Sweet Melange For A Merry Christmas -Fruit And Nut Laddoos

SWEET MELANGE FOR A MERRY CHRISTMAS

FRUIT AND NUT LADDOOS

INGREDIENTS

Pitted dates - 2 cups

Raisins - 1/2 cup

Almonds - 1/2 cup

Cashew nuts - 1/2 cup

Diamond sugar - 2 tbsps

Cloves - 1 tbsp

Honey - 2 tbsp

METHOD

1. Dry roast cloves,almonds and cashew nuts until you get a pleasant aroma.

2. Shred dates into small pieces.

3. Chop the roasted nuts coarsely using a blender.

4. Add the dates and raisins to the blender and give it one more swish.

5. Remove the fruit and nut mixture on to a plate and add diamond sugar.

6. Mix in honey and knead the mixture until it becomes  a sticky mass.

7. Grease your palms, scoop out small portions from the mass and shape them into plum sized mini laddoos.

Watch out while making these laddoos or else the delicious Fruit And Nut Laddoos will disappear even before the process of making is completed!

Shrimp, Mushroom and Potato Biriyani

I wanted to make food for one of my friend and told her that I would get a shrimp recipe. When I looked into the freezer for shrimp, I didn't have enough to make a curry. So I kept thinking, then I thought instead of making rice and curry, why not make shrimp biriyani, but still the shrimp will not be enough, so I started to check the fridge to add any veggies. I had mushrooms and potatoes. Ok, as these combo will work well, I made biriyani...omg! it was awesome....nice try! :)

Ingredients:
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1 pkg Shan's Bombay Biriyani Masala
1 lb Shrimp - peeled, deveined and cleaned
2 small Potatoes ( I used red skin potatoes with skin)
1 box Mini Bella Mushrooms (chopped or sliced)
1 large Onion, sliced
2-3 Green Chilies
2 Tomatoes
1 tbsp Ginger-Garlic paste
1 cup Yogurt
1 cup Mint leaves (chopped)
1 cup Cilantro leaves (chopped)
1 cup fried Onions (got it from store)
1 juice of Lemon/Lime
Salt as needed
1 tbsp Ghee (Clarified Butter)
1 1/2 tsp Oil
4 cups Rice
2 1/2 cups Water for cooking rice

Method:
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1. In a heavy bottom pan, add ghee and oil, when it's hot enough, add onions and saute it until they turn golden brown.
2. Add ginger-garlic paste and saute it until the raw smell is gone.
3. Now add the mushrooms, potatoes, tomatoes and biriyani masala and cook it on medium high flame for about 5 mins, or until the water from the mushrooms, evaporates, completely.


4. Now add the yogurt and again on high flame cook for about 2 mins. Now add the shrimp and mix well and off the flame.
5. Transfer this gravy to a bowl, leaving a bit of the gravy in the same pan.
6. Meanwhile wash the rice, and remove the water and keep it for about 20 mins.
7. Now in the same pan add the rice and saute it with the little masala for about 5 mins on medium flame, until all the rice is coated with masala and the rice gets little toasted.
8. Meanwhile heat 2 1/2 cups of water in microwave for about 2 mins.
9. Now slowly add this water to the rice and bring it to a boil and cover and cook on medium flame until a little bit of water is still there in the bottom of the pan, else you can cook the rice in rice cooker (but make sure that it should be just more than half cooked).
10. Now in a baking dish/oven safe bowl/foil tray or any dish that is oven safe for layering the biriyani to cook.
11. Preheat oven to 350F.

12. Layer the baking dish with the gravy as the first layer, then add a layer of rice, then sprinkle some fried onions, mint leaves and cilantro leaves.

13. Repeat above steps for about 2-3 layers.

14.  Close the dish with aluminium foil and bake it for about 30-40 mins or until the rice is cooked and fluffy.

15. Serve this with your choice of gravy/raita.

Sending this recipe to Reva of Kaarasaaram - Royal Feast Biriyani event.

You Might Also Like:

	Chicken Biriyani
	Fish Mango Biriyani

Red Capsicum Chutney

The vegetable which you can see anytime at my refrigerator is capsicum. TH and I love capsicum a lot and I used to incorporate it in all possible ways in my cooking. One day, I simply substituted the red capsicum in place of carrot in Carrot chutney and the result was very good than expected. After that I tried this chutney with all the other colours of capsicum. All were good with very slight change in taste. I am blogging red one here, substitute with your favourite colour capsicum instead of red one and enjoy!

Basic Information:
Preparation and Cooking Time: 30 minutes + 10 minutes for cooling
Serves: 3-5

Ingredients:
Red capsicum - 2 nos, big size
Urid dal - 2 tablespoons
Dry red chilli - 6-7 nos or adjust to your spice level
Salt - to taste
Tamarind - 1 small pinch
Oil - 5 teaspoons
Mustard seeds and urid dal - 1/2 teaspoon
Curry leaves - 1 string
Asafoetida - a pinch, optional

Method:

1) Remove the seeds from red capsicum and cut into cubes. Soak tamarind in 3 tablespoons of warm water.
2) In a Kadai/Pan,  Dry roast urid dal and dry red chillies in low flame. When urid dal releases nice aroma and turns light brown colour, transfer it to a dry plate.
3) In the same pan, add 3 teaspoons of oil and fry cubed capsicums till they are tender and well cooked. Allow it to cool completely.
4) Combine urid dal, dry red chillies, capsicum, salt and tamarind and grind using a mixer/coffee grinder till you get a smooth or coarse texture (texture is absolutely your preference and also add water as per requirements). Transfer the ground ingredients to a bowl.
5) Heat the remaining oil in tempering/same pan. When it is hot, add mustard seeds and urid dal.
6) When mustard seeds splutter, turn the flame off and add curry leaves and asafoetida.
7) Pour this seasoning to the chutney and mix well.

8) Serve with Dosa or Idly.

Note:

1) Add channa dal with urid dal if you prefer. Add 1or 2 garlic clove(s) for flavor if you prefer.

2) Make sure to remove the seeds, it might burst while frying.