Easy Fish Briyani

Last night, i was pondering what to do for lunch the next day... this happens almost every other night, just that someday's I get to realise that I have to cook only the previous night when I get to bed. Does this happen to you? There was once in Chennai where I had was surprised to see fish briyani in a restaurant in Adyar, I don't even remember the name. I wanted to try it, hence ordered it and it tasted so yum, ever since that I always wanted to try Fish Briyani at home and after like 3 years I took a chance and tried it on my own, I did not follow any recipe and it turned out great. I am not bragging about my cooking but give it a go and let me know if you feel the same.

Prep & Cooking Time ~ 25 minutes
Serves ~ 2
Recipe Source ~ own


Ingredients 


For Briyani ~
Onion - 1 large thinly sliced
Tomato - 1 large thinly sliced
Basmathi Rice - 1 cup
Water - 2-2.5 cups rice (go by your usual method)
Fish - 400 gms (any white fish, preferably boneless & skinless)
bay leaf - 1
Whole jeera - 1 tsp
Cloves - 2
Elaichi - 2
Star Anise - 1
Cinnomon - 1/2 inch stick
Giner-garlic paste - 1 spoon
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Corriander powder - 2 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/3 tsp
Pepper Powder (black) - 1/3 tsp
Garam Masaala - 1/4 tsp (optional)
Oil/ ghee - 3 spoons
Salt - as per taste


For Curd/ Yogurt Pachadi ~
Curd or yogurt - 1/2-1 cup
Onion - 1 medium thinly sliced
Corriander leaves - finely chopped
Salt - as per taste


Method 


For Briyani 

• Wash the basmathi rice in cold water twice and sock in cold water and clean the fish 
• In a pressure cooker/ heavy bottom vessel, heat oil/ghee and fry the whole spices one by one - bay leaf, cinnamon stick, elaichi, star anise, cloves and jeera
• Add the onions and give it a give toss and wait until it turns brown
• to this add the ginger garlic paste and tomato and let it cook for 2 minutes until the oil separates
• add all the masala powders ans mix well, if you find the mixture getting dry add little water and add the fish (i used fish fillets-palm sized, i did not cut them into pieces), let them cook for 4 minutes until well cooked and mix them well, now you will find the fish getting separated naturally
• add the basmathi rice, discarding the water in which it was soaked and add salt and necessary water for cooking
• taste the water to check for spice and salt
• close the lid and add the weigh, let it cook for 3-4 whistles or approximately 10 minutes in medium flame
• Once done off the stove and let it simmer for another 5 minutes 
• Serve alone with curd/yogurt chutney

For Chutney

• In a bowl mix the yogurt/curd so that there are no lumps
• Add the onions and corriander and mix well
• Add salt as per taste

Fruit & Nut Biscotti Bars~ yummers

My love for fruit and nut chocolates and biscuits has led me to try this. Who doesn't like a crunchy bar for an evening snack with some coffee? Sometimes I used to wonder if I could find something as tasty as cadbury's fruit and nut and nothing can replace that. But since this is a better calorie version I gave it a try. They are crunchy, nutty, fruity and taste like the biscotti we get in starbucks.

Prep & cook time ~ 40 mins

Makes ~ 5-6 chunky bars

Recipe Source ~ adapted from Joy of Baking( it tried to alter to my taste)

Ingredients 

Nuts - 1 cup, coarsely chopped (i used cashew, walnuts and badam)

Dry fruits - 1/2 cup (green& black)

Plain Flour - 1/3 cup

Dermerara Sugar - 1/2 cup (this adds the color, i did not add coco powder)

Baking powder - 1/3 tsp

Baking soda - 1/3 tsp

Egg - 1 medium

Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Salt - pinch

Method

• Prepare a baking dish by lining it with foil on all sides and Pre-heat oven to 200 C, place the baking dish on it
• In a mixing bowl sieve the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda, add the chopped nuts and raisins to this and coat them evenly, next add the sugar and mix well
• In another bowl beat the egg and vanilla essence till it becomes think and changes color
• Add the wet mixture to the dry one and mix  well with a wooden spoon
• Now take the baking tray and fill in the mixture and flatten it with the wooden spoon. Make sure that the mixture is 3-4 cms thick 
• Place it in the oven and bake until you see a golden brown coating on the top or till 20 minutes
• Take the baking tin and place the foil on a wire rack to cool.
• After 15 minutes cut them into horizontal bars and enjoy

Tips & Tricks

• Go by your own taste and replace nuts and fruits as per your taste
• You could replace the sugar to any other version, I used dermerara since its unrefined, brown sugar also should be good
• You could also use the ready made foil trays available

Home-style Sambar | South Indian Sambar | Perfect Vegan Indian Curry

Sambar a typical South Indian staple and my most favorite curry any day of the week. This is an old post where I have updated with new pics. Being a South Indian, this is my favorite and healthy dish that we do at home, atleast once a week. Since the oil content is less its healthy, dhal is rich in protein.
My first challenge after marriage was doing Sambar, though I did try this back at home, it took me a while to get the taste and alter it to my husbands taste. He likes sambar to be nice and thick so I have to add more Dhal than usual. You could still follow the recipe and reduce the dhal proportion to suit your taste.

Easy Fish Cutlets/ Fish cakes (shallow fry) ~ for the taste buds

My mouth actually waters seeing this picture, trust me these cutlets/ cakes are pure indulgence. Its a complete people pleaser. My husband loves them and for sure the 'way to a mans' heart is though is belly'. To tell you more about the taste I would say that it is a moist, crunchy outside, soft & juicy inside, I know we don't make this quite often at home thinking we need too much oil, but I have pre-cooked the fish hence all that needs to be done is shallow fry the outside. Now lets get going with the recipe. I am linking this to hearth & soul blog hop.

Source ~ Own

Prep & cook time ~ 30 mins

Makes ~ 6-7 cutlets (medium sized)

Ingredients

Any white fish (bone/boneless) - 3 fillets/ 300 gms

Onion - 1 large, finely chopped

Green chilli - 4-5, finely chopped (based on spice tolerence, optional)

Bread crumbs - handful

1 egg - for coating (optional, can be replaced with little flour mixed withwater)

Red chilli powder - 1/2-1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Pepper - 1/3 tsp

Ginger-garlic paste - 1 spoon

Salt - to taste

Oil (sunflower) - for shallow frying

Method

Fish - 

First in a saucepan boil some water with salt and boil the fish for 5 mins, once its done pour out the water and let the fish cool down. When its cooled down with a spoon/hands try and break the fish into small pieces. Leave some small bits to give the cutlet some texture

Bread crumbs-

No need to toast them, take some left over bread and blend it in a mixie once its powders spread it in a plate to be used later

For the Fish Masala-

In a wok/ non-stick pan, heat 2 tsp of oil and add the chopped onions and let them sweat, then add the green chillis and ginger-garlic paste, let it cook well

Next add the spices/masala and combine well, add the fish and let it cook for 2 mins

Transfer the contents on wok to a plate/ bowl and let it come to room temperature.

Add some bread crumbs to this if you feel the mixture is wet. Roll the fish mixture into small goft size balls and try to press them firmly so that they stick well and place them in a plate to be fried later, let this sit in the refrigerator for 15 minutes for the juices to release, You could also leave it over-night to be done later

Frying-

Heat oil in a pan

Keep the breadcrumbs and egg/flour mixture ready and dip the cutlets into the wet (egg/flour) mixture and then in the bread crumbs and place it in a plate, dust the excess breadcrumbs

Once you have completed dusting the cutlets, let it sit in the pan for frying, until all sides are cooked and turn brown

Serve hot with tomato ketchup. Enjoy!

Tricks & Tips

-Do the cutlet patties the previous night for better flavor

-Spices can be avoided if you want them just to be plain

- bread crumbs can be keep outside for 10 days, you could use any soft bread that you fancy

Easy Dark Chocolate Souffles | Easy Chocolate Dessert recipe | Easy Chocolate Baked Dessert

My husband and I have a super sweet tooth, last night we were craving for chocolate. It was a result of going through this cookbook which I recently got, my my my every picture and recipe was so tempting and since I had the ingredients of this recipe handy I went ahead with it. 

I cannot rave enough about this souffles and if you are chocolate person you must try this. The best part is you can have it as soon as its made, no freezing required. Its moist and creamy with a lovely chocolate flavor ~ made me go bonkers!!! 

What I really liked about this recipe -

- cooking time is 30 mins

- have it hot

- gluten free and no flour

- used only skimmed milk

- 134 cal / per serving

Watch-out for my review on this cookbook soon, now lets to the recipe

Ingredients

50g plain dark chocolate, chopped

2 tsp cornflour

1 tsp cocoa powder

1 tsp instant coffee powder

4 tsp golden caster sugar

150 ml skimmed milk

2 medium eggs, separated

Method

• Preheat oven to 190C mark 5. Take a pan and put the chopped chocolate, cornflour, cocoa powder,coffee powder, 1 tsp caster sugar and milk. Warm gently to melt the chocolate. Increase the heat and stir until the mixture thickens. Allow to cook a little, then stir in the egg yolks. Cover it with a lid
• Take a grease free bowl and whisk the egg whites with an electric whisk until soft peaks form. Gradually whisk the remaining caster sugar until the mixture is stiff.
• Stir one-tird egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Fold in the remaining whites and divide among six 150 ml ramekins. Put the ramekins on the baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes until well risen. Serve immediately
• For serving you could pour some chocolate sauce/condensed milk/custard for an extra taste (optional)