Chicken and Rice Soup

My sister mailed me this recipe when my boys were unwell. It is a very popular Korean dish. It is very simple and healthy with no spices and no oil. To make it even more healthy, I added loads of veggies in it. Also I did not use a whole chicken, but chicken breasts. And while serving, I did not separate the chicken from the soup. My boys ate this without any complains!! This is my first soup post!!!!

Ingredients:
Chicken Breast: 1 pack
Rice: 1 cup
Garlic: 1 cup
Veggies: 1 cup cubed (carrots, peas, beans, cauliflower, potatoes)
Eggs: 2
Spring Onion: 3
Salt and Pepper: as per taste

Method:
1. Wash the rice and soak it for an hour.
2. Clean the chicken and trim off the fat.
3. Place the chicken in a large pot, and add around 8 to 10 cups of water.
4. Add 1 cup garlic and boil for 15 minutes on a high flame. Then turn down the heat, cover and cook for 15 more minutes.
5. Drain the rice, and it to the chicken. Also add the veggies.
6. Remove any fat floating on the top with a spoon.
7. Boil covered for 20 more minutes.
8. Meanwhile, chop the spring onion stalks and beat the two eggs.
9. Once the chicken is tender and falling off the bones, season with salt and pepper.
10. Add the Spring onion, and the eggs, stir and cook for 3 more minutes.
11. Serve hot and enjoy.

Veg Handi Biryani

Wishing everyone a Belated Happy New Year!!!
Got this awesome recipe book set as a gift from my mom. "Tasty Eating for Healthy Living" by Sanjeev Kapoor. It is a set of five books. I made Veg Handi Biryani from Volume Four.  I just made one change to the original recipe. I added paneer and capsicum as well.The dish turned out very good. My boys ate it happily which means that it was good. :) It is a very good dish for fussy eaters.

Ingredients:
Basmati Rice: 1 1/2 cups
Carrot: 1 cut in cubes
Cauliflower: 1/4 medium separated into florets
French beans: 10-15
Green Peas: 1/2 cup
Capsicum: 1 medium
Paneer: 200 gms
Onions: 4 medium
Saffron: a few threads
Kewra: a few drops
Salt to taste
Green Cardamoms: 2-3
Black Cardamom: 1
Cloves: 2-3
Cinnamon: 1 inch
Bay leaf: 1
Oil: 3 tsp
Caraway seeds: 1/2 tsp
Ginger garlic paste: 1 tbsp
Coriander powder: 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder: 1 tsp
Yogurt: 3/4 cup
Tomatoes: 2 chopped
Coriander leaves: for garnishing
Mint leaves: for garnishing
Ghee: 1 tbsp

Method:

1. Chop one onion and slice the others.
2. Soak the saffron in kewra water.
3. Boil the rice in four cups of salted water with the green cardamon, black cardamon, cloves, cinnamon and bay leaves, until 3/4th done. Drain and spread the rice on a cotton cloth. This way all the grains of rice will be separate from each other. 
4. Boil the carrot, cauliflower, french beans and green peas together in three cups of salted water till 3/4th done. Drain and refresh under running water.
5. Heat half the oil and saute the sliced onions till golden brown. Drain on a kitchen towel.
6. Heat the remaining oil. Add the caraway seeds, and when they change colour, add the chopped onion and saute till golden.
7. Add the ginger garlic paste and stir well. 
8. Next add the coriander and turmeric powder, and the yogurt, and mix well.
9. Then add the tomatoes and cook on medium heat till the oil separates from the masala.
10. Add the boiled vegetables, capsicum and paneer and mix well.
11. Arrange alternate layers of the vegetables and rice in a handi. Sprinkle saffron flavoured kewra water, coriander leaves, mint leaves, sauteed onion slices and ghee over every rice layer. Make sure you end with the rice layer topped with the garnishes.
12. Cover and seal with aluminium foil or roti dough. 
13. Keep the handi on a tawa and cook on low heat for 20 minutes.
14. Serve hot with raita or dal and papad.

Grilled Chicken with Garlic Rice

This one is a favourite with my boys. If I ask them what they want for dinner, this is what they ask for. This is a combo that they eat without any complains. The garlic rice was a favourite with my sister and me also when we were kids. Our dad used to make it for us. Both the garlic rice and the grilled chicken is very easy to make. And it hardly takes any time.

For the Garlic Rice:

• Use left over rice, or make fresh if needed.
• Heat ghee or butter, saute as many chopped garlic cloves as preferred. Some people like lots of garlic and some prefer less.
• Add the rice and salt and mix well.

For the Grilled Chicken:

• Marinade the chicken with curd, ginger garlic paste, salt, garam masala powder, turmeric powder, lemon juice and 1tbsp oil, for 4 to 6 hours in the refrigerator. 
• I also added some diced capsicum and diced onions to the marinade, but that is optional.
• Bring it to room temperature before you grill it or barbecue it.

Prawn Biryani

I am back after a long time...again. Wanted to make something that I had not eaten for a long time, so decided to make Prawn Biryani. I browsed the Internet like crazy, and finally I found the simplest recipe on YouTube. It was so easy to make. I decided to make it and since only my mom and I were here, I made only a bit. The chef in the video did not give the quantity for any of the ingredients, so neither am I.

Soak Basmati Rice for 30 mins. Marinate the prawns for some time with ginger garlic paste, salt, chili powder and coriander powder.

Boil water for the rice. When the water just starts to boil, add oil, salt, shahi jeera(Black cumin seeds), cloves, cardamon, cinnamon, black pepper and a bay leaf. When the water is boiling well, add rice. The rice should be cooked till it is 85 to 90% done. Drain and keep aside.

Heat oil. Add cardamon, cinnamon, cloves, mace and cumin seeds. When they start spluttering, add the prawns and fry. Add prawns bit by bit. If all the prawns together they will leave a lot of moisture, and then instead of frying, the prawns will boil and we want the prawns fried, not boiled. Fry for around 3 mins or till 50% cooked.

Remove the prawn and retain the oil in the same vessel. To this oil, add curd, and mix it well. Next add chopped green chillies, coriander leaves, mint leavers, salt, biryani masala and fried onions.

Then add the prawns and mix well once. Spread it in the dish. Add the rice on it and spread. Sprinkle coriander leaves, fried onion, garam masala powder(cloves, cinnamon, cardamon and black pepper) and saffron diluted in water.

Cover with an air tight lid and cook on low flame for around 7-10 mins.

When done, mix well and serve hot.