SHAHI HYDERABADI BRIYANI RICE RECIPE.. MUTTON BRIYANI RICE RECIPE WITH RAITA

SHAHI  HYDERABADI  BRIYANI RICE RECIPE.

Welcome to my very special guest, Shobha from "Food Mazaa" of Mumbai, India, who loves cooking, painting and reading, enjoys listening to music and making handicrafts. Here she is  ...

cooking-varieties : Shobha, my special thank you to you  for your willingness to do this guest post in my blog, a rich spicy and aromatic  SHAHI  HYDERABADI  BIRIYANI  RICE.

cooking-vareties : How would you introduce yourself shobha?

Shobha : I am a home maker, graduated in English Literature. Born a SIndhi in Andhra Pradesh, but a South Indian at heart. My parents inculcated both cultures in me. I read and write Telugu as well as Sindhi, which is in Persian Script. I lived in Chennai and have been moving to other countries back and forth due to my husband's transferable job. Currently, we are settled in Mumbai.


Blessed with a wonderful family, a loving and caring husband, two sons who have made us proud.(elder son is MSc in computer engineering and MBA and the second son is a PhD. in Bio-engineering, both settled in USA) A lovely daughter-in-law Holli and an adorable  2 year old grand daughter Maya.

 I have lived in UK, Nigeria and Brazil and travelled to many countries. I like Brazil most. Brazilians are very warm, welcoming and friendly people. We lived there for 10 years and now speak Portuguese well.

cooking-varieties : How about sharing your blog url with us?

I love to try out various cuisines from all over the world. Started with my first blog,  Food Mazaa in February 2008, with 308 posts till now. Do visit  me at:


 http://foodmazaa.blogspot.com/

My two nieces, Punam and Vinita also have contributed some nice recipes.

Recently, I have started another blog "Soup for the Soul"..

cooking-varieties : What is your greatest wish on your hobbies

I wish to publish my cookery book and want to hold an exhibition of my paintings.
I do oil paintings and have painted 30 so far and want to have at least 50 exhibits.

Ingredients:

Mutton - 1 kg
Onions – 5 to 6 chopped onions
Garlic - 1 cups
Ginger - 3/4 cup
Green Chillies - about 10
Mint Leaves - 1 bunch
Coriander Leaves - 1 bunch
Cloves - 10 to 15
Cinnamon - Three 5” pieces
Nutmeg or Jaiphal - Less than ¼ piece
Mace or Javitri - 1 piece
Small Cardamoms - 10
Black Cardamoms - 1
Tomatoes - Approx. 3
Yogurt - 3 to 4 tbsp
Lemon Juice - About ½ lemon’s juice
Red food colour
Salt to taste

For Rice:

Rice - 6 cups
Cloves - 2
Cinnamon – 1” stick
Small Cardamoms - 2
Mint Leaves - a handful
Coriander Leaves - a handful
Lemon juice - Juice of 1 lemon
Water - 12 cups
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Grind cloves, cardamoms, mace, nutmeg, cinnamon to a fine powder. To this add garlic, ginger, coriander leaves, mint leaves, green chillies and salt and grind to a smooth paste. Add water if necessary.
2. Marinate mutton with this paste for atleast 15 minutes.
3. Heat 2 tbsp oil and 2 tbsp ghee. Fry onions till light brown. Keep aside some onions for garnishing.
4. Add marinated mutton and cook for a while. Add tomatoes, yogurt, lemon juice and little water and cook till mutton is tender.
(Take care not to make too much gravy)                                                                                                                    
5. Meanwhile, keep 12 cups of water to boil. Add cloves, cinnamon, small cardamoms, mint leaves and coriander leaves, lemon juice, salt and let it boil. Add rice and let it cook.
6.When rice is 3/4th done, strain & transfer over mutton.
7. Do not mix. With big spoon, make slits for air. Add ghee & red colour. Cover first with wet cloth, then with lid, and keep a weight over the lid. Simmer for about 15 minutes.
Garnish with fried onions and cashew nuts.
Serve with raita.
Raita Recipe:

Beat 1 cup yogurt. Add 1/4 cup water, finely sliced green chillies, finely chopped onions, tomatoes, coriander leaves and 1/2 tsp salt. Beat well and serve with biryani.

Next  post, cooking varieties will publish  Shobha’s  MIRCHI KA SALAN ( Hyderabadi) recipe, a spicy dish that compliments Shahi  briyani and a bit more write up on her achievements,

   
Food Mazaa url at sidebar    

THE SUNSHINE AWARD GIVE AWAYS

SUNSHINE AWARD   - ADDY  AND  LYNNE

Many thanks to Addy and Lynne, for the sunshine award- really brightens up my day. For that, please accept my thank you card here : You may want to post this in your blog- colorful huh :D

Do visit them at-   http://blogmenagerie.blogspot.com   
   
 ADDY AND LYNNE THANKED SURESH SHRESTHA, FOR NOMINATING US FOR THE SUNSHINE AWARD AND COOKING VARIETIES (wan maznah) being one of those nominated, ALSO EXTEND HER THANKS TO SURESH FOR THE SAME

MORE ON ADDY AND LYNNE:

"Two became friends from far away 
From opposite ends of the world one day,
Never  realizing a warm hello 
Would start a friendship that soon would grow!"

“We joined our blogs and work together for fun!
She loves maroon, and he loves black.
They both love chocolate, family, and friends,
Giving to others, and cheering the sad.
She loves the beach, and they both love the sun;
He loves pro flash games, and they both love their computers”

ADDY AND LYNN SAID:  cooking-varieties- a very colorful blog full of luscious food and recipes 

and pictures all by a very colorful and compassionate woman and new blogging friend.

Thank you so much for the compliments. It’s fantastic, how two people can blog harmoniously in cyber and be the best of virtual friends. My wish is that both of you will be a very successful pro- team bloggers

My blog is true to the name ” varieties”, not just in terms of recipes but also in terms of therapeutic colors. Even the write up are colored to avoid eye stress, my eyes cant keep looking at white prints for many hours on screen…glaring  ha ha.

Besides recipes and colors, you can also read a lot on health benefits and cooking tips/ techniques, plus a touch of artsy photos sometimes. 

Speaking of varieties, I must also tell you that in my nine  months of blogging, this is my 15^th award and I want to share this joy with my deserving blogger friends below:

My well deserving friends, I have always enjoyed myself receiving your visits, as well  as  reading your  sweet  and meaningful comments. I am very hopeful that we remain great blogger friends for a long time.

 1. Jennie Mortarotti- Kentucky              
http://narratorreviews.blogspot.com

 2. Ambreen- Pakistan                           
 http://www.simplysweetnsavory.blogspot.com

 3. Sarang Mangi- Pakistan                   
http://sindhitech-st.blogspot.com                      

 4. Shobha- India                                     
 http://foodmazaa.blogspot.com/

 5. Create with mom- Canada               
 http://createwithmom.blogspot.com/

 6. Purabi Naha- Hong Kong 
 http://www.cosmopolitancurrymania.blogspot.com               

7. Mehjabeen Ariff-California                

http://comeletseat.blogspot.com/         

 8. Spoon and chopsticks- Australia     
 http://spoon-and-chopsticks.blogspot.com

9. Stewardjohn- Malaysia                      
 http://stewardjohn.com

10.Andreea- Romania                            
 http://curioustendency.blogspot.com/

THESE SUNNY RULES TO FOLLOW:

Thank the person who has nominated you for the award and linking back to them.

-Tell us something about yourself.

-Nominate 10 other bloggers. (Hope you follow them! :)

- Inform them that you have awarded them
Here, i just got a wonderful thank you gift from shobha of Food mazaa

On a separate occassion, please note that I would like to give awrards to umm maimoonah and nashnordin- i will communicate directly with them

CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP WITH VEGGIES- A ONE DISH MEAL. ASIAN CHICKEN NOODLES SOUP

CHICKEN AND VEGGIE NOODLES SOUP- A ONE DISH MEAL

EASY TO PREPARE AND HEALTHY TO EAT

Ingredients:

Dried noodles for 2 persons.

1 egg- white only
6 pieces medium size shallots- chiffanade and fry until golden brown and aromatic, set aside to be used as garnishing

Stock ingredients (4)

1/2 cube chicken stock

1/2 cube soup spice or 3 tablespoon soup spice powder

3 pieces garlic- paper thin slices

3 pieces shallots- paper thin slices

!/4 chicken- clean and cut into smaller pieces

1 piece bean curd or tofu- cut into 4 pieces
1/2 cup frozen corn

A few veggie varieties- cut into small pieces- carrots (cut 1 1/2 cm or about 1/2 inch), tomatoes (cut 6) and other greens

1 piece frozen fish cake- cut into 4 or use fish balls

Salt and pepper

My way:

Heat up 5 cups of water in a cooking pot

Add in stock ingredients and chicken. Boil for 20 minutes

Add in fish cake, carrots, bean curd, corn salt and pepper                                                    

After 5 minutes, add in noodles and broccoli

After 5 minutes, add the rest of vegetables

After 5 minutes put off fire. Add in egg white and stir well. Add in fried shallots. Serve hot

If you want some tongue ticklers, garnish with fresh cut chili or pickled green chili
The veggies should be crunchy or crisp tender

You can check out the recipe on pickling chili in my other blog cv nusantara at:

http://cooking-varieties-nusantara.blogspot.com/2011/04/pickling-chili-how-to-pickle-chili-also.html

The health benefits of carrots: ( a root vegetable) 
Eaten regularly, helps to reduce premature aeging due to sun damage on skin.

Contains beta carotene- a substance that is converted to Vitamin A in the body. A 1/2 cup serving of cooked carrots contains four times the recommended daily intake of Vitamin A in the form of protective beta carotene.

Peel if desired. Raw carrots are naturally sweet, but lightly cooked carrots are even sweeter. Carrots are one of those vegetables that loses very little nutritional value during cooking. In fact, some nutrients in slightly cooked carrots are more available to the body than raw carrots. Cooking actually breaks down the tough cellular wall of carrots making some nutrients more useable to the body-  Vietnamese Food Fruits

CHEESE, PISTACHIO AND VEGGIE BURGER. KIWI FRUIT CHEESE BURGER WITH PISTACHIO AND GREENS

THE PICNIC BURGER RECIPE

CHEESE, PISTACHIO AND VEGGIE  BURGER. 



Rows and rows of trees with yellow blooms-

For me , the idea of a picnic is to meet up with friends, be with nature, away from the crowded eating places that we go through everyday.. this is for  brunch
We picnic, trend on with updates, listen to some music, snap some photos , eat some food and then, we go off  to Metro at The Curve for shopping around Mont Kiara... and finally, here, we have some latte.. Happy Sunday for us- bye till we meet again :)

Petals on the grass by the hundreds of thousands- everywhere

Cheese burger with pistachio, veggies and kiwi fruit

Ingredients:

Burger buns

Kiwi fruit slices

Eggplant slices- pan fried
( a form of frying using minimal cooking oil or fat, just enough  to lubricate the pan- cover with a lid, for better heat retention)

Cheddar cheese slices

Salad varieties- like coral and oak leaf salad / endive and iceberg lettuce

Lemon pepper seasoning The health benefits of Pistachios:

Pistachio nuts are one of the healthiest snacks and is cholesterol free . It contains more lutein and beta carotene than most other nuts.

Beta carotene converts into vitamin A which can help prevent certain cancers. 

Lutein is important for healthy skin and for good vision

A handful of pistachios daily can  help destroy the bad cholesterol, shy away heart diseases and prevent certain cancers. 

The health benefits of green vegetables and kiwi fruits are of course, they are rich in vitamin c, anti oxidants and fiber

i got this pistachio image from wikipedia.org  :)

3/4 cup roasted pistachios- blend into fine powder, then MIX with

1 tablespoon  vegetable margarine AND

3 tablespoon  mayonnaise- to form a paste

Slice the burger buns, spread with pistachio paste, add on the rest of ingredients, drizzle with lemon pepper seasoning  and  enjoy :)

Spent quite sometime on the artwork of the two burger images, personally i like the results of both 

PRAWN CURRY RECIPE. PRAWN CURRY WITH BITTER GOURD RECIPE

SPECIAL GUEST POST BY NAVANEETHAM  KRISHNAN (Nava-K)

Kota  Kemuning, Selangor, Malaysia.

Nava-k blogs on LIFE AND STYLE: Food and Cooking,  Fashion and Beauty,  Food ventures, Travel, Entertainment, Features, Current Affairs'

Do vist her versatile blog at        http://www.nava-k.com

PRAWN CURRY RECIPE
Curries are usually hot and spicy and to create this taste, I used a combination of grounded/blended dried red chillies and meat curry powder.  You can reduce the amount of these two ingredients for a lesser spicy taste. This is also a nutritious dish as bitter gourd is low in calories, high in fiber as well as its medicinal value. The bitter taste of this veggie somehow is not obvious once it’s cooked and drenched in the thick curry.

Ingredients:

15 (abt 180g) medium size prawns - de-vein and leave the tail on

1 small (abt 170g) Chinese bitter gourd - remove seeds and sliced

1 (abt 100g) tomato - sliced

10 shallots - sliced

2 tbsp blended/grounded dried red chillies

2 tbsp meat curry powder

1 tbsp blended/grounded ginger

1/2 tbsp blended/grounded garlic

2 sprigs curry leaves

1/2 cup fresh milk (can also use coconut milk)

5 tbsp canola oil

salt to taste

Method:

Mix the blended ginger and garlic into the prawns and keep aside.

When oil is heated, saute the shallots to soften.

Add the blended chillies and curry powder.

Stir and continue to cook until the oil floats.

Goes in 1 1/2 cup of water as well as the sliced tomatoes.

Mix well and let it simmer.

Once small bubbles appear, add the bitter gourd, milk, curry leaves and salt to taste.

Stir in and continue to simmer.

On noticing that the bitter gourd is semi-cooked, add the prawns in.

Stir and continue to simmer until the prawns are cooked. Remove from heat

MY SPECIAL THANK YOU TO NAVA FOR THIS GUEST POST

http://www.nava-k.com         nava-k banner is at sidebar here

APPLE AND AVOCADO BREAD RECIPE. THE VEGAN APPLE AND AVOCADO BREAD RECIPE

APPLE AND AVOCADO BREAD RECIPE.  VEGAN BREAD RECIPE

MY SPECIAL THANK YOU  TO JUNIA KIM OF NEW JERSEY, USA  FOR HER WILLINGNESS TO DO THIS GUEST POST, ON A VERY SPECIAL VEGAN BREAD RECIPE.

For the first time I am publishing a Vegan recipe and

For the first time also, I am publishing a Bread recipe… :)

Like cpsr commented in this bloig a while ago- “Cooking varieties transcends beyond time ( in variety). “ Variety” is the missing ingredient that connects the eater and the food” ….  and Yes, cooking-varieties will live up to her name,  so here goes……

You will really enjoy this healthy, flavorful and easy to prepare “Apple and Avocado Bread”, inspired by Junia. Do visit her blog for more vegan recipes on bread, dips, vegetables/ salad, juices and cookies. View the yummy images and healthy ingredients , I assure you will surely be tempted to try them out.

http://www.juniakk.blogspot.com       MIS PENSAMIENTOS

APPLE AND AVOCADO BREAD RECIPE

Hi everyone! I'm Junia and I blog over at Mis Pensamientos (http://juniakk.blogspot.com) about my food inspirations in the kitchen. I love finding healthy ways to enjoy everyday eating and snacking.  I started on a personal journey to eat plant based foods just two years ago and I've never felt better.  I've experienced immense health benefits such as better digestion, more energy, radiant glow, and body cleansing. 

One thing that I dearly miss is baked goods.  I love to indulge here and there, of course! This is a bread recipe that was inspired by my love for avocados! Enjoy this yummy recipe, and please come by and check out my latest healthy food inspirations. :) 

Apple Avocado Bread..

2 cups all purpose flour 

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp sea salt

2 tsp double acting baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2.5 tbsp golden flaxseed meal + 6 tbsp water (2 eggs)

1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/3 cup canola oil

1/2 cup avocado

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

6 tbsp unsweetened applesauce 

1 cup grated apple

Directions:

1. Combine all the dry ingredients together.

2. In a small bowl, combine flaxseed meal with 6 tbsp water and let it sit for 3 minutes. 

3. Combine flaxseed mixture with avocado, canola, maple syrup in a food processor until smooth.

4. Add applesauce and vanilla to the avocado mixture and stir by hand. 

5. Add in dry mixture to the wet mixture.  Do not over mix!

6. Fold grated apple into the batter gently. Reserve some grated apple for garnish.

7. Put batter in a greased baking loaf pan lined with parchment paper.

8. Bake at 350 degrees for 55 to 60 minutes.  

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