Senaga pappu payasam

Ingredients:

* 1 cup senaga pappu (bengal gram)
* 1 cup pesara pappu (moong dal)
* 1 cup jaggery
* 2 cups milk
* 1 tsp ghee (optional)
* 2 tbsp grated coconut (preferably fresh, if not frozen will do)
* 4/5 cardamom pods
* 1 tbsp cashew nuts (for garnish)

Preparation.
1. Pressure cook senaga pappu and pesara pappu together until soft (but not mushy).
2. In a pan, heat jaggery with a little water until the jaggery has melted.
3. Now add the boiled pappu to the jaggery and simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Crush the cardamom pods and add.
5. Add grated coconut into the mix and simmer for 5 minutes more.
6. Now add milk (NOTE: the milk should've been boiled and should be hot when adding to the jaggery-senagapappu combo. Cold milk might cause it to split). Mix well.
7. Roast cashews in ghee (optional) and add to the payasam.
8. Serve hot.

Chole Biryani

For biryani:
2 cups basmati rice
1 tb sp oil
salt sufficient for rice
6/7 bay leaves
6/7 cloves
3 star anise
6/7 cardamom pods, skinned
biryani phool, if available

For Chole:

2 cups garbanzo beans, soaked overnight and boiled. (I've never tried the ready to eat ones you get in cans, not sure if that gives the same flavor as the soaked and boiled ones).
1 big onion, finely chopped
4 medium/small tomatoes, finely chopped
4 pods garlic, minced
1 small slice ginger, minced
2 tsp oil for tadka
1 tsp garam masala (optional)
salt to taste
cilantro for garnishing

For masala:
2 tb spoon dhania (corriander seeds)
1 tb spoon jeera (cumin)
1 teaspoon shahjeera
1 star anise
2 tsp poppy seeds
4 cloves
1 cinnamon piece
5 cardamom pods, skinned

1. Roast all masala ingredients, grind after the spices cool down.
2. heat a pan and add oil. Once oil reaches smoking point, add ginger garlic paste and saute.
3. Next, add onions and saute till onions turn brown.
4. Add tomatoes and saute for 5 min.
5. Now add masala powder and cook everything together in medium, stirring once in a while. Cook till oil separates.
6. Add salt sufficient for chole, and then add the boiled garbanzo beans and cook for 5 more min.

In parallel:
1. Take a pan, add 4 cups water, and once it starts boiling, add oil and spices and simmer for 15 min.
2. Remove extra spices from the water (the aroma should've seeped into the water by now, anything extra will only decrease the taste). You can save it to reuse it for some other dish.
3. Wash rice well and add to the boiling water and keep stirring.
4. When rice is 90 % cooked, remove rice from stove top and run cold water through the rice in the pot.
5. Drain water from the pot, leaving a little for the rice to get completely cooked. Each rice grain should be separate by now.

Combining chole and rice:
1. Preheat oven to 300 F.
2. In an oven resistant container, place a layer or rice. Can be about 1.5 to 2 inches thick.
3. Add a layer of chole on top of the rice layer.
4. Continue this till you get atleast 2 sets of rice + chole layer.
5. Cover with foil (to make sure rice cooks well. leaving it open will dry the rice on the topmost layer) and bake for 30 min.
6. Serve with raita and mirch ka salan (recipe coming soon).

Alternates : Milk combined with saffron can be added to the rice + chole mix before baking in the oven to get a richer taste. Make sure that water is COMPLETELY drained from the semi cooked rice though, else it'll get really soggy.

Pudina Rice

(source : http://www.nandyala.org/mahanandi/archives/2005/06/21/pudina-pulao-mint-fried-rice/)

Ingredients
* 1 bunch of mint- Rinsed and leaves and tender stems plucked
* 2 cups of Basmati rice, washed and soaked in 4 cups of water
* 3 green chillies and one onion - sliced thinly, lengthwise
* ¼ cup of fresh coconut - chopped
* 1 inch piece ginger and 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
* 4 each - cloves, cardamom, small cinnamon pieces, bay leaves & 1 star anise
* ¼ cup - roasted cashews
* 1 tablespoon - ghee
* 1 teaspoon - salt, or to taste

Preparation
1. Take mint leaves, coconut, green chillies, ginger and garlic in a mixer. Add a pinch of salt and blend to fine consistency without adding any water.
2. Put the Rice cooker pot on stovetop on medium flame. (To make it a one-pot meal, usually what I do is - I would saute the masala for pulao in rice cooker pot first, then I would add the soaked basmati rice along with water to the same pot and cook.)
3.Heat ghee on medium heat in rice cooker pot. When it is hot, add the spices (cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves and star anise), saute them first. Then the onions, saute until onions start to brown.
4. Now, add the pureed mint-green chilli-coconut paste. Fry until the mint paste changes color from bright green to light-green color. Take care not to burn/brown the masala paste.
5. Into this sauteed masala, empty the Basmati rice and the water it soaked in. Add salt; stir the whole thing, so that all the ingredients would mix together. Now remove the pot from stovetop, put it back in rice cooker and switch on the plug to cook. Once the rice cooks to tender, remove the lid and add cashews.
6.Mix it once. Put the lid back and let it stand for another five minutes. Then turn off the plug.

Louki ka Halwa/ Payasam

Ingredients :
* 4 Cups grated Louki/ Milk gourd.
* 1 Cup Khoya
* 1 can condensed milk (about 250 gms)
* 1 Tsp sugar
* 5/6 cardamom pods.
* 3 Tbsp ghee

(For payasam - optional)
* 400 ml milk

Preparation:
1. Heat ghee in a heavy bottomed pan.
2. Once the ghee melts, add the grated louki and saute until the louki turns transparent.
3. Add khoya to the sauteed louki and mix well. The khoya tends to form small chunks which ought to be broken apart and blended into the louki khoya mix. Heat the mixture in medium flame for about 5 minutes.
4. Now slowly add the condensed milk while mixing it thoroughly. The louki-khoya-condensed milk will now form a semi-solid mix.
5. Powder the cardamom seeds with a tsp of sugar and add it to the mix and keep stirring until it thickens.

For Halwa :
6. Pour the solidified mix into a dish and cut into square cubes and serve chilled.

For Payasam:
6. Add some milk once the mix has thickened (and not before it, because the louki will not get the milk flavour if diluted too early).
7. Chill the payasam and serve.

Aloo Gobhi

Ingredients :


Cauliflower 1 No.
Potatoes 4 Nos.
Salt Acc to taste.
Tumeric 1/2 Tsp.
Cumin Powder 2 Tsp.
Coriander Powder 2 Tsp.
Red Chilli Powder 2 tsp.
Catch Kitchen King Masala 1 Tsp.
Cilantro Few sprigs for Garnishing.
Oil 1 Tbsp.


Method :
Seperate the florets from Cauliflower. Wash & drain.
Cut Potatoes into Chunks. (either boil them before or cook them for a longer time).

Heat Oil in a Pan , add Onions & fry till translucent.
Add ginger, garlic Paste, stir, Mix in Potatoes , cover to cook.

When the Potatoes are half done , add the flowrets,
tumeric & salt. Cover to Cook. Open afer a few minutes,
add all the dry powders & mix. Garnish with Cilantro leaves
& Serve hot with Breads, Rice, Rotis or as a side dish.

Spinach Rice

Ingredients
- Rice (Preferably basmati) : 2 Cups
- Onion, chopped : 1 medium
- Spinach, coarsely cut : 2 or 3 cups
- Peas : 1 Cup
- Salt to taste
- Garlic cloves, finely minced.
- bay leaves : 2-4
- Garam Masala : to taste

For tadka
- Oil : 2 tbsp
- Jeera : 1 tbsp
- Heeng : 1 pinch

preparation
1. Place a pressure cooker bowl on the stove, Add oil when hot.
2. Add jeera to the oil, and once it starts sputtering, add minced Garlic.
3. Mix in the chopped onions once the garlicky aroma starts emnating from the oil-jeera-garlic mix.
4. Saute onions till they are transparent-brown and then add spinach and peas.
5. Once the spinach acquires the wrinkled texture due to the oil and heat, add rice to the mix.
6. Mix thoroughly and add salt and garam masala.
7. Add water (1.3 to 1.5 cups per cup of rice) and put the lid on the pressure cooker.
8. The meal is ready after 3 whistles. Serve with raita/ pickle.