Kadle bele Holige | Bele Obbattu

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Holige or Obbattu (aka Pooranpoli in Maharashtra) is the quintessential sweet dish made during some of the Indian festivals.  It's a must in our house for Ugadi, Dasara and deepavali. It's one of my favorite sweets, it can be eaten hot with ghee or cold with milk. There is a by product while making this dish. The water left from cooking the dal is retained to make a very delicious kattina Saru (rasam) along with a tad bit of hurna(the sweet mixture stuffed inside the holige). I was always more interested in this spicy, tangy rasam than holige itself . Here is my mother's holige recipe, I follow these measurements to T and always get perfectly done holige. It yields about 12 medium sized holige. Adjust the quantity according to your requirement.

Ingredients:

Split Bengal gram : 250 gms

Jaggery: 250 gms

All purpose flour/whole wheat flour: 250 gms

Salt: 1/8 tsp

Oil: 1 tbsp 

Turmeric: 1/4 tsp

Cardamom powder: 1 tbsp

Oil/Ghee: for cooking/basting 

Method:

1. Take the flour in a mixing bowl and add turmeric and salt. Knead with a little water and make a soft dough (a little stiffer than chapathi dough). Apply a little oil and keep it covered until needed.

2. Pressure cook the split Bengal gram for 5-6 whistles, once the pressure is released strain the water.

3. In a heavy bottomed pan mix jaggery, cooked Bengal gram and cardamom powder. Cook until the jaggery melts and the whole mixture thickens. Let it cool.

4. Put the jaggery and Bengal gram mixture into a grinder/mixer and grind it so that there are no lumps left. Divide into 12 balls of equal size.

5. Take the rested dough and knead well, make 12 equal sized balls (about the size of a lemon) and roll into a small circle, place the sweet mixture in the center and pull the sides of the rolled dough and cover it up.

6. Roll into a small sized roti with light hands. 

7. Place on the hot griddle and cook on both sides. Baste with ghee.

8. Serve it hot with a big dollop of ghee and enjoy! 

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Shenga Unde | Peanut-Jaggery Laddu

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Peanut Laddus are one of my childhood favorites, the ingredients that goes in are almost the same as peanut chikki that we all must have relished as kids. There is another reason why I love it, Jaggery and Peanut have very high nutritive value, it helps in treating iron deficiency anemia, jaggery is known to increase the hemoglobin count in the blood. Since I keep fighting anemia, all these home made goodies with natural health boosters help me recuperate the iron level in my body. Now it's my 3 year old's fav too so it makes more sense to make these batches of laddus regularly, I feel very happy when she asks for the home made sweets than those highly sugar coated chocolates. 


 

I casually posted an old pic of this laddu on my instagram account last week and the amount of love that I received is so overwhelming and I am really humbled by the generosity and support. So I made these laddus again and managed to click some decent pics to upload the recipe here. This is for all those followers who messaged and commented to ask for the recipe. Thank you all :-)




I have always spoken about how good a cook my mother is, she always has these perfect measurements, I follow her recipe to the T and the result never fails me. Here is the recipe to make shenga/peanut laddu. This makes about 25 medium sized laddus.  You can store it for upto 2 weeks in an air tight jar but who am I kidding, we finish it within 2-3 days :-) It's relatively an easy recipe, once you get the jaggery syrup right the laddus come out perfect. (check notes for tips on jaggery syrup)

Ingredients:

1/2 kg Peanut

1/2 kg powdered Jaggery

1 cup desiccated Coconut

1 tbsp Ghee

1 tsp Cardamom powder

1/2 cup water


Method:

1. Dry roast the peanut on low flame, peel the skin and pulse it to a coarse mixture.


2. Heat ghee in a pan and roast the desiccated coconut until they turn brown.


3. Add water and powdered jaggery in a thick bottomed pan, Cook on medium flame until the jaggery dissolves completely and starts to boil. Lower the flame and check for 1 thread consistency jaggery syrup. (See notes for tips).


4. Once the jaggery syrup reaches the right consistency, turn off the flame and add in peanut mixture, cardamom powder and the roasted coconut. Mix everything well and let it sit for 5 minutes.


5. Apply water on your palm and make equal sized balls. Be careful while handling the mixture as it can be very hot and scald your palm.


6. Store in an airtight jar up to two weeks at room temperature.



 Notes:

1. Do not leave the syrup to boil without checking as it can get done fairly quickly. Keep checking for the consistency once it starts boiling. 

2. Take a little water in a plate and put a drop of syrup, it should let you make a soft ball of it, if it dissolves in the water, continue to boil it check frequently. At this stage the syrup becomes thicker faster so keep an eye on it. 

3. The other way to check is to dip a wooden spatula in the syrup and blow it cool a bit and touch it with forefinger and pull it apart slowly between thumb and forefinger, a single thread is formed that doesn't break. 

4. You can make fine powder of peanut if you do not like the peanut chunks in it.

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Creamy Mushrooms | Mushrooms cooked in Spicy and creamy gravy

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Button Mushrooms are one of our family favorites. Mushrooms are not just delicious but also very rich in nutrients. It's cholesterol free and low in fat, also rich in Vitamin D and B-complex. All the more it's antioxidant property is going to keep you in good health with good immune. Need I say more?


I make Mushroom Omelette, Mushroom Biriyani and sometimes I mix it with other veggies. I tried making something different with it this time. Inspired by Hamlyn's 200 curries cook book I made these spicy creamy mushrooms with some variations. It was an instant hit with my family. Here is the recipe for you to try. I hope you like it as much as we did.

 

Ingredients:

White button mushrooms : 500 gms

Onion: 2
Garlic: 4-5 cloves
Ginger: 1/2 " piece
Peppercorns: 1/2 tsp
Tomato paste:2 tbsp
Cooking Cream: 100 ml
Butter: 2 tbsp (to saute mushrooms)
Oil: 1 tbsp
Cinnamon stick: 1 piece
Cloves : 2-3
Cardamom: 2
Green chillies: 2
Turmeric: 1/4 tsp
Red chilli powder: 1 tbsp
Coriander Powder: 1 tbsp
Cumin powder: 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves for garnish

Method: 

1. Put Onion, Garlic, ginger and pepper corns in a blender and grind to a smooth paste, keep it aside.

2. Wash the mushrooms and pat dry. Slice or quarter the mushrooms.

3. Heat butter in a wok and saute the mushrooms until they turn golden in color. takes about 4-5 mins on high flame. Remove and keep aside.

4. In the same pan heat oil and add whole spices (Cardamom, clove and cinnamon). Saute for 30 seconds or until the oil is fragrant.

5. Add onion paste and saute until the raw smell disappears - for about 1-2 mins.

6. Add tomato paste and all the spice powders - turmeric, red chilli powder, coriander and cumin powder. Add salt and mix well and cook until the oil separates.

7. Add cooking cream and mix it will, bring to boil and reduce the flame. Add sauteed mushrooms and mix everything well.

8. Cook for 2 more minutes and turn off the flame. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with any indian flat breads.






 

 

Notes:

1. You can add more cream if you like more gravy.

2.  You can substitute cream with curd - Add a little milk to the curd and whisk it to bring to the cream consistency.

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Gobi Missi Roti | Cauliflower flat bread with Potato Mint Raita

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My little one is growing up fast and her eating habits have gone from bad to worse. She refuses to eat any vegetable or meat, all that she wants to eat is plain rice with ghee or plain chapathi. It takes a lot of effort to feed her even fruits. As always I try to outsmart her by adding veggies in her food that she cant pick and throw. Recently when I was flipping the channels on TV I stopped to watch the recipe of missi roti on some healthy cooking show and it sounded quite nice. I adapted the recipe from there and made this cauliflower missi roti by combining wheat flour, gram flour and grated cauliflower. I then added small quantities of palak (Indian Spinach) , Methi (Fresh fenugreek leaves) and coriander leaves to make it more healthy. It was so delicious and polished off quickly.

Cauliflower contains a lot of vitamin C and when cooked with wheat flour and gram flour it makes a complete and healthy dish. It's an ideal dish to serve kids who are picky eaters. If you are looking for recipes with cauliflower, it's a go to recipe thats so delicious and easy to make.

Ingredients:

Grated cauliflower: 1 cup
Fine chopped Onion: 1 cup 

Whole Wheat flour: 1 cup

Gram flour: 1/2 cup
Fine chopped Green chillies: 2
Red Chilli powder: 1/2 tsp
Cumin powder: 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida /Hing: 1 big pinch
Chopped Coriander leaves/Methi leaves/Palak leaves: 2 tbsp each
Salt to taste

Method:
 1. Add grated cauliflower, finely chopped onion, green chillies, red chilli powder, cumin powder, salt and hing in a bowl and mix well.

2. Add chopped green leaves and wheat flour and gram flour and make a stiff dough by adding little water at a time. Cover and keep it aside for 15 mins.

3. Knead the dough well, make equal portions and roll into a flat rotis.

4. Put it on a hot skillet, apply oil and flip it and cook on both sides until the roti is golden brown in color.

5. Serve it with chilled Potato Mint Raita.

Potato - Mint Raita:
Boiled peeled and cubed  Potato- 1
Chopped Mint Leaves: 2 tbsp
Low fat Curd/Yogurt : 2 cups
Salt to taste
Chopped Green chilly: 1 (Optional)

1. Mix yogurt, salt, chillies if using and mix well, add mint leaves and potato cubes and combine everything. Serve it chilled.

2. You can also sprinkle red chilli powder, cumin powder and chat masala on top.

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Methi Dal | fresh fenugreek leaves cooked with pigeon peas

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Methi Dal

Dec is always the season of celebration. It starts a bit early for me as its also my bday in Dec:) As you can imagine I ate out a lot of times, ate in excess and a lot of sugary stuff. Now its time to work it off with some healthy and comfort food. After all homemade food is the best, here is the recipe for a very tasty and healthy dish - methi dal. Fresh fenugreek leaves are cooked along with split yellow pigeon peas. It tastes heavenly when served with  steaming rice and a spoonful of ghee.

Ingredients:

Yellow pigeon peas/ Toor dal : 1 cup
Fresh fenugreek leaves: 2 cups
Sliced Onion: 1/2 cup
Green chilies:6-7
Chopped Garlic : 1 tbsp
Chopped ginger: 1 tbsp
Clarified butter/ghee :1 tbsp
Cumin seeds: 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida: 1 big pinch

Coriander powder: 1 tbsp
Cumin powder: 1/2 tbsp
Turmeric Powder : 1/4 tsp
Garam Masala powder : 1/4 tsp (Optional)
Lemon juice : 2 tbsp
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Wash and soak toor dal in enough water for 15 mins and pressure cook with a pinch of turmeric powder and a drop of oil.

2. Clean and wash the methi leaves, roughly chop and sprinkle a little salt and keep for 10 mins. Squeeze and remove the excess water from leaves.

3. Heat ghee in a pan and add cumin seeds, when it splutters add asafoetida/hing and stir. Add in chopped ginger and garlic and sauté until the raw smell disappears

4. Mix in sliced onion and green chilies and cook until the onions are translucent.

5. Quickly mix the spices - turmeric powder, coriander and cumin powder and stir it.

6. Add the methi leaves and cook until the leaves wilt - about 2-3 mins.

7. Add cooked dal and salt and bring to boil. Continue to boil for 5-7 minutes .

8. Add garam a Masala powder if using and mix well. Finally add the freshly squeezed lemon juice and turn off the flame.

9. Keep covered for 5-10 mins so that all the flavors blend well. Serve it hot with steaming rice and a dollop of ghee.

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Palak Paneer |Cottage Cheese in creamy Spinach curry

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My first post of 2016. I wish you all a very healthy and prosperous new year! I hope the year brings all the good things your way. Last couple of weeks had been a roller coaster ride for me professionally and personally that I hardly cooked and clicked. Hectic yearend workload and then my little one's first play school had kind of drained me emotionally:) I was eagerly looking for her first day at school since the time the registration was completed. 

I wanted to see her reaction when she steps into the bigger world out there all by herself although it's just for 2 hours a day. Like most of the mommies I was very emotional but she handled it with ease in the first week. Then started her separation anxiety in 2nd week. Now we are into 3rd week of her play school and things look more or less settled. So far it's been a good year:-) 

I am not a resolutions person but this year I have made a list and the main resolution is to make time for everything that I like this year. That definitely includes making time to post the recipes more frequently and consistently. 

Coming to today's long pending recipe Palak Paneer - it's one of the very famous curries from India, absolutely easy to make and super tasty dish that can hardly go wrong. It tastes really well with Naan/Roti or any other Indian Flat breads. I served it with hot garlic naan with butter on top and sliced onions. 

Ingredients:

Palak/ Indian Spinach : 1 big bunch

Paneer/cottage cheese : 2 cups

Chopped Onion: 2

Chopped Tomato: 2

Ginger garlic paste: 1 tbsp
Red Chilli powder :1/2 tsp
Coriander powder: 1 tsp
Cumin powder: 1 tsp
Turmeric: 1/4 tsp
Sugar: 1/2 tsp (Optional)
Whole garam masalas : Cinnamon Sticks-2, Cardamom: 3-4 and Cloves. 

Crushed Kasoori Methi : 1 tbsp
Oil: 2 tbsp
Salt to taste

Method:0

1. Heat water in a big pot and add washed spinach leaves and 1/2 tsp sugar and boil for 4-5 minutes. Once it cools down grind to a smooth puree and keep aside. Sugar helps in retaining the bright green color of spinach.

2. Heat oil in a deep pan and add whole garam masala and saute until the oil is fragrant. Add cumin seeds and saute for 30 seconds.

3. Add chopped onion and saute until golden brown, next add in ginger garlic paste and fry until the raw smell is gone.

4. Add turmeric powder and then add in chopped tomatoes and saute until tomatoes are soft.

5. Mix in red chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and salt and cook until the oil separates.

6. Add spinach puree and cook on low flame for about 10 minutes. Add crushed Kasoori Methi leaves and let it simmer for another 5 minutes. keep mixing it in between.

7. Now the gravy is ready and its time to add the paneer. You can either add the paneer cubes directly or roast them on a wide pan with a little oil and then add to the gravy. Roasting/deep frying the paneer ensures that the cubes are not breaking after mixing with the gravy but its completely optional.

8. Add in 1 tbsp of whipping cream and serve hot with any Indian flat breads.

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Dal Tadka Recipe

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Dal tadka or tempered lentils dish is very popular all over India. Restaurant menus are incomplete without this flavorful dish. It tastes great with roti/phulka or any flavored rice.

It's a dhaba (roadside eateries) style recipe where dal is pressure cooked with onion, tomato, chillies and tempered with flavorful spices. I have made this dal a lot of times and it tasted as good as from a restaurant. Here is how I make it.

Ingredients: 
Yellow Pegion Pea/Toor Dal/Togaribele: 1/2 cup
Red Pegion Pea/Masoor Dal/Masoor Bele: 1/2 cup
Medium Size Onion: 1
Medium Tomato : 2
Green Chilli: 2
Ginger: 1 inch
Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp
Red Chilli Powder: 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala: 1/2 tsp
Kasoori Methi (Dried Fenugreek Leaves): 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Fresh Cream : 2 Tbsp (Optional)
Garlic: 4-5 cloves
Butter/Ghee: 2 tbsp
Cumin Seeds: 1 tsp
Broken dry red chilli:  1 
Coriander Leaves : handful

Method:

1. Soak both lentils in enough water in a pressure cooker and keep aside for 15-20 minutes.
 
2. Finely Chop Onion, Tomato and Ginger and slit Green chillies lengthwise and add to the cooker.

3. Add Salt, Turmeric and few drops of oil to dal and pressure cook it for 3-4 whistles.

4. When the Dal is cooked open the lid and mash it with a ladle or a wired whisk and keep on medium flame.

5. Add Garam masala powder, Red Chilli powder, crushed Kasoori Methi leaves, Coriander leaves and Fresh cream (if using) and mix well.

6. Adjust the consistency by adding water and bring to boil and turn off the flame.

7. Heat ghee/butter in a tempering pan and add cumin seeds, chopped garlic, Asafoetida and broken dry red chilli and fry until the garlic turns to golden brown in color.

8. Pour the tempering on dal and close the lid.Garnish with remaining coriander leaves and Serve hot with flavored rice or roti/chapathi.

Notes:
1.You can add Bengal gram (Chana dal) along with yellow and red Pegion pea or make it with just one of the lentils.

2.Cream is optional but it gives a smooth texture to dal and enhances the taste.
3.Squeeze in a tsp of lemon juice if the tomatoes are not sour enough.
4.Adjust the red chilli powder and garam masala powder according to your spice preference.

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Methi Thepla | Gujarati Flat Bread recipe

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Time is really flying. My little bunny is going to turn two soon. A lot of things have changed over these 2 years. A lot of experiments have gone in from 1st baby food to the food that she is eating now. As all the moms complain its very difficult to understand the kid's plan, the food they love today can straightaway get rejected tomorrow. When she refuses to eat greens and vegetables I try to feed the same thing in a different form. Theplas or parathas come in handy when I want to include more greens and veggies in my kid's diet

Here is the recipe for easy, delicious Methi Thepla from Gujarat, India. It's a flat bread made with fresh fenugreek leaves and all or combination of whole wheat flour, Gram flour and Corn flour with other Indian spices. This filling dish makes a full meal in itself. You can either serve with pickle/yogurt or just Theplas. It's ideal for packing for picnics and long journeys. I usually make it with only wheat flour to get more softer theplas. Also adding mashed over ripe bananas makes it very soft and delicious for kids.

Ingredients:

Fresh Fenugreek Leaves: 1.5 cups
Whole wheat Flour:  1.5 cups
Cumin Seeds: 1 tbsp
Sesame seeds: 1 tbsp
Curd/Yogurt: 2 tbsp
Ginger paste: 1 tsp
Chilli paste: 1 tsp
Turmeric: 1 tsp
Red Chilli Powder: 1 tsp
Sugar: 1/2 tsp (Optional)
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Wash and roughly chop the fresh fenugreek leaves, add all the ingredients leaving flour and yogurt and mix well.

2. Next add in flour and yogurt and knead into a stiff dough. Cover and keep for 30 minutes.

3. Knead again and divide the dough into equal portions. Dust with dry flour and roll into thin discs.

4. Heat a griddle and shallow fry on both sides until golden basting with ghee.

5. Serve hot with pickle and chilled yogurt.

Notes:
1. If you are making it for kids you can add a mashed overripe banana. It gives the theplas a mild sweet flavor and it tastes delicious.

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Anjal/Surma Rava Fry | Crispy Spicy King Fish Fry

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King Fish, Sear Fish, Anjal, Surma or Surmai called by so many different names, this is a very famous fish in Coastal Karnataka, Goa and Konkan Area. My personal favorite is Masala Fry.

Rava fry gives a different texture to this fish which is crispy from outside and succulent inside. This spicy, tangy and aromatic fish is very easy to make. If you like it spicy please add more red chilli powder. I serve it with simple Rice and Dal and my husband being a cricketer doesn't fail to tell me that it's also Sachin Tendulkar's favorite food ;-). It can be served as an appetizing starter also.

Here is a simple step by step recipe to make this spicy fish fry.

Ingredients:

King Fish Slices : 4

For the marinade paste:
Beaten Egg : 1
Corn Flour: 1 tbsp
Red chilli powder: 2 tbsp
Pepper powder: 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder : 1 tbsp
Garam Masala : 1/4 tsp
Ginger Garlic Paste: 2 tsp
Lemon juice: 2-3 tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil: 1/2 tsp

To Fry:
Oil: 2 tbsp
Rava/Semolina : 1/4 cup

Method:

1. In a mixing bowl mix all the marinade ingredients and whisk it well.

2. Wash and clean the slices of fish and rub the marinade paste well so the fish is well coated with the paste. Keep it in the refrigerator for half an hour to one hour.

3. Heat oil in a big frying pan, dip the fish slice in semolina and coat it from all sides and arrange on the hot pan in a single layer. Let it roast on medium heat for 5 minutes on one side and carefully flip the slices. Once it turns golden brown in color turn off the flame and remove the fish on a paper towel. It will take abt 10-15 minutes depending on the size.

4. Serve hot with lemon wedges and Onion roundels.

Notes:
1. Egg is added for better binding but you can skip it and it will taste just as great.
2. You can also add rice flour along with rava for the outer coating.
3. Adjust the amount of chilli powder as per your taste.
4. You can freeze the marinated fish for a week without it losing the taste.
5. Please sprinkle little salt, lemon juice and turmeric if you want to freeze the kingfish without the full marination. It will help to retain the taste of the fish.
6. This fish can be deep fried as well, I usually shallow fry it with only 2 tbsp oil. Either ways it tastes good as long as the fish is well roasted in hot oil :)

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Coconut Stuffed Capcisum | Bellpeppers stuffed with coconut mixture

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Stuffed Capsicum or Bharwan Shimla Mirch as called in North India is an interesting dish. You can use pretty much anything as filling from Paneer (cottage cheese), potato to onion masala. I have tried to replicate my mother's way of making it with spicy coconut filling. She uses small spicy variety of capsicum. It tastes heavenly with Chapathi or Jawar roti. It's very difficult to find them in Singapore so I have used the regular capsicum, I tried hard to pick the smaller ones :-) You can make it with any color or size of capsicum.

Ingredients:

Small capsicum/bell peppers: 4

Onion: 2

Garlic: 4-5 cloves

Fresh coconut: 1/2 cup

Sesame seeds: 1 tbsp

Red chilli powder: 1 tsp

Cumin powder: 1 tsp

Coriander powder: 1 tsp

Dry mango powder: 1/2 tsp

Sugar : 1/2 tsp (optional)

Salt to taste

Oil: 2 tbsp

Coriander leaves: 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Wash and dry the bell peppers and carefully remove the seeds and pith and empty the peppers.

2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a deep pan and sauté the bell peppers until the skin withers and peppers turn soft for 3-4 minutes. Keep turning the peppers.

3. Remove the peppers and add another tbsp of oil in the same pan and add mustard seeds, when it splutters add cumin seeds and asafoetida. Sauté for 30 seconds.

4. Add finely chopped garlic and onion and sauté until onions turn translucent.

5. Mix in grated fresh coconut and sesame seeds and sauté until it turns golden brown in color.

6. Next add in all spice powders - red chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, dry mango powder, garam masala powder and stir well.

7. Mix in salt and freshly chopped coriander leaves and let it cool for a minute.

8. Fill this mixture into the peppers and arrange them in a microwave/oven safe dish and cook them in microwave for 3-5 minutes on high or grill in oven for 10 minutes 

9. Alternatively you can saute them in a nonstick pan and cook on all sides for 7-8 minutes.

10. Serve hot with chapathi or any Indian flat breads. It also be served as a side dish.

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Mushroom Dum Biriyani

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Who doesn't love biriyani? It's a mixed rice dish with a lot of Indian spices, rice and meat or vegetables.

Chicken biriyani is a favorite at home and I tried to make vegetarian version of it with mushrooms. It tastes absolutely delicious and so much like the ones served in the restaurants.

This can also be cooked with paneer, mixed vegetables or eggs. It's a dum version where the mushroom gravy and 3/4 th cooked rice are layered in a thick bottomed pan with a tight lid and dum cooked. I have used rose water, Kevra water and saffron that add distinct flavor to any biriyani. The list of ingredients is a bit lengthy but most of them are commonly available in Indian kitchens:-) 

Ingredients:

Long grain basmati Rice : 2 cups

Button Mushroom: 200 gms

Fried Onion: 1 cup

Cinnamon stick :1

Cloves :4-5

Green Cardamom: 3

Cashew: 10-15

Red chilli powder: 1/2 tsp

Coriander powder: 1 tsp

Cumin powder: 1/2 tsp

Garam masala: 1/2 tsp

Oil/ ghee :2-3 tbsp

Salt to taste

Coriander and Mint leaves: 2 tbsp for garnishing 

Optional:

Saffron: 1/4 tsp

Milk: 2-3 tbsp

Rose water: 1 tsp

Kewra water (screw pine water): 1 tsp

To grind to smooth paste:

Medium Onion: 2 

Tomato : 1

Ginger: 2 inches

Garlic: 4-5 cloves

Coriander leaves: 3/4 cup

Mint leaves: 1/4 cup

Method:

1. Wash and soak rice in enough water for 30 minutes. 

2. Warm milk and soak saffron in it and keep aside.

3. Grind onion, tomato, ginger, garlic, coriander and mint leaves to a smooth paste in a blender and keep aside.

3. Heat oil/ghee in a pan and add whole spices - cardamom, clove and cinnamon and fry until the oil is fragrant.

4. Add ground paste and sauté on medium flame until the raw smell disappears and oil separates. Takes about 4-5 minutes.

5. Mix in red chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric and garam masala and mix well.

6. Add quartered button mushrooms and salt. Mix properly so that all mushroom pieces are well coated with masala. 

7. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Keep stirring in between. Sprinkle little water if the masala is sticking to the pan. Turn off the gas and keep it aside.

8. Boil water in a large pot and add salt, shahi jeera (black cumin) and a tsp of oil and add soaked rice. Let it cook 3/4th. When rice grains start popping up, press the rice and check. It shouldn't be fully cooked.

9. Drain the water and keep the rice aside.

10. Take a thick bottomed pot with a tight lid and arrange rice and mushroom masala in layers. Put one layer of rice first and sprinkle some fried onion, chopped mint and coriander leaves and add a layer of mushroom masala. Repeat with rice and then mushroom and finish with rice layer on top.

11. Sprinkle remaining fried onion, fried cashew nuts, saffron milk, rose water and Kevra water. Close the lid and keep it on low to medium flame and cook for 15-20 minutes.

12. Open the lid and check the rice grains on top. If it's done turn off the gas and garnish with remaining chopped mint and coriander leaves. 

13. You can serve the dish as it is with layers or Mix them up and serve hot with cucumber raita.

Cucumber Raita:

Beat 2 cups of yogurt, add chopped onions, cucumber, finely chopped green chilli, coriander leaves and salt. Chill and serve with biriyani.

How to fry onions:

1. Finely slice onions and sprinkle some salt and sugar and keep it aside for 15 minutes.

2. Squeeze out extra water and deep fry the onions in hot oil. Remove on paper towel to get crispy fried onions.

3. This can be stored in airtight jars in the refrigerator for 3-4 weeks.

Notes:

If the pot doesn't have a tight lid you can cover the edges with some chapathi dough.

If the pot is not thick bottomed keep it on a heavy pan and then turn on the flame. This way the pot won't be on fire directly and the heat will transfer from pan to the pot and you can avoid chances of biriyani sticking to the bottom of the pot.

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