Calicut Mutton Biryani

You will need:
Mutton - 1kg or 2.5 lbs
Onion – 500 gm or 4 medium ones
Tomato - 200 gm or 2 medium sized ones
Green chilies – 100 gm or about 15 in number (Use 20-25 for 2 kg mutton..depending on the hotness of the chili.)
Ginger - 50 gm or a 4” piece
Garlic pods – 50 gm or 8 cloves (big)
Pepper powder – 1 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Plain Yogurt- 3/4 cup (thick)
Fennel(Perinjeerakam/Saunf) - 1 tsp
Poppy seeds (Khus khus) - 1 tsp
Mint leaves (Pudhina) - 1/2 bunch 
Coriander leaves (Malli ela/Dhania) - 1/2 bunch
Curry leaves- a handful
Lemon juice- 1 1/2 tsp or juice of 1 lemon.
Clarified butter (Ghee) - 1/2cup or 1/4 cup mixed with ¼ cup oil
Cashew nuts – 20 gm or a handful
Raisins- 20 gm or a handful

For the rice:
Basmati rice - 1 kg/ 4 cups
Cinnamon (Karuvapatta) - 4 sticks
Cloves (Carambu) - 4 
Cardamom (Elakkai) - 4 
One bay leaf, salt.
Lemon juice- 1 1/2 tsp or juice of 1 lemon
Salt to taste
Biryani Masala:
Cinnamon 2 inch piece
Cardamom 8
Cloves 8-10
Nutmeg 1
bay leaves- 1
Mace 5-6
Caraway seeds 1 tbsp
Star Anise-1
Dry roast all together and grind to a fine powder.

Preparation:
1. Clean the mutton and cut into medium sized pieces. Wash and drain. 
2. Soak the fennel seeds and poppy seeds in a bowl with water for an hour at least and grind with very little water to a very fine paste. If it still feels grainy, add a tablespoon of grated coconut to grind it well. Keep aside.
3. Grind together the ginger, garlic and green chilies into a coarse paste. Chop the tomatoes into cubes and slice the onions. One onion should be sliced extra fine. This one is for the fried onion garnish.
4. Marinate the mutton with the ginger garlic chili, and all the other spices and ingredients except the onions, biryani masala and herb leaves. Add salt too and keep covered for an hour at least. Clean and soak rice for 10 minutes. Keep aside.
5. Heat three fourth of the ghee/oil in a heavy bottom pan. Add the garnish portion of the sliced onions and fry, till golden brown and crisp. Sprinkle some sugar over the onions to speed up the crisping. This should take about 10 minutes. Remove the onions and fry the cashew nuts on medium heat till it turns brown on all sides. Drain and remove. Add the raisins now and stir till they plump up. Remove onto paper towels. This ghee/oil is used for flavoring the rice so save it.
6. Heat up the remaining oil and add the rest of the sliced onions and sauté it till it becomes translucent. Add the marinated mutton, the poppy seed mixture, the biryani masala and the coriander, mint and curry leaves and mix thoroughly. Keep it covered and cook on medium heat for an hour, checking frequently till the oil starts to separate and the meat gets almost cooked but still has a bite left. If the mutton normally requires a long cooking time, you can pressure cook it for just one whistle and then simmer on slow heat to concentrate the gravy. Do not add water at all. Check taste and add more salt or yogurt, pepper etc if needed. 
7. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
8. Heat 3 tbsp of the remaining onion ghee/oil and add the whole spices- cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and bay leaves. Sauté for a second and add the drained rice. Stir the rice till it turns opaque and add 6 cups water (three fourth of the quantity required for ghee rice). Cover and cook on slow heat the rice along with all spices and salt, till all the water is absorbed. This would take about 5-8 minutes.
9. In an oven proof dish, spread half of the mutton masala and place half of rice over it. Sprinkle some lemon juice to prevent the rice from sticking. Spread the remaining masala and top it with rice followed by lemon juice. Pour 2 tbsp of ghee/oil on top of it and sprinkle some roasted onion, nuts and raisins. Close it with a layer of aluminum foil and then lid and put it in the oven for 25 - 35 minutes. Remove and let rest for another 5-10 minutes before opening.
10. Serve with coconut chutney (biryani chammandi), Pickled onions (Ulli surka), Yogurt and Papadam.
P.S. The biryani masala freezes extremely well, so if you have extra masala, separate it after cooking and freeze it immediately. Defrost and make ghee rice to go with it and you have instant biryani.

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Fish Molee - Fish Stew with Coconut Milk Recipe

You will need: For the Marinade:
Pompano/Pomfret/King Fish/ Fish Fillets- 1 lb or ½ kg
Turmeric- 1/4 tsp
Red chili powder-1 tsp
Lime/Lemon Juice-1tbsp
Salt- ½ tsp
Oil- 3 tbsp
For the Stew:
Onion- 1or 2.
Green chilies- 6 
Ginger-1/2 piece
Garlic- 1 clove
Tomato-1/2 tomato
Coriander powder- ½ tsp
Fresh Ground Pepper- 1tsp
Salt to taste 
Thick Coconut Milk – 1/2 cup
Very thin coconut Milk- 1 cup (Dilute the thick milk with water)
Lime Juice or Vinegar-1/2 tsp
Curry leaves- 1 sprig
Coconut oil or Canola oil- 1or 2 tbsp

Preparation:
1. Preparing the Fish: Clean and slice the fish. Wash it and toss with lime juice. Pat dry the fish with paper towels and marinate with the salt, chili powder and turmeric for at least 15 minutes outside the 
refrigerator. 
Heat the oil in a shallow pan till medium hot and gently pan fry the fish fillets for about a minute or two on each side, just until it changes color and firms up. This step can be skipped if the fish is very delicate or if you are using skinless fish fillets. Drain onto paper towels and keep aside.
If using fresh or frozen grated coconut, make two extractions of coconut milk. First extract 1/2 cup and then second 1 cup. Thin coconut milk is the second extraction with shredded fresh coconut and water which is considerably thinner than the thick milk from the first extraction. Keep aside. Slice ginger, garlic and onions. Slit the green chilies and chop the tomato into quarters.
2. Stew: Heat oil in a pan and sauté sliced onions, garlic and ginger, curry leaves. Add the coriander powder and continue stirring for a minute. Add the second extraction of coconut milk, lime juice and salt to taste. The thin diluted coconut milk will not separate, so when it starts to boil, add the sliced fish and cover. Cook on a slow heat for about 5-10 minutes. 
When done, add the tomatoes and pepper; check taste and remove from the stovetop. The tomatoes should not get cooked and the pepper added in the end gives it an irresistible aroma.
3. Ensure that the heat is absolutely low or even off, before adding the thick coconut milk or first extraction of coconut milk. Do not let it come to full boil after that. You could continue simmering for another 5 minutes. 

I use the claypot (Meenchatti) which holds the heat and continues the cooking even after I take it off the flame. Remove from fire and serve hot.
This curry’s taste is hinged on the fresh flavors so it may not taste the same the next day. This is not one for the long haul.

P.S. You cold even replace half the coconut milk with low fat milk to reduce the cholesterol factor. If it is good quality coconut milk, once the flavor is set, adding a lot more (for more gravy) will not increase the flavor.

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Meat Cutlet (Beef/Mutton) - Recipe

You will need: (Makes 16 cutlets)
Lean Ground Beef or Mutton- 1/2 lb
White Potato-3 (Approx. 3 /4 lb)
Onions- 2 medium sized ones
Green chilies- 8 
Turmeric- A pinch
Garlic- 2 cloves
Black pepper- 2 tsp
Biryani Masala/Garam masala- ½ tsp (optional)
Lemon juice- 2 tsp.
Salt to taste 
Coriander leaves- 1 cup chopped finely
Canola Oil- ½ cup
Egg –1
Bread crumbs- 1 cup

Preparation:
1. Chop the onions, garlic and chilies finely and put in a shallow pan, without oil. Add the uncooked ground meat, turmeric, and mix .Let it cook for 10 to 15 minutes on high heat, uncovered. Stir to prevent any particles from sticking to the pan. 
2. As the meat cooks, it lets out oil which in turns fries the onions. So there is no need to add oil. After 15mins, take the mixture off the flame and add the lemon juice, garam masala and pepper. Drain onto paper towels to remove excess oil.
3. Meanwhile, wash each of the potatoes, wipe them dry and cover with plastic wrap. Place them in the microwave and adjust the setting for the baked potatoes. All the potatoes can be cooked at the same time. Alternatively, the washed potatoes can be pressure cooked with ½ cup water for a single whistle.
4. Peel the potatoes and mash them with your hands/potato masher or the back of a spoon. There should be no lumps.
5. Add the meat mixture to the potato, and add the chopped coriander leaves and salt. Mix and taste and add more salt or lemon juice if needed.
6. Make lemon sized balls of the mixture and shape it into an oval or round shape.
Beat the egg (You can use just egg whites too) with a pinch of salt. Keep a plate with bread crumbs also ready.
7. Dip each oval ball into the egg and then into the bread crumbs. Give it a final shaping.
8. Heat oil in a pan and shallow fry the cutlets till brown on either side.

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Egg Curry With Coconut Milk - Recipe

You will need: 
Eggs-5.
Onions- 1 1/2 cups chopped (2 medium sized one)
Tomatoes-1 Plum Tomato
Green chilies - 6 
Garlic – 1
Ginger- a small piece
Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
Red chili powder- 1 tsp (more or less as per taste)
Coriander powder-1 tbsp
Coconut Milk-1 cup ( 3 tbsp coconut milk powder mixed with 1 ½ cup warm water)
Rice Flour- 1tsp mixed with 1/4 cup water.
Salt - to taste
Oil-2 tbsp
Curry leaves – one sprig washed

Preparation Method
1. Keep the eggs for boiling with enough water. This should take a bout 15 minutes. Peel them, cut into long halves and keep aside. Grind the ginger-garlic and green chilies together coarsely.
2. Heat the oil in a large non stick pan, and add the onions and curry leaves. Sauté on medium low heat for 3-4 minutes, till it turns translucent and add the green chilies paste. Take care not to let it stick to the pan.
3. Now add the tomatoes, all the spices and 1tbsp water. Saute on low heat till the spices give out their fragrance. It is important to let the coriander and chili powder cook as it will taste funny otherwise. So take your time at this step. Add 1 cup water and when it boils, add salt.
4. Lower the heat and slide in the egg halves gently, with the yolk exposed to the top. Add the coconut milk and rice flour mixed in water. Use the spoon sparingly after you add the eggs and try shaking the pan instead. Check seasoning and add more if needed. Let it simmer for about 5-8 minutes till the curry thickens. Remove from flame and let it sit for some time to absorb all the flavors. Serve with puttu or roti.

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Fish Curry (Tilapia) - Recipe

You will need:
Tilapia Fillets-2-3(1/2 lb)
Onion- 2 cups finely chopped
Tomatoes-2 plum tomatoes (medium size)
Green Chilies-5-6 
Ginger-1 inch
Garlic-4-5 cloves
Red Chili Powder-1 tsp(use less as per taste)
Turmeric-1/2 tsp
Lemon Juice- 3 tbsp
Salt to taste
Curry leaves, Cilantro -one handful
Oil-3-4 tbsp

Preparation:
1.Cut the fish fillets into 2-3 inch sizes and rinse the with lemon juice and drain. Sprnkle some salt and turmeric and chili powder and coat. Keep aside for 10 minutes. Meanwhile chop all the ingredients finely.
2. Heat 1-2 tbsp oil in a non stick pan(definitely nonstick else you will need more oil) and saute the fish fillets gently on medium high heat till they change color. Flip them over and cook the other side. This is just to firm up the fish and not to deep fry it. Drain onto a plate and keep aside.
3. Scrape off all the fish from the pan and reheat with the remaining oil. Add the curry leaves and chopped onions. Saute just till they start turning brown at the edges. This needs oil to fry well or patience to do it on low heat. Either way, after it is sauted, add the green chilies, ginger and garlic. Saute till the aroma is realeased and then add the red chili powder, turmeric and stir well. 
4. Add the chopped tomatoes, stir well on medium heat till it starts breaking down. At that point, add the fish fillets and 1 small cup of water.
5. Now comes the tricky part. Do not use the spoon liberally to stir after adding the fish. Hold the pan with mittens and shake to combine the fish and gravy. Add salt, cover and let it simmer for 5-6 minutes on medium heat. Now open and cook for another 4 minutes, just to concentrate the liquid. Add the cilantro leaves and check seasoning. Add 1 tsp of lemon juice if your tomatoes are bland.
Serve with rice or roti or bread.

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Malabar Chicken Biryani - Recipe

I had a lot of requests to post a Chicken Biryani recipe but somehow in my house, since there is more of all the other biryanis being made, this one got left behind. But it is just as good as the other ones so give it a shot. Better late than never, here it is finally. The photo is not complete since I ran out of onions and nuts for garnish but here it is. Also a good mix of masala and rice somehow isin't photogenic! So the final photo is how the biryani should look like before it gets attacked. 

Chicken biryani is not fun if the chicken gets dried out and tastes like cardboard. So start with halal small chicken and you are on the right track. Do marinate as much as possible for better taste. If the marination time is more than 2 hours, omit the yogurt in the marinade as it is a meat tenderizer and will break down the meat too much. In that case, add the yogurt when u start cooking. Do not skimp on the ghee-oil while frying the onions for garnish as this is a celebratory dish..not diet food. That oil poured over the rice gives the crucial flavor while dumming or cooking in vapor. 
Do not leave the rice in the oven after the alloted time as it will dry out the whole masala and rice.(Spoken from an unfortunate experience.:() Use basmati rice that you are familiar with and not a new sack of rice opened for the occasion. (Another unfortunate experience when the rice got sticky!!)
Do make it in the holidays and let me know. 


You will need: Serves 6 people with a good appetite.:) or 8 people
Chicken - 1 Small chicken of about 2-3 lbs 
Onion – 400 gm or 4 medium ones
Tomato - 200 gm or 2 medium sized ones
Small Hot Green chilies – 100 gm or about 17 in number
Ginger - 50 gm or a 2 inch piece
Garlic pods – 50 gm or 8 cloves(big)
Pepper Powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Plain Yogurt- 3/4 cup (thick)
Fennel Seeds(Perinjeerakam/Saunf)- 1 1/2 tsp
Poppy Seeds (Khus khus) - 1 1/2 tsp
Mint leaves (Pudina) - 1 cup chopped
Cilantro leaves (Malli ela/Dhania) - 1 cup chopped
Curry leaves- a handful
Lemon juice- 2 tsp or juice of 1 lemon.(not lime)
Biryani Masala-1 tablespoon. Recipe is noted below.
Clarified butter (Ghee) - almost 1 cup or 1/2 cup mixed with 1/2 cup oil
Cashew nuts – 20 gm or a small handful
Raisins- 20 gm or a handful

For the rice:
Basmati rice - 1 kg/ 4 cups
Cinnamon (Karuvapatta) - 1 stick of 3 inch
Cloves (Carambu) - 4 
Cardamom (Elakkai) - 4 
One bay leaf, salt.
Lemon juice- 1 1/2 tsp or juice of 1 lemon
Salt to taste
Biryani Masala: 
Cinnamon 2 inch piece
Cardamom 8
Cloves 8-10
Nutmeg 1
bay leaves- 1
Mace 5-6
Caraway seeds 1 tbsp
Star Anise-1
Dry roast all together and grind to a fine powder.

Preparation:
1. Clean the chicken and cut into medium sized pieces. Wash and drain well. 

2. Soak the fennel seeds and poppy seeds in a bowl with water for an hour at least and grind with very little water to a very fine creamy paste. If it still feels grainy, add a tablespoon of grated coconut or a couple of cashew nuts to it to grind it well. Keep aside.

3. Grind together the ginger, garlic and green chilies into a very coarse paste. Pulsing them instead of non stop grinding works better. Chop the tomatoes into cubes and slice the onions. One onion should be sliced extra fine. This one is for the fried onion garnish.

4. Marinate the chicken with the poppy seed mixture, ginger, garlic, chili, and all the other spices and ingredients except the onions, biryani masala and herb leaves. Add salt too and keep covered for two hours at least. Marinating is very important in the case of chicken to help it to absorb the flavors. (But don't marinate the chicken over night as the texture will change. If you have to marinate overnight, omit the salt, lemon juice and yogurt and add that the 1 hr before cooking.) 

5. Heat three fourth of the ghee/oil in a heavy bottom pan. Add the garnish portion of the sliced onions and fry, till they turn golden brown and crisp. Add a sprinkling of sugar to speed up the process. This should take about 10 minutes on medium low heat.. Remove the onions and stir fry the cashew nuts on medium heat till it turns brown on all sides. Drain and remove. Add the raisins now and stir till they plump up. Remove onto paper towels. This ghee/oil is used for flavoring the rice so save it.

6. Heat up the remaining oil and add the rest of the sliced onions and saute it till it becomes translucent. Add just the marinated chicken, and saute it on all sides for 3-4 minutes on high heat. Add the rest of the marinade and the biryani masala and the coriander, mint and curry leaves and mix thoroughly. Cook it uncovered on medium high heat while stirring constantly till the visible liquid is reduced to half. 
Then keep it covered and cook on low heat for about 20 minutes. Check frequently to prevent burning and wait till the oil starts to separate. There should be some gravy left and the chicken should be almost cooked, not-coming-apart cooked. Add water only if there is no liquid for the chicken to cook. Check taste and add more salt or lime, pepper etc if needed.

7. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. 
8. Clean and soak rice for 10 minutes. Keep aside. Heat 3 tbsp of the remaining onion ghee/oil and add the whole spices- cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and bay leaves. Sauté for a second and add the drained rice. Stir fry the rice till it turns opaque and add 6 cups water (three fourth of the quantity required forghee rice). When the water-rice mix comes to a boil, cover and cook on slow heat till all the water is absorbed. This would take about 4-7 minutes.

9. In an oven proof dish, spread half of the chicken masala(it should have some thick gravy)and place half of rice over it. Sprinkle some lemon juice to prevent the rice from sticking. Spread the remaining masala and top it with rice followed by lemon juice. Pour the ghee/oil(leftover from frying the onions) on top of it and sprinkle some garam masala, fried onion, nuts and raisins. 

Close it with a layer of aluminum foil , crimp it along the sides and then put the lid and put it in the oven for 20 -25 minutes. Remove and let rest for another 5-10 minutes before opening. 
10. Serve with coconut chutney (biryani chammandi), Pickled onions (Ulli surka), Yogurt and Papadam.

Alternately, if you are just cooking a small quantity, when the chicken is almost cooked and the gravy reduced, spread all the half cooked rice over it,right into the saute pan. Sprinkle nuts, raisins and onions and close with a tight fitting lid. Heat a flat cast iron skillet or the Indian Tawa, place the saute pan on it and cook on high heat for 20 minutes and then turn off the flame. Let it rest unopened on the tawa for another 15 minutes and now the "dum" work is also done.
Open and serve the top rice as white rice and mix part of the rice with the masala and serve separately.Enjoy!


Calicut Biryanis are usually made with a special rice called Kaima as the grains are smaller and impart a nicer texture to the Biryani. Kaima is a small aromatic flavorful rice also called "Jeera Rice", it stands apart just like Basmati. Available in all Indian stores here. You could use basmati too if you prefer. The photo below shows the difference in both qualities of rice.

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Nadan Kozhi Curry - Chicken Curry Recipe

This is the traditional chicken masala curry made on a regular basis in my mom’s house. She makes it when there are impromptu guests for breakfast with pathiris, or for dinner with neichoru or madikki pathiri.
For a long time, I had been adding variations to this recipe, but gradually gravitated away it, finally forgetting the original recipe. So it was a pleasure to get it back from my mom and start over again.
This chicken curry uses most of the whole spices locally available in Kerala, which in turn gives it its unique flavour, associated widely with Malabar curries. You could omit adding more water in the end to make it a Chicken Masala (Kozhi Varatiyathu).

Cooking time: 25 mins Preparation time is another 10 mins
You will need: 
Chicken-2 lb, (750gm) cleaned and cut into small pieces.
Onions- 2.5 cups chopped (3 medium sized one)
Tomatoes-2 cup tomatoes (2 medium sized ones)
Green chilies - 6 chopped 
Ginger–Garlic paste – 2 tbsp
Turmeric powder – 3/4 tsp
Red chili powder- 2 tsp (more or less as per taste..this will be spicy)
Coriander powder-3 tsp
Whole spices: 2”long Cinnamon stick, 4 cloves, 3 cardamom
Pepper- ¼ tsp (whole or crushed)
Leaves: Coriander, Mint, each a small handful, chopped
Salt - to taste
Oil-4 tbsp
Curry leaves – one sprig

Preparation Method
1. Wash the chicken and lightly toss it with lemon juice and rinse again. Drain well onto a slotted drainer.
2. Heat the oil in a large shallow pan, add the whole spices. Sauté till the fragrance fills the air and then add onions. 
3. Fry onions till transparent and add chilies, ginger and garlic and stir well. Then add the tomatoes, all the spices and chicken and cook uncovered on low heat till water comes out. Do not add any water: it will prevent the spice powders from getting cooked. This will take between 10-15 minutes. Keep stirring to avoid the spices from getting stuck to the pan.
4. Add salt and the pepper. Check to see if the chicken is cooked. If there is no water, add ½ cup water and now cook it covered for five minutes to let the chicken cook well. Add ¾ water to make extra gravy and let it boil well. Add the leaves, leaving the coriander leaves for the last, after switching off the flame.

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Roasted Cauliflower - Indian Style Recipe

You will need:
1 medium cauliflower torn into florets
1 Onion cut into dices
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
5-6 whole cloves of garlic (optionally with skin on)
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon roasted cumin powder
1/4 teaspoon Turmeric
1/2 teaspoon red chlli powder( or paprika)
2-3 tablespoon chopped cilantro


How to do it:
Cut the cauliflower into florets and wash the florets and drain well.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Line a large roasting pan or tray pan with foil. Place the cauliflower florets and onion dices in it. Pour  the olive oil all over the cauliflower, and sprinkle the salt, turmeric, sesame seeds, chili powder, cumin powder and cilantro and mix well with your hand. Add the garlic cloves too. Place the saute/roasting pan in the oven and cook for 20-30 minutes, checking and stirring to ensure even roasting. Garnish with more chopped cilantro and serve immediately while still warm.

Variations:
Sprinkle a pinch of garam masala if you like.
Use only salt , pepper and finish off with parmesan cheese.
Use only sambar masala and salt.
Tell me your variation.

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