Paneer biriyani and a mother's love

Hello there!

Here I am, as promised to myself, of being regular in my blog. Your good words, have encouraged me a lot, in writing more; more than just a recipe.

It is a story about the journey of a girl to become Mother. She loved to dance untill the music stoped, loved to eat untill heart was full, loved to travel  untill her mind was satisfied. Then she became pregnant.  She stopped dancing, stopped eating her favorite foods and traveling was out of syllabus. These all changes were worthy, when she saw the baby moving in her sonography. She started to love the kicks. But she was worried thinking her life would be no more same; and that made her to think, whether she would be a good mother.

On the D-day, when she was lying on the operation table, her legs were shaking; all the scary thoughts going through her little head; after a few minutes (which seemed like hours), she heard a cry- cry of her baby. The first thing she asked, in that half sleep-half awake state (thanks to the anaesthesia!), how is my baby? When they returned home from hospital, she was scared thinking how would she take care of het baby, all by herself. After a few sleepless nights, the paediatric told that her baby's growth was normal. Her husband told her that she was doing fine. But she thought whether she would be a good mother. After a few more sleepless nights, one day she was telling her husband " baby has started to say cute things when he is hungry, he will show something with his hands; he does not like hot weather; he has started to smile at me a lot; he is cooing when I speak to her; he even likes a lot when I sing". Her husband was listening very attentively and she was done, he asked, "Are you still worried what kind of mother you would be?" And there, at that moment, she found her answers. Finally the girl realized she had become a Mother, without knowing.

On 26th March @11.40AM, my son HITANSHU was born. He has taught me that, I am neither a good nor a bad, but a perfect Mother for my baby.

Cheers to all the mothers out there; you are doing a perfect job for your baby, whatever whoever says. The recipe I wanted to share today, was made for a mother only, my mother-in-law. Our relation is the normal  saas-bahu relation. But one thing about het, she would never say anything if the food was tasty; things are not same if food is not tasty. Being a lover of cooking, complements always made me feel satisfied. So this time, I put my efforts to make a tasty food for her.

It was Paneer Biriyani, my first attempt.

Things you will need:

Basmati rice 2 cups ( washed and soaked in water for 15mins, mixed with 2teaspoon refined oil and salt). This will help to make the rice non-sticky.

Paneer (200 gm paneer made 12 cubes, frozen paneer kept in boiled salt water until they were soft; take out paneer cubes and keep the water)

Marinated this  paneer for 15mins, in a paste of 1 big onions,8 cloves garlic, 1inch ginger, 3 green chillies, 5 cardamom,2 1inch cinnamon, 1 tablespoon cumin powder, turmeric, 15-18 pudina leaves, 2-3 strands of coriander leaves.

Onion 2 big for frying, make big slices

10/15 cardamom

1 cinnamon of 10cm

Cloves 5/6

Star anise 1

Nutmeg 1small piece

2 bay leaves

Saffron few strands soaked in milk

Curd 2 cups

Cook the soaked rice with all the whole masalas, in a pressure cooker. You will need 3 cups of water to cook rice. Put the flame in high, one whistle and immediately turn off the heat. Let the gas pass and open the lid. Take out the whole masalas and spread tge rice in plate. You need to make it completely cool, otherwise while making the layers for biriyani, rice will become soggy.

In the mean time, heat sufficient amount of oil in a wok. Put the marinated paneer cubes and cook in medium heat. Turn the pieces once it becomes red in one side. Dip them in curd and light fry once again. Now fry the marinated masalas and keep aside for later use.

Fry the onions in that oil with medium heat. Once onions are red and fried (not burnt), take it out, keep the oil for later use.

Now the final part of cooking biriyani in pressure cooker. Put a tawa on stove. Place the pressure cooker on it. Use the oil now. Add the marinated masala and curd and cook a little. Spread half portion of rice on this. Place the paneer cubes. Add the rest of the rice. Spread the fried onions. Pour the saffron milk. Close the cooker lid, without whistle. Put the heat on high for 3mins. Now make the heat low and very slowly and carefully shake the cooker. Again after 5min shake the cooker very slowly. And the biriyani is ready.

Please note, shaking should be done very carefully. This will mix the lower level of marinated masalas and other ingredients with rice properly; but if shaken fast or hard, it will make the rice sticky and you will lose the proper taste of biriyani.

Yes that is all about Paneer biriyani. And you know what my mother-in-law said? She said "eneke bonale dekhun khabo bhal, khabo pari maje maje" (in assamese, if cooked in this way then it's tasty, we can have this often). Haa haa haa, what a lovely mother-in-law ;)

That was the biriyani cooked on Father's day, which went well with the fruity punch. Recipe for which coming soon with another story.

See you all soon. Bye.

Back with some Biriyani

After a long time, i am typing something for the blog. I love to write, at least I used to love. But typing (not writing) is not my happy-mood thing. This blog also started out of boredom. It was during 2012, I left my 1st job because it was monotonous; I was waiting for the second job confirmation (that was monotonous too, but at that time I thought of getting enough time for my hobbies along with good payment, what a wrong view I had!!!). Anyway, so during that waiting period, I was busy in cooking and making my friends eat those experimented foods; and I started sharing those experiences through this blog. It was kind of lovely experimental time. Once I got the job (the same job I am in now, completed 5 years, yeaaah,!!!), the cooking continued, but typing and posting was never the same. As I told, the job did not give me time for my hobbies during the 1st two years.

After the last post in 2014, so many things happened in life:: Induction training,few more trainings in different places, after a long discussion between the families finally married to 'college-friend cum long time love of my life" Mr Sarmah, experienced working with a Bad boss and fighting in workplace, late honeymoon to Rajasthan, a few more trips during last two years, lost my Father-in-law- a very kind person who used to prefer chicken biriyani cooked by me (just like my husband), became mother of a healthy baby and just like that my 35th birthday is around the corner.

Now I am on maternity leave till August and this writing flu is again showing it's symptoms. Symptom like sharing stories of all those special events which happened during  last few years. But before all that, I need to push myself to write ( type, precisely) and complete the first post of this year. So here is a old recipe presenting in new way with new pics.

17th June was Father's day. It was the first Father's day for my husband Mr Sarmah, as Deuta (in Assamese, father).

Also my parents are here, because of the baby. So I was able to celebrate the day with my Baba (in Bengali, Father).

First I planned to cook different tasty foods, searching for Father's Day special menu ideas. But then I did something else. I asked my hubby and my Baba about their favorite foods and guess what? Both replied same things. Luchi and Chholar daal (Poori and bengal gram lentil) in Breakfast; Chicken biriyani and some sweet thing in Lunch. It made work less for me. I am always lucky with the men in my life; they are not fussy and always helpful. 

So this was the lunch.

Paneer biriyani was there for Mother-in-law, a first time attempt and what I can say, it was so tasty, that we all had it. But since this post is about my old love of biriyani, so I will stick to less spicey but full of flavour Chicken biriyani.

Chicken biriyani for 4:

Biriyani Rice 3 cups (washed and soaked in water for 15mins, mixed with 2teaspoon refined oil and salt). This will help to make the rice non-sticky.

Chicken 500gm, you can use less or more as per your requirements.

Marinated this chicken overnight in paste of 2 big onions, 10/12 cloves garlic, 1inch ginger, 4 green chillies, 5 cardamom,2 1inch cinnamon, 1 tablespoon cumin powder, half cup liquid garlic butter, salt.

Onion 2 big for frying, make big slices

10/15 cardamom

1 cinnamon of 10cm

Cloves 5/6

Star anise 1

Nutmeg 1small piece

2 bay leaves

Saffron few strands soaked in milk

That's it. See no chilly powder, no curd. You can add cashew if you want. 

Generally the biriyani is full of spices and after eating this we are going to need a walk to digest all these spices and oil. The mailn masala is garam masala, which has beautiful fragrance but it is very rich in taste. But a few years back, I and Mr Sarmah (before becoming Mr and Mrs ), tasted biriyani in a restaurant, which was very mild in spices but made our heart (yes tummy too) full. I loved the smell of garam masala but the food was not at all spicey. We loved that biriyani and I started to recreate that biriyani. The first trial was a hit and I was finally able to cook biriyani which has the rich aroma of GARAM MASALA but does not have lots of spices. The procedure is a simple one and I shared the same recipe with one of my cousine and they loved it. According to her, the best thing about this biriyani was they did not have any medicine to digest the food. Hmmm that's another good reason for you to try this.

Now, i will type the procedure of cooking and finally post it. This is the most tiresome part for me. I will finish typing it soon.

Cook the soaked rice with all the whole masalas, in a pressure cooker. You will need 4 cups and little less than half cup of water to cook rice. Put the flame in high, one whistle and immediately turn off the heat. Let the gas pass and open the lid. Take out the whole masalas and spread tge rice in plate. You need to make it completely cool, otherwise while making the layers for biriyani, rice will become soggy.

In the mean time, heat sufficient amount of oil in a wok. Put the chicken pieces and cook in very low flame. Keep the marinated masalas for later use. Turn the pieces once it becomes red in one side. In this way chicken will become tender.

Take out the chickens. Fry the onuons in that oil with medium heat. Once onions are red and fried (not burnt), take it out, keep the oil for later use.

Now the final part. Put a tawa on stove. Place the pressure cooker on it. Use the oil now. Add the marinated masala. Spread half portion of rice on this. Place the chicken pieces. Add the rest of the rice. Spread the fried onions. Pour the saffron milk. Close the cooker lid, without whistle. Put the heat on high for 3mins. Now make the heat low and very slowly and carefully shake the cooker. Again after 5min shake tge cooker very slowly. And the biriyani is ready. Shaking should be done very carefully. This will mix the lower level of marinated masalas and other ingredients with rice properly; but if shaken fast or hard, it will make the rice sticky and you will lose the proper taste of biriyani.

Yes, finally done typing my post, the first post in a long time. Hope you enjoy the recipe and give it a try. Anyone who is afraid of indigestion (which is common in Bengalis), can give this a try, you will not have acidity or any unwanted burp! 

We all had this fruity punch after the biriyani. My father liked it so much that today, on Jamai soshthi, he wants this again. Just enjoy the view, I will tell the recipe in my future posts.

In a few days will come with another biriyani and some other story.
 Till then Bye.