Beef chilly fry with pan fried potatoes

This dish was a happy accident. I had set out to make something else but due to some reasons, ended up making this. It was an instant hit, you can have this with chappatis or bread, in a sandwich or wrap, or with dal and rice, irrespective of what you pair it with, it tastes heavenly.

The best thing about this recipe is you can tinker around with the spices and sauces. Add or delete as long as you have the basic ingredients in place. You can create this dish to suit your palate and preference.

Ingredients:

1. Beef - 1/2 kg 
2. Garlic - 4 cloves, finely chopped
3. Ginger - 1/2 inch piece, finely chopped
4. Green chilly - 2 nos, roughly chopped
5. Onion - 1 large, sliced
6. Tomato - 1 large, sliced
7. Worcester sauce - 1/2 tbsp
8. Soy sauce - 1 tsp
9. Red chilly sauce - 1 tsp (optional)
10. Salt as required
11. Oil as required
12. Coriander leaves - for garnish
13. Potatoes - 2 nos, cut lengthwise

Powdered spices

1. Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
2. Pepper - 1/2 tsp
3. Red chilly - 1/2 tsp
4. Garam masala - 1/2 tsp (optional)

Method:

1. Cut the beef into half inch tips, wash and set aside.
2. Add all the powdered spices to the beef tips and mix well. You could do this, before chopping the other ingredients for the dish. Set aside.
3. In a pan, heat oil, add the ginger, garlic, green chilly and onions. Fry till the onion is softened.
4. Add the tomatoes, salt and the beef. Mix well, bring it to a boil and then let it cook on low flame till the beef is cooked.
5. Add about one cup of water as required to ensure the contents don't stick to the pan and the beef is cooked. This could take about 30 minutes depending on how tough or tender the meat is. Please use your discretion.
6. This is a dry dish with with very thick sauce, so don't add too much water.
7. Lastly, add the sauces, check for taste and consistency, put off the flame.
8. Garnish with coriander leaves.

For the potatoes:

1. In a pan add 1 cup water and salt, bring it to a boil, add the potatoes and cook till 3/4th done. 
2. If the water has not evaporated while cooking , drain the water, drizzle little oil so the potatoes are coated and pan fry till done.

Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani

Biryanis are a favorite in my home. Since we discovered Shaan - Bombay Biryani, we haven't tried any other recipe. So in the last year and a half we haven't cooked any other biryani recipe. It's the easiest biryani recipe ever and once we stumbled upon it, didn't try anything else till I ate this awesome Hyderabadi Biryani, that my friend Sudha cooked. 

This is our new favorite and will be yours too. 

Biryanis are a combination of long grained rice layered with meat cooked in spices, and potatoes. It is natural to get intimidated with the laundry list of spices that go into cooking the meat. However what I did to get over it, was organize the list of ingredients into manageable chunks, and then it didn't look so scary anymore. That's the reason I have organized the list of ingredients into three marinades. In fact it has helped me memorize the recipe too. Now when I cook this biryani, I don't need to look at the recipe. :-)

Potatoes are optional and many recipes do not include but since we are so fond of it, I end up adding it to all my biryanis. So you can completely skip potatoes. Also at times we may not have shahijeera, star anise and black cardamoms readily available in the kitchen. It's ok to skip them too. 

Recipe credit : Sudha J

Ingredients for rice:

1. Basmati Rice – 500 gms
2. Oil – 1 tbsp
3. 6 peppercorns 
4. ½ tsp shahijeera 
5. Salt to taste

Chicken – 500gms

4 large onions (sliced, deep fired till dark brown)
**The recipe my friend shared, requires the onion to be deep fried but I shallow fry the onions, and this has not altered the taste of the biryani in any way.

Marinade 1

1. 3 black cardamoms
2. 4 small cardamoms
3. ½ tsp shahijeera
4. ½ tsp jeera/cumin seeds
5. 5 cloves
6. 3 bay leaves
7. 2 star anise
8. 2 inch cinnamon stick

Coarsely grind the above.

Marinade 2

1. ¼ cup mint leaves
2. ¼ cup coriander leaves
3. 4 green chilies (adjust according to spice tolerance)
4. 5 cloves of garlic or 1 tbsp of paste
5. 1 inch piece ginger or 1 tbsp of paste

Grind to a fine paste using little water.

Marinade 3

1. 200 ml yoghurt
2. 1 tsp chili powder
3. ½ tsp turmeric powder
4. ½ tbsp coriander powder
5. Juice of half a lemon or one lime.

Garnish:

1. A few sprigs of coriander and mint leaves chopped finely
2. Food color (Red, yellow, green) – dissolve color as required in milk
3. 1/4 of the fried onions.

Method for rice:

1. Wash and soak the rice for half hour before you cook it.
2. In a pan big enough to cook the rice, add water so that ¾ of the pan is full. Put this on the stove.
3. Bring the water to a boil and add the rice.
4. Into this water add, salt, a tablespoon of oil, ½ tsp shahijeera and 6 peppercorns.
5. Cook till the rice is ¾ cooked, and drain the excess water using a colander.
6. Keep aside.

Method for chicken:

1. In the pan you wish to cook the biryani, add the washed and drained chicken, add marinade 1, marinade 2, marinade 3, salt, two tablespoons of oil and ¾ of the fried onions.
2. Mix all the ingredients well and let it rest for one hour at least. Marinate longer for better results.
3. When your ready to cook the biryani, layer the cooked rice on top of the marinated uncooked chicken.
4. Put your garnish on top of the rice. I also add a tablespoon of ghee on top of the rice. This is purely optional.
5. Seal the pan, and put it on the stove.
6. Now cook the biryani on high flame for 10 minutes, next cook on medium flame for ten minutes and finally on low flame for the last ten minutes.
7. After you put off the stove, let the biryani rest for at least half hour before serving.
8. Serve with cucumber raita.

                                      

You can add fried potatoes while layering, but ensure that the potatoes are cooked well. I used two large potatoes and par boiled them before pan frying for a few minutes and adding them to the chicken. I did this as the chicken was marinating.

One of the reasons the biryani is easier to cook, is cause it eliminates the whole process of cooking the chicken separately, layering and cooking on dum. It also works well since you are not using too many utensils so the cleaning process after cooking is much simpler too.

Chicken Stew - straight from Kerala

Cooking, according to me should be a simple affair. I am not a fan of food that needs hours of labor. Of course I go the extra mile on special days and that could be once a year. But mostly I prefer cooking that is hassle free, before and after meal. Today's chicken stew is just that a simple chicken dish that will melt in your mouth with every bite. Very delicate flavors with a blend of whole spices, garlic, ginger and onion.

The recipe I share with you today was something my elder sister - Anita, cooked on special occasions. Well if you count me visiting her special. She cooked the same recipe with mutton as I personally prefer mutton and so does everyone in my family. However, my husband is not fond of mutton and hence whenever I make this stew it is always made with chicken. Let me assure you if you prefer mutton, then please try this recipe with mutton, it will be just as delicious if not more. This is a family winner!

                                                                              

Ingredients:

1. Chicken /Mutton - 1 kg
2. Potatoes - 3 medium sized
3. Oil - 3 tbsp
4. Onion - 2 large
5. Garlic - 2 tbsp
6. Ginger - 1 inch piece
7. Green chilly - 3 nos.
8. Curry leaves - two sprigs
9. Coconut milk - 200 ml
10. Vinegar - 2 tbsp
11. Salt and Water - as required

Spice Mix:

1. Peppercorns - 1/2 tbsp
2. Cardamom - 5 nos
3. Cloves -6 nos
4. Cinnamon - 2 inch stick
5. Turmeric

Method:

1. Wash and cut the meat into curry pieces. Keep aside.
2. Peel and cut the potatoes into wedges. Soak in water till they are ready to be used.
3. Chop onions, slice garlic and grate/slice ginger. Chop the green chillies.
4. In a pan heat oil, add the spice mix except turmeric. After about a minute add the onions, garlic and ginger. Fry till the onions are soft and light brown. Add the chillies.
5. Add the chicken and let the meat fry till it is browned. 
6. Add the potatoes, vinegar, salt and turmeric. Mix well Add half a cup or 100 ml of hot water. 
7. Cook on slow flame with a lid for about 15 minutes or till the meat is done.
8. Lastly add the coconut milk, once the gravy starts boiling check for salt and consistency. Adjust if required and turn off the flame.

Chicken stew goes well with appams, and dosas. For those of us who don't have appams or dosas, well we'll make do with pulao.