Mushroom Biriyani

These days, almost every morning goes by just browsing other blogsites and drooling at the new recipes I see all the time, thanks to all my forever enthusiastic blogger buddies. Indusladies is one such other site that I am a regular visitor of. I love Mrs. Chitra’s collection of recipes there. She is untiringly inspiring other ladies to try new dishes and improve our cooking skills constantly. Thanks to Mrs. Chitra, I found this easy to make, delicious Mushroom Biriyani. Made it for lunch today, both me and N liked it very much. The recipe goes as follows:

Ingedients:

Sliced mushrooms (8 oz pac)
Basmati rice - 1 ½ cups
Onion - 1, sliced
Tomatoes - 3 medium, chopped
Cinnamon - 1 one inch pieces
Cloves - 3 to 4
Small cardamom - 3, crushed
Ghee - 2tbsp
Saffron strands-a pinch
Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tsp
Green chillies - 3, chopped
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Salt to taste

For garnishing:

2 onions sliced & deep fried

Method:

1. Wash and soak the rice for 30 mins.
2. Melt 1 spoon of the ghee, add cinnamon, cloves, cardamoms & saute or 2 mts.
3. Add drained rice & fry for 2 minutes.
4. Add 2 ½ cups of hot water, saffron strands & salt to taste.
5. Cover & cook till almost done.(Grains should be separate)
6. Heat oil, add sliced onion & fry till golden brown.
7. Add tomatoes & all the remaining ingredients.
8. Saute, stirring often till ghee separates.
9. Add mushrooms & fry till cooked.
10. In a baking pan, take half of the prepared rice.
11. On that spread the mushroom gravy & over that the remaining rice, add a spoonful of ghee.
12. Cover with aluminium foil & bake for 15 mts.

Serve with any raitha.

Schezwan Fried Rice

The last weekend, we had some friends come over and while I was wondering what rice dish to make, I came across this very appetizing Schezwan Fried rice  recipe here. Thanks Seema, for a mouthwatering recipe.

I followed Seema’s recipe for the most part, except for just a few subtle changes and additions.

Ingredients:

2 cups Basmati rice or long grain rice
1/2 each of green, yellow and red bellpeppers
1/2 cup baby corn
1/2 cup snow peas
1/2 cup beans
1/2 cup Bokchoy (Chinese cabbage)
1/2 cup broccoli
1 big onion cut into big pieces
1 Jalapeno, minced
4 green chillies
1 bunch spring onions chopped
2 tsp ginger garlic paste
2 tbsp Ching’s Schezwan sauce
2 tbsp Soya sauce
1/2 tsp black pepper powder
4 tbsp olive oil
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Wash and cook rice, taking care to see that the grains are separate.
2. Heat oil, saute onions, ginger garlic paste, jalapenos and green chillies.
3. Add vegetables, with beans and broccoli first then add baby corn, bell peppers, snow peas and finally, bokchoy, and stir fry in that order(harder vegetables first).
5. See to that the vegetables are not “cooked”; should be al-dente, crisp.
6. Add the schezwan sauce and soya sauce and salt.
7. Add rice and mix thoroughly, finally add the chopped spring onions and mix well.

Serve with any Chinese side dish like chilli paneer or Gobi Manchurian. Even tastes good as is.