Mutton Biryani – Easy Recipe

Mutton Biryani

You know what I've got today? I've got Mutton Biryani recipe. This is for the meat lovers. Vegetarians have to wait for the next post again. By the way this is not according to the recipe given on Indian Cuisines iPad and iPhone application but is written according to how one would prepare without the help of the application. Here it goes.

Necessary Ingredients

• 2 cups Basmati Rice
• 1/2 kg mutton
• 2 medium red onion (sliced)
• 2 teaspoon Ginger-Garlic-green chilli paste
• 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
• 4 teaspoon ghee (as is traditionally) otherwise vegetable oil can also be used
• 1/2 teaspoon kewra or mitha antar
• 1 teaspoon black pepper (whole)
• 5 green cardamom
• 2 black cardamom
• 1 inch cinnamon
• 1 star anise
• 2 mace
• 1 nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon sahi jeera
• 1/2 teaspoon Whole White pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon clove
• 1/2 teaspoon Turmeric
• Salt to taste

Method of Preparation

Even though this method differs from what is given in the iPhone application but it will be of great help for those who don't have an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.

To begin with, wash the rice, drain it and marinate it with green cardamom, black cardamom, cinnamon, anise, mace, nutmeg, sahi jeera, white pepper, clove, turmeric and a teaspoon of ghee. Mix them well and keep marinate it for one to two hours.

Cook the mutton in a pressure cooker with with water, preferred amount of salt and whole black pepper and make the cooker whistle once.

Take a thick bottomed pan, put a teaspoon of ghee and fry the sliced onion until the color changes to golden brown. Then, take half of the fried onions and keep it aside.

Add a teaspoon of ghee, ginger-garlic-green chilli paste and red chilli powder fry the mixture and add the cooked mutton which is already strained in the mixture. Fry it until ghee separates. The stock is also kept aside.

Now remove the mutton from the pan then add the marinated rice and mutton stock. In case the mutton stock is less for the rice to be properly cooked, add water. Cook the rice until it is perfectly cooked.

When the rice is cooked, mixed it with the cooked mutton, a teaspoon of ghee and kewra, mix well, garnish with the fried onions.

Mutton Biryani

Now, your Mutton Biryani is ready to be served. For more easy and visual aid to the recipe, download Indian Cuisines from iTunes.

*Image herein depicted may differ from the original dish.

Butter Chicken – Made Easy

One of the best known Indian dishes is Butter Chicken otherwise known as Murg Makhani. This is one of the many Indian dishes which we were eager to put it in the iPad and iPhone application, Indian Cuisines and we did. Here is an easy way to help you learn preparing this dish (but mind you, the application explains better than this).

Ingredients

• Chicken (boneless and skinless) - 1 Kg
• Lime juice - 1 lime
• Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
• Cloves – 6 pieces
• Cinnamon - 1” stick
• Peppercorns – 8 -10
• Bay leaves – 2 leaves
• Almonds – 8-10 pieces
• Cardamom – seeds from 3-4 pods
• Fresh Yoghurt – 1 Cup
• Cooking oil (Vegetable/sunflower/canola) – 3 tablespoons
• Onions – 2 (chopped)
• Garlic (paste) – 2 teaspoons
• Ginger (paste) – 1 teaspoon
• Coriander Powder – 2 teaspoons
• Cumin Powder – 1 teaspoon
• Turmeric Powder – 1/4 teaspoon
• Tomato Paste – 200g to 400gm (according to preference)
• Chicken Stock – 1/2 Litre
• Dried Fenugreek Leaves (Kasuri Methi) – 2 Tablespoons
• Soft butter (solid) – 3 tablespoons
• Coriander Leaves (to Garnish) and
• Salt to Taste

Method of Preparation

To start with, mix the chicken, lime juice, red chilli powder and salt in a non-metallic bowl. Cover the mixture and allow to marinate for an hour.

Now, heat a pan and gently roast the cloves, peppercorns, bay leaves, almonds and cinnamon on medium heat stirring it often till there is slight darkening in color. Let it (mixture of spices) cool down and add the cardamom seeds then coarsely grind the spices.

Proceeding, mix the fresh yoghurt with the ground spices and add the mixture with the chicken which was left to marinate. Leave the compound mixture to marinate for another hour.

Heat the cooking oil in a deep pan over a medium heat. When the oil is ready, add the chopped onions and fry it until the color of the onion changes to golden brown. Add ginger and garlic pastes and fry for another minute.

Add the chicken (only the chicken) from the mixture and fry it until the pinkish flesh turns whitish. Then add the tomato (as per your preference), kasuri methi, chicken stock and the remaining part of the chicken-yoghurt-spice mixture to the pan. Cook the chicken is perfectly cooked and the gravy is reduced to half of its initial quantity. Then, melt the soft butter and pour it over the chicken.

Garnish the chicken with coriander leaves and serve it hot with Naan and kaali dal.

This recipe as always, may differ from how it is described in the iPhone application. And if you want to know more about the application, you can visit iTunes or Oglacs' Products Page.

Handi Biryani Recipe

As requested by many of our (Oglacs') regular visitors, starting today, I will be posting recipes of Indian dishes so that people who don't have an iPhone can visit our blogging site and also learn to prepare tasty and spicy Indian dishes. Today I will post about preparing Handi Biryani. It is a vegetable biryani prepared in Handi (a narrow-mouthed cooking vessel used in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan)

Handi Biryani Recipe

Servings – 4

Preparation Time – 40-45 minutes

Cooking Time – 30-35 minutes

Here are the necessary ingredients for preparing Handi Biryani. It may differ from the recipe provided in the iPad and iPhone application developed by Oglacs, the Indian Cuisines.

Rice – 1and 1/2 Cups

Onions – 4 (medium)

Ginger – A small piece

Garlic – 7-8 Cloves

Green Chillies – 4-5 pieces

Tomatoes – 2 (medium)

Carrot – 1 (medium)

Cauliflower – 1/4

French Beans – 10-15

Green Peas – 1/2 cup

Fresh Coriander Leaves – Few Sprigs

Fresh Mint Leaves – Few Sprigs

Saffron – Few strands

Kewra Water – Few drops

Green Cardamom – 2-3

Black Cardamom – 1

Cloves – 2-3

Cinnamon – 1 inch

Bay leaf – 1

Oil – 2 tablespoon and for frying

Caraway Seed – 1/2 teaspoon

Cumin Seeds – 1/2 teaspoon

Coriander Powder – 1 tablespoon

Turmeric Powder – 1 teaspoon

Red Chilli Powder – 1 teaspoon

Yoghurt – Half Cup

Salt – to taste

Garam Masala Powder – 1/2 teaspoon

Butter – 3 tablespoon

And here is the method on how to prepare Handi Biryani. The method may however be different from that which is given in the iPhone application.

First of all wash the rice and soak it in water for about twenty minutes and then drain the water. Finely chop one onion and slice the remaining. Peel garlic and ginger then wash them. Now you take the stems of the green chillies, wash them and grind them with ginger and garlic to create a fine paste. Take the tomatoes and chop them finely. The carrot, peel it, clean it and slice it into half inch pieces and do the same with the French beans apart from peeling, for the beans you will have to simply wash it. Separate cauliflower into smaller florets. Wash the green peas. Chop the already washed coriander leaves and mint leaves (separately). Take the saffron and soak them in kewra water.

Now, boil the drained rice in four cups salted boiling water with black cardamom, green cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and bay leaf. Boil the mixture until 3/4 is done. If there is any excess water drain it. Keep the 3/4 done rice aside meanwhile you mix all the vegetables and boil them in the similar way. Thereafter, take the frying pan (kadai) and heat sufficient oil and deep-fry the sliced onions till the onion turns golden brown.

Now take a thick-bottomed pan and heat two tablespoon of oil. Add caraway and cumin seeds. Add the chopped onions and saute the mixture until the color turns golden brown. Add the paste which you made earlier coriander powder, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, yoghurt and mix well. Now add the chopped tomatoes and cook the preparation over a medium heat or till the fat leaves the masala.

Add the previously boiled vegetables and mix well by adding salt. Meanwhile you preheat the oven to 275°C. Now take a handi, arrange the preparation keeping the cooked vegetables and rice in alternate layers. Sprinkle the soaked saffron in kewra water, garam masala powder, mint leaves, coriander leaves, deep-fried sliced onions and butter in between the layers and also on top. Ensure that you finish by topping the rice layer with saffron and spices.

Now, cover and seal it with aluminum foil or dough. Put it in the preheated oven for ten minutes 275°C and then reduce the temperature to 225°C for another ten minutes. Or otherwise, you can keep the handi on a tawa and cook for fifteen minutes on low heat.

Now the Handi Biryani is ready to serve. Serve it hot with your favorite raita. 

Whew!! It's a real long process. But you know, there's no gains without pains. Indian Cuisines (not the application) are known for complexities and also for its taste. So, why don't you try making Handi Biryani right away?

What would you like to include in the next version of Indian Cuisines?

One of our regular visitors said recently that she cannot find even a single South Indian dish in our application. She suggested us to include South Indian dishes as they are one of the prominent regional dishes in India. We apologized saying that, we were a bit unsure about the success of this application and truly speaking we started it off as an experiment. Now that we know that this application is gaining popularity, we are planning to include numerous dishes in the application or if required we will be developing separate applications for different types of dishes based on the region. For instance, for South Indian dishes we may create another application by the name Indian Cuisines (South Indian).

For this we need your suggestions on whether we should keep on upgrading new dishes to just one application or we should go for separate application for different regional dishes. We will be taking your suggestions and advices into consideration. Your satisfaction is what we are looking for only then will we be called a successfully thriving company. Suggest us the design, the type of content, the descriptive style, translation, etc. so that we can incorporate all your suggestions in the next upgrade of Indian Cuisines.

Owing to the suggestion made by Nikki a Facebook user in regards to adding South Indian dishes in the application. We have decided that we will add South Indian dishes in the next upgrade of the application. If you have other suggestion share it to us by just commenting on this post or you can visit our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/IndiansCuisines or leave a mail at info@oglacs.com. We will take all your suggestions into consideration.

Suggestions Welcome

We know that we didn't include many Indian dishes in our first version of the Indian Cuisines the iPod, iPad and iPhone application, the reasons behind being our doubt whether the application will be accepted by the masses or not. Leaving apart the doubt, there is also another thing which explains the same, it is the vastness of Indian Culinary. India being a diversely cultured country, each and every community has their own cooking style and dietary culture. Owing to all these reasons, we failed to include namely, South Indian Dishes, North Indian, North Eastern, etc.

                                                                                       

 Now that we know that the application is gaining popularity and pressures are there from all sides that this dish should be included and that should be included. It is our earnest request to all our well-wishers that we will include your choice of dish as time passes. We also request you to share your valuable ideas and unique recipes of your region which we will try our best to include in our application. All suggestions aimed to improve the quality of the application will be courteously entertained.

                                                                          

For suggestions and ideas, you may reply to this thread or leave an email in the provided company's email.

Email – info@oglacs.com

You Now Don't Need Mummy's Magic to Cook

How often do you think that you will never be able to cook dishes what your mother or grandma cook? There would have been times that you are alone and you would recall your mumma's dishes. Or if you are some graduate student who is pursuing studies in some distant place, you would crave to go home as soon as possible to taste the aromatic Indian dishes.

Now here's already a time that you wouldn't have to go on holidays often for Indian Cuisines the uniquely attractive cooking iPhone apps by Oglacs software Pvt. Ltd. is available for download on iTunes.

This application is a cookery iPhone application that will guide you through all recipes of famous Indian dishes both non-vegetarian to purely vegetarian. The application includes fifty of the most prominent Indian dishes. Each dish is under two main classification, vegetarian dishes and non-vegetarian dishes. This non-vegetarian will be further classified into chicken, beef and mutton. Other types of dishes like dessert, pickles and chutney are also available.

Among many applications of its class, Indian Cuisines deserve special praise since this application is much more eye catching, depicts all recipes easiest way and comes with two extra differentiating features. First being the capability of users to share their favorite recipe through mail or Facebook and the second is the ability of any users sharing their recipe and get the chance of getting famous.

The benefit of this iPhone application is not only that you will learn to cook your favorite dishes but you will also have the chance of featuring in our application and be on top of the world