Amla Jamun

Amla - Indian gooseberry - Periya nellikkai (Tamil).
Here is a quick and  healthy dessert  using the Indian gooseberry.  This is my mom's recipe and she used to prepare some jam varieties also using amla. I used frozen amla, which we get in Indian grocery stores. Keep them handy to satisfy that sugar cravings:)

Ingredients:

Amla - 15
crushed jaggery - 1 cup
water - 1cup
honey - few tbsp

Method:

Bring one cup water to boil. Add the amla and cook well.
In the same time bring 1/4 cup water to boil in a separate vessel and dissolve the jaggery. Filter and remove the impurities.
Add the jaggery solution to the cooked amla and start heating till it becomes very thick syrup. Put off fire and let it cool.
Then add a few tbsp of honey and preserve in a clean dry container.
This can be kept for 6 months if refrigerated.

Serving:

Amla jamun makes a healthy dessert.
This sweet tastes great the next day only, as it may take a few hours for the bitterness to change.

Tips:

*There is another variety of gooseberry also, which will be smaller in size and tastes very sour. My mom used to make a jam out of it. For that jam, Mom would add sugar instead of jaggery and that 'nellikkai jam' would taste incredibly great.
*We can totally avoid the jaggery and add honey to the cooked amla to get a healthy amla jamun. But I have not tried it yet.

Mushroom biriyani

I have an endless love with biryanis and this is a vegetarian version, which I tried recently.  I prepared this one day for hubby's lunch when I wanted to pack something nice for him. Hope you all like this mushroom biryani.

Vegetables:

Mushroom - 10 numbers
(Use button mushrooms only)
fresh green peas - 1/2 cup .

Ingredients:

Basmathi rice - 1 1/2 cups
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red onion - 1 (chopped 1/2 cup)
Lemon - 1
red chilly powder - 1 tbsp
Biryani masala powder - 1 tsp
(I used sakthi biryani masala)
ghee - 1 tbsp (to add at the end)

To temper:

Bay leaves - 1
cinnamom stick - 1 inch
cardamom (crushed) - 2
cloves - 2
Any cooking oil - 3 tbsp
cashew nuts -5
raisins- 10.
salt - to taste

Masala 1:

Tomato puree - from 1 tomato

Masala 2:

cilantro- 10 stems
mint leaf -1 handful.

Masala 3:

Ginger - 1 inch
Garlic - 2 cloves

Preparation:

Wash and clean the mushrooms. Cut each mushroom into thin oval slices.
Wash the green peas / sweet peas and keep aside.
(Defreeze the green peas by putting it in water, if frozen).

Wash the rice. Add more water than required and bring it to boil. Reduce flame, add salt and cook it to stiff grainy consistency. Then drain all the water using a colander. Keep the rice aside.

Grind all the pastes separately.

Chop onion and keep aside.

Method:

Heat oil in a flat bottom vessel.
Add cinnamon stick,cardamom ,cloves, bay leaf , cashew, raisin.

Then goes the chopped onion .

Fry it till golden brown and add the ginger garlic paste and stir well till the raw smell goes.

Now add the tomato paste and cook till the oil oozes out of it. Add all the powders given.

Then add the cilantro , mint paste, red chilly powder,biryani masala powder, salt and cook till the oil start oozing out. Now put the vegetables and cook till the mushrooms are done.This will take 5 minutes only.

Now add the cooked rice and squeeze some lime juice over.

Sprinkle the ghee and close the vessel.
Heat the vessel in very mild flame for 10 minutes. Switch off!

Mix well now and serve.

Mushroom biryani is ready!

Serving suggestions:

Garnish with chopped cilantro , mint leaves.
Serve mushroom peas biryani hot with onion raitha .

Note:

We can make this biryani without green peas also.
I used canned mushroom here. But the fresh one tastes great.
cooking time : 30 minutes.