Chicken biriyani in cooker

Briyani in cooker is not traditional, but surely a good method when we have to prepare in a small quantity or for a lunch box. My mom would prepare dum briyani only for festivals as it was a time taking process back then. As a 12 year old, I started involving in cooking with mom when I fell in love with the vast ingredients she would use for briyani:) She would like me to keep the kitchen and store room neat, stocked up and organized...may be that was the first lesson before chopping veggies:) After learning her vegetable briyani in cooker, I started preparing chicken briyani in pressure cooker cooker too, which was more easier (till I learned the wedding briyani). On seeing this she too started making cooker briyani quite often. Slowly it became a family favorite meal like a kichadi. My younger brother is a huge fan of my briyanis and would wake up on a Sunday earlier (by noon), only if I say I am making briyani or some non-veg dish:) Just like any sister, his smile makes me more enthusiastic and I tried to comfort him with his favorites always. So a few weekdays too, I would get up very early and prepare this for his lunch box to cheer him up. Recently he browsed through all my recipes and couldn't find his favorite cooker briyani recipe while suggesting his friends and asked for a recipe. Dedicating this simple, easy and quick briyani to venkatesh ,his colleagues and all:)

Chicken briyani with onion tomato pachadi (raita).

Ingredients:

Chicken - 1/2 kg

Other Ingredients:

Basmathi rice / Jeeraga samba raw rice - 1/2 kg (3 cup)
salt - to taste
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
chilly powder - 1 tsp
Red onion - 1 (big)
green chillis - 6 (slit).
Lemon - 1/4
water - (rice x 2) - 2 = (3x2) - 2 = 4
(this is for cooker. For dum process it is 'minus 1')
curd - 1/2 cup
garam masala / briyani masala powder - 2 tsp

To temper: (whole spices)

bay leaves - 2
cashew nuts -10
raisins- 10.
ghee -  5 tbsp

Masala 1:

Tomato - 2

Masala 2:
cilantro- 20 tender plants
mint leaf -1 cup leaves
green chilly - 10
cashew - 5

Masala 3:

Ginger - 2 inch
Garlic - 1 full

Preparation:

Buy chicken red meat(thighs, wings, drumsticks with skin and bone). Breast piece won't give the proper taste.
wash and clean the chicken and cut into big pieces.
Add curd, turmeric powder, salt, chilly powder and marinate for 1 - 3 hours.

Wash the rice and soak it for 1/2 an hour.

Grind all the pastes separately.

Chop onion, chilly into long thin slices and keep aside.

Method:

Heat ghee  in a broad vessel or cooker.
Add the bay leaves and items given under tempering.
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.
Then add the cilantro , mint paste and cook till the oil start oozing out. Now put the marinated chicken and add salt, powdered garam masala. Cook covered in low heat till oil separates. Check the taste now. It should be little more salty.
Now add the soaked rice and uncut green chillies to the cooker vessel along with the prepared masala. Squeeze some lime juice over. Fry for a minute.
Before this start boiling the require water separately and pour water to rice, mix well. Let it come to a boil.(Boiling the water before adding helps in evenly cooking the rice , otherwise sometimes we get some uncooked rice while making briyani).
Close with the cooker lid and put a pressure valve.

(I use a cooker vessel inside the cooker and pour some water around the base cooker, just like idly cooking. Mine is a 10 liter cooker, but we can prepare it directly in cooker if we have a small pressure cooker).

Wait till a whistle comes. Reduce the flame to medium and cook for exactly 5 minutes. Switch off and open lid once the pressure is gone completely (5 minutes).
Add a little ghee over the biriyani and wait for 5 minutes. Don't stir for first 5 minutes (makes it mushy).

Chicken biriyani in cooker is ready!

Serving suggestions:

Take out the briyani carefully without mashing the whole rice and serve hot.
Serve hot chicken biryani with onion raitha and a gravy / fry.
Serves 4 people or more people.

Ripe mango sambar

Other names: Mambazha sambar / sweet mango dhal .

 Last week hubby bought a batch of mangoes, but they were all kind of very sour. While I was wondering what to do with this whole batch of sour mangoes, surprisingly they all turned out very sweet on one day. Now I have a big lot of well ripe mangoes and we have to consume them quickly:) Then this recipe came into my mind to play with my favorite mango and here is that sambar:) I think it is a good recipe for the mango season. Unripe mango sambar is a common one in Tamilnadu but using  ' mango fruit' is quite unusual. I think it is a regional recipe of Tirunelveli. It would be like a sambar with little 'jaggery touch' but more flavorful. Try this and enjoy!

Ingredients:

To pressure cook:

Toor dhal/red gram lentil - 3/4 cup
water- 2 cups
turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
asafoetida - 1 pinch
sesame oil- 1 drop
Wash and clean the lentil. Pressure cook the dhal with the above said ingredients for a whistle. Then reduce flame and cook for 10 minutes. Let it cool. Open the lid and add some fresh cumin seeds. Mash well using a spatula. Keep aside.
(we can cook the dhal in stove top also. But we may need to soak it first for 30 minutes or more and cook for 30 minutes).

Other ingredients:

Ripe mango - 1 (big)
Shallot (sambar vengayam) - 5
(choose small variety. Remove the skin, wash and clean. Don't chop).
Tamarind - amla (gooseberry / nellikkai) size ball
cooking oil / ghee - 2 tbsp
(Try to use ghee, as it gives more taste to the sambar).
curry leaves- 1 sprig
cilantro/ coriander leaves (chopped)- 1 tbsp
mustard seeds-1/2 tsp
fenugreek -1/2 tsp
dry red chilly - 3
salt - to taste
Sambar powder - 2 tsp

Method:

Soak the tamarind in 2 cups of hot water and extract the juice by squeezing.
Add the chopped ripe mango , salt and bring it to a boil. Let it boil till the raw smell vanishes. Don't let it overcook, as the mango mashes quickly.
Add the mashed dhal, sambar powder and bring it to a boil.
In the same time heat oil or ghee in a separate wok. Add the mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and let the mustard splutter. Immediately add the shallots, curry leaf, chopped dry red chilly and saute well. Continue frying till the shallot starts getting a golden color (not red).
Pour this hot mixture over the dhal. Bring it to only one boil, add the chopped cilantro and switch off.
Mambazha sambar is ready!

Serving suggestions:

Serve hot over plain cooked rice.
The best side dish would be a spicy arbi fry.
Make some extra sambar, reserve for dinner and serve along with paper roast dosas.