Tam Tam Dhokla

Farsan Tam Tam Khaman Dhokla is a famous Gujarati's snack . Khaman is most popular street food. Tam Tam khaman is one of them which is generally little bit spicy, tangy and soft.
I came across this tam tam recently and gave it a try and to my surprise the result was extraordinary . It turned out super spongy and tasty . Give it a try and you won't be disappointed .

Preparation time : 5 hours + 5 hours + 25 minutes
Serves : 4 to 5 people

Ingredients :

Urad dal : 1 TBSP
Rice : 2 TBSP
Chana dal : 1 1/4 cup
Oil : 5 Tbsp
Salt : 1 1/2 Tbsp or to taste
Sour curd : 2 Tbsp
Ginger Green chili paste : 1 Tbsp
Hing : 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder : 1/4 tsp
Baking soda : 1/2 tsp
Eno fruit salt : 1/4 tsp

For Tampering :

Oil : 3 tsp
Mustard seeds : 2 tsp
Hing : 1/4 tsp
Kashmiri chili powder : 1/4 tsp
Garam masala : 1/4 tsp
Black salt : 1/4 tsp

Coriander leaves : 3 Tbsp
Grated coconut : 3 Tbsp

Method :

Take a bowl and add chana dal, urad dal and rice . Wash them once and then soak them for 5 hours.
After 5 hours grind them with 1/2 Tbsp oil and 1 Tbsp salt .
Keep it aside for fermentation for 5 hours .
Once fermented add sour curd ,  ginger chili paste ,  hing , salt and turmeric .
Mix in one direction .
If batter is sour then add some sugar to balance the taste  ( i personally didn't add because my batter is perfect i felt ).
It should be like Idli batter consistency.
( If your batter is little thick you can add some water at this time to get idli batter consistency).
Grease your dish with oil .
Add baking soda and eno fruit salt , mix it .
Batter will become fluffy after adding these two ingredients.
Pour the batter in greased dish and sprinkle little chili powder on top.
Don't let it sit on counter , soon you have to cook it .
Steam for 15 to 20 mins in a steamer on medium heat.

Once done , let it cool and then cut it.

Now that the dhokla is ready , you can eat it as it is or you can spice it up with tampering to make it tam tam style.

Take a pan add  oil , once oil is hot add in mustard seeds ,  hing .
Add 8 - 9 pieces of dhokla ( i added half the quantity of what i made in one batch )
Keep flame in medium heat.
Sprinkle kashmiri chili powder, garam masala, black salt on all sides of dhokla by turning the pieces.

Garnish with coriander and coconut .
Serve hot with green chutney. Than normal we enjoyed eating it with green chutney.
Enjoy your dish :)

Naatu kodi vepudu (or) Country chicken fry

Preparation time : one hour
Serves : 4

Ingredients :

Naatu kodi or Country chicken : 1 kg
Cloves : 3
Green Cardamom : 2
Cinnamon stick : 2"
Onion : 1 medium sized ( approx 1 cup chopped onion)
Green chili : 3
Curry leaves : one spring
Ginger garlic paste : 1 Tbsp
Tomato : 1/2 ( 1/3 cup chopped )
Poppy seeds : 1 1/2 Tbsp
Dry coconut : 1 1/2 Tbsp
Red chilies : 2
Cumin powder : 1 tsp
Coriander Powder : 1 tsp
Salt : to taste
Chili Powder : to taste
Turmeric Powder : 1/8 tsp
Garam masala : 1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves : few
Oil : 6 Tbsp

Method :

Pressure cook naatu kodi ( chicken) with salt, turmeric powder , ginger garlic paste and little water for three whistles.

Fry poppy seeds , red chilies and dry coconut . Once roasted , make them into a fine paste by adding little water. Keep it aside until needed.

Take a pan , heat it and add oil to it.
Add in whole garam masala - cloves, cardamom and cinnamon stick .
Let them heat up and then add chopped onion.
Add split green chili and curry leaves.
Fry it until onions are brown.
Add turmeric and ginger garlic paste, fry them until raw smell goes off.
Add in chopped tomato , fry them for couple of minutes.
Add poppy seeds paste that we prepared earlier. Fry it for 10 mins.
Add salt , cumin powder, coriander powder and red chili powder.
Fry it nicely and then add cooked chicken , toss it so that all the masala will get stick to the chicken.
Sprinkle garam masala on top.
Fry it for 5 more minutes.
Garnish with coriander leaves .
Serve it as a starter or as a curry with hot rice .
Enjoy your dish :)

Mutton pulao (Or) Mutton Tahari

Preparation time : 30 mins + 45 mins
Serves : 4

Ingredients :

Basmati Rice : 2 cups (or 1/2 kg i.e. same quantity as mutton )

Oil : 4 Tbsp
Ghee : 1tsp
Clove : 4
Cardamom : 3
Cinnamon stick : 2"
Bay leaves : 2
Onion : 1 Medium sized - VeryThinly sliced
Ginger garlic paste : 2 Tbsp
Tomato : 3 Medium sized chopped
Salt : 1/2 tsp + 1 1/2 tsp
Water : 5 cups ( rice : water - 1 : 2 , and one cup extra)
Sha jeera : 1/2 tsp
Green chili : 5
Coriander leaves : few
Mint leaves : few

For marination :
Mutton : 1/2 kg
Ginger garlic paste : 1 Tbsp
Turmeric : 1/2 tsp
Red chili powder : 2 tsp
Lemon juice : 1 Tbsp
Salt : 1/2 tsp
Garam masala powder : 1 tsp
Yogurt or Curd : 200 grams ( or 3/4 cup to 1 cup )



Method :

Take a bowl add all the ingredients listed for marination and mix it really good, cover it with a lid and keep it in refrigerator for half an hour to marinate.

Take rice wash well and soak in water for half an hour.

Now take a Pressure cooker , heat it, add oil and Ghee to it.
Once oil is add in whole spices - cloves, cinnamon stick, cardamom and bay leaf.
When they heated up add in thinly sliced onions.
Fry them really good until they are super golden brown (almost like fried onion).
Add in ginger garlic paste and fry it until raw smell goes.
Add chopped tomatoes and salt , fry until tomatoes become smooth.
Add marinated mutton pieces and cook for 15 minutes.
You can see the oil floating at this point.
Now close the lid of pressure cooker and cook it until mutton is cooked for 4 to 5 whistles.
Take a handi (big vessel) and  add cooked mutton from the pressure cooker.
Add five glasses of water .
Put flame in high.
Add sha jeera , salt, green chili, coriander leaves and mint leaves.
Mix it well and let the water boil.
Once water is boiled add strained soaked rice.
Mix it once and let the rice cook.
Let it cook till water dries up (or until all water is absorbed).
When water gets dried close the lid, lower the flame and cook under dum for 15 minutes.
Tasty mutton pulao is ready to serve.
Serve it hot with onion raita .
Enjoy your dish :)

Paneer Biryani

I am not a big fan of biryani initially but there is this restaurant called Signature India - he makes amazing biryani and slowly i started eating biryani. Coming to biryani's i have three options - veg, paneer and egg. Out of these three i like egg and paneer , i don't like vegetable biryani some how.

I learnt this paneer biryani and believe me this tastes amazing, when ever i make this its a hit. 

It may look like you are using more spices and spice powder by seeing ingredients list but do give it a try you will also fall in love with this biryani.

Preparation time : 1 hour 30 mins approximately
Serves : 3 to 4

Ingredients :

For Marination :

Paneer : 250 grams ( around 100 grams of paneer for one cup of rice )
Fried onion : 4Tbsp
Yogurt : 4 Tbsp
Ghee : 1Tbsp
Oil : 2 tsp
Lemon juice : 1 lemon
Ginger garlic paste : 1 Tbsp
Green chili : 3
Chopped coriander leaves : 3 Tbsp
Chopped Mint : 2 Tbsp
Sha jeera : 1tsp
Garam masala : 1 tsp
Salt : 1/2 tsp
Sugar : 3/4 tsp
Kasoori methi : 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder : 1 Tbsp
Cumin powder : 1tsp
Black pepper powder : 1/4 tsp
Red chili powder : 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder : 1/4 tsp
Crushed cloves : 7

For Rice :

Basmati rice : 3 cups
Salt : to taste
Oil : 2 tsp
Bay leaves : 2
Sha jeera : 1 tsp
Green cardamom : 5
Black cardamom : 2
Cloves : 6
Cinnamon stick : 2"
Black pepper cons : 1/4 tsp
Star anise : 1

For Biryani :

Oil : 2 tsp
Ghee : 1 Tbsp
Cumin seeds : 1/2 tsp
Onion : 2
Salt : 1 tsp
Ginger garlic paste : 1/2 Tbsp
Tomato : 1 large
Pepper powder : 1/4 tsp
Chili powder : 1 tsp
Cumin powder : 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder : 1tsp
Garam masala powder : 3/4 tsp
Shan Biryani masala : 1/2 tsp
Kasoori methi : 1/4 tsp
Sugar : 1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves : 2 Tbsp
Mint leaves : 1 tsp
Curd : 2 Tbsp
Water : 1/2 cup

For toppings :

Fried onion : 1 Tbsp
Ghee : 4 Tbsp
Rose water : 2 to 3 tsp
Turmeric : pinch
Cashew nuts : 10
Saffron : few strands
Milk : 2 Tbsp
Shan biryani masala : 1 tsp

Method :

Take bowl add ingredients listed for marination. Mix well , let it marinate for at least one hour , i usually do overnight marination.

Soak rice for 20 mins (don't soak more than an hour, if you have to then at least drain it and keep it aside )
Take a pot and add lots of water, add ingredients listed for rice except basmati rice.
Once it started to boil vigorously add basmati rice and cook it until it is 90% done.
(This is the crucial step for biryani - take full care not to over or under cook the rice)
Drain the water completely and spread it on a plate and use this with in 5 mins for your next step.

Now we are going to use ingredients listed for biryani in this step, and start this step parallelly when you do the above step , so that by the time rice is ready , you can add that in this.
Take a pan , add oil, ghee , once hot add cumin seeds.
Once they are roasted add in chopped onions, once they turn golden add ginger garlic paste.
When the raw flavor from ginger garlic is gone add chopped tomatoes and salt.
Once tomatoes are mushy add turmeric powder, black pepper powder, red chili powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, garam masala, kasoori methi , biryani masala, sugar .
Give it good stir and add coriander and mint leaves. Add curd.
Add 1/2 cup of water.
Once it comes to boil, keep the flame in medium low and add half the rice that we prepared in the previous step.
Add half of paneer followed by remaining half of the rice and then by rest of the paneer, by this we are done with layering of rice and paneer.

Now we use the ingredients listed for toppings.
Sprinkle biryani masala on top of rice.
Add melted ghee,  milk in which saffron strands are soaked and turmeric mixed rose water - one by one in a circular motion on top of rice .
Add fried onion and cashew nuts also on top.

Now we have to cover it really good, so that the vapor should not escape.
For this you can seal the edges of the pot with dough, or you can used paper napkins to cover the top of the rice, or usually i will use aluminum foil on top of the pot and then cover it with a lid.
Now put the flame to low and dum it for 40 minutes.
After 40 mins, switch off the stove and give it a standing time of 10 mins.
Your biryani is ready to serve.
Serve it hot with raita or any gravy curry or as it is.
Enjoy your dish :)

Dates Kheer (or) Dates Rice Payasam (or) Kharjuram paravannam

On karva chaut my friend gave all prasadh to us and this dish is one among them. I so liked it , and i asked her for the recipe. Its a healthy dish also so give it a try ....

Preparation time : one hour
Makes : 2 cups

Ingredients :

Rice : 1/4 cup
Milk : 2 cups + 1 cup
Dates : 10 or to taste
Ful makhani : 5
Coconut Pieces : 2 Tbsp

Method :

Soak pitted dates in one cup of milk for one hour .
After one hour mash them a bit with your hands.
Take a pot , add one cup of milk , add rice, let it boil in medium flame.
Once rice is almost done , add dates, ful makhani, coconut pieces.
Put it in very low flame, let it boil for 40 mins.
Your kheer is ready to serve.
Enjoy your dish :)
Thank you , do post your comments !!!

Spicy egg masala

When we first tried it, we liked it . My husband cooks really good - second time he made this dish when we invited friends to our home , its sooo tasty that the curry is completely finished.

Preparation time : 30 mins
Serves : 3

Ingredients :

Oil : 1tsp + 8 Tbsp
Hard boiled eggs : 6
Turmeric powder : 1/4 tsp + 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves : 2 spings
Green chili : 4 to 5
Onion : 2 large
Salt : to taste
Ginger garlic paste : 1 Tbsp
Tomatoes : 4 large
Fenugreek seeds : 1/4 tsp
Tamarind juice : 1/4 cup (or tamarind pulp : 2 Tbsp)
Red chili powder : 1 Tbsp
Coriander powder : 1Tbsp
Garam masala :  1/2 tsp
Water : 1 1/4 cup
Jagger : pinch (optional)
Coriander leaves : Handful

Method :

Take a pan heat it up add 1tsp oil, add hard boiled eggs , turmeric powder and fry them until u see nice color and texture on egg.
Now take them out of the pan and in the same pan add oil, curry leaves, green chili let them fry a bit.
Add roughly chopped onions and let them fry until light brown.
Add salt , turmeric , ginger garlic paste and cook till raw smell goes off.
Add roughly chopped tomatoes and cook in medium flame until they are soft and mushy.
Once oil floats on top add fenugreek seeds and tamarind juice.
(you can skip tamarind juice if you don't want )
Cook it in medium flame for 5 mins.
Add red chili powder, coriander powder, garam masala and fry for couple of minutes.
Add water let it cook for 5 more mins, add jaggery now if you are using it.
Add eggs and coriander leaves and cook in low flame for 5 more mins.
Serve it hot with rice or roti.
Enjoy your dish :)

Palakova

This is concentrated milk so i say it is healthy than other sweets , its like you are having a cup of milk with couple of table spoons of sugar :) but let me tell you this tastes heavenly 

Preparation time : 1 hour
Serves : 4

Ingredients :

Milk : 4 cups
curd : 3/4 cup or more as needed
Sugar : 1/2 cup (if u eat less use 1/3 cup)
Toppings which are optional :
Almonds : 1 tsp
Pistachio : 1 tsp
Silver foil : 1/2
Saffron strands : few

Method :

Take a heavy bottom pan , heat it up and add milk.
Let it come to boil , once boiled keep it in medium flame and keep mixing it.
Take care not to burn the bottom.
Boil them until they become half.
Now add curd and let the milk curdle.
(you can even use lemon juice but than that i feel this is good and tasty)
Let all the water evaporate , be patient its worth :P
After all water is evaporated add sugar.
Let all the sugar melt and it should almost become like a dough.
You can have it as it is or if you want a smooth kova then grind it in mixer until smooth.
Take it out.
Your palakova is ready to serve.
Top it with your favorite toppings or serve as it is.
Enjoy your dish :)