Jeera Rice

Ingredients:

Rice : 2.5 cups (rice cooker cup measure)
Water : 4 cups (rice cooker cup measure)
Jeera : 1 spoon
Cashews : 1 tbsp
Cilantro : 1 large bunch finely cut
Ginger & garlic paste : 1 spn
Butter : 1/2 stick
Salt : 1 spn
Fried onion : 3 spns

Method:

1. Wash rice well and soak it at least for 30 min.
2. While rice is getting soaked, heat a pan.
3. Add butter/ghee/oil to the pan. Let it heat.
4. Add cumin seeds and let it splutter.
5. Add ginger&garlic paste. Let it fry until raw smell goes.
6. Add cashews. Roast until brown.
7. Add cilantro, fry it well.
8. Add salt to the soaked rice and the above fried mixture.
9. Cook rice until done.
10. Just before rice cooker turns off/just before you switch off the stove, add fried onion. Mix it well in the rice with the fork.
11. Take it to a serving bowl. Serve with raita.

Kothimir Rice

Ingredients:

Cooked rice : 7 cups (rice cooker cup measurement)
Salt : to taste
Cilantro : 3 bunches large
Ginger & garlic paste : 1 spoon
Oil : 4 spoons
Green chillies : 8

Tempering: 

Oil : 2 spoons
Mustard seeds: 1 spoon
Cumin seeds : 1/2 spoon
Urad dal : 1 spoon
Cashews : 1 tbsp (optional)

Method:

Heat oil in a pan.
Add green chillies, ginger & garlic paste, cut cilantro.
Add a pinch of salt.
Fry until raw smell goes.
Switch off the stove. Once the mixture cools, make a smooth paste of it in the blender.

Heat oil in the same pan.
Add mustard seeds, let it pop.
Add cumin seeds, let it splutter.
Add urad dal, let it turn brown.
Add cashews and let it turn brown.
Add cilanro paste and switch off the stove.
Add cooked rice and salt.
Mix the rice and kothimir paste well in the pan.
Take rice into a bowl and serve with raita.

Daddojanam

Ingredients:

Cooked rice : 2 cups
Yogurt : 2 cups
Warm milk : 1 cup

Salt : to taste

For tempering:

Oil ; 1 spoon
Mustard seeds : 1 tsp
Cumin seeds : 1 tsp
Urad dal : 1 spoon
Chana dal : 1 spoon
Broken red chillies : 2 spoons
Curry leaves : hand ful
hing : 1/4 tsp

Method:

Mix rice, yogurt, warm milk and salt in a bowl. Keep it aside.
Heat a pan and add oil to it.
Add mustard seeds. Let it pop.
Add cumin seeds. Let it splutter.
Add urad and chana dal. let it turn brown.
Add hing, curry leaves, broken red chillies. Let it turn brown.
Switch off the stove,
Transfer this tempering to the yogurt rice. Mix well.


Tip : Grapes and pomegranate seeds can be added.

Lemon Rice

Ingredients:

Raw Rice : 3 cups
water : 5.5 cups
Salt - 1.5 tsp
Oil : 1tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds : 1 tsp
Urad dal : 2 tsp
Chana dal : 2 tsp
Curry leaves : hand full
Green chillies : 8 (adjust according to your taste buds)
Red chillies : 3 full
Hing : 1/2 tsp
Methi powder : 1/2 tsp
Turmeric : 1.5 tsp
cashew/Peanuts roasted : handful (optional)
Lemon juice(fresh/bottled) : 1 cup

Method:

Wash rice 3 times. Cook rice in rice cooker by adding water.
Once the rice is done. Remove the plug and let it cool down in a wide vessel.

While rice is cooking, have the seasoning ready for the rice.

Heat oil in a pan.
Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and let it splutter.
Add urad,chana dal. Let it roast.
Add curry leaves, green, red chillies, hing, turmeric, methi powder, peanuts and salt.
Let it cook for few min until raw smell of turmeric goes.
Now, add half of the cooked rice slowly.
Add lemon juice and mix rice well.
Add rest of the rice and mix well.
Taste little and adjust salt and lemon juice if needed.

Vegetable Biryani

Ingredients:

Butter/oil : 1 tbsp

Cloves: 3

Cinnamon : 1 inch

Star/anise : 3

bay leaves : 5

Elachi : 3

Nutmeg powdered : a pinch

carrot (dice/julienned) : 1/2 cup

beans : 1/2 cup diced

green peas (frozen or fresh soaked 4 6 hrs) : 1/2 cup

capsicum : 1/2 cup

potato : 1 small size cut

onion : 1 medium cut length wise

cashews : 3 spoons

Lima beans : 1/4 cup (optional)

Mint : 1 medium bunch ( 1 cup finely cut or paste it)

Cilantro :1 cup finely cut

green chillies : 8 -10

Rice : 3 cups

water : 6 cups

Yogurt/coconut milk : 2 tbsp

salt : to taste

Method :

Wash rice 3 times and soak in it for 30 min. While is getting soaked do the below procedure.

Heat butter/oil in a pan. Add elachi, cloves, cinnamon, star/aniseed, nutmeg powder bay leaf and fry it for a min. Add cashews and roast it. Add green chillies and onion. Saute it.

Add cut veggies (carrot, beans, potato, capsicum, lima beans and peas). Cook for 4 min by adding half quantity of the actual salt.

Add mint, cilantro and cook for another 3 min.

Add yogurt or coconut milk and cook for 3 min.

Add the above mixture to rice and remaining salt to the rice, mix well. Let it cook.

Once the biryani is cooked. Add spoon of butter/ghee and squeeze little lime juice on top. Mix well and transfer it to a bowl.

Chicken Dum Biryani

Ingredients:

For marination:

Chicken : 2 lb cut into medium sizes
yogurt: 2 tbsp
salt: according to your taste
turmeric: 1/2 tsp
chili powder: 1 tsp
coriander powder: 1 tsp
ginger, garlic paste: 1 tsp
garam masala: 1/2 tsp
mint: 1 hand full finely chopped
cilantro: 1 hand full finely chopped
fried onion: 1 whole
oil: 1 tbsp

Method:
Squeeze the water completely from chicken and marinate with rest of the ingredients for at least 4 hrs. I like to marinate overnight for better taste. If using drum sticks, make a slit in the chicken pieces for marination. Use thick yogurt so that marination sticks to the chicken properly.


For fried onions:
Cut the onion length wise, deep fry it until it turns brown in colour. Save half of the quantity for rice.

For rice:

Rice: 4 cups
Onion: 1
Tomato: 1
Chillies: 8 in number
Garam masala: 1/2 tsp
salt: according to taste
ginger, garlic paste: 1 tsp

Method:
In 1 tbsp oil, add green chillies. Then add onion & tomato. Saute it until raw smell goes. Add rest of the items and fry it for few mins.
Mean while wash the rice and leave the rice aside. Add 1:1 (rice:water) to make the rice half cooked.
Mix the fried items to the rice and start cooking the rice. Make sure rice gets only half cooked.

For Dum:
Grease the pan generously with oil/butter/ghee.
Arrange marinated raw chicken first, then half cooked rice, then fried onions. Repeat these layers.. Add finely chopped mint & coriander on top.
Close the pan tightly with aluminium foil.
Pre heat oven at 350 f and dun the biryani for 35 min.

You can mix pinch of saffron color in the milk and sprinkle it at the top of rice before putting it in the oven. This adds beautiful color to the biryani once it is done..