Egg Biryani

Took a french leave just to be with my dear son! He is growing up so fast, sometimes I just want to sit beside him, help him study, giving him comfort, *sigh*, not always possible for a working mom, you know what I mean !! So the day I was home, I thought to cook something special for him for lunch. But my pantry doesnot have anything exotic, all regular stuffs like the eggs, rice, garam masala, potato, and I was wondering for that 'Special' dish that I can cook for him and suddenly this 'Eureka' plan came to my mind. The kind of biryani lover he is, why not try an unusual Egg biryani?  A quick googling, something from here, something from there, and this lovely dish is born. And that happy face....

Ingredients

• Basmati rice - 1 and 1/2 Cup
• Eggs - 3, I have used duck eggs
• Potatoes - 2, halved
• Onion - 1 cup, sliced
• Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tbsp
• Curd - 3 tbsp
• Fresh Mint leaves - a handful
• Biryani masala - 1 tbsp
• Green chilli, chopped, as per taste
• Rose water - 1/4 tsp
• Keora water - 1/8 tsp
• Oil
• Ghee
• Milk - 1 small cup
• Safron strands - a few
• Bayleaf 

Boil the eggs with potatoes. Shell and make 3-4 slits on the eggs. Sprinkle some salt, turmeric and kashmiri chilli powder and keep aside.

Cook the rice with a bayleaf till it is 3/4th done. Drain the water and cool it immediately by spreading.
Fry the marinated eggs and potatoes till brown and remove from heat.

In the same oil, fry half of the chopped onions with a pinch of salt and sugar till crisp. Keep aside.

Add some more oil to the pan, if required. Fry the remaining onions with pinch of salt and sugar till golden brown. Add ginger garlic paste and fry. Next add the chopped green chilli.

When the raw smell is gone, add the curd and fresh mint leaves.

When the curd is incorporated well, add kashmiri chilli powder, turmeric and 3/4th of Biryani masala and continue frying with a splash of water.

Next goes the fried eggs and potatoes. Mix well with a splash of water and cook for 5 minutes till oil comes out. Adjust the seasoning.

In a cup of milk, soak the saffron. Add keora water and rose water and mix well. 

Mix salt, sugar and ghee to the rice in a light hand and keep aside. Make sure the rice don't break.

For the final part, to arrange for biryani, take a heavy bottomed pan and smear ghee all over. Now make a layer of rice at the bottom. Put half of the egg potato mixture along with masalas and fried oniosn. Sprinkle a pinch of biryani masala too.

Put another layer of rice onto it, then again put egg masala and finally the rice. The idea is, the top and bottom layer should always be rice. Sprinkle the remaining fried onions. Now carefully pour the saffron infused milk all over the rice.

Seal the pan with aluminium foil, put a lid with a weight and keep it on low flame for 20 -25 minutes. The rice will be cooked of its own steam.

Remove from heat and serve with Vegetable Raita or Burhani.

Dutch Apple Cake

Dutch, the land of tulips,windmills and canals, is also well renowned for its long timeline of historic ethnicity. Within this culture's numerous recipes, I met this one on a boring weekend. And I was quite impressed by the name. "Dutch Apple Cake"-sounds royal, no?

So to break away the monotony i decided to bake the cake right away. Moreover I had plentiful apples and was desperately close to the deadline of the 'a cake a week challenge'. My son  couldn't agree more and so he quickly set everything in order and started then and there. he 'course has got his success in baking from my  side :) . so here is the Traditional Dutch Apple Cake which was delightfully tasty.

Ingredients

• Eggs -2
• Caster sugar - 3/4 cup, plus extra for sprinkling
• Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp
• Butter - 85 gms
• Milk - 1/3 cup
• all purpose flour - 1 Cup
• Ground cinnamon - 1/2 tsp
• Baking powder - 2 1/4 tsp 
• Apples -2, peeled, cored and thinly sliced

Preheat the oven to 200C. Line the sides and base of a square cake tin with parchment paper.
Using a regular whisk, whisk the eggs, caster sugar and vanilla essence in a large bowl until the mixture is thick.
Melt the butter in a saucepan with the milk, cool it a bit and then pour onto the eggs, whisking all the time. 

Sift in the flour, cinnamon and baking powder and fold carefully into the batter so that there are no lumps of flour. 

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the surface.

Arrange the apple slices over the batter carefully.

Sprinkle over a tablespoon of sugar at the top.

Bake at 200C in the oven for ten minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 180C and bake for a further 20–25 minutes or until golden brown. A fork at the centre should come out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool in the tin. Cut into squares and serve with your favorite cuppa.

Palak Shorba

On a dark and gloomy night when it is raining cats and dogs, a comfort food is therapeutic specially if it is in the form of a soup. This desi style soup is a healthy option with all its vitamins and goodness and perfect for a rainy evening.

Ingredients

• Spinach - a bunch, washed
• Butter - 1 tbsp
• Onion - 1, chopped
• Green chilli - 1, chopped
• Garlic - 1 tbsp, cliced
• Potato - 1, small, peeled and cut into cubes
• Bay leaf - 1
• Black pepper 2-3
• Salt
• oil - 1 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Steam the spinach in a microwave steamer for 2 minutes and immerse in ice code water immediately to retain the color. Drain and blend to a smooth puree in a mixer. Keep aside.
Heat the butter in a pan. Add the chopped onions, green chilli and half of chopped garlic and saute for 5 minutes. 

Add the potatoes, bay leaf and black pepper nd mix well. Continue cooking for 5 minutes.

Add three cups of water and cook covered till the potatoes are tender. Remove and strain reserving the liquid and the potato mixture. Let it cool for 10 minutes. Blend the potatoes in a blender with a splash of reserve liquid. Then mix it with the spinach puree and return to the pan with all the reserved liquid.Let it simmer for 2-3 minutes. Adjust the salt.

Heat the oil in a pan, add the cumin seeds and remaining sliced garlic and saute for 10-15 seconds.

 Pour it over the soup and serve immediately.

Perfect Marble Cake

Finally, the perfect marble cake and this cake is quite special to me. This is the first cake my son has baked independently without any help, (I have arranged the ingredients for him and then gone for my weekend afternoon siesta) and it tastes superb. He has adopted it from Pritha's blog and he has followed it to the Tee to get that delicious masterpiece. 
Since we didnot make any modifications to the recipe I am copying it directly from her blog. You may find the original recipe here.

Ingredients:

• Butter, at room temperature: 150 gm
• Olive oil: 100 ml
• Caster sugar: 200 gm
• Eggs: 4
• Vanilla Essence: 2 tsp
• Flour: 200 gm + 1.5 tbsp
• Baking powder: 2 tsp
• Milk: 50 ml
• Cocoa powder: 3 heaped tbsp
• White Chocolate Chips: 50 gm

In a large bowl, sift the flour and baking powder and set aside.
Cream the butter, oil and sugar in a large bowl with a hand blender till soft and fluffy.

Add the eggs one by one and continue blending after each addition till the mixture is smooth and pale. Add the vanilla and blend again. Add milk and blend. 

Gradually fold the flour into the egg-butter-sugar mixture and mix gently. Do this bit by bit till everything is smoothly incorporated and there's no lumps.

Now divide the batter into two bowls. In the first bowl, add 1.5 tbsp of flour and 50 gm white chocolate chips and fold everything together. In the second, add sifted cocoa powder and fold that in.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Butter the sides of a circular cake tin and line the base with parchment paper.
Place the cake mixtures into the prepared tin by alternating spoonfuls of the vanilla batter with the chocolate batter. 
Bake for 45 minutes or until a fork inserted into the middle comes out clean and it is springy to touch.
Let it cool on a wire rack for 20-30 minutes before de-moulding.

Enjoy with a hot cup of coffee.

Pan Fried Chicken

Marinated the chicken legs with ginger paste, chilli flakes and some sauces, and this fav is born. Wonderfully soft and juicy chicken fried in minimum oil, a must for an impromptu party!!

Ingredients

• Chicken Thigh - 3, with slits
• Ginger Paste - 1 tbsp
• Chilli flakes - 1 tsp
• Soya Sauce - 1 tbsp
• Tomato sauce - 1 tbsp
• Salt - As per taste
• Black Pepper - As per Taste

Wash the chicken thighs and make 3-4 slits using a knife. Marinate the Chicken in the refrigerator for 5-6 hours.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a non stick flat bottomed pan. Place the chicken thighs evenly onto the pan so that all the pieces are in direct contact of the pan. 

Keep on high heat for 5 minutes turning once or twice so that the chicken is browned from all sides.

Lower the heat. Water may come out of the chicken. Now sprinkle some more water and cook the chicken with a lid, till it is cooked through. Turn couple of times in between to ensure even cooking.

When chicken is cooked and the gravy is completely dry, remove from heat. Serve hot with some salad.