Coconut milk vegetable biriyani

Making biriyani with coconut milk is more popular in Tamilnadu and Kerala, where we get lot of coconuts easily. Even today, we can see many coconut trees surrounding houses in my hometown. In my dad's house we used to pick the coconuts by hiring a person regularly and would store them in  a small den like place near kitchen. Isn't it cool to have some coconut trees of our own, enjoying the fresh air along with tender coconuts and coconut for cooking:) So making use of coconuts is more in my tradition than ghee. Here is one biriyani I make with coconut milk.

I made this biriyani for a potluck function to celebrate one of our friend's (Emelda) birthday and another friend's (Priya) wedding anniversary. As it was a Friday, many of us were vegetarians on that day and we decided to make veg as well as non veg biriyanis.  While the birthday girl was making a super soft surprise coffee cake for Priya (and Dindigul chicken biriyani ), I surprised Emelda with a carrot cake on her birthday:) Our friend Brinda had made a very delicious cutlet and raitha, while another friend bringing drinks, icecream and chips. A big thanks to our friend Elizabeth for organizing and conducting these parties together in her pretty house. Also she had made chicken curry and pasiparuppu payasam along with arranging everything together and hosted the party. While the men were roaming around, talking and enjoying themselves, we ladies played with kids, talked a lot and not to mention we all enjoyed the foods very much.  Totally we had a wonderful party!

Coconut milk vegetable biriyani with chicken curry, raitha and boiled egg.

After dhum process

Biriyani in dhum:Dum biriyani sandwiched between  Hot dosa tawa (bottom) and hot water (top vessel).

Biriyani before dhum.

Vegetables for biriyani along with pure coconut milk.

(Carrot cake:) Birthday cake I made for my friend.

Vegetables:
Cauli flower - 1/4 flower (chopped 1 cup) , green beans - 20 , carrot -1 , green peas - 1/2 cup , cooked double beans - 1 cup, potato -1 , green capsicum - 1/2 , soya chunks or bread crumbs - optional (see note below).

Ingredients:
Basmathi rice / Jeeraga samba raw rice - 5 cups
medium thick coconut milk - 1.5 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Red onion - 2 (medium size)
green chillis - 5 (uncut).
Lemon - 1
Tomato - 4
curry masala powder - 1 tsp
red chilli powder - 1 1/2 tsp

To temper:
Fennel - 1 tsp
bay leaves - 2
star aniseed - 1,
cinnamom stick - 2 inch
cardamom - 2
cloves - 4
ghee - 2 tbsp
Any cooking oil - 1/2 cup
cashew nuts -10
raisins- 10.
salt - to taste

Masala - 1
cilantro- 10 stems
mint leaf -1 handful.

Masala 2:
Ginger - 2 inch
Garlic - 1 (whole) peeled

Preparation:
wash and clean the vegetables. peel the skin of carrot and cut into long thin slices.
Cut the green beans in to long pieces.
Pluck 5 -6 florets from the cauliflower.
Defreeze the green peas.

Wash the rice and soak it for 10 minutes.

Grind all the pastes separately.

Chop onion and keep aside.

Method:
Heat oil + ghee in a biriyani vessel.
Add fennel ,star aniseed , cinnamon stick,cardamom ,cloves, bay leaf , cashew, raisin.
Then goes the chopped onion . Add 1 tbsp sugar at this point to make the briyani more flavorful and it cooks onion soon too.
Fry it till golden brown and add the ginger garlic paste and stir well till the raw smell goes.
Now add the finely chopped tomato and cook till the oil oozes out of it.  Add the cilantro paste and cook well till raw smell goes. Add all the powders given.
Now put the vegetables, green chillies and add salt. Cook for just 2 minutes. The vegetables should be tender but crisp. Pour coconut milk. Switch off.

In the mean time, in a separate vessel bring lot of water (10 cups) to boil. Add lemon juice, salt and rice. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes in rolling boil. Drain water while the rice is 75 % cooked. Now add this rice to the vegetables. (keep that hot water safe for making the dhum process...see image). In this stage add cooked double beans or butter beans.

Start heating the biriyani vessel again. Mix well now and check for salt in this stage.

Close with a tight lid and place this vessel over a hot dosa tawa (girdle / flat pan) . In a separate vessel pour the hot water which we got while cooking rice and place it above the biriyani vessel. This is a homely dhum process. Reduce the flame to minimum. After 30 - 40 minutes the biryani will be ready!

Serving suggestions:
Garnish with chopped cilantro , mint leaves and ghee fried bread crumbs.
Serve vegetable biryani hot with onion raitha .

Note:
*Instead of dhum process , we can pressure cook it also. Bring to 1 whistle, reduce flame and keep in low for 5 minutes. Switch off then.
*Double beans or butter beans or rajma can be bought in a can or in dry form. Dry double beans should be soaked for 3-4 hours and pressure cooked for 1 whistle. switch off and check if it is cooked. If not continue cooking in stove top, as it gets mushy easily after 1 whistle.
*Bread crumbs: slice one or two fresh bread slices into 1.5 inch cubes. Fry all in small batches in 1 tsp ghee in a shallow tawa. This can be replaced by soya chunks or paneers pieces. Adding some star ingredients like this will make the vegetable briyani more special.
*Don't use thick bottom vessels for making briyani, as it will retain heat differently and will make briyani mushy. I had done this before and found out now:) Regular broad vessels are only suitable for dhum briyani.

Typical biriyani aluminum vessel degchi (photo courtesy: here)...its not mine:) want one  like this...perhaps a little smaller is enough...ha ha:)

*Approx....Number of adults : 11 and kids 5. I had made this dish with 5 cups of rice (so is my friend for chicken briyani), so that we all could share some for the next day, so we ladies could be relaxed the next day.
But calculate  the ingredients as per your need.  Noting this measurement for my future reference.

Podi mini idli

If you like cute miniature foods , then this post is definitely for you:) Podi idly is a non traditional form of idly (rice cake) , created by Indian mothers to make the kids love their food. We cannot see these kind of motherly foods in restaurants, as it definitely needs some special love for the family eating it. I have made small mini idlies and prepared this simple breakfast. But my mom used to make this using regular big idli and pack this for lunch. At that time, getting a mini idly stand was not that easy for people in my town, as all the stores we got were small and would have the traditional vessels only:) After buying all types of traditional kitchenware, we women would look out for more choices and the market is full of newer equipments now:)
The specialty of this idli is, it never gets dry because of the idli powder, sesame oil mixture. So it is a better choice than regular idli for picnics and lunch boxes too.
Also check out my sambar mini idly too.
I made it for breakfast for us on a weekday, and love the way hubby dear exclaimed and enjoyed it:) So prepare this and make your sweetheart happy:)

Mini idli coated with idli-podi

For mini idly:

Idly batter - 1 cup
ghee - 2 tbsp
mini idly stand
idly cooker or a pot to steam the idly.
Idli podi - 2 tbsp
sesame oil - as per need ( 3 tbsp)

Method:

Grease the idly plates with very little ghee.
Pour the batter in the idly holes using small spoon.
Heat the pressure cooker (idly cooker if any) with 2 cups of water and place the idly stand carefully inside.
steam the idlies for 7 to 10 minutes without keeping the pressure valve.
Then let the idly loose the heat for 5 minutes and scoop out the idlies carefully using a spoon.

Mix the idly podi with sesame oil in a  bowl.
Place the required number of mini idli in the mixing bowl and  gently stir to coat all the idlies.
If needed add more sesame oil over the idlies.
(If using regular idlies, then coat each idly individually by dipping on the prepared podi and pack for lunch in an airtight container).

Serving suggestion:

Serve as breakfast or make a lunch pack.

Oats granola

Here is a sweet snack I made for us during a weekend. I saw this recipe in foodnetwork by Alton Brown. Click to see the original version. In my recipe I have infused my own method to bake to avoid charring. Enjoy!

Oats granola.

After baking.

Spread on cookie sheet.

Mix oats , nuts with sugar.

Ingredients:
Old fashioned oats - 3 1/2 cups
dry coconut flakes - 1/2 cup
slivered almond - 1 cup
cashew - 1/2 cup
peepled pumpkin seed -  1/2 cup
dark brown sugar - 1/2 cup
maple syrup - 1/2 cup
olive oil - 1/4 cup
salt - 3/4 tsp
raisin - 1 cup

Method:
In a large mixing bowl put oats, nuts,dry fruits, coconut, sugar.
In another bowl mix maple syrup, salt, oil.
Pour the liquids to dry ingredients and mix well.
Spread this in two baking sheets.
Preheat oven to 250 deg F.
Bake for 20 minutes, stirring after 10 minutes.
Take out and let dry for 30 minutes.
Then bake again for 20 minutes, stirring after 10 minutes.
Switch off and let it get crispy in that heat for next 10 minutes.
Oats granola is ready!

Note:
We can continuously bake for 1 hour, as suggested by the original recipe too. But I do like this for a more safer method to prevent sugar from charring.

Gulabjamun (with egg)

Whenever I buy a pack of gulabjamun mix I would always wonder how much effort our mothers would have put to make these from scratch. Those olden recipes involve making a palkova without sugar, which itself demands lot of time and then mixing it with Ap flour, etc . While talking about this to my neighbor aunty, she told me that it can be made easily with milk powder and it is not necessary to buy a ready-pack . She also told me that it is a popular way there in NorthIndia and Pakistan. I was totally impressed by her recipe, but didn't note down on that day (now I have noted down her veggie version too). That day I wanted to make one immediately and searched the net and got a recipe of Gulabjamun with egg. This recipe is adopted from Morewish cuisine.  Egg in gulabjamun may sound unique but it tasted extremely good.  My hearty thanks to this author, I am going to use this inexpensive way hereafter instead of buying a pack. Hope you all enjoy this !

Have  a look inside and see how spongy and soft:)

Ingredients:
Milk powder - 1 cup
Egg - 1
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Maida (AP flour) - 1 tbsp
sooji (ravai) - 1 tbsp
baking soda - 1/4 tsp
baking powder - 1/4 tsp
Oil for frying- 1 cup + 1 tbsp ghee
For syrup:
Sugar - 1 cup
water - 1 cup
Rose essence - 1 drop
cardamom powder - 1/8 tsp
alomond slivers - to decorate

Method:
Make the syrup by mixing sugar with water and bring to a boil. Reduce flame and boil for 2 more minutes. Switch off and keep it warm. add cardamom powder and rose essence.
Mix all the dry ingredients first. Then mix ghee and stir well. Beat the egg with a  fork and add to the mixing bowl. Knead to a smooth dough. Don't knead too much. Make a smooth dough.
Divide it into 15 - 16 pieces and roll each piece into small balls or elongated balls. By toughing some oil or ghee smooth the gulab jamuns, so that there is no crack.

Heat oil  + ghee in a frying pan. Keep the flame in minimum and fry the jamuns in small batches, till they get golden red color.
Take them out and soak in prepared syrup.
Let it soak for an hour or overnight before serving.
Decorate with almond slivers.
Gulab jamun is ready!

Serving suggestion:
Makes 16 gulabjamuns.
Serve warm or cold as dessert.

Note:
This is the best way to make gulabjamuns that gets cooked inside and outside uniformly.
As soon as it is soaked (within few minutes) it may taste a little salty. But after an hour or more this gulabjamuns will be perfectly sweet and soft.

Quinoa upma

Quinoa is another good grain I started cooking in recent years. Generally quinoa can be made into a salad. It blends with many Indian recipes easily and here is my Uppuma (upma or kichidi) with Quinoa. Quinoa comes in a rainbow of colors, I picked up this red quinoa as it looked more pretty in that aisle:) Other than that all tastes almost the same. But red quinoa has more crunchy texture. We can use any variety for this upma recipe.

Quinoa upma with vegetables

Ingredients: (for 2 adults)
Quinoa - 1/2 cup
water - 1 1/2 cup
Tempering:
olive oil - 1 1/2  tbsp
channa dal - 1 tbsp
mustard seed - 1/2 tsp
onion - 2 tbsp 
green chilly - 2
ginger - small piece (1/2 inch)
curry leaf - few
cilantro - few
salt - to taste
carrot - 1
green peas - handful
  
Method: 
Wash the quinoa thrice in running water with gentle rubbing with our palm (as per directions). This is done to remove bitterness.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a wok.
Add mustard seed. let it splutter. Then add the channa dhal. Wait till it gets red. Then add chopped onion, curry leaf, cilantro, ginger, green chilly. As the onion starts to get soft, add chopped carrot, peas and stir for a minute.
Pour water + Salt and let it come to a boil.
Then reduce flame and add quinoa.
Cover tightly with a lid. Reduce flame to minimum.
Cook for 15 minutes or little more to get the quinoa completely cooked.  Then stir well.
Switch off. Quinoa upma is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve as dinner along with pickle or sugar.

Happy Valentine's day ,

Gulabjamun from milk power and egg. Pre Valentine's day Gift Feb 10

Valentine's day treat: Kesari with icecream

Wishing all a very happy St. Valentine's day !
Love,
Viki Xavier

Capsicum Panini in Indian flavor

Panini or Panino is a kind of sandwich originated in Italy. I had no idea of this dish till I tasted one made by my neighbor aunty. She can merge any cuisine with our Indian spices and lots of butter and it will satisfy all my taste buds:) Gujarati foods have become my next favorite after Tamil foods because of her:) Then I saw one recipe by Giada in Foodnetwork Tv and saw how she made those thin sandwiches out of the thick baguette or heavy breads. After that also I didn't buy a panini maker, as I was much hesitant to ask for one more kitchen gadget while my existing collections is already voluminous :) Then the thanksgiving came and every other store we went was having a sale on this panini press and I silently waited without asking hubby for this. I watched all my friends filling their carts with these panini makers and came home with the electronics he wanted for  a long time (along with my other stuffs). But I was chanting 'panini maker' 'panini maker' silently and didn't want to say it loud:)  Hubby could have watched me looking at other's carts or my rantings  (about aunty's :) )could have made him...I don't know. But he bought me this panini maker with all those Kohls cashback offers we had got after the sale and presented as Christmas gift:) With my wish coming true, I am making panini quite often, exploring all the recipes with this. So you can expect more and more paninis from me , while you are trying this yummy capsicum panini in Indian flavor.

Panini in Indian flavor.

My Bella panini maker....wow!

Ingredients:
Whole wheat bread - 6 slices
green capsicum - 1/4
red capsicum - 1/4
onion - 1/4 cup
shredded cheese - 1 tsp for every sandwich
butter - 1 tbsp
Indian green chutney - 1/4 cup
tomato sauce - 1 tsp each sandwich

Method:
Heat the panini maker to maximum heat with the lid closed. After we see the ready button glowing, open the grill. (Read and follow the instructions carefully if it is the first time).
In the mean time place three bread slices on a plate and spread 1 tbsp green chutney and 1 tsp tomato sauce over the breads.
Put the chopped capsicum, onion and cheese over that. Place the other half of bread slice over the sandwiches.
Rub a piece of butter on panini press (bottom plate) in a small area and  place the prepared sandwich.(one at a time).
Place the lid gently (no locking) and the by the weight of the top plate the sandwich will get thin, crunchy and extremely good in one minute.
If needed apply some more butter on top and press again gently.
Take out using a spatula, slice and serve while it is hot.
 Simple panini is ready!

Serving suggestion:
Serve as breakfast or dinner as main course meal.