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.