Kheema Masoor dal Pulao with Cucumber Raita

A decade or so ago I was visiting my brother in Dubai. Those were the carefree days. I was newly married and was on my way to the US to join my husband and to start a new journey together with him.

My sister in law,who is also an excellent cook, was treating me to all types of delicious food including introducing me to the Arab/Middle eastern food that I had never eaten before. I was having a blast trying the shawarma, falafels, hummus, arrayes etc. One evening her neighbor sent us this amazing dish called Kheema Masoor Dal Pulao. I loved the dish and had to have the recipe.

The Kheema(Mince meat) was cooked in tomatoes with masoor dal and potatoes. The rice also had masoor dal in it. I had never eaten rice with mince meat before, and the lovely combination took me by surprise. Rice, masoor dal, potatoes and the mince meat cooked with tomatoes was perfect along with cool cucumber raita. It is like lasagne, the rice is like the pasta and the mince meat is the filling and it is assembled and cooked in layers. Make this dish and your family will ask for more!

Ingredients:

For the Rice:

• 3/4 cup Whole Masoor Dal/Puy lentils(the ones that have a green brown skin - not the split red ones)
  
• 2 cups Rice
• 2 tbsp Vinegar
  
• 6 cups Water
• Salt to taste

For the Mince Meat:

• 2 tsp Oil
  
• 3-4 Cardamom
  
• 2 2" Cinnamon Sticks
• 1 Bay Leaf
  
• 4 Cloves
• 3/4 cup Masoor Dal
  
• 1 tsp Peppercorns
  
• 2 Onions chopped
  
• 3 Potatoes cut into quarters
  
• 4-5 Green chilies (+/-)
• 1/2 tsp Ginger garlic paste
• 4 Tomatoes chopped
  
• 450 gms Mince meat
  
• 2-3 tsp Roasted coriander powder
  
• 1/2 tsp Chili powder
  
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
  
• 1/4 cup Yogurt
• Salt to taste

Method:

For the Rice:

Wash and soak the masoor dal for half an hour to one hour before cooking. Wash and soak the rice for half an hour or so. In a vessel boil 6 cups of water for the rice. Season with salt. Put in the drained masoor dal and cook for 15 minutes or so. Add the vinegar and put the rice. Cook the rice till the rice plumps up and the grain has a b

ite to it. The rice should NOT be completely cooked. Drain the rice and keep aside.

For the Kheema (Mince Meat):

In a pot, pour the oil, when hot add the cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaf, peppercorns and cloves. When it pops add the chopped onions, saute the onions till translucent. Add the chilies, ginger garlic paste and potatoes and saute till the potatoes have cooked a bit and browned on all sides, around 10-15 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes and saute till the oil separates from the tomatoes. Add the drained masoor dal and kheema (Mince Meat). Add the chili, turmeric and roasted coriander powder and salt to taste. Saute for a few seconds before adding the beaten yogurt and cook till the potatoes are cooked through and the kheema is cooked and the mixture is dry.

Note: Both the rice and kheema can be made a day ahead and assemble the day after. This is a good dish if you are having guest over.

Assembling the dish:

• 1 tbsp Oil
  
• Few pinches of Garam Masala powder
  
• Few Strands of Saffron
  
• Birrista(2 Medium size fried onions)
  

In a non stick pot, add the oil. Put a layer of the cooked masoor dal rice. Sprinkle the rice with few pinches of garam masala powder, saffron and birrista.

Cover the rice with some of the kheema to form a second layer. Continue with the rice and the garam masala, saffron and birrista. Continue layering till all the kheema and rice is used.

Cover the dish with aluminum foil and tightly close the lid. Cook the rice on a low flame for around 15 -20 minutes or till when you open the lid, the steam comes out of the rice and you can smell the fantastic aroma of the saffron, rice and mince meat. Serve hot with cucumber raita (recipe follows).

Cucumber Raita:

1 1/2 cup Yogurt beaten

1 Medium size cucumber grated or finely chopped

Few coriander leaves chopped

1/4 tsp Jeera(cumin) powder

Salt to taste.

To the beaten yogurt add rest of the ingredients. Mix well. Serve garnished with some fresh chopped coriander and a pinch of jeera powder.

Chemeen Biryani

It has been a year since I started blogging and after an initial flurry of activity, the frequency of my posts has reduced significantly. My son is now 20 months old and a very active little guy. He keeps me on my toes all day. There is very little that I can do when he is awake, and a lot to do while he naps. Plus, he now only naps once a day.

Since it was Eid-ul-Adha on the 8th, here's wishing everyone Eid Mubarak. Like we do back home, I make it a point to make biryani and Sheer Kurma for Eid. Our friends join us for the meal, we wear new clothes and the kids exchange gifts.

I don't make the typical Calicut biryani - Calicut is where my parents are from, Mumbai is where I was born and raised. Instead, I make a hybrid Calicut-Mumbai style biryani. The Mumbai style requires frying the onions until they are golden brown while the Calicut biryani requires sauteing the onions and marinating the meat/fish with the masalas(spices).

During Thanksgiving we had some friends visiting us and although they were here to have a fun time, we were all glued to our TV, watching the massacre take place in Mumbai. Mumbai is my home and will always be in my blood. In the past decade, I have had the opportunity to live in NYC, Sydney and Brussels. I love these cities but Mumbai is special. My father came to Mumbai from Calicut in his teens and was joined a few years later by my mother after they got married. My parents lived there for more than four decades. My two brothers and I grew up in this city and have such beautiful memories of our life there. For the three days that it took to get the situation under control, I was at the edge of my couch praying to God to end this, and hoping and praying that none of my dear friends would be in harm's way. I was also thankful that my parents no longer lived in Mumbai. Each time I see the picture of that terrorist at CST, I think about the times that my dad stayed late at the office to avoid the rush hour and took the 9:30pm train home - those murderers terrorized CST at about 9:30 in the evening.I pray for the families who have lost their loved ones in this horrible tragedy, and I pray for the survivors who have to live with the memories for the rest of their lives.

Mumbai is a great city, full of life and I LOVE Mumbai and always will.

On EId-ul-Adha we always make Beef/Goat/Lamb Biryani. But since I have been in no mood to cook, blog or blog hop, I am posting this recipe for Chemeen (shrimp) Biryani which I had made sometime ago.

Here is the recipe.

For the Kayam(marinade)

• 1 Lb Chemeen/Shrimp(Use raw uncooked ones)
  
• 3-4 Big Onions, sliced (2 onions fried till they are golden brown and crisp)
  
• 4 Medium size Tomatoes, chopped
  
• 15-20 medium hot chiles (more or less)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
  
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
  
• 3-4 tsp roasted coriander powder
  
• 1 tsp ginger paste
  
• 1/2 tsp garlic paste
  
• small bunch of coriander leaves chopped
  
• 1/2 cup yogurt (preferably whole milk)
  
• Juice of 1/2 lemon(US size) - Indian lemons tend to be smaller so you would need more.

Grind or pulse the green chiles.

Fry 2 sliced onions till they are golden brown and crisp. Fry a handful of raisins and cashews, till they are plump and golden brown respectively. You can fry them in ghee or oil.

Marinade the Shrimp for an hour or so with the turmeric, chili powder and salt. Lightly fry the shrimp in oil till it is half cooked, couple of minutes each sides. Do this in batches, keep it aside.

In the same oil saute 2 onions till it is translucent. Add the ground green chilies, tomatoes, fried shrimp, coriander, yogurt, ginger, garlic paste, lemon juice, turmeric, chili, and coriander powder. Crush one of the crispy fried onion with your hands and add to the marinade(this is the Mumbai part). This give a lovely brown color to the biryani. Add salt to taste and adjust seasoning.

For the Rice:

• 2 1/2 cups Basamti rice (wash and soaked in water)
  
• 1 onion sliced
  
• 1-2 Bay leaf
  
• 3-4 cloves
  
• 2-3' pieces of cinnamon
  
• 3-4 cardamom
  
• Salt to taste
  
• 1-2 tbsp oil
  

In a pot add the oil, and add the bay leaf, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom. The spices will pop a bit. Add the sliced onion and let it saute, till the onions turn opaque. Now add the saoked rice, fry the rice till it is well coated in oil 2-3 minutes. Now add 5 cups of water. Cook the rice on medium heat till it is not completely cooked(that is - if you take a grain of rice and break it in the middle it should be slightly raw). Drain the rice onto a colander. Keep aside.

Biryani Masala:

• Cinnamon 2 sticks (1 inch each)
  
• 5-6 green cardamon pods
  
• 7-8 cloves
  
• 1/2 nutmeg
  
• 2-3 mace
  
• 1-2 tsp caraway seeds
  
• 1 bay leaf
  
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
  

Lightly roast all of the above in a pan and grind it to fine powder. Store it in an air tight container. You will need only about 1 tsp or so.

Assembling the dish:

In a heavy bottomed pot, put the chemeen/shrimp kayam(marinade). Put half of the drained cooked rice on top of the shrimp. Pour a tbsp of oil on the rice, spread half of the golden fried onion, cashew, and raisins. Sprinkle 1/4 tsp of the biryani masala over. I usually also use a pinch of saffron over the rice. Now put the other half of the rice over the layer of rice and do the same, that is with the onions, cashews, raisins, oil, biryani masala and saffron.

Cover the pot with aluminum foil and tightly close the lid. Cook for 10 -15 minutes on a medium flame or till your house can smell all the fantastic spices. Open the lid and serve hot mixing the shrimp masala with the rice. Serve with coriander chutney, raita and kerala pappadums.

Victory, Award, Chicken Istew and Ghee Rice

Chicken Istew and Ghee Rice

We recently got to know that my one and half year old is allergic to eggs, all tree nuts, shell fish, sesame seeds and believe it or not coconut. Imagine Kerala cuisine without coconut. We put coconut in everything, curries, side dishes, rice, condiments, even desserts.  Coconut is used in various forms such as coconut oil, grated coconut, dried coconut and coconut milk. I was horrified when the allergist told me about this.  For a few days I was so depressed.  I couldn't imagine my little ones life without appams, or coconut milk based curries, - a life without Malyali food.  I don't know if things are exaggerated a bit in the US or it is just matter of being safe then sorry? 

 

While in Kerala over the summer. I informed everybody at home, that whatever is given to my little one I have to know about it first. So everything was approved from moi first then given to him, even the kids started asking me - what they could give him.  Then slowly there were lit bits of the state nut introduced to him.  Now, he does have coconut in his diet, and has not developed any reaction.  Hopefully he will out grow his egg allergy too.  But the doctor says nut and shell fish allergies are pretty much life long. Poor fellow! 

Anyway, since everyone is celebrating President elect Barack Obama's victory  and since Thanksgiving is just around the corner, I thought I would post the recipes for Ghee Rice and Chicken stew. Dishes we often make back home when we celebrate.  Also a big thanks to Mallugirl of Malabar spice to give me the butterfly award.  I am truly touched and honored. Thank you once again. 

I am passing this award to :

A Bon Vivant's Chow Cronicles

Aayi's Recipes

For The Cook In Me

Indian Cooking

Mishmash

My Kitchen Treasures

Simply Spicy

Here are the rules for this award.

Put the logo on your blog. Add the link to the person who awarded you. Pass on the award to 10 others and add a link to their blogs in yours and drop a message at their blogs. 

Ghee Rice

For the Ghee Rice.

• 1 cup Basmati Rice
  
• 1/2 an Onion sliced
  
• 3-4 Cloves
• 1 Bay-leaf
  
• 1' Cinnamon
  
• 2-3 Cardamon
• 1 -2 tsps Ghee/Unsalted Butter/ oil

Method:

Wash and soak the rice in water for 15 minutes.  In a heavy bottomed pot, melt the ghee add the bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamon and cloves. Let is splutter, add the sliced onions and saute till the onions are translucent.  Add the drained rice, and saute till the rice is well coated with ghee, add water around 1 1/2 cups.  Season with salt and close the pot with a lid, let the water boil on high heat, once the water starts to boil, rolling with bubbles, lower the heat and cook the rice for 15 - 20 minutes till all the water is absorbed by the rice.  Serve hot with Chicken Istew (recipe follows).

Chicken Istew

Ingredients:

• 1 medium size Onion
  
• 1 medium size Tomato
• 1 medium size Potato
  
• 500 gms Chicken
  
• 2-3 Cloves
  
• 2-3 Cardamon
  
• 1' Cianammon
  
• 1 Bay leaf
  
• 1 tsp Ginger Garlic paste
  
• 1/4 tsp Fenugreek seeds
  
• 4-5 Green chilies chopped (or more)
  
• 1/3 tsp of Turmeric powder (optional)
• 2-3 tsps Coriander powder
• Few turns of ground pepper from the pepper mill or 1/4 tsp of pepper powder
  
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
  
• Coconut fresh coconut milk 1 cup (I used maggie coconut milk powder)
  
• 2-3 tsps oil
  

Method:

Heat the oil in a pressure cooker or a pot. Add the bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamon and cloves, let it pop, add the fenugreek seeds and let it sizzle. Add the onions and green chillies and saute till the onions are translucent.  Add the ginger garlic paste, saute for another minute or so. Add the chopped tomatoes, turmeric powder (if using) and coriander powder, saute for a few minutes or untill the tomatoes are mushy and the oil starts separating.  Add the chicken and potatoes.  Season with salt and add water, around a cup and half or so.  Cook till the chicken and potatoes are completely cooked. 

Mix the coconut powder according to the packet instructions and add the coconut milk to the chicken stew. Heat the stew and let it come to a gentle boil.  Add the lemon juice and the pepper.  Adjust seasoning to your taste. Add the chopped coriander and serve with Ghee Rice or Appams.