Minced Chicken Biriyani

Wish you all a very Happy New Year.
I know i have just not done any justice to this blog for the last 2 years, Hence i am here with this new recipe... Of late i have been trying a lot of new dishes, I just hope i have time to post them here.....

Minced Chicken Biriyani is a dish which was born out of my boredom, This is a very simple dish with loads of protein and very simple too, this is a boon to every working woman. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did....

Ingredients

Minced Chicken - 1/2 Kg
Rice - 3 cups
Onion - 3 (Finely Chopped)
Tomato - 2 (Chopped)
Green Peas - 100gms
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala - 1 tsp
Ghee - 1 tsp
Curd - 1 tsp
Clove - 3
Cardamon - 1
Cinnamon - 1"
bay Leaf - 1
Salt
Oil

Grind - Masala
Pudina (Mint leaves) - 1/2 Cup
Coriander Leaves - 1/2 Cup
Green Chillies - 4
Ginger - 2"
Garlic - 15 pods

Cooking Method

Soak rice in water for 30 min
In a thick bottom broad vessel, pour oil, Once oil is hot, add clove, cardamom, cinnamon and bay leaf.
Add onions and once they turn light brown, add tomatoes and fry till tomatoes are fully cooked and mashed.
Add the green Masala and fry till the oil separates from the Masala. Add turmeric powder and Garam Masala powder fry for a minute.
Add the ground masala and fry till the raw smell goes and the oil leaves the sides
Now add ghee followed by curd and fry till the curd blends with the Masala.
Add the minced chicken and green peas, fry for a minute. Add the soaked rice and add water in the ratio of 1:2, i.e for one cup of rice add one cup of water.
At this stage I transferred the entire contents to my rice cooker and set it on cook mode.
However you can cover and cook on slow flame or even pressure cook for 3 whistles on slow flame.

I served this dish with a simple curd salad and Lemon n Onion wedges.

Cooking time : 30 minutes
Serves  : 4

Veg Pulao with Fresh Green Masala

Simple ingredients. Freshly ground herbs. Proper dum cooking.
This is not bland white rice with vegetables — this is fragrant, mildly spiced, home-style Veg Pulao that stands on its own.

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🛒 Ingredients (Serves 3 | 45 mins)

• 2 cups basmati rice

• 200 g paneer (optional)

• 1 cup mixed vegetables (carrot, beans, potato, peas, soya beans, capsicum, mushroom — avoid beetroot)

• 2 onions (sliced)

• 2 medium tomatoes (chopped)

• 2 cloves

• 2 cardamom

• 1” cinnamon

• 1 bay leaf

• ½ tsp turmeric powder

• 1 tsp garam masala

• 2 tsp curd

• 1 tsp ghee

• 10 tsp oil

• Salt to taste

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🌿 Grind to a Smooth Green Masala

• ½ cup mint leaves

• ½ cup coriander leaves

• 4 green chilies (adjust to taste)

• 1” ginger

• 6 garlic pods

Grind into a smooth paste without adding too much water.

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👩‍🍳 Method

1️⃣ Prep the Rice
Wash and soak basmati rice for 20 minutes. Drain and keep aside.

2️⃣ Build the Base
In a thick-bottomed wide vessel, heat oil.
Add clove, cardamom, cinnamon, and bay leaf.

Add sliced onions. Fry until light brown.
Add tomatoes and cook until soft and fully mashed.

3️⃣ Add the Green Masala
Add the ground green paste.
Cook patiently until oil separates. This step gives depth.

Add turmeric and garam masala. Fry for a minute.

4️⃣ Balance the Flavour
Add ghee, then curd.
Cook until the curd blends smoothly into the masala.

5️⃣ Vegetables & Paneer
Add mixed vegetables. Cover and cook till ¾ done.
Add paneer cubes gently. Do not overmix.

6️⃣ Rice & Water
Add soaked rice.
For every 1 cup rice, add 2 cups water.
Add salt and mix lightly.

7️⃣ Dum Cooking
Once it starts boiling, cover and cook for 5 minutes.

Place a hot tawa on the stove.
Keep the pulao vessel on the tawa and cook on low flame for 20 minutes undisturbed.

Drizzle ghee before serving.

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🍽 Serve With

Cool cucumber raita or simple onion salad.

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📝 Notes

• Always use basmati rice for better aroma and texture.

• Avoid beetroot — it changes the color and flavor profile.

• Paneer breaks easily, so mix gently.

• If using a pressure cooker: after adding rice and water, cook for 3 whistles.

• Prefer crispy paneer? Lightly fry and add at the end.

• Adjust green chilies to match your spice tolerance.

Mushroom Rice

I come up with these different rices which make my life easy in the mornings. They are easy to make and very tasty too.

Ingrediants

Cooked Rice - 2 Cups

Button Mushroom - 7 (Finely Chopped)

Onion - 2 (Finely chopped)

Chilli Powder - 1tsp

Jeera Powder - 1/2tsp

Garam Masala - 1/2tsp

Clove - 2

Cinnamon - 1"

Coriander Leaves

Oil

Salt

Cooking Method

Heat oil, add clove, cinnamon. Once they crackle, add onions.

Fry till they turn translucent, add all spice powder and salt. Fry for a minute

Add mushroom. Saute well.

Cover and cook for 5 minutes.

Once mushroom is cooked, Mix in cooked rice and chopped coriander.

Mix well and serve.

Cooking time : 20 minutes

Serves : 2

Curd Rice

A Perfect way to end a heavy meal is surely a small helping of flavoured curd rice.

Ingrediants

Cooked rice - 1 cup (Mashed)

Curd

Salt

For Garnishing

Onion - 1 small (finely chopped)

Mustard - 1/2 tsp

Chana dal - 1 tsp

Curry Leaves - 5

Red Chilli - 4

Oil

Method

In a mixing bowl, Add rice, curd and salt.

In a kadai, heat oil, add mustard, chana dal, red chilli and curry leaves. Finely add onions, Fry till soft.

Add to the curd rice.

Mix and garnish with coriander leaves.

Note : Change the garnishing as per your taste.

           Add cashewnuts n raisans to add richness to the dish.

           Add a hand full of promogranate seeds to make it look more colourfull.

           Add finely chopped cucumber for added taste.

           Substitute red chilli with green chilli for extra spice.

     

Cooking time : 10 minutes

Serves : 1-2

Sakkarai Pongal (Sweet Pongal)

Pongal is one of the most popular harvest festival of South India, mainly Tamil Nadu. Pongal falls in the mid-January every year and marks the auspicious beginning of Uttarayan - sun's journey northwards. Pongal festival lasts for four days. Celebrations include drawing of Kolam, swinging & cooking of delicious Pongal. This is a dish prepared with rice, dal, jaggery, dry fruits, sugar and milk. All these ingredients are cooked in a new clay pot in the open and allowed to boil over, signifying plenty and prosperity for the year ahead.
The tast of sakkarai pongal is soo heavenly that it does not require a festival to prepare it. I usually like to make both sweet and khara pongal together as we get to pamper our taste buds.

Ingredients
Rice (Preferably freshly harvested rice) - 11/2 cup
Moong dal - 1/2 cup
Jaggery - 11/2 cup
Milk -  6 cups
Cashew nuts
Raisins
Almonds
Cardomom Powder - 1/2 tsp
Ghee - 2-3tsp

Cooking Method
Chop cashew and almonds. Roast them in ghee and set it aside.
Heat a pan, and roast the moong dal on a low flame till u get a nice aroma. Add water and wash the dal well. This procedure is very important as it removes the slimyness of the dal.
Cook rice and dal with milk till soft and done.
In a thick bottom pan, Melt jaggery with a cup of water. Once the jaggery starts boiling add the rice and dal mixture, along with the dry fruits, cardomom powder and ghee.
Mix well, Bring the entire mixture to boil.

Note : Pongal tends to solidify as it cools down. You can add boiled milk to adjust the consistency.
          The given propotion of jaggery gives a mild sweetness, You can add sweet as per your taste.

Cooking Time : 30 minutes
Serves : 3-4

Venn Pongal (Khara Pongal)

I have hated pongal all my life, But my opinion of pongal changed when i tasted it in Saravana Bhavan in Dxb. They had the perfect blend of spices and the lightly flavoured ghee added an additional aroma to the dish. thus changed my opinion about this dish.

Here is this simple recipe.

Ingredients
Moong dal - 1cup
Rice - 1cup
Cashew nuts - 15
Pepper Corns - 10
Jeera - 1 tsp
Green chilli - 3 (Finely chopped)
Ginger - 1" (Finely chopped)
Salt
Curry leaves
Ghee

Cooking Method
Roast moong dal on a low flame till a nice aroma comes. Add water and wash the moog dal after roasting it.
Cook rice and dal in a pressure cooker. (Add 6 cups of water)
Heat ghee in a kadai, add pepper corns and jeera, Once roasted add ginger, chilli, cashewnuts and curry leaves.
Once its well fried add the cooked rice and dal mixture, Add required amount of salt.
Mix well.

Serve it hot with chutney or Raita.

Cooking time : 30 minutes
Serves : 3-4

Ghee Rice

This recipe requires a lot of patience and time as this has to cook on a slow flame and you should not mix much or disturb the rice, When you cook in this method each grain is separate. This is a perfect flavoured rice with chicken stew or gravy or even a simple brinjal curry on a lazy weekend.

Ingredients

Basmati rice - 2 cups

Onions - 2 (Finely sliced)

Green Chilli - 3 (Slit into two)

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp

Cardomom - 2"

Clove - 5

Cashewnut - 10

Raisins - 10

Ghee - 2tsp

Oil - 2tsp\

Salt

Cooking Method

Soak rice for one hour

Heat a thick bottom kadai with oil and ghee, add clove, cardomon, cashew and raisin. Mix for a minute, add onions and green chilli, fry well, add ginger garlic paste and salt. Fry till onion turns light brown.

Add soaked rice, fry for 2 minutes.

Add water in the propotion of 1:1.5 (For one cup of rice, add one and half cup of water).

Let the entire mixture come to boil. Cook covered on a slow flame till rice is done.

Serves : 2

Cooking time : 45 minutes

Vegetable Pulao

Ingredients

Basmati Rice 3 cups

Onion 2 (Medium, Sliced)

Tomato 2 (Medium, Finely chopped)

Carrot 1

Beans 15nos

Potato 1

Peas 100gms

Cinnamon 2 sticks

Clove 6

Salt

Masala (Grind)

Pudina 1/2 cup

Coriander Leaves 1/2 cup

Green Chilli 3-4

Ginger 3"

Garlic 6 Pods (Big)

Garam Masala 1 tsp

Cooking Method

Soak rice for half an hour

Heat oil, add clove and cinnamon.

Add onions, fry for 3-4 minutes. Add the ground masala and fry till the raw smell goes. Add salt.

Add tomato and fry till the oil seperates. Add all the chopped vegetables, fry for 4-5 minutes.

Add the soaked rice and ghee, fry for a couple of minutes.

Add water in the propotion of 1:11/2 (For one cup of rice, add 1 and half cup of water).

Bring the entire mixture to boil, Reduce the flame, Keep the vessel on a tava. This ensures uniform cooking and gives a dum effect.

Ensure heat does not escape from the vessel. Cook for 15-20 min or till rice is cooked.

Cooking Time 1 hour

Serves 3-4

Mutton Biriyani

I love to make any form of one pot dishes and definetly Biriyani is our all time favourite and it makes its apperance in the kitchen more often than the others. Making Biriyani is surely an art and can be mastered with time. Each time I cook biriyani i learn something new. And the new prestige non-stick stockpot that i got has helped me make some good biriyani's.

Ingrediants
Mutton 1Kg
Basmati Rice 3/4Kg
Onion 6 (Medium, Sliced)
Tomato 5 (Medium, Sliced)
Coriander 1 Cup (Chopped)
Pudina 1 Cup (Chopped)
Green chilli 6-7(Slit)
Chilli Powder 3tsp
Turmeric Powder 1/2tsp
Garam Masala 2 tsp
Curd 200gms
Ginger Garic Paste 3tsp
Cinnamon 3sticks
Clove 5nos
Oil 1 cup
Ghee 3 tsp
Salt

Cooking Method
Soak rice for half an hour.
In a large cooking bowl add water and the rice along with salt and 2tsp oil.
Cook the rice till its half done. Drain the water and spread rice on a large plate, Allow rice to cool.
This method ensures rice does not stick to each other.

Wash and cook meat with turmeric, 1tsp chilli powder and salt in a cooker till done.

Heat oil, add cinnamon, clove, bay leaf once they crackle add chilli's and pudina.
Once its fried, Add onions, fry on slow flame till brown.
Add tomatoes, ginger garlic paste fry for 3 minutes.
Add chilli powder, turmeric, salt and garam masala fry well till the oil seperates from the masala.
Add curd and fry till the curd blends with the masala.
Add cooked meat along with the soup and let it boil along with the masala for 15 minutes on slow flame.
Mix the cooked rice with the meat and masala. (Ensure that when u add the rice there is only a thin layer of oil / masala on the top layer)
Add ghee and coriander leaves.

Close the vessel, ensure the heat does not escape from the vessel. to acheive this u can keep a heavy object on the biriyani vessel.
Keep a pan on the stove and on the pan keep the biryani vessel and let it cook in dum for 15 - 20 min or until the rice is cooked.


Note

• This method of cooking does not require to add any additional water when u mix the rice and the masala as the rice gets cooked in the Dum.
• Use best quality of basmati rice as this enhances the taste.
• The quality of the vessel is also very important, Ensure you use a thick bottom vessel with a good lid.
• The cooking time of the rice largely depends on the quality of the rice. So the cooking time given is apporximate.
• If the meat has fat in it, u can reduce the amount of oil.
• Reduce or incease the amount of chilli/ chilli powder as per your taste.
• Colour of biriyani depends on the colour of ur chilli powder.
• Cook the biriyani only on slow flame.
• If you soak the rice for a long time , reduce the amount of water.

Cooking time 2 hours
Serves 4-5