Chicken and peas akhni/pilau

I'm not feeling too well (i have a very nasty cold) and i fancied some pilau/akhni, that was not too time consuming. As i already had a baby chicken in the fridge, i thought i would cook chicken and peas pilau, and using some left over chicken mince mixture, make some kebabs. Here is the recipe for the akhni/pilau:

Ingredients for chicken curry:

2 tbsp oil
3 cardamoms
3 cloves
3 peppercorns
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
1 tbsp minced ginger and garlic
1 and 1/2 small onions, finely sliced
Salt to taste (little less than usual)
1 baby chicken, curry cut
1 and 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp madras hot curry powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 and 1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp garam masala powder

For the rice:

5 rice cooker cups basmati rice, washed and soaked for a minimum of half an hour
2 tbsp ghee
Pinch of cumin seeds
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
3 cardamoms
3 cloves
3 peppercorns
1 tbsp minced garlic and ginger
1 and 1/2 small onions, finely sliced
Salt to taste
A handful of frozen peas
Food colouring (optional)
7 green chillies
Fried onions
Chopped coriander

Firstly wash then soak your basmati rice for a minimum of 30 minutes.

To make the chicken curry, in a non stick wok put in the oil and whole spices (cardamoms, cloves, peppercorns, bay leaves and cinnamon stick) and once oil is infused, add the ginger and garlic and brown. Then add the onions and salt, and after stirring for a minute, add the chicken. Stir well, then cover and cook on a medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring regularly.

Once chicken is half cooked, add in your powdered spices, stir, cover and cook on a low heat for a further 10 minutes. Add water only if you think the curry will burn, otherwise the curry is meant to be very dry. Check regularly.

Whilst the curry is cooking, take another pan and put in your ghee. Then add the cumin seeds, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, cardamoms, cloves and peppercorns. Once ghee is infused, add the minced ginger and garlic and brown. Once browned, add your onions and salt and fry on a medium heat until the onions are slightly golden.

Add your peas and stir well. Cover and cook for 2 minutes before rinsing your rice well and adding to the onions and peas. Turn the heat up to high and mix rice well until all grains have been coated in ghee. When you feel the rice sticking to the pan, scrape them off, lower the heat and add your chicken curry to the rice.

Mix well again, then add in enough water to cover the rice and chicken. Water should come 1cm above the rice mix. Stir again, cover and cook for 5 minutes on medium heat.

After 5 minutes, take cover off, then dot food colouring in 3 places (optional - i do this to make it fun for my son), add your green chillies, sprinkle fried onions all over and garnish with chopped coriander. Cover the pot with foil and place the lid over the foil. Fold in excess foil in the sides, put the pot on the smallest hob and on the lowest heat, and cook for 10 minutes or until water is fully evaporated.

Be careful when checking, the steam is hot. Leave the oilau under foil until you want to serve. This will ensure your grains remain lovely and separated.

Once opened, mix well to ensure even distribution of onions, chicken food colouring and coriander.

Serve as you wish!

Hope you enjoy!

Yaz ❤

Daal ghosht

I have seen this dish pop up on my Insta feed a few times recently, and been inspired to cook it myself. My recipe is as follows:

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 cup chana daal/split pea lentils, washed and soaked in double water for 3 hours or more
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
A pinch of fennel seeds
3 bay leaves
4 cardamoms
5 peppercorns
4 cloves
1 large cinnamon stick
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp minced ginger
4 small onions, cut in chunks
1 green capsicum, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1.2 kg mixed mutton
Salt to taste
Chopped coriander stalks
2 tsp turmeric powder
3 tsp chilli powder (to taste)
3 tsp curry powder
2 tsp cumin powder
2 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp garam masala powder
Chopped coriander to garnish

Firstly soak your chana daal for a minimum of 3 hours at least. This will soften the daal to cook in the least amount of time.

Then in a heavy bottomed pot, put in your oil and once hot, add your whole spices (cumin seeds, fennel seeds, bay leaves, cardamoms, peppercorns, cloves and cinnamon stick). Once oil is infused, add in your minced garlic and ginger and brown. When browned, put in your onions, capsicum, tomato, meat, salt and chopped coriander stalks.

Mix well, cover and cook on a low heat for 45 minutes, until water has evaporated and onions have dissolved. Stir regularly and add water if it is getting dry.

After 45 minutes, add in your powdered spices (turmeric, chilli, curry, cumin, coriander and garam masala) and stir well. Also drain your chana daal and add in at this point. Stir well and give a quick blast on medium to high heat for 5 minutes. Then put on low and add enough boiling water to cover the meat and lentils. Stir again, scraping off any bits on the bottom or sides, cover and cook for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, the sauce should have reduced. Check to see if lentils break between your fingers. They should be soft, but if not there then cook for a further 15 minutes. Once cooked, turn heat off and garnish with coriander.

And that's it. Serve with hot basmati rice and a salad.

Hope you enjoy!

Yaz ❤

Keema, Aloo and Egg Biryani

My mum cooked a delicious biryani when I was visiting last week - a meat and chicken concoction which was finished within the day (usually there are leftovers - not this time!), so this inspired me to make this biryani today.

Normally being lazy, I would make a pilau/akhni which just consists of uncooked rice being added to a bhuna style chicken/meat/fish dish, and cooking together. But I thought I would attempt the harder rice dish being biryani today, after a not so happy week. Why not enter the weekend on a happy note and for me being happy equals nice food.

To make this dish, I had to cook several components separately, the keema, the rice, the potatoes and the egg, then combine all together at the end for a final cook.

Ingredients for rice:

5 rice cooker cups rice, (soak in water until required)
Boiling water
Salt

Ingredients for keema:

3 tbsp. oil
2 small cinnamon sticks
4 cardamoms
4 cloves
4 peppercorns
3 small bay leaves
1 inch ginger, minced
7 cloves garlic, minced
3 small onions, chopped
Salt to taste
500g minced mutton/keema, washed and drained
1 tsp. turmeric powder
1 tsp. chilli powder
3 tsp. curry powder
1 and 1/2 tsp. cumin powder
1 tsp. coriander powder
1 tsp. garam masala
1 blended tomato
Chopped coriander stalks

Ingredients for potatoes:

3 medium potatoes, cut in large cubes
Pinch of turmeric
Pinch of chilli powder
Pinch of salt
1 tbsp. oil

Ingredients for eggs:

4 large eggs
Pinch of turmeric
Pinch of chilli powder
Pinch of salt
1/2 tbsp. oil

Additional ingredients for layering process:

Food colouring (I used 4 colours for 4 layers)
Fried onions (I used pre made fried onions)
Melted ghee

Firstly, wash then soak your rice in almost double the water. Put to one side.

Boil your potatoes, until just soft. (I did this in the microwave to save time and cooker space. Just use a microwaveable bowl, then put your potatoes and enough water to just cover the potatoes. Cook on high heat for 5-7 minutes.) Drain the potatoes, then put you turmeric, chilli powder and salt in and mix well. In a frying pan, put in your oil, then fry the potatoes until golden brown on all sides. Leave to one side.

In a small saucepan, put your 4 eggs in and boil until hard. Peel, then put your turmeric, chilli powder and salt and marinate the eggs. In the pan that you fried the onions, put in a little more oil, then fry the eggs until golden brown all over. Leave to one side.

In a large saucepan, put in your oil and once hot, add your dry spices (cinnamon sticks, cardamoms, cloves, peppercorns and bay leaves). Once oil is infused, then add your ginger and garlic. Allow to brown then add your chopped onions and fry on a high heat, watching that they don't burn. You want them to brown a lot.

Once browned, add salt, then your keema/mince. Stir and break the keema up so you don't get big lumps. Once keema has browned, add your powdered spices (turmeric, chilli, curry, cumin, coriander and garam masala powders), then mix well. Add a little water so the spices don't burn and allow to cook for 5 minutes. Then add your blended tomato and coriander stalks. Stir well again, then allow to cook for a further 5 minutes.

Whilst keema is cooking, boil some water in the kettle, and put in an other large saucepan with some salt. Once it comes to a continuous boil in the saucepan, carefully drain your rice, and add it to the boiling water.

Going back to the keema, add approximately 1 cup (250ml) of boiling water to the keema, turn the heat to medium and allow to cook for a further 5 minutes or until oil separates. Turn off heat, and leave to one side.

When your rice is 3/4 cooked (you can tell when this is when you take a grain of rice and when you break it, it goes into 3 pieces), drain your rice, or use a sieve to get the rice out (which is what I did).

In a big saucepan, you want to start the layering process. Drizzle some ghee in the bottom of the pan, add a layer of rice, then add food colouring, some of your fried potatoes and some fried onions. Put a light layer of the keema on top of this and spread out evenly. On top of the keema, put another layer of rice, spread evenly, then drizzle with ghee, add food colouring, potatoes and fried rice. Add keema and spread evenly. Repeat this until you reach the last/top layer which should be rice. On the top layer, drizzle some ghee, food colouring, cut the 4 eggs into half and arrange across the top in a circle, fried onions and coriander. Cover the entire top of the saucepan with foil, then put the lid on. This will create a dum process, which means that the heat stays in the saucepan, allowing the rice to cook and separate nicely.

Leave to cook on a very low heat for about 10 minutes, or until rice is fully cooked.

Serve on it's own with a salad and maybe raita.

I know this seems like a long process, but i think it's definitely a dish for a special occasion, or when you feel like cooking something interesting!

I hope you guys enjoy!

Yaz ❤