Soya Chunks Biriyani

Soya Chunks if made properly can easily  replace meat .. There are many recipes that we can make with Soya Chunks. Here I have made Biriyani using Soya Chunks.  It’s ideally made on a veg day in my house.. its served with raita. 

To Marinate the Soya Chunks 

Ingredients 

200 grams Soya Chunks boiled, washed and water drained out 

1 tsp Ginger paste 

1 tsp Garlic paste 

1/2 tsp Fresh Chilli paste 

1 tbsp sliced fried Onion 

1/2 cup Curd 

Salt to taste 

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder 

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds powder 

1/2 tsp Coriander powder

1/2 tsp Garam Masala powder 

Method 

Take a bowl, add in all the above ingredients, mix all the ingredients together and keep it aside for 1 hour. 

To Make the Rice

Ingredients 

250 grams / 1 cup Basmati Rice washed and soaked for 30 minutes and water drained out

1/2 tsp Caraway seeds / Shahi Jeera

Few Pepper Corns

1 Star Anise

1 Green Cardamom 

2 Cloves

1 small piece Cinnamon 

2 Bay Leaves 

Salt to taste 

Method 

Take a pot, add 2 cups water, let the water boil, add the spices, bay leaves and the salt. Now add the rice. Let the rice cook until it’s 80 percent done. Once done switch off the flames. Add a cup of water and drain the water out from the rice. 

To make the Soya Chunks Biriyani 

Ingredients 

Marinated Soya Chunks 

6 to 8 small size Potatoes peeled

Few Coriander leaves chopped 

1 tbsp sliced fried Onion

Salt to salt 

1/4 tsp Turmeric powder 

Pinch of Saffron 

1/4 tsp Rose Water

1/4 tsp Kewra Water

1 drop of Biriyani flavoured Essence - optional 

1 cup Milk 

6 tbsp Ghee

Method 

Take a heavy cast iron pot, add 4 tbsp Ghee, let it heat, on a low flame, add the potatoes, little  salt and turmeric powder. Sauté and fry the potatoes. 

Meanwhile take a hot cup of milk, add saffron, rose water, Kewra water and Biriyani essence. Once the potatoes are fried, add the marinated soya chunks. Stir and cook for a minute. Add 1/3 cup of milk, now add the cooked rice and spread the rice well, pour the milk, remaining ghee, sprinkle the fried onion and coriander leaves. Cover and let it cook on low flame for 15 to 20 minutes. The liquid in the Biriyani should dry up. Switch off the flame, don’t open the pot, wait for 15 to 20 minutes and then serve with raita of your choice. 

Kerala Meal - Prawn Fry, Okra and Egg Curry, Cabbage and Carrot Thoran and Moru

I have been blessed with few good friends who are family to me more than friends.. These recipes have been shared by one such friend... who belongs from Kerala, and I thank my Almighty, who has always provided me the opportunity to make good food even though we are homebound 🙏🏼

One of the recipe - Okra and Egg curry is from her Aunty’s Kitchen. Here are the recipes that I made for one of our meal. Here I have adjusted the spices as per our taste.. 

Fried Prawns 

Ingredients 

1 bowl of cleaned and shelled Prawns 

1 small piece of Ginger crushed 

3 Garlic Cloves crushed

Few Curry Leaves 

1/2 tsp Pepper Powder 

Few Fenugreek seeds

Salt to taste 

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder 

1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder 

1 tsp Vinegar 

Coconut Oil for shallow frying 

Method 

Take a bowl, add prawns, salt, turmeric, chilli powder, pepper powder, ginger - garlic and vinegar. Mix all the ingredients and marinated for an hour. Take a pan, add oil, add few fenugreek seeds, now add the prawns and fry until golden crispy fried. Add the curry leaves and switch off the flame. 

Vendakka Mutta Curry / Bhindi and Egg

Ingredients 

6 Eggs boiled with little salt and cut into halves 

200 gram Okra chopped into big pieces 

1 medium size Onion sliced 

3 Green Chillies slit

4 to 5 Garlic cut into big pieces 

Juice of 1/2 lime. 

Few Curry leaves 

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

1/2 tsp Fennel seeds 

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds

2 Green Cardamom 

1 piece of Cinnamon 

Salt to taste 

1/2 tsp Coriander Powder

1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder

1/2 tsp Pepper Powder 

1/4 tsp Chilli Powder

2 cups of Diluted Coconut Milk 

1 cup of Undiluted Coconut Milk 

1 tsp Vinegar 

3 tbsp Coconut Oil 

Method 

Take 1 tbsp oil in a pan, heat it up, add the Okra and little salt. Cook the okra until it is light brown in colour. Add lime juice to the okra, stir and keep the okra aside. Take a pot, add 1 tbsp oil and once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds. Sauté the mustard seeds until it crackles, then add the onions and let cook for 2 minutes, add the green chillies and garlic. Sauté for another minute. Add the curry leaves. Continue to cook until it turns brown in colour. Remove all the masala and keep it aside. In the same pot, add the remaining 1 tbsp oil, reduce the heat, add the crushed fennel, cinnamon, jeera and cardamom, coriander powder, turmeric powder, pepper powder and chilli powder. Sauté for few seconds. Add diluted coconut milk, add little salt and boil the curry, as the curry begins to boil add the fried Okra.

Now place the egg pieces in the curry. Continue to cook, stir the curry gently, now add the thick coconut milk and add the fried masala and vinegar into the curry. Switch off the flame. 

Cabbage and Carrot Thoran 

Ingredients 

1 cup of Finely chopped Cabbage 

1 small Carrot finely chopped 

1 Onion chopped

2 Green Chillies slit

Few Curry Leaves

1/4 cup Grated Coconut 

Salt to taste

1 tsp Turmeric powder 

1 tsp Vinegar 

2 tbsp Coconut Oil 

Method 

Add coconut oil in a vessel, let the oil heat up, add mustard seeds and onion, stir fry until the onion pieces are translucent. Add grated coconut, green chillies, curry, salt and turmeric. Cook the masala until the oil release. Add the cabbage and carrot, cover the vessel and cook on a low flame, stirring it occasionally until the vegetables are cooked. Add the vinegar and switch off the flame. 

Moru Curry  / Curd Curry

This is the curd base curry from Kerala. There are many variations to this recipe.. in this recipe the curd is not cooked... there are many types of vegetables like ash gourd, bitter gourd, ridged gourd etc that can be boiled and added.. here I have used tomatoes. 

Ingredients 

2 medium size Tomatoes cut into cubes 

2 Green Chillies slit

1 small Onion chopped 

1 small pieces of Ginger finely chopped 

2 Garlic Cloves finely chopped 

Few Curry leaves 

1/4 tsp Cumin

1/4 tsp Mustard 

1/4 tsp Fenugreek 

1/4 tsp Carom seeds

1/4 tsp Fennel seeds

One Pinch Asafoetida 

1/2 tsp crushed Pepper Powder 

Salt to taste 

1 tsp Turmeric Powder 

1 cup Curd beaten

1 tsp Coconut oil 

Method 

Take a vessel, add coconut oil, heat the oil, add the whole spices, asafoetida, onion, ginger, garlic, green chillies, curry leaves, salt and turmeric. Sauté until the masala release the oil. Reduce the flame and add the tomatoes, cook for 2 minutes. Switch off the flame, add the masala to the curd and mix all the ingredients together. Add freshly ground pepper powder from top. 

 

Classic Bread Pudding

Classic Bread Pudding

It’s my childhood favourite dessert, It’s very nostalgic for me as my MA use to make this for me.  It’s made with bread, milk, egg, sugar, butter, raisins or dry fruits and flavoured with vanilla or nutmeg or cinnamon etc.  All the above ingredients are easily available in our kitchen pantry.  The bread is soaked in the liquids, it’s baked and served warm. It’s delicious. 

Ingredients 

2 cups of Bread cubes

1 1/2 cups of Milk 

 2 tbsp + 1/2 tsp Butter

2 Eggs Beaten

4 to 5 tbsp Sugar

1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence  

1 tbsp Raisins 

Method 

Take a sauce pan, add milk and sugar. Heat the milk until the sugar dissolves. Switch off the flame. Add 2 tbsp butter. Cool the milk down. Add the eggs and whisk the milk. Add vanilla essence and raisins. Grease a baking pan with 1/2 tsp butter, add the bread cubes. Pour the milk over the bread. Press the bread with the fork, so that the bread soaks up the milk. Bake at 180 degrees celsius for 30 minutes in a preheated oven. Insert a tooth pick and check, if the tooth pick comes out clean.. then remove the baking tray from the oven. Serve the bread Pudding warm. 

Chaman Olu / Cottage Cheese and Potato

It’s a Kashmiri dish that is made with cottage cheese and potato. It’s served with rice. It’s a very simple dish, yet very delicious.
I have adapted the recipe from Ms. Purnima Kachru’s cook book.
We enjoyed the dish with hot steamed rice.

Ingredients
250 grams Cottage cheese cut into medium size cubes
1 big  size Potato cut into thick roundels
4 Green chillies slit
1/2 tsp Turmeric  Powder
1/2 tsp Ginger Powder
1 tsp Fennel seed Powder
1 pinch Asafoetida
Salt to taste
1 Black cardamom crushed
2 Cloves crushed
2 Green Cardamom crushed
1 1/2 tbsp Curd
1 1/2 tbsp Milk
1/2 cup Mustard Oil
1 tbsp Ghee
1 1/2 cup Water

Method
Take a wok, add mustard oil, heat the oil. Reduce the flame. Fry the cottage cheese until the edges are golden brown in colour. Take a pot, add water, add salt and turmeric powder. Add the fried cottage cheese into the water. Now fry the potato roundels and add the potato roundels into the water. Add ginger powder, fennel powder, asafoetida and black cardamom. Place the pot on the gas stove and cook the ingredients on medium heat until the water reduces into half. Beat the curd along with the milk. Pour the milk - curd into the pot, stir the gravy constantly and cook for 5 minutes. Remove the gravy from the flame. Take ghee in a pan, let it heat, add the green cardamom and cloves. Sauté and pour the ghee into the gravy. Add green chillies to garnish. Serve the dish with steamed rice.

Misti Aloor Pata R Chingri Macher Mathar Chorchori

This is a very traditional Bengali recipe that’s cooked only at home and not commonly found in restaurants... we had grown sweet potato in our balcony pot... after 4 months we got some sweet potatoes and sweet potato leaves... I was extremely happy... 

Prawn head Chorchori is made normally with Malabar spinach, potatoes, sweet potato. brinjal and pumpkin with fish head or prawns or small fish but since I got sweet potato leaves, I made the dish with this leaves and sweet potato... some brinjal too can be added to this dish. Fish can be avoided and can be made only vegetarian. Only turmeric, salt and Mustard oil is used to cook this dish along with some garlic, onion and green chillies. 

A plate of steamed rice and this dish is enough to satisfy our souls... this dish will taste more delicious if eaten on the next day... 

Ingredients 

1 big bowl of Sweet Potato leaves washed and cut into pieces 

1 big Sweet Potato washed and peeled 

1 big size Onion sliced 

5 to 6 Garlic cloves crushed 

4 to 6 Green Chillies slit 

1 bowl of Prawn head / after cleaning one kg of prawns or any small fish cleaned and marinated with 1/2 tsp turmeric and Salt. 

Salt to taste 

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder 

4 tbsp  + 1 tsp Fortune Mustard Oil

Method 

Cut the sweet potato into medium thin strips.. in Bengali we say Shoru kore kata... it was fun to use the boti after a long time. 

Take a wok, preferably a iron wok... I used steel wok as I was cooking on induction-stove. Add 3 tbsp Mustard oil. Let the mustard oil heat up. Fry the marinated prawn heads until crispy. Remove and keep it aside. Add 1 tbsp of Mustard oil into the same wok. Add sliced onion, garlic and green chillies together. Stir fry the onion until soft and translucent. Add the sweet potato. Stir and cook for a minute. Add the salt and turmeric. Stir and add 1/2 cup of water. Stir and let it simmer for a minute. Add the sweet potato leaves. Cover and continue to cook until the water has reduced and the vegetables are  almost cooked. Open the lid and gently stir the vegetables. Add the prawn heads and stir it gently. Cover and cook for another 1 minutes. Open the lid and the stir it gently. Switch off the induction. Before serving drizzle mustard oil. Serve the dish with steamed rice.