Kheema

This is a simple everyday recipe that goes well with roti, rice, bread, pasta! My husband is a big kheema guy he absolutely loves it. Since I'm gonna be traveling away for a week I thought I 'd make a good quantity for him to savor morning noon and night!

Ingredeints
1 pound kheema/minced meat (I use lamb but you can use beef as well)
1 medium onion chopped small
2 medium tomatoes
1 table spoon ginger garlic paste
1 teaspoon zeera seeds(cumin)
2-4 dried red chillies
2-3 green chillies
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp red chilli powder
salt to taste
3 tblspoon oil
cilantro for garnishing


1) Thaw, wash and drain the water from the kheema and keep aside
2) In a skillet or pan heat the oil
3) Add the ginger garlic paste fry for a min
4) Add the chopped onion and fry till translucent
5) add the green chillies, red chillies, salt, turmeric and zeera
6) Add tomatoes and fry
7) once the tomatoes a done add the kheema and fry it over medium for 15 min
8) once the oil leaves the sides add water and cook further
9) Adjust the spices and let water dry
10)Serve hot with coriander

Haleem

I made haleem a couple of weekends back . My first real Hyderabadi dish after getting married !

Ingredients:

Onion 2 sliced very flinely into thin rings
Cracked wheat – ½ pound
Chicken kheema 1 pound or boneless chicken
Youghurt 1.5 cups
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tblsp ginger garlic paste
8 cloves
2-3 tblsp Redchilli powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1 quill cinnamon
whole pepper 5-7
Juice from 2 limes
1/3 cup oil
Salt to taste

To serve

Melted ghee (optional)
Ginger cut into thin strips
1/2 cup chopped cilantro and mint
Lime wedges to serve

1) Cook the wheat by boiling it with enough water for about 15 mins or so till its soft
2) Meanwhile in a pressure cooker put chicken ,water youghurt , redchilli ginger garlic paste,and a tablespoon of oil. Let it cook for about two whistles
3) Heat oil in a kadai and fry the onion in batches on high flame till its crisp
4) Using a wooden spoon smoothen out the wheat to form a paste
5) If using chiken pieces not kheema ,with your fingers and break apart the boneless pieces
6) Add the chicken to the wheat do not throw out any of it
7) Leave in on medium to cook for 15 mins , add water if needed
8) Add the spices and half the fried onions crushed by hand
9) Cook till the raw taste is gone add lime juice just at the end
10) Serve hot swith the green leaves ,ginger limejuice and fried onions

This is a meal in itself so u dont need any bread or rice to go with it !

A Different Kind Of ABC, To Get To Know Me

A - Available? - No

B - Best Friend - Myself

C - Cake or pie - Cake

D - Drink of choice - Water

E - Essential thing used everyday - Has to be toothbrush and toothpaste.

F - Favorite Color - Blue

G - Gummi bears or worms - Bears

H - Hometown - Hyderabad

I - Indulgence - Rich Food!!

J - January or February - January, celebration month

K - Kids and names - None.

L - Life is incomplete without - My Husband

M - Marriage Date - 30th Dec

N - Number of siblings - One brother and two sisters.

O - Oranges or apples - Oranges

P - Phobias or fears - many

Q - Quote - Dreams are today's answers to tomorrow's questions.

R - Reason to smile - Time spent with dear ones

S - Season - Summer

T - Tag three people - I have no readers, so maybe the first reader

U - Unknown fact about me - I'm left handed

V - Vegetable you don't like - yam /arvi coz I mistake it for aloo and its not as yummy

W - Worst habit - Laziness.

X - X-rays you have had- Dental, hand

Y - Your favorite food - Chinese

Z - Zodiac - Capricorn

Jerk seasoned chicken with redchilli and lime sauce

     a


Biryani, khorma,tandoori chicken, kababs, kheer,haleem , jalebi, 20 different kind of shrimp dishes, kofta,as newlyweds (got married a month back) this is just a sample of the pleasures our tastebuds received .Unfortunately our digestive system and worse our waistlines did not take to kindly these delicacies.
So we resolved to go low fat/low calorie, in our everyday dishes. With zero expectations from Indian cuisine I rushed to cook up some thing american. At the foodnetwork website I came across a bunch of jerk seasoned recipes, made my own taking something from each and used for my grilled chicken. But the proportions were too low so my chicken turned out bland so I made the sauce to go with it. I've fixed the proportions so hopefully it should turn out ok.

4 limes
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 white onions finely chopped
2 green chiles
2 tbl spoon cups low sodium soy sauce
2 chicken breasts cut into smaal pieces
3 tsp black pepper
2 tsp redchilli flakes
1 tsp garlic powder
3-4 strips capsicum
salt to taste
oil if not using non stick grill

For sauce

red chilli flakes + tomato sauce or red chilli sauce
salt to tase
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Preparation

1) Wash and cut chicken,apply salt and leave aside till you make the rest of the seasoning . The salt helps reduce the smell.

2) Cut the lime into two and microwave for a min . The rind oils should come out . Leave aside after microwaving to cool and squeeze it out. Grate some zest in.

3) mix all the other ingredients except oil and grind in blender to make a paste .

4) Leave cover and marinate for 2-4 hours

5) I used my foreman grill(see pic) coz I can grill with out oil i love tht thing

6) Meanwhile mix the sauce ingredients to gether to make a paste , adjust the flavour according to your taste .

7) Serve hot with rice or bread

Dahi Wada/Vada

    


So, here goes the first post on my blog its an excellent evening snack/party dish. I remember someone asking me once if it was a south Indian or a north Indian dish? Since its a vada based dish it could be south Indian but it comes under the chaat category which typically in north Indian. Anyway who cares as long as it tastes amazing!

Dahi Vada
Serves 2-4 (Depending in your appetite!!!)

Urad ki dal/mash ki dal (the white one)- 1 cup
Yoghurt (can use fat free ) - 4 cups
Green chillies -2
Zeera /Cumin -2 table spoons
Rye - 1 tea spoon
Dried red chillies -2-3
Fresh coriander - 1/2 cup
Mint leaves -4-6
Red chilli powder - to taste
Chat masala - 1 tbl spoon
Sugar - to taste
Salt - to taste
Black pepper - to taste
Oil


Vadas

• Soak the urad dal in water for an hour. Really don't need a longer soak because we want to retain the coarseness to a certain extent.
• Take the drained urad dal with equal amount of water in a mixer/grinder/food processor. Add salt, 1tsp red chilli powder, mintleaves , half the coriander, green chillies and 2 tsps Zeera .
• Grind the mixture adding additional water till a thick falling consistency is achieved . Be careful to not make the mixture runny.
• In a kadai heat oil ,when done make vadas by using a deep table spoon or one of those spoons used to serve dal .
• Reduce the flame to medium and turn it up only at the end to make the vadas brown.
• Lay out on tissue paper to soak out the oil

Dahi

• Take the yoghurt in a bowl , add salt and sugar and whisk it with a spoon till a smooth consistency is achieved you should not need any extra water.
• Add chat masala , pepper,red chilli powder

Setting the dish

• The best dish to serve would be a flattened glass baking dish or a casserole
• Add half the yoghurt to the dish
• Take a small bowl or a plastic storage box and fill in with water
• Add the vadas few at a time in to the water , yes you heard it right into the water
• Leave it in the water just till the crispiness is gone
• Flatten the vada out with your two palms
• Lay in out in the yoghurt dish
• Lay out the rest of the vadas and add yoghurt between layers save some for the end
• At the end add the remaining yoghurt

Tadka /baghar / tempering

• After the whole dish is set take a small pan and add 1 table spoon of oil
• When its hot add the following in this order few seconds apart - dried redchillies followed by rye seeds finally the remaining zeera
• Once its fried add it over the dahi vada and spread
• Sprinkle the rest of the coriander
• Serve immediately with tamarind chutney

Ah A Food Blog

I wanted to have my own food blog for the longest time, finally got my self one. Yipee!!! its like having your own cookery show, ok maybe that was an exaggaration but never the less its exciting. And for this feat to turn into a feast stay tuned to this page .