Home style Chicken Biryani made in Pressure Cooker

This is one of the way I make Chicken Biryani at home. A quick easy way to enjoy, when you crave for home cooked Chicken Biryani. This is a Bengali style Chicken Biryani.

Chicken Marination 

Ingredients 

750 grams Chicken pieces cleaned and washed 

1 small Onion paste 

3 to 4 Green Chilli paste

8 medium size Garlic Cloves paste

1 small piece of Ginger paste 

1 tsp Coriander powder 

1 tsp Cumin seeds

1 tsp Bengali Garam Masala powder

( 3 Green Cardamom, 3 Cloves and 1 medium size Cinnamon stick ground into powder)

1 tsp Turmeric powder 

1 tsp Red Chilli powder 

Salt to taste 

1/2 cup Curd

2 tbsp Mustard Oil 

Method 

Mix onion, garlic, ginger and chilli paste together. Take a bowl, added a curd, ground paste, turmeric powder, garam masala powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, salt and mustard oil. Mix all the ingredients together. Add the chicken pieces and marinate the chicken for minimum one hour. 

To cook the Rice 

Ingredients 

1 1/4 cup of Basmati Rice washed and soaked in water for 30 minutes 

4 cups of Water

Salt to taste 

6 Pepper Corn

3 Cloves 

3 Green Cardamom 

1 small stick Cinnamon 

2 Bay leaves 

Method 

Take a pot, add water, salt, whole Garam masala and bay leaves. Let the water boil. Add the soaked rice. Let the the rice cook till it’s 50 percent done. Strain the water and leave the rice in the strainer. 

To make the Chicken Dum Biryani 

Ingredients 

Marinated Chicken 

Half cooked Rice 

2 big size Potatoes cut into big chunks 

1 medium size Onion sliced 

2 tbsp Coriander leaves chopped 

2 tbsp Biriyani Masala 

1/4 tsp Turmeric powder 

Salt to taste 

1/2 cup Lukewarm Milk

2 Pinch of Saffron 

1 tsp Kewra water

2 to 3 Drops of Mitha Attar

1/2 cup Mustard Oil

3 tbsp Melted Ghee 

Method 

Add the saffron into the milk and keep it aside. Take a pressure cooker, add oil. Let the oil heat. Rub salt on the potato chunks. Add the potatoes into the oil, add turmeric powder. Fry the potatoes till light brown in colour. Remove and keep it aside. Add the onion and stir fry on low flame until golden brown in colour. Remove half the fried onion and keep it aside. In the same oil, add the marinated chicken. Stir occasionally and cook the chicken for 10 minutes. Add the potatoes. Continue to cook for another 5 minutes. Add the Biriyani masala. Stir and cook for another minute. Add 1 cup of water. Let the chicken simmer for 5 minutes. Switch of the flame. Add the rice and spread the rice well. Drizzle the saffron milk on the rice. Drizzle the ghee. Sprinkle the fried onion and coriander leaves. Drizzle the kewra water and mitha attar. Put the cooker lid on. On a very low flame, let the Biriyani cook on Dum for 15 minutes , switch off the flame just before the first whistle. Let the pressure release. Open the lid and serve the Chicken Dum Biryani with mint Raita or any raita of your choice. 

Papoder Jhal Kasundi Diye

Papoder Jhal was one of the popular dish in our house, made by my mother on a vegetarian day. It was one of my father’s favourite dish. Another dish loved was Papoder Dalna. It’s a simple and a quick ghoroa ranna (simple home cooked dish). Urid dal Papad is used to make this dish. My Ma used mustard seed paste ground with green chillies instead of Kasundi. I have used home made Aam Kasundi, it can be made with store bought Kasundi. This dish is eaten with hot steaming rice during lunch.

Ingredients
6 Pieces of Urid dal Papad cut into halves
1 medium size Tomato cut into wedges
2 to 3 Green Chillies slit
1 tbsp of chopped coriander leaves for garnishing
1/2 tsp Nigella seeds / Kallonji
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
Salt to taste
2 tbsp Aam Kasundi or 2 tbsp Mustard paste
1/2 cup Mustard Oil for frying the Papad

Method
Take oil in a wok. Let it heat up. Reduce the flame and fry the papads and keep it aside. Leave 2 tbsp of oil in the wok and remove rest of the oil. Add the nigella seeds. Let it crackle. Add the tomato and the green chillies. Sauté for few seconds. Add the turmeric powder and salt. Continue to sauté for a minute more. Add the Aam Kasundi, stir and sauté for 1 minute or the tomato becomes little soft. Add 3/4 cup of water. Let the curry simmer for a minute. Add the fried papads, continue to simmer for another minute. Switch off the flame. Sprinkle chopped coriander leaves. Serve the dish with hot steaming rice.

Maacher Tel - Potkar Chorchori

When we buy a whole big fish or a part of a big fish, generally people discard the inner parts of the fish, like liver, intestine and fats, but we Bengalis use these for cooking. We use these inner organs of the fish to make a mishmash dish by adding potatoes, brinjal and onions to it or we make Maacher Teler bora. This dish is not a known dish nor available in any Bengali restaurants.
Only a person who has eaten this dish can tell how delicious it is. This goes well with steaming hot rice.
Here I have used the fats, intestine and liver from a big Katla Fish. After cooking, eat the dish the next day, it taste even better.

Ingredients
150 grams of the Fish Fats, Liver and Intestine washed,  cleaned and cut into pieces
2 medium size Potatoes cut into small cubes
2 medium size Onions sliced
1 Brinjal around 200 grams cut into cubes
2 to 3 Green Chillies slit
1 tsp Garlic paste
1 tsp Ginger paste
Salt to taste
1 tsp + 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
1 tsp Cumin powder
1/2 tsp Red Chilli powder
4 tbsp Mustard Oil

Method
Add 1/2 tsp turmeric powder and salt into the fish fat, liver and intestine. Mix all the ingredients well. Take a wok, add the mustard oil, once the oil is hot, add the fish fat, liver and intestine into the oil. Fry it until brown in colour. Be very careful while frying these fish organs as the oil tends to splatter and you can get burn. Remove the fish fat, liver and intestine and keep it aside. In the same oil add the onions and the green chillies. Stir and fry the onions for a minute. Add in the potatoes and brinjal. Stir and continue to cook on a low flame for 2 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger paste. Stir and continue to cook for another minute. Add the salt, turmeric, cumin powder and chilli powder. Stir and cover the wok. On a low flame let it cook, stirring the ingredients occasionally. Once the potatoes are cook, add the fried fish fat, liver and intestine. Stir and continue to cook for another 5 minutes. Switch off the flame. It taste best when eaten the next day. Serve it with hot steaming rice.

Kosha Mangsho

This is a very popular traditional Bengali dish cooked on special festivals and occasions... 

The mutton has to be well marinated, it’s ideally marinated overnight in the refrigerator, but minimum 4 to 5 hours of marination is a must.

The mutton is sautéed and slow cooked for an hour or two. It’s is called Koshano in Bengali and hence it’s called Khosha Mangsho / Bhuna hua Mutton. The gravy is rich and dark brown in colour. 

Normally no water is added for cooking this dish, but incase the gravy dries up while cooking then add little water as required.  This dish is served with roti, luchi or porotha.

For Marinating the Mutton 

Ingredients 

1 kg Mutton pieces 

2 Onion and 4 Green Chillies ground into paste

1 tbsp Ginger and Garlic paste

Salt to taste

1 tsp Turmeric powder

1 tsp Coriander powder 

1 tsp Cumin powder 

2 tsp Red Chilli powder 

1 tsp Bengali Garam Masala powder

1 cup Curd

1/4 cup Mustard oil

Method 

Mix all the above ingredients well and let it marinate overnight in the refrigerator or at least marinate the mutton for 4 to 5 hours minimum.

For the Kosha Mangsho 

Ingredients 

Marinated Mutton 

2 to 3 Medium size Onion sliced 

1 tsp Ginger and Garlic paste

Salt to taste

1 tbsp Sugar 

1 tsp Bengali Garam Masala 

4 Green Cardomom 

4 Cloves 

2 small stick Cinnamon 

6 to 8 Pepper corn

2 to 3 Bay leaves 

1/2 cup + 2 tbsp Mustard Oil 

2 tbsp Ghee

Method

Take a pot, add 1/2 cup mustard oil and let it heat. Reduce the flame, add cardomom, cloves, cinnamon, peppercorn and bay leaves. Let the whole garam masala crackle. Add the sliced onions. Sauté and let the onions cook until light golden brown in colour. Add the salt to taste and sugar. Stir for a minute. Add ginger - garlic paste, sauté it for a minute.  Add the marinated mutton pieces. Stir and cook on low flame for 15 minutes. Cover the pot, continue to cook on low heat for an hour, stirring the mutton occasionally. Open the lid, stir the mutton. Once the mutton is tender, add 2 tbsp mustard oil, ghee and 1/4 cup of water. Stir and continue to cook for another 10 to 15 minutes. Sprinkle the powdered garam masala on top of the mutton. Cover and let the mutton stand for 10 to 15 minutes before serving. Serve the kosha Mangsho hot with roti, porotha or luchi. 

Soya Ball Spaghetti

According to the net source, Spaghetti and meat ball was innovative in the 20th century by the Italian immigrants of New York. It’s an Italian-American dish. 

I have replaced the meat and used Soya Chunks. 

Boiled Spaghetti 

Ingredients 

Half Packet of Spaghetti 

Salt to taste

Method 

Cook the spaghetti in a pot of boiling salt water as per the instructions given on the packet. Drain the spaghetti and keep it aside. 

To make the Soya Balls 

Ingredients 

20 - 25 Soya Chunks boiled and water squeezed out

2 Bread pieces 

2 Garlic Cloves 

Salt to taste 

1 tsp Pepper powder 

1 tsp Dried Parsley

Oil to fry the Soya balls

Method

Add all the above ingredients into a grinder and grinder all the ingredients together into a fine paste. Roll out small lemon size balls.  Keep the soya balls for 15 minutes in the refrigerator.  Fry the soya balls until golden brown in colour. Remove the soya balls and keep the soya balls on a paper towel. 

To make the Sauce 

Ingredients 

2 big size Tomatoes blanched, peel the skin and chopped . 

2 Tomato puréed 

2 medium size Onion chopped 

2 tbsp chopped Garlic Cloves 

Salt to taste 

1 tbsp Sugar

1 tsp Black Pepper powder 

1 tsp Dried Basil 

1 Bay Leaf 

Fried Soya Balls

Boiled Spaghetti 

Grated Parmesan Cheese for garnish 

2 tbsp Olive Oil

Method 

Take a sauce pan, add the oil, let the oil heat up. Add the garlic, onion and bay leaf. Sauté the onion and garlic till translucent. Add the tomato purée, chopped tomatoes, sugar and salt. Stir for few seconds, add 1/2 cup water and cover the pan. Let it simmer for 20 minutes on a low flame. Remove the lid, stir,  add the pepper powder and dried basil. Stir it once more and let it simmer for another 10 minutes on a low flame. Switch off the flame and add the soya balls, stir the sauce once.

To serve the Soya Ball Spaghetti

Take a plate, add the boiled Spaghetti. Pour in the Sauce on the Spaghetti. Sprinkle the Parmesan Cheese and serve hot.