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Chefs

NeSaxena

Well-Known Member
My yogurt skill is a flop so I'm trying something else. I hope to get some more ideas for cooking from reading everyone's experience

DD, the easiest way to make yogurt - Boil about a litre of milk (I prefer full fat - you can use less fat, but not so much that it's non existent. Yogurt needs some fat) . Cool it down completely. Turn the heat back on, till it's just a little over warm - enough that you can dip your hand in it, but not boiling.

Take about 2 1/2 tablespoons of pre-made natural yogurt (no preserves), mix one and a half spoon in the milk with your hand (yeah, I know it's a little messy, but I've found that the introduction of any spoon in the milk makes my yogurt curdle) really well. The best pot for making yogurt is either an earthen pot (which you have to season first - a little bit of work), or a plastic casserole (the bowl, not the dish) - like this one
KW-70.jpg


Rub the one spoon of yogurt on the inside of this bowl as well as you can, and pour the milk + yogurt mix into it. Shut & seal the lid, and let it sit undisturbed in a corner of your kitchen for at least 4 hours. Open it after this time has passed and shake the bowl slightly to see if it has set (kinda like checking if a tart is done). If not, reseal the lid, and leave it for another hour or so. If it has, put the dish in the fridge immediately. Most of the time, yogurt gets messed up cuz of the whole setting vs refrigeration time. When you need to remake, simply take a couple of tablespoons from this batch and repeat.

It'll work. It always does. :)
 

NeSaxena

Well-Known Member
I've always been a from scratch cook... started when I was about 10 actually :) If you ever want any Indian recipes, feel free to ask :)
 

Rugers-Kris

Well-Known Member
I do mine the old fashioned way. I am stuck in my ways and have desire to have a machine make my bread.
Wow that says a lot. That's great you learned from your mom my grandmothers were the cooks in our family and sadly few spent time to learn from them including myself. Now I understand you yeah I can't match my grandmothers dishes either. WIP

I'm not sure what Kris uses but Im too poor to afford a bread machine. So I use good old fashion hands.
 

Mooshi's Mummy

Well-Known Member
I've always been a from scratch cook... started when I was about 10 actually :) If you ever want any Indian recipes, feel free to ask :)
Chicken Biryani please!!! You can never, ever, beat home cooked Indian food. I refuse to buy Indian food at the take out because it is awful compared to home made!! Once you have home made you will never want anything else.
 

Duetsche_Doggen

Well-Known Member
DD, the easiest way to make yogurt - Boil about a litre of milk (I prefer full fat - you can use less fat, but not so much that it's non existent. Yogurt needs some fat) . Cool it down completely. Turn the heat back on, till it's just a little over warm - enough that you can dip your hand in it, but not boiling.

Take about 2 1/2 tablespoons of pre-made natural yogurt (no preserves), mix one and a half spoon in the milk with your hand (yeah, I know it's a little messy, but I've found that the introduction of any spoon in the milk makes my yogurt curdle) really well. The best pot for making yogurt is either an earthen pot (which you have to season first - a little bit of work), or a plastic casserole (the bowl, not the dish) - like this one
KW-70.jpg


Rub the one spoon of yogurt on the inside of this bowl as well as you can, and pour the milk + yogurt mix into it. Shut & seal the lid, and let it sit undisturbed in a corner of your kitchen for at least 4 hours. Open it after this time has passed and shake the bowl slightly to see if it has set (kinda like checking if a tart is done). If not, reseal the lid, and leave it for another hour or so. If it has, put the dish in the fridge immediately. Most of the time, yogurt gets messed up cuz of the whole setting vs refrigeration time. When you need to remake, simply take a couple of tablespoons from this batch and repeat.

It'll work. It always does. :)

I think I found my problem :) THANK YOU SO MUCH NeSaxena!!!! I'm going to try this.
 

NeSaxena

Well-Known Member
MM, biryani is not biryani if it is anything but lamb. However, I'll post the quick version of the recipe here soon!
 

NeSaxena

Well-Known Member
huh? Ive had chicken biryani at an Indian friends house...
I mean, there is chicken biryani, but the original and the one that tastes best is lamb.. Quite a few folks here believe chicken biryani is not biryani, it's just a rice and meat dish.. I'll put up a recipe in the morning, when I'm in the laptop.. Too much work from my phone:(
 

NeSaxena

Well-Known Member
Lamb/Mutton biryani (you can replace the meat to whichever you prefer, chicken needs lesser cooking, beef and pork will need more)


Ingredients
For the rice:
500 gm basmati rice, washed & drained
2 dried bay leaves
1 black cardamom
1 star anise
3 tsp cumin seeds
Black peppercorn (according to your taste)
5-7 green cardamom
2 small cinnamon sticks (or 1 large one, broken into two)
6-7 cloves
1/4th nutmeg (whole, not powdered)
1 small mace
Salt (your taste)


For mutton marination:
1 kg mutton, cut in approx 2 inches pieces (preferably front leg and shoulder)
3 Tbsp garlic paste (I love garlic, you can reduce the quantity if you're not a fan)
1 Tbsp ginger paste
3 Tbsp raw papaya paste (NOT the one for pies - get a raw papaya and blitz it at home)
4 Tbsp hung curd (If hung curd is not available, take about 7 to 8 Tbsp of natural yogurt)
Juice of 1 lemon (+half the rind)
Red chilli powder (1 tbsp if you want it mild, 2 for slightly spicier etc. etc. Cayenne pepper is not a substitute, you need red chilli powder - I'm assuming at an Indian store? Don't get a "kashmiri" powder, that is more for colour than taste)
Salt


Other ingredients:
(at least) 7-8 onions, thinly sliced (more if you like onions :))
Potatoes - everyone in my family loves potatoes in biryani so I put in loads. You can put in as many as you'd like or skip them altogether. I know you guys get a wide variety of potatoes there, but I don't. You're looking for potatoes that hold their shape well after cooking, and are also a little starchy.
2 tomatoes, chopped into small cubes
2 Tbsp coriander powder
1 1/2 Tbsp cumin powder
1 Tsp garam masala
fresh coriander - chopped
fresh mint leaves
1/4 th cup milk, warm
Saffron strands
Clarified butter (Sorry, no substitute for this one - the biryani is flavored with this. If you like, you CAN change this to any other general cooking oil (not olive) or butter. But clarified butter (or ghee) works best)
Oil
Rose water
4 slit green chillies. If you don't want the spice from these, deseed them.


Method


Mix all the ingredients in the mutton section above and allow the mutton to marinate overnight for best results. If it needs to be faster, you can get away with a minumum of three hours. Nothing less than that.


Separate the slices from about 5 onions. In a deep pan add oil and deep fry the onion slices till nicely brown. Take care not to burn them. Remember, these will keep cooking once you take them out of the oil as well. So remove the slices from the oil (with a slotted spoon or ladle) just when they start turning a medium brown. Fry in small batches. Do not put all the slices at a time, that will lead to lumpy messy onions. Keep stirring continuously but gently for an even brown color. Keep them on a paper-towel lined plate.


Chop the potatoes into big chunks - I simply quarter a medium sized potato (size reference :)). Flash fry these off in the oil that the onions just came out of. You're not looking to cook the potatoes here. Just fry them enough for them to have a slightly brown outer coat, but are half way cooked in the middle.


Now, heat ghee in a thick-bottomed pan (I use a pressure cooker - if you have one, it's the best option). Add ginger and garlic paste and mix well. Add remaining sliced onions and green chillies. Cook, stirring continuously, till onions are light golden brown. Add coriander powder and cumin powder. Mix thoroughly and cook for about a minute on high heat. If the spices stick to the bottom, deglaze the pan with a tiny dash of water. Add marinated mutton (all of it, the marinade as well) and cook on high heat for maybe about 10 minutes. You might see the oil seperating to the sides, this is fine.


Stir in three cups of water, bring it to a boil, reduce heat and cook covered till mutton is almost cooked (about 70% there). Add tomatoes, salt, garam masala powder and fresh coriander leaves. Cook for 15 minutes on medium heat, stirring occasionally. The ghee would be separated from the spices and there should not be any watery gravy to the meat.


Use only good quality long grain Basmati rice. Soak the rice for 20 minutes in water. Wash well till the water runs clear. Drain all the water. In a small piece of (I prefer muslin) cloth take cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, mace, black peppercorn, star anise and tie a knot to make a small bag. Make sure you're using a white bag, we don't want any cloth color in our food ;)


In a separate pan, add a little oil. Now pop in the bay leaves and the cumin seeds. When they start crackling, add 750 ml water. Bring to a boil, add rice, salt and potli, cover and cook till rice is halfway cooked. Try not to stir too much, it makes the rice a little gloopy. Drain the water & remove the little bag.


In the 1/4th cup warm milk, dissolve saffron strands. You don't need too much - just a pinch. Cover and wait for 20 minutes. Add rose water in the milk. Mix well and cover. Keep aside.


Now for the actual biryani part :)


Take a large heavy bottom pan with a tight fitting lid. Add 2tbsp ghee to the pan. Melt the ghee on low heat. Turn and rotate the pan carefully so the ghee can coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Switch off the heat. Add a layer of half cooked rice, then meat pieces, add fried onion slices, coriander leaves, fresh chopped mint (not too much mint) and ghee. Again add a layer of rice, then meat...go on like this till you are done. Top and bottom layer will be rice. Cover with chopped mint and coriander, fried onion and slit green chillies.


Put the lid on. Seal the sides of the lid with flour dough or aluminium foil. Put a weight on top if possible. The point is, you're trying to trap all the moisture inside.


Put a tawa on the flame (a flat gridle?). Keep the heat to lowest. Put the pan on the gridle and cook the biryani in this 'Dum' for 40 minutes. Make sure your pan is heavy-bottomed or the rice will burn.


After 40 minutes switch off the heat and let the biryani stand for another 10 minutes. Pop open a corner of the lid and see if there is steam in there. If yes, cook for another 15 minutes the same way. If not, open it up (and go ga ga over the smell!) Eat!


Biryani is traditionally served with yogurt and a fresh cucumber tomato onion salad.
 

NeSaxena

Well-Known Member
Simple beef curry

Ingredients:
1 kg boneless beef pieces, chopped into 1 inch or lesser cubes (I prefer boneless, though you can use the with bone stuff if you'd like)
5 onions, chopped finely
3 tomatoes, chopped finely
1/2 can (about 100 gms) tomato puree
A ton of garlic (like I said earlier, I love garlic), chopped finely (If you're not a fan, use 4 or 5 cloves)
1 1/2 inch piece of ginger, chopped finely
4 whole green chillies, slit and seeds removed
1 bay leaf
3 Tbsp coriander powder
1 Tbsp cumin powder
1/2 Tsp Turmeric
1 Tbsp Red Chilli Powder (or more if you want it spicier)
1/2 Tsp Garam masala (all spice?)
Salt to taste
Oil (any normal vegetable oil, except for olive)
a knob of butter (about 50 gms)
Fresh coriander leaves, chopped


Method:
In a heavy bottom pan, add the butter and just a little touch of oil to prevent it from burning. Once the butter is melted, add half the garlic and fry it for 30 seconds. Add the beef in this butter and fry on high heat till the water (if any) is evaporated and the beef turns light brown on the inside. Once done, take it out in a bowl.


In the same pan, add some more oil (a couple of tablespoons), and add the bay leaf, ginger, green chillies and the rest of the garlic. Fry for about 40 seconds till you can smell all the aromatics. Now add the onion and fry till they're light brown. Once done, add the coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric and red chilli powder. Fry for a minute. Add a quarter cup of water and let it cook together. Once the water has evaporated, add tomato puree and cook for another minute, till it starts getting incorporated. Add tomatoes at this point, mix, put the lid on and turn the flame down low. Leave it to cook for about 5 minutes, when the tomatoes will just start getting softer.


Turn it back on to high and add the garlic buttered beef and salt. Mix it well, while on high heat. Once it comes together, add just enough water to cover the beef pieces, turn the flame down low and put the lid on. Let it cook till the beef is tender, mixing it at 30 minute intervals. Once the beef is cooked to your liking, turn the flame back on high, and reduce to the consistency you'd like in a curry. I prefer a slightly thinner than cake batter consistency. When it reaches there, add the chopped coriander, turn the flame off and put the lid back on. Let it rest for 10 -15 minutes before eating.


Tip: I use a pressure cooker, cuz the beef we get here isn't of the quality that you guys get :) It's faster.
 

NeSaxena

Well-Known Member
You're welcome! Lemme know how it works out :) Both the curry and the yogurt!

And if you need something else...