fenugreek leaves that is used as marinade.

Ingredients

For 4 people. serving size 4 pieces

• 1lb. boneless chicken breast cut into 2” pieces
• 4 tbsp. thick curd
• 1 lemon
• 1 cup cilantro ( Coriander Leaves )
• 1 cup mint leaves
• 1/4 cup fenugreek leaves ( Methi )
• 1” ginger
• 5-6 fat cloves of garlic
• 3-4 green chilies
• 1/4 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp. red chili powder
• 2 tsp. chicken tandoori masala
• 3-4 tbsp. ghee ( Clarified Butter)
• Salt to taste

Procedure

Take chicken pieces and apply salt, lemon juice and red chili powder to it. Keep aside for 10-15 minutes.

In the mean time make a smooth paste of cilantro, mint, fenugreek leaves along with ginger, garlic and green chilies.

In a mixing bowl add curd and all other ground spices and mix them with the green paste. Add chicken pieces to it and mix them well with the marinade so that the chicken pieces are well coated with it. Keep it covered for at least two to three hours.

Soak the skewers in plain water for half an hour to avoid burning. Now arrange chicken pieces on the skewer and apply some clarified butter over it.

Pre heat the oven at 400F and grill them for 12-15 minutes. Turn the skewers once when they are half way through for even cooking.

Remove the kebabs from the skewers and arrange them on a serving plate. Serve with some green chutney and lemon wedge.

Chicken Manchurian (Hyderabad Style)

Old Hyderabad is littered with small bakeries that along with cakes and biscuits serve this mind blowingly spicy, yet yummy Chicken and Gobi “manchuri” (as they call it). I am sure they have nothing to do with real manchurian or the similar named region in China.

One of the places we used to visit was in Ameerpet close to Jayadurga furnishing which was one of my favorite hang outs. They were served in small plastic cups and a toothpick to pick them up. I have tried to recreate them to help combat the freezing weather here. The only difference is I have refrained from using food colors (which unfortunately is copiously used in Hyderabad).

Ingredients

• 1lb. boneless chicken breast cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 tbsp. ginger garlic paste
• 1 tbsp. Kashmiri red chili powder
• 1 tbsp. red chili powder
• 2 tbsp. lemon juice
• 2 tbsp. all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp. rice flour
• Salt
• 1 large onion thinly sliced
• 1/2 green bell pepper thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp. minced garlic
• 3 tbsp. green chilies finely chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• Few curry leaves
• 1 tsp. corn starch
• Oil

Procedure

In a mixing bowl mix chicken pieces with ginger garlic paste, chili powder, lemon juice and salt. Marinade the mixture for half an hour. Now sprinkle all purpose flour and rice flour on it and mix well.

Heat oil for deep frying in a pan and add chicken pieces into it. Fry till they turn crispy. Remove and drain them on a paper towel.

In a frying pan take two tbsp. oil and heat it up. Add minced garlic. fry on low heat for a minute and then add onion and bell pepper slices to it. Fry them on high heat  for a minute or two. Don’t over cook them as we want their crispy texture.

Now to this add fried chicken pieces and toss them well with fried onion and bell pepper. if required sprinkle salt now. Mix once again.

Dissolve corn starch into 2tbsp. water and sprinkle over the chicken mixture. Immediately remove the pan from heat. Add chopped green chilies, cilantro and curry leaves over it and toss them really well.

Serve them in small cups and enjoy. 

Bread Upma

I learned to make this when I used to live in Hyderabad from a neighbor. It makes good use of bread when the expiry date comes knocking. We make it sometimes for breakfast and also for my daughter’s school lunchbox.

Ingredients

• 6 slices brown bread cut into small cubes (preferably stale bread) 
• 1 large onion chopped roughly
• 1/2 cup green peas 
• 1 tsp. finely chopped ginger
• 1 tomato finely chopped
• 2 green chilies finely chopped
• 1/2 cup coriander greens finely chopped
• 5-6 curry leaves 
• 1 tsp. Black gram
• 1 tsp. chaana dal  (Bengal gram)
• 1/2 tsp. mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• 2 tsp. oil
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Salt to taste

Procedure

Add oil in a pan. Temper it with 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds, mustard seeds, black gram and chaana dal. Allow them to splutter. Add chopped onion, green chilies and ginger. Fry till onion turns translucent. Add tomato and green peas followed by all dry spice powders, sugar and salt. Mix well.

Pour half a cup of water to it and add bread pieces. Toss them. Sprinkle chopped coriander and serve hot.

Hyderabadi Kacchi Gosth Biryani

Biriyani is just a name for traditional Indian way of cooking meat and rice. How it is cooked and what is added varies drastically across India. In one such variation meat is cooked separately with gravy and then mixed with half-cooked rice and put on the final “dum” (slow cooking). In another, marinated raw meat is layered in rice and spices and cooked together. The meat in this case is kacchi or raw. As you can guess this is what I cover in todays post.

This recipe comes from the Hyderabad Nizams kitchen. One of our relatives (Habu Dadu) ran away from home at a young age and finally with a lot of twists of fate landed as the apprentice of the Hyderabad Nizams chief chef. He worked in the Nizam’s kitchen for many years and finally retired in Kolkata. When he used to visit our home he used to come with his own bag of spices and cook for us. It used to be a grand feast which I remember till this date. Todays recipe dedicated to his fond memories.

Ingredients

For Marinating

• 1kg mutton cut into medium pieces on bone
• 2 large onions thinly sliced
• 1tbsp. salt
• 1/2tsp. sugar
• 1tbsp. ginger paste
• 1tbsp. garlic paste
• 1tbsp. green chili paste
• 1tbsp. garam masala ( You can use Biryani masala of your favorite brand)
• 1tsp. red chili powder
• Juice of 1 lime
• 250gms curd (Yogurt)
• 1 bunch coriander leaves finely chopped
• 1 bunch mint leaves finely chopped

For Rice

• 500gms. basmati rice
• 2 – 3tbsp. salt
• 50gms. ghee (Clarified butter)
• 1tsp. saffron soaked in quarter cup of warm milk

 

Required Appliance

• Heavy bottom pan (I use Martha Stewart or Simply Calphalon vessels)
• Tawa or skillet

 

Procedure

Soak basmati rice for 30 minutes.

Heat oil in a wok and deep fry the onion slices till they are brown. Remove and drain them on a paper towel.

Arrange mutton in layers in a heavy bottom pan. Add Half of the fried onion, ginger-garlic paste, green chili paste, chili powder, garam masala powder, salt, sugar, yoghurt, oil, lemon juice, chopped coriander and mint leaves to it. Mix everything well with mutton  and keep it marinated for 3-4 hours.

By the meantime in a pan take water along with 2- 3  tbsp. salt and bring to a rolling boil. Stir it well and add presoaked basmati rice to it. Once you have added the rice it will stop boiling. Wait till it again starts boiling. This rice is 50% done. Make an layer of rice on top of the marinated mutton. Add about a cup of water ( Preferably the water in which you boiled the rice).

Sprinkle some more fried brown onions on top of it. Drizzle few spoons of saffron soaked milk over it.

Now seal the vessel tightly with aluminum foil.

We will not be cooking this directly on heat because if we do so the meat will char by the time the biriyani is cooked. So take a tawa (skillet) and place the biryani vessel on top of it. Cook it on medium heat for about 45 minutes. By the end of this time you will see the aluminum foil has swollen up. That means it is ready. Remove the foil an serve it with raita.

Palak Moorg (Chicken in Spinach)

I had heard a lot about the Andhra Palak Ghosht from my friend Devyani. I didn’t realize how good it was until she made it once for me. I tried this recipe on both chicken and goat meat. I prefer the goat meat version but the chicken also turns out pretty good. For this post I used chicken, you can also substitute that with goat meat (and accordingly increase cooking time).

Ingredients

1. 1 kg chicken on bone
2. 1 kg palak or spinach finely chopped
3. 2 large onions finely chopped
4. 5,6 green chilies finely chopped
5. 1 tbsp ginger paste
6. 1 tbsp garlic paste
7. 1 tsp. turmeric powder
8. 1 tsp. chili powder
9. Whole garam masala
1. 1 tsp. shajeera (caraway)
2. 1” cinnamon stick
3. 2 green cardamom
4. 3-4 cloves
10. Salt
11. Sugar

Procedure

Heat oil in a pan and temper with whole garam masala. Once the oil becomes fragrant add chopped onion and green chilies to it. Fry on medium low heat till the edges of the onion turns brown.

Add ginger garlic paste to it and sauté till the raw smell of ginger subsides. Add chicken pieces to it followed by turmeric and chili powder. Fry the meat pieces on medium heat till it looses its raw color.

Season with it salt and sugar. Once you add salt to it it will start releasing lots of water. Cook till all the moisture dries up.

Add chopped spinach to it and give it a stir. Again you will see moisture releasing from spinach. The amount of moisture released from the chicken and spinach will be sufficient for the chicken pieces to get cooked, so you don't have to add any water to it. Cook it covered on medium heat till chicken becomes soft and all the chicken pieces are well coated with spinach and spices.

Allow all the moistures to evaporate. This is completely a dry dish which can be best enjoyed with parantha or kulcha.

Hyderabadi Mutton Pepper Fry

We have had our best Hyderabadi foods outside of Hyderabad. One of our favorites had been Nandini Palace in Bangalore (just off the old airport road). Our fav dishes their was the Andhra biriyani and mutton pepper fry, followed by Kolkata misti pan in the small shack below it.

Since these days we are a bit away from Bangalore, we make our own mutton pepper fry, you can do it too and here’s how.

Ingredient

1. 2lbs goat meat you can use lamb as well
2. Juice of 1 medium size Lime
3. 1 tbsp ginger paste
4. 1tbsp garlic paste
5. 1 large onion finely chopped
6. 2 large tomatoes coarsely chopped
7. 1tsp turmeric powder
8. 1tsp chili powder
9. 1/2 cup chopped coriander leaf
10. 5 green chilies
11. Few curry leaves
12. Salt
13. Sugar
14. Oil

To Dry Roast and Powder

Dry roast and finely grind the following ingredients

1. 2 tsp black pepper corn
2. 2 tsp whole cumin
3. 1 tsp whole coriander
4. 5 cloves
5. A small piece of Cinnamon

Procedure

In a large mixing bowl take the mutton and add lime juice, ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder, chili powder, onion, tomatoes, coriander leaves, salt and sugar. Mix it well so the meat pieces get covered with all the spices. Marinate it for 2-3 hrs. You can add green chilies at this point. It will make the dish more spicy. Else you can add it at the end.

Pressure cook the marinated meat till 2-3 whistles. In case you don’t have a pressure cooker, cook the meat in a closed pan in medium heat until done.

Wait till the  pressure releases. Now remove the lid and cook it on high flame till most of the liquid evaporates and all the mutton pieces are well coated with spices.

Take a frying pan and heat oil. Temper with a handful of curry leaves. Add the cooked mutton and fry it for a while. Add the ground roasted spices and fry on medium heat till oil separates out from the spices. Finish it with some chopped fresh coriander leaves.

Hyderabadi Chicken Biriyani

There are as many ways of making biriyani as there are people in India :). This recipe cuts through all the complexity and provides the simplest way to make South-Indian yummy biriyani. Especially good for non-Indians if you want to try your hand on some Indian delicacy.

I promise I’ll be back with the more difficult full-blown version of Awadhi and Hyderbadi Biriyani later.

Ingredient

1. 2 lbs (1 kg) chicken cut in bigger than regular curry sized pieces
2. 3 large onions finely sliced
3. 2 tbsp ginger paste
4. 2 tbsp garlic paste
5. 4 bay leaves
6. 4-5 green cardamom
7. 5 cloves
8. 2 sticks of cinnamon
9. 4 star-anise
10. 1 tsp turmeric powder
11. 1 tsp chili powder ( you can add more if you want to make it hot)
12. 1 cup thick yogurt
13. 1 lime juice
14. 1 bunch coriander leaves chopped
15. 1 bunch mint leaves chopped
16. Few strands saffron soaked in warm milk
17. Biriyani masala available at most Indian store
18. Garam masala
19. 8 green chilies
20. Half cup of Sunflower or Canola oil
21. 1 lb Basmati rice washed and soaked for half an hour.

Directions

1. Marinate the chicken pieces with yogurt, ginger+garlic paste, turmeric powder, chili powder, 3-4tbsp biriyani masala, salt and a handful of chopped coriander and mint leaves for 1 hour.
   
2. In a deep frying pan or Kadai heat oil and deep fry half of the sliced onions till they are golden brown and crispy. Remove from the oil and keep on a tissue paper. Retain the oil for further use as it contains the excellent taste of fried onions.
3. In a pan heat the oil you used for frying the onions.
4. Temper it with clove, cinnamon, cardamom, star anise and bay leaves.
5. When the spices start popping add the rest of the chopped onions and fry them in a medium heat till the onions become light pink.
6. Add the chicken along with its marinade and fry till the oil separates out from the spices.
7. Cover and cook till the meat is just done. Do not overcook the meat. It will spoil your whole day's labor.
   
8. Cook the basmati rice
   1. either in a 1:2 ratio of rice and water in a closed rice cooker or microwave
      OR
   2. Cook in an open pan, drain the water
9. Spread rice on a plate.
10. Sprinkle enough salt, very little sugar and lime juice on the rice. It will help the rice grain to stay separated from each other.

Direction for Layering

1. Take a deep wide bottom pan suitable for layering and serving. 
2. Start the bottom most layer with rice.
3. Then put a layer of caramelized onion (prepared above), chicken coated with spices, chopped coriander, mint leaves and green chilies. Sprinkle little garam masala powder and pour some saffron infused milk over it.
   
4. Cover it up with another layer of rice and continue alternating the layers till one third space in the vessel is left
5. The top and the bottom layer should always be rice. Cover it up and keep it on very low heat for 15 to 20 mins.

Garnish with crispy fried onions, and few strands of coriander and mint leaves.  Serve it with fresh raita (beaten thick yogurt with chopped onions, coriander, salt).

Vegetable Biryani

Even though my husband strongly contends that vegetable biriyani is not really a biriyani, I don’t agree. We have a lot of vegetarian friends and I frequently make this for them. One of them asked me for the recipe, so here you go…

Ingredients

1. Basmati rice -500 gms (washed and soaked in water for at least 30 mins)
2. Onion - 1 large thinly sliced
3. Ginger paste - 1 tb spoon
4. Garlic paste - 1 tb spoon
5. Carrot - 3 large
6. Potato - 3 medium
7. French bean - 10/15
8. Frozen or fresh peas - 1/2 a cup
9. Coriander leaf -1 cup chopped
10. Mint leaf - 1 cup chopped
11. Green chili - 5/6
12. Curd / plain yogurt - 2 cups
13. Whole garam masala – (2 clove, 2 cardamom, 1 inch cinnamon stick)
14. Vegetable biriyani masala- - 1 packet (Available at Indian stores)
15. Lime - 1
16. salt
17. Sugar
18. Oil -3/4th cup

Procedure

Getting the vegetables done

1. Take a frying pan and pour the oil. Deep fry the onion slices till brown. Remove them from the oil and keep aside.
2. Now in a  pan take 1/2 the oil you used for frying the onion. Heat it and add the whole garam masala.
3. Add carrot, beans and potato. Sauté it for a while. Now add ginger garlic paste and salt to it.
4. Fry till the raw smell goes away.
5. Pour 1 cup of yogurt to it and add biriyani masala.
6. Fry it till all the vegetables are coated with the spices.
7. Now add the chopped coriander, mint leaves and green chilies and cook it for around 5 mins.
8. Now your vegetable biriyani masala is ready. Keep it aside and lets get prepared to make the rice.

Getting it all together

To make the biriyani you need wide bottom pan/pot with a tight lid so that all the great aromas don’t escape. The pan should also have a thick bottom layer, so that the rice inside don’t burn easily. I use Martha Stewart glass top pots, something like the one in this amazon link . Other alternatives include Futura pots available in India. In the worst case you can attempt the messier option of taking a normal handa and lid and seal the lid with atta/maida dough. However, I strongly recommend investing in a good pot, it comes in handy for various types of cooking.

1. Boil water in the pan and add the soaked rice. Once you add the rice the water will stop boiling. Wait  till it starts boiling again. It will take around 3-4 mins . Now drain the water.
2. Keep the rice aside.
3. In the pan make a layer out of the vegetable masala (sautéed vegetables we made above) and add the rest of the yogurt over it. Cover it up with a layer of rice. Sprinkle fried onions and salt over it.
4. Now again make a layer of sautéed vegetables followed by the layer of rice. Add some mint and coriander leaves.
5. Cover the pan up tightly so the steam doesn't escape and put the vessel in a very low flame for 30 mins.
6. Your vegetable biriyani should be ready by this time. Mix it well and serve with raaita.

Apollo Fish the Nizaami Version

This is a Hyderabadi dish that we ate at a famous Dhaba in Hyderabad called the Deewan Dhaba (map). We had almost turned it into a ritual to drive 30mins down to this place on every new year morning. These Dhabas are on the Medchal road just outside of Hyderabad. Other than the Deewan all of them are named based on Indian television channels and goes like Zee, Sony etc.
Even though this is called a Dhaba the “ambience” doesn’t really match that of a real Dhaba as there are no char-pais (cots) to sit/laze on, neither do they serve the Punjabi Lassi. However, the food is awesome and mostly capable of killing people who are not used to the Hyderabadi spices. Anyways coming back to the recipe. Apollo Fish can be cooked with a variety of fishes but my choice is cod or bhetki. Given that I now live in the US I tend to use cod as it’s more easily available.

Ingredients

• 1-2 lbs. of cod fillets or bhetki fillets cut into cubes
• 1 inch ginger finely chopped
• 2cloves garlic finely chopped
• salt
• Lime juice-2 tbsp
• Red chili powder-1/2tsp (or 10 if you are a true Hyderabadi)
• Corn flour-2 tbsp
• All purpose flour-1 tbsp
• Freshly ground pepper powder-1 tbsp
• Onion -1 big
• Bell pepper-1 small
• Green chili - 4
• Cilantro - 1/4 cup
• Curry Leaf - 10

Procedure

• Marinate the fish with salt and lime juice for 15 mins. Add equal quantity of all purpose flour and corn flour to coat the fish.
• Take oil and heat it. Add fish and shallow fry it till both the sides are golden brown .
• Remove the fish. If required take little more oil in the pan.
• Add finely chopped ginger and garlic and sauté it for 1 min.
• Add finely chopped onion, bell pepper, green chilies and curry leaf to it. Fry it in medium heat.
• Add the fried fish and 1/2 tsp of red chili powder to it.
• Take a bowl, mix 1 tbsp of corn flour and water and add it to the fish
• Add salt and simmer it in medium heat for 1-2 mins.
• Garnish it with freshly ground pepper powder, finely chopped cilantro and spring onion.