da biryani !!! hehehehe ...

for those of u who know me from glasgow .... this is the most usual form of the biryani which i make ... 

unfortunately in the last days i was there in glasgow ... it was tough for me to make biryani and be happy about it ... firstly ... shopping ... second ... the cutting and the cooking ... thirdly ... the cleaning ....

yes ... i love cooking and all ... but onli if i m alone ...or if i have my gf next to me ... or at most when theres some one who doesnt come in the way of my cooking (these are the people who learnt that i like to cook when i m alone and watching some thing on ma laptop!!!!)

ok ... this reciepe was first given to me by Shez , Anu Pam's wife ... one of my 'couple friends' who i have ... the first time i made it ... i followed it properly word by word ... then i kept changing it ... and short cuts and all !!!!

heres the exact mail she sent me !!! =P .... and dont even think about asking me about the intro ... 

btw .. read the entire thing before u go off making ... coz wat i did is there at the bottom ... or u can just follow this and be happy !!! =D

Hi Sneeze,

 

Here's what u need :-

 

Chopped Onions - 4

Ginger garlic paste - 3 tbl spoons

Garam Masala powder - 1 tbl spoon

Red Chilli powder - 1 tbl spoon

Salt to taste

Corriander leaves

Mint leaves ( hand full )

Curd or Plain Yogurt - 4-5 tbl spoons

Tomatoes ( 2 or 2 tbl spoons paste )

Oil

Rice - 1/2 Kg

Chicken / mutton - 1/2 kg

 

Process :-

 

Marination

 

Wash and cut medium pieces of the meat of your choice.

 

Fry the pieces in a pan with some oil until golden brown.

 

mix the fried pieces of meat with 4 to 5 tbl spoons full of yogurt or curd and leave to marinate while u do the rest.

 

Cook Rice

 

Cook rice in a bowl with one part rice and three parts water until it boils.

 

Once the rice boils, remove the lid and let it boil until if you were to squeeze a grain of rice it should split into 3 parts not anymore softer.

 

Now drain all the water and leave the rice with the lid open.

 

Gravy

 

Heat oil in a pan or use the same oil used to fry the meat earlier.

 

add garam masala powder and then add chopped onions and ginger garlic paste until golden brown.

 

Now add salt + chilli powder + tomatoes.

 

Then add the marinated meat along with the yogurt and curd + chopped corriander leaves + mint leaves.

 

Mix all ingredients for a minute and then add some water and cover the pan with a lid.

 

Simmer the flame and let the meat cook till tender and the oil starts to seperate and float on top.

 

then add the rice and mix the gravy into the rice and cover the lid.

 

Let this simmer for about 3-4 minutes and turn off the flame.

 

Your delicious biryani is now ready to be served.

 

Let me know how it turned out.

 

Cheers !!
-- 
Shez ..

check out the people who i have sent this to ...

mani , nishil , arshiya , anjali , shimooo, muthu , frazer (scottish) , mauricio (mexican) , noor , dips , ranj .... and from there god knows who all have they sent it to ... coz i seem to be loooking at chats with people saying thanks for the reciepe .... hmmmmm .... 

well .... the shortcuts ....and the other things i did while cooking .... 

instead of frying , microwave the chicken pieces with lemon and garlic - ginger paste along with chilli powder and garam masala powder...... make sure the chicken has enough water in the bowl with the paste as in it should be a thick paste ... 

to make the gravy for the biryani thicker and nicer ... i used very less water and a whole lotta curd ... depends on how u want it ... 

ok ... heres how we south indians make biryani ... slightly diffferent from just addind the rice into the gravy and having it .... wat we do is ....

cook the rice before hand 

after the gravy is done and all ... 

take a bowl or a flat pyrex which is shallow enough .... and first make a slightly thin layer of rice on the bottom ... then next layer , put a thick gravy (no pieces ) , then rice again on top .... now gravy with pieces .... and then rice again ... then a lil bit of gravy here and there and cashew on top..... and put it in the oven or u can have it just like that ... fair enough ... depends on how hungry u are !!!! =D ....

so there u all go ... try it out ... wat u cook wit ur own hands is definitly worth the work .... trust me ... =D

social networks ... not exactly ....

i realized today that i was a member of more social sites than i tot i was !!! 

usually facebook , orkut and hi5 are on my list ... but apparantly ..i m also ther eon wayn , flister , friendster and a lotta more bull shit !!!! i dont even know how i got into all those....

hmmmm....... well now i m in the process of delelting those memberships ... lessee how it goes ....

anyways ... speaking of social networking sites ... yea ... i started off with hi5 ... with no clue as to wat social networking is all about... hell ...i used to network perfectly well with out the web (ask any one who knows me !!!! =P )

then came orkut ....and finally facebook , coz orkut was blocked in dubai !!!!

i kinda realized that there was some thing in the hi5 profile of mine which i had forgotten had existed .... 

a thank u note to all my friends , gf ...and every one else .... 

it was such a stupid note ... but at that time it was heart felt ....

lemme try and access it and post it here !!!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

some thing about my friends .... : 02-Mar-2006 kinda strange ... but this aint the first time i am writing a journal ... any ways ...  i must say something about my friends ... just in case ...  i have a handful of close friends .. or so i hope ... but i must say that it was because of them i am still alive and kicking ... and not yet kicked the bucket ....  >>>like some who helped me get out of my really heartbreaking love break up ..i wouldnt have been here if it hadnt been for them stopping me from doing any thing stupid and insane .. thanks ppl for ur love ...  >>>like those who studied along with me at their homes late into nite to help each other pass our most dreaded exams ... that was actually fun ...sleeping and fooling around ...with a bit of studying here and there ... thanks dudes ..(gals not allowed for combined studies at night ... onli god knows wat can happen ..hehehehe)..and trust me onli god knows how we all actually managed to clear with out much of a problem ...  >>>like the cool guys and gals who i hang around with ... thanks for letting me have some control on my sanity ...  >>>and last but not least ...to my ex gf's ... without them , i would not have realized wat kinda nutty person i am and how much i should have changed ... i still regret having broken up with them ... but if they can come back to my life .... trust me ... it would be amazing ....  >>> i nearly forgot the guys who analyzed me and told me wat kinda person i am ... man ... thanks a lot for the patience and feedbacks ....  thanks guys n gals ... for being with me ... all the while ... and bearing with me ... u all probably deserve noble awards for this ... but kindly adjust for the time with wat i am giving in my speech....thanks again ...  now .....  lets party ?!?!!!  cya  haz ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ok..... i know it sounds real stupid when i read it now ... cant believe wat i was thinking !!!..... anyways ....  i realized one more thing !!!!  my freaking hi5 profile has a better template than my blog ... must find out wat i did back then to get such a cool template !!!! =P hahahahahaha .... hehehehehe ...... cya then ...  got some work to do !!!!