Celebrating #PulaoBiryaniDay with Family

“So who decides that today is Biryani Day?” asked my family.

 I had cooked two pots of Biryanis (one veg and other non-veg) as a special treat. The morning paper had screamed that there are 87 different varieties of Biryanis. I told them that I had an invite to Trident for biryani trail of 12 biryani’s but couldn’t go because I had committed to making one for the family.

“Why suddenly so much fuss over Biryani?” they asked.

Well , why not? Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal, a food connoisseur and my food blogger friend had send me a message few days ago, asking me and many other food bloggers to observe June25th as #PuloaBiryaniDay. She felt that there were special observance days around the globe dedicated to food like World Macaron Day, World Nutella Day and more, but though India is home to rich culinary tradition, we had none. Her idea was well received in the food blogger’s community. Some more food bloggers from other parts of India also joined her in this plan of observing this day in their city. The word spread wild through social media, and lo behold! Whole of India did celebrate June25th as Puloa Biryani day.

Facebook, blogs, Instagram, Twitter, all were flooded with biryani pictures and recipes and many people took part and had potluck or feast at home.

I spent the whole morning cooking and enjoyed every moment of it. Actually my cooking drill started a day earlier when I stood in the kitchen to deep fry chopped onions on low flame till they were dark brown and crispy. I had liked the caramalised taste of it. Also I had marinated chicken in curd, garlic, ginger, chilies and spices.

Since I was alone in the kitchen with music  in the background playing latest Bollywood music, I was in good mood and very attentive. I worked deligently, watching each step and was quite pleased with the results. It was raining heavily so I asked my nephew to come and pick me up. I was to take biryani to my sister’s house (where I spend most of my Sundays)

My sister had cooked mutton too (in case there was not enough biryani, but nobody touched it) she had also made raita and had bought potato wafers. I waited as the family sat down to enjoy the meal and was greatly pleased when the family compliments started to pour in. They all loved it and said that it was better than what they order from restaurants. Well, I am glad. But unfortunately, if I am asked to repeat the same taste, I am not sure if I will be able to make the same taste once more. (I am creative, you see)

Cooking for me is an art that cannot be reproduced, so I jot down the recipe to remember what ingredients I used. Both the Biryanis were made side-by-side, so the taste differ  was only because of meat.

Ingredients

2 cups Basmati rice (wash and soak in water for half an hour)

3 large onions chopped lenghtwise (for deep frying)

2 medium onions peeled and burnt on open flame

8-9 Cardamoms

8-9 Cloves

4-5 star shaped Anise

8-9 Bay leaves

4-5 strands of saffron dissolved in 1/2cup warm milk

½ kg chicken randomly chopped

2 medium size potatoes, chopped and deep fried

200gms Cauliflower deep fried

2 medium Carrots chopped and deep fried

2 inch ginger

6cloves of garlic

4 green chilies

1tsp Cumin seeds

1 tsp aniseeds

1 cup Curds

4 medium Tomatoes

50 grams chopped walnuts

50grams chopped almonds

50grams chopped pistachio

50grams chopped dates

1 cup milk

1 tsp lime juice

1 cup chopped corainder leaves

2 tbsp Briyani masala

salt to taste

Method

1.     Marinate chicken with one inch ginger, 3pods of garlic, 1cup of curds, salt, 1tsp turmeric power and keep it over night.

2.     Deep fry onions on low flame till they are dark brown and crispy.

3.     Boil rice till it is half done, strain and spread in a large plate

4.     Add cloves, bay leaves, star anis, cardamons, ghee, and saffron dissolved in hot milk to the cooked rice. Mix and keep it aside.

5.     Start to prepare vegetables for veg briyani..deep fry chopped potatoes, chopped carrots, and cauliflower.

6.     In a separate pan, heat 1tbsp oil. Add cumin seeds, aniseeds, chopped onions. Add mushroom and corn. Add fried potatoes, fried cauliflower and fried carrots. Add the mixture of curd and tomatoes. Add salt and briyani masala. Mix and cook for 2 minutes. Keep the cooked vegetables aside.

7.     In a pressure cooker pan, heat 1tbp oil. Add cunin seed, aniseeds, chopped onions. Add the marinated chicken (as mentioned above in method one). Add mixture of curds and tomatoes. Add salt and briyani masala. Mix and cook till oil floats on the top. Add 1/2cup water and pressure cook for 2 whistles.

8.     Take a deep pan for vegetable briyani. Coat it with ghee. Spread deep fried onions.(as mentioned above in method 2) add 1 cup cooked spice rice (as mentioned in above method 4) add the cooked vegetables (as mentioned in method 6) cover it with ½ cup spiced rice (as mentioned in method4). Garnish with deep fried onions, chopped almonds, pistachio, walnuts, dates. Sprinkle ½ milk over it. Squeeze ½ lemon juice. Add chopped coriander leaves. cover the pot tightly and seal it with wheat dough and steam it on low flame for 45 minutes.

9.     Take a deep pan for chicken briyani. Coat it with ghee. Spread deep fried onions.(as mentioned above in method 2) add 1 cup cooked spice rice (as mentioned in above method 4) add the cooked chicken (as mentioned in method 7) cover it with ½ cup spiced rice (as mentioned in method4). Garnish with deep fried onions, chopped almonds, pistachio, walnuts, dates. Sprinkle ½ milk over it. Squeeze ½ lemon juice. Add chopped coriander leaves. cover the pot tightly and seal it with wheat dough and steam it on low flame for 45 minutes.

10.  Serve with onion raita and potato chips

Women’s Day Celebration at MiaCucina At 'A Perfect ParTea'

  When I self-invited myself to my cousin’s home for lunch last Saturday, I was not in the know that his wife was not in the town. He answered the doorbell, gave me a quick hug and rushed to the kitchen to complete the task. He had prepared Italian Cannoli for lunch. Not an easy recipe, mind you. He had cooked soya-beans filling, rolled it in garlic flavored tomato paste and layered with cheese. It was a delicious dish.

So who says Kitchen is women’s domain?

No, my cousin is not a chef, and not even a house-husband, its just that when is wife is away, he can cook a decent meal for himself and his guests.

But yes, food is the favorite topic of conversation amongst women. So that afternoon, he drove me to my venue at 'Mia Cucina' (Powai) for the celebration of women’s day hosted by Rushina of APBCook Studio fame.

The room was vibrant with excited murmurs of women from different walks of life, Chefs, entrepreneurs, house-wives, all with a common interest- Food!

The session started with Ashwin Rodrigues talking about ‘CasablancaWines’. It was an interactive session, wine-tasting event of white sparking wine and rose colored fruity wine.

This was then paired with different flavored cheese. Mansi Jasani introduced cheese as ‘just a controlled spoilage of milk’. There were different flavored cheese, some melt-in-the-mouth feta cheese and some aged and smoked cheese. A special mention can be made for the curry leaves flavored ‘Le Pondicheri’ cheese that won the brownie points.

Chef Sunjay Kotian rocked the stage with his delish fig salad, introducing the use of Olive oil in his specialty dishes pointing to the fact that virgin oil be used solely for salads and other olive oil to be used for normal cooking. Four different types of Salad leaves were tossed with dressing of fig sauce, topped with feta cheese, garlic flavored croutons and grated beetroot. He also cooked Spanish Chicken Paella.

Time tickled quickly, but Chef Kainez of TheobromaIndia was quite efficient. She prepared soft, vegetarian green mango and ginger tea cakes in jiffy, each bite so delicious that just one cake was not enough.

While we feasted on Teacakes, we watched short clips from the latest documentary film  ‘India’s Daughter’ Highlight of this event was the beautiful poem on ‘being a woman’ recited by Tess Joseph who had worked on this project along with Leslee Udwin.

This was a fun event; the room was packed with more than 50women. There is always something new to learn from such kind of events. My sincere thanks to Rushina, who takes so much effort to bring women together from all walks of life

Like all food events, the take-away food-gifts are always trendy. The loot that I brought back home

‘Old monk salted caramel sauce’ and ‘Arugul almonds pesto’ by Amrita’s Life ki recipe

‘Madelienes’ by Anurita’s Eighth

‘Cinnamon cookie’ and ‘Nutella sea salt cookie’

by Ruchika’s House of Cookies

‘Organic chai masala’ by Roweena’s Fatfree Almost

‘Tropical nut mix’ from APB Cook Studio’s lust Pantry

‘Classico olive oil’ from Bertolli

‘Feta’ from The Cheese Collective

‘Cooking sheets and frying pan foil’ from Asahi Kasei

Okay, I am thinking of feasting on those Cinnamon cookies and make some fresh salad with tropical nut mix and Feta cheese…and maybe later, try that Chai masala too…..

Celebrating Mumbai Food Bloggers' Day

So now it’s official. November 6^th is declared as ‘Mumbai Food Blogger Day’. I am not sure what we will do on this day next year, or the year there after, but this year is celebrated by getting together at Khana Khazana studio to share the food knowledge with Sanjeev Kapoor at his Dhalia Estate at Versova.

Most of the Mumbai food blogger I know are through social media, and I do meet them regularly online, sharing thoughts and ideas, but meeting personally is a different experience. There is so much excitement and happiness around, each one is anxious to share their food experience. Some of them are great cooks, some good food-photographers, some good food critics and some just enjoy eating food. Just listening to their conversation, reveals  new strands of knowledge I often pick up to taste. This was a special meet, during this meet, all eyes are focused on Sanjeev, because we were to learn from experienced chef who has come a long way.

While sipping coffee, I look around the FoodFoodStudio that has interesting stuff. My thoughts begin to run. Maybe, I need this pasta machine, maybe, I too could set my kitchen shelf like this, I don’t like this color of the wall, brick ethnic look is not my taste, I would do this arrangement differently, various such thoughts float into visual arena of my mind while I survey each section.

The cooking station is all set with the ingredients that are required during the cooking session. There are serving plates and great variety of glasses of different shapes and sizes. Two bloggers volunteer to cook Rissotto and other two bloggers volunteer to cook stuffed Gahlawat kababs. All the ingredients are there, neatly placed in small bowl, the resulting dish would depend upon the creativity used by each blogger.

“Cooking is all about having fun with ingredients, one must just know the science of cooking” says Sanjeev Kapoor and thus begins the long chat by Sanjeev K, while the food bloggers are busy creating a dish.

It is an informative discussion.

 Did you know that salt, not the sugar, is the real cause of diabetes? I didn’t know. We can take care of our diet if we know the ingredients and their context during cooking. We normally associate ingredients with the dish, for example, we associate saffron with sweet dish, bay leaves with Biryani, It is important to know each ingredient by itself, remember its’ basic taste, and know its reaction during cooking. Except for salt, sugar, water and chilies (which has to be just right) all other ingredients can manipulated. Experimenting with ingredients brings in new taste.  If the dish goes wrong, don’t admit it, present as a new dish. Smart cooking is not about cooking complicated dishes, but it is about cooking with the first instinct that comes with the visual taste and doing the unexpected. It is easy to blend into the crowd, but to stand out, one has to do unexpected. You may be average cook but the most important part of your cooking is your presentation of the finished dish.

The kitchen begin to come alive with aroma distracting me from this conversation, and I look behind to see Harsha tossing the mushrooms in a pan. The Rissotto is served in the dish and she tosses the mushrooms on the rice and garnishes it with herbs.

Gahlawat kababs are ready too. They are stuffed with dry fruits. The green chutney looks yum!

But wait…..its time for presentation and surprises.

Sanjeev K walks behind the cooking station and bring out puffed puris. I watch in wonder, while he stuffs the puris with Risotto and places it on the top of tiny glass filled with tomato and mint soup (cooked earlier). How do you eat that? Simple.  a bite into the puri and a sip of tomato soup.

Innovative creation!

Next he prepares the buttermilk, adds mint and squeezes lime. Hmmn,! an experiment perhaps? He pours again into tiny glasses and covers it with the puri stuffed with Gahlawat kabab. This is new for me. Reluctantly, I stretch my hand to try the buttermilk mixed with squeezed lime.

It tastes good.

I am surprised.

The mood is set. I am now interested in what next he has up his sleeve?

He melts the chocolates in micro-oven, beats it and mixes it with cream. In another bowl, he mashes the motichoor laddoos, and mixes with the chocolate cream mixture. The mixture acquires a different texture of glossy brown pearls. In goes this mixture into another puri to be placed on another tiny glass containing the milkshake made from chocolates, coffee, milk and Vanilla ice-cream.

Stomach begins to growl.

Feasting the eyes is not enough, taste I must. Actually I am hungry. I take small bite and wait till the photo session ends.

image by: Sanjeev Kapoor

It is time to splurge on feast. The table is dressed with Thali Peeth with Kharda (chutney), American corn sevpuri, Tikka pita paneer, Tikka pita Chicken as starters. For Mains its Khullad Briyani (vegetarian and non-vegetarian) Mirchi ka sallan, Lulla Mussa Dhal with brown rice and for dessert there is Jamun Bappa Doi and Motichoor Golgappa expresso.

Goodbyes are made with impressive take-away gift that includes on ornamental diya, a jar of Pineapple and Raisin chutney and a personalized Rissotto recipe written in gold on a velvet frame.

A gentle note to PR if they reading this: 

Food bloggers are the group of people who have passion for food and writing, They love to write about food and share their experiences. They are NOT freeloader who are looking for free meals or for food discounts to promote your brand. Please do not appraoch them with a nice juicy carrot, asking them to review, invite them if you must, but only if you appreciate their love for food and understand their passion for writing.