Cooking over the weekend...!!

Clockwise from top left - Vegetable Pulao, Spinach Surprise, Chocolate Cake, Masala Chicken

Quick Midnight 3-min snack :)

So it is Saturday night and i like staying at home rather than partying out...yes that's kind of being a typical cancerian. My iPad, my kitchen and my blog, kind of sums up a great Saturday evening for me.! But yes...my enemy....HUNGER PANGS...attack! and my nightmare comes true - i open the fridge and realize all the food is over! (damn i should have had proper dinner...someone KILL me now please!)
But nonetheless....experiment time <3 :)

So....scanning the fridge...EUREKA!!!!
Spinach (i wish there were some sweet corns left too...damn i love spinach corn sandwich :(
Cheese (Yayyy...something to look forward to :)
Ginger and Garlic (yes, life would have been incomplete without them, and i MEAN it)
Lemon
and a little dough ball of gram flour

So...think...think...THINK!!!! Hunger-syndrome makes brain work faster...well..kind of..ahem! So i come up with something i call -the 'Spinach wonder'!!!

The Ingredients available

Here is how you can go about cooking it...and believe you me....i loved it more than the spinach corn sandwich :)

1. Take the dough make it a chapatti out of it and put it on a non-stick tawa and roast it (no usage of oil please)
2. Heat some olive oil in a separate pan
3. Add ginger to it, followed by chopped spinach, then garlic and cheese on top (following the order is essential to bring out the perfect taste of each ingredient)
4. Turn off the gas and cover the pan with a lid
5. Once the chapatti is done, brush it with a little olive oil (littleeee is what i mean)
6. After 2 mins, the topping is done (the one being cooked in the pan)
7. Take the chapatti, apply the spinach topping on top of it (use tongs to take the topping out of the pan)
8. Garnish it with kesar and chilly flakes (the red creates a brilliant contrast against the green spinach...food is consumed 60% through eyes, so yeah ;)
9.Add a few drops of lemon on it

And tada!!! ready to eat!!!

Sorry for the 'not-so-round' chapatti..i was sleepy :(

Enjoy this healthy mid-night snack!! Don't worry about the cheese...occasional indulgence is indispensable ;)

Hyderabadi Biryani

Lovely weekend...nice weather...craving for something amazing to eat! It all lead me to recall one of the biryani recipes i saw on Fox Traveller sometime back...and here it is...for all of you to try this delicious creation atleast once :)

This is one of the simplest ways to make Biryani which makes it a must try!

Ingredients :

Olive Oil, as per requirement

Jeera - one teaspoon

Roasted jeera (cumin powder) - one teaspoon

Coriander powder - one teaspoon

Bay Leaves (Tez Patta) 3-4

Green elaichi (cardomom) - 2

Moti elaichi - half

Cloves - 7-8

Black pepper - 10-12

White pepper - 1/4 teaspoon

Cinnamon - 3-4 small pieces

Sliced Onions - 1 cup

Tomato Paste - 1 1/2 cup

Ginger garlic paste - 3 spoons

Yellow butter - 1/2 cup

Chicken pieces - 5-6

Rice (pre cooked, preferably boiled)

Mint leaves

Food colour

Turmeric powder

Red chilly powder

Table Salt

Start by heating some Olive oil in a pan. Add cumin, bay leaves, cardomom, cloves, cinnamon and black pepper to it.

After 10-12 seconds (spices should not become black-red) add sliced onions to it. The onions would provide moisture and help the spices retain the flavour.

Caramalize the onions (reddish brown in colour) on low flame. Keep turning its sides, to avoid burning the onions.

After that add chicken pieces to it. You can also use lamb instead. After 30 seconds Add ginger garlicpaste to it (paste should be made with equal quantity of ginger and garlic)

Add the spices - turmeric powder, red chilly flakes, cumin powder and coriander powder. Wait for 10-15 seconds and add the tomato paste.

Add 1 1/2 cup of warm water. Put the lid and let it cook on low flame for 35-40 minutes (time shall vary if you are using lamb instead of chicken).

Once the chicken cooks, separate the pieces from the gravy and keep aside. In another vessel take yellow butter and add the pre cooked and coloured rice to it. (boil a glass of rice in water. Drain out excess water once the rice is semi cooked and then add food colour mixed in water to it)

Add gravy of the chicken to the rice. And mix well on high flame. Don't do this rigorously to avoid breaking the rice.

Add finely chopped mint and coriander leaves to it with a dash of lemon. Add half teaspoon of garam masala to it, turn of the gas and close the lid. Let it rest for 5-7 minutes. 

Serve it hot with a drink of your choice.

Suggestions : you can use raita instead of the drink (add water to pre hung curd. Mix well and add garlic to it. Garnish with fresh coriander and mint leaves.

Hope every one loves the Birayani you make :)

The Simplest Cake!!

So now that I have started blogging...I intend to give it a direction.

The most obvious amongst all options was making it a food centric blog...and as I have always maintained cooking is the biggest stress buster for me !!!While wondering which dish to post about...I have finally decided to go ahead with the most basic form of a cake..

(want to start it at a sweet note ;) )

And by mentioning that it is the most basic form of a cake...I mean even its cooking is in the basic form....hence a COOKER CAKE :)

It is a cooker chocolate cake

Ingredients : (I have decided to use the generally used names and not some deadly-sounding English translation of it)

Maida - 1 cup

Milkmaid - 1/2 cup

Sugar -1/4 cup

raisins and cashews as per choice ( I used a cup of them)

Baking soda -1/4 teaspoon 

Baking powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Melted butter - 1/4 cup

Milk - 1/2 cup

So now baking it is the simplest thing one can do...but for the ones who have just begun....you would LOVE it for its simplicity

Start by mixing Maida, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl and then pass it through a sieve (this is done to bring in air and layers to the mixture...so that the cake turns fluffy)

Mix in a separate bowl - sugar, milkmaid, butter and half the quantity of milk. Make a fine paste of it.

Mix the ingredients of both bowls and make a smooth batter while adding rest of the milk.

Take approximately 1 1/2 cup of salt and put it in the pressure cooker and spread it evenly. Remove the whistle and put it on the gas at low flame. Heat it for 2-3 minutes

Take a bowl (preferably aluminium) grease it with oil and sprinkle some flour on it. Pour the batter into this bowl and put it in the cooker (when the salt is warm post 2-3 minutes)

Close the lid (make sure you have removed the whistle) and now chill for 45 minutes before you look at the brilliant achievement!!!!!!!!

Once out of the cooker let it cool for 5 minutes and go pour all your creativity on to it...layer it with liquid chocolate..nuts...gems or whatever you like!!!

Taste it and say YUMMMMM ;)

Was quite simple...I'm sure you would agree....next ill come up with something which needs at least some technique :P

Till then...happy eating :)