Thalassery Chicken Biryani

While writing this post I thought about a song, which we used to sing in the childhood.. biryani vekkalalla perunnalu... :) Yeah, that is true, but I was waiting to give you all my special Eid gift, this Thalassery Biryani. This one is easy to prepare, not much worries about the cooking time of rice, but the amount of ghee used is much higher than the other biryani recipes I have posted here. Try out, enjoy with your family and don't forget to leave your valuable opinions... Eid Mubarak!



Ingredients used,
chicken 1/2 kg
onion 4 medium size
tomato 2 medium
garlic cloves 7 big
ginger 1 1/2" piece
green chillies 2
coriander leaves 1/2 cup chopped
mint leaves 2 Tbsp chopped
pepper powder 3 tsp
turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
garam masala powder 2 tsp
curd 3 Tbsp
lemon 1
essence or rose water as desired
salt
ghee

For marinating chicken,
turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
chilli powder 1 tsp
garlic ginger and green chilly paste 2 tsp from the ground paste
garam masala powder 1/4 tsp
salt

For making ghee rice,
basmati or biryani rice 3 cups
onion 1 medium
cinnamon sticks 3 each 1/2 "
cardamoms 3
cloves 3
water 5 cups
salt
ghee

For garnishing,
onion 1
cashews few
raisins few



How I Prepared,
Heat little oil or ghee,roast cashews and raisins and remove from the pan.
Fry the finely chopped onions in the same oil, until golden brown.
Remove and keep aside.

Grind together garlic cloves, ginger and green chillies.
Take the juice of lemon and remove seeds.
Heat 2 Tbsp ghee in a non stick frying pan, shallow fry the chicken.
Fry until the outer part turns slightly golden, no need to cook the chicken well.
Remove and keep aside.

Heat 3 Tb of ghee in a heavy bottomed vessel, saute chopped onions until semi transparent.
Add remaining garlic, ginger and green chilly paste, saute well, until the mixture turns light brown.
Add chopped tomatoes and salt, cook until the tomatoes are mashed well.
Add chopped leaves, pepper powder, turmeric powder, garam masala, curd and chicken pieces.
Pour the melted ghee too that remained after frying chicken.
Mix and cook on a low flame covering the vessel.
Stir occasionally to avoid the masala stick to the bottom of the vessel.
When cooked well, switch off fire, keep the lid closed.

Then make ghee rice according the instructions in the ghee rice recipe, but use the amount of water used here.
When the ghee rice is cooked, spread it over the masala, evenly without breaking the rice.
Pour some ghee over this, as desired.
Sprinkle little garam masala, very less, over the rice.
Sprinkle lemon juice, and place some pudina stems (with leaf) over the rice.
Cover with an aluminium foil, then place the lid over it.
Place a tea pot or another pan with hot water over this.
Place the vessel on a very low flame for 15 minutes, then switch off fire.
Open after 1/2 hours at least, then remove pudina stems, mix carefully.
Garnish with fried onions, cashews and raisins and serve hot with raita and pudina chammanthi!

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Kaayappola / Pazhappola / Egg and Banana Sweet

Few ingredients and a wonderful dish! Once you have, you will crave for it...
This is also known mutta marichathu in Malabar. Don't know what is the difference between kayappola and mutta marichathu, hope some experts could help.. :) Try using non stick pressure cookers or pans while preparing this to avoid sticking.
Am little busy, thats why not responding to your queries, please bear with me. Will try to reply you once when am free, insha Allah.



Ingredients used,
bananas 2
eggs 3
cardamom 3 no. powdered
sugar 2 or more Tbsp
ghee 2 Tbsp
raisins few
cashew few



How to prepare,
Boil bananas in little water.
Drain water when cooked and allow to cool.
Chop bananas into small pieces.
Heat 1 Tbsp ghee in a pan, roast cashews and raisins.
Take them, keep aside.
Next, fry the chopped banana pieces in this , flip over to do both sides.
See pazham vaattiyathu recipe.
If needed, add more ghee for this.
Then break eggs into a bowl.
Add cardamom powder, sugar and beat well.
Add the bananas , cashews and sugar to this.
Heat a pressure cooker, grease it with remaining ghee.
Pour the mixture into it.
Put lid, without weight.
Cook this on a very low flame for about 15 minutes.
Check occasionally by inserting a tooth pick to know the dish is cooked inside.
When done, allow to cool.
Transfer to another pan to serve.

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Ney Pathiri / Deep Fried Rice Roti or Bread

It had been about 10 years since I saw a perfectly prepared neypathiri.. Though I happened to watch the whole preparation, I didn't get the proper recipe.. Recently a nice friend, from Malabar side, who owns a blog left a comment in my blog with the neypathiri recipe. My interest in trying out Malabar recipes prompted her to do it. That was I searching, a proper recipe from a Kannur / Thalassery home.. Thanks to Shab! You must visit her if you love to try out Malabar dishes. And there are lots of other types of yummy dishes too in her kitchen.
About the neypathiri, like the name indicates the pathiri is deep fried in oil.(Ney means oil here, no need to fry in ghee) When I made it, I finished the first two, my father was there, he also took three, and he didn't need his lunch because of it.. :)It tastes great with chicken or other meat curries.Shabs has a list of her favourite curries to take with. I served chicken kurma with it..
While making this, I din't add rice powder as Shabs said, since I hadn't un roasted rice powder at that time. So I just ground the soaked rice with very less water and poured it to a very clean nice cotton cloth. Then tied the edges of cloth together and hanged it on the sink-tap as my Kannur neighbour did.But mom suggested to take it and place on a cutting board and keep a water filled bowl on it. It worked and soon the water oozed out from the ground paste.After you open the cloth, you get a very nice dough witch never sticks to your fingers!
This is a must try for you all those who love some tasty dish. Forget the deep frying part for at least once.. :)
While I was preparing this post, I got a message from from Mrs.Mano, that she happened to eat fried pathiris from a resturarant, she loved it much and asked for the recipe! :)



Ingredients for making ney pathiri,
1 cup puzhukkalari/ parboiled rice or raw rice / pachari or a mixture of both
1 medium onion or small onions
1 1/2 tsp perumjeerakam
1 cup fresh coconut
salt,water and rice powder



How to prepare,
Soak rice.
Grind it along with as little water as possible into grainy paste.
(Don't make a very fine paste.)
Finally add fennel seeds,coconut, onion and grind until onion and fennel is crushed well.
Add salt and Mix enough rice powder to make a dough like pathiri.
Make lemon size balls and place it on palm.
Press it slowly to make small pathiris not bigger than puris in size.
Pathiris should not be too thin.
It should have a thickness of 2 or 3 puris.
Deep fry them in very hot oil.
Allow to fry both sides by turning occasionally.
Fry until golden brown.
If your dough is correct, your neipathiris may puff up like puris!
Njoy!

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Kalathappam / Rice flour Cake

Kalthappam / kalathappam is a famous snack from Kerala Muslim cuisine.It is kind of cake prepared by rice flour. Some prepare it without adding sugar, and take it with curries.At home,it is prepared as an evening snack especially for children coming from school.The aroma of fried small onions and coconut pieces are really appealing!I always loved this, and mom prepared this for me during my visit to her. She prepared it on the ordinary firewood stove top,(a furnace like stove without smoke).There are few other ways of cooking this, like baking, or on a gas stove.If you make it on a gas stove, use frying pans,oil it, cover and flip over the dish. Or you can make this in a pressure cooker too.



Ingredients
Rice powder 2 cups
jaggery 2 blocks or as desired
coconut grated 1 cup
small onions 4
egg 1 optional
cumin seeds 1/4 tsp
cardamom crushed 2 or powdered
salt
coconut oil



Grind together,
coconut,2 small onions and jeerakam / cumin seeds with enough water.



Melt jaggery in little water and remove impurities.
Break egg into a pan.Mix with ground solution , rice powder, jaggery, cardamom powder and enough salt.The batter should be thick like idly batter. So add water according to that.
Chop 2 small onions.
Heat a heavy bottomed pan / chatti. Pour little coconut oil as we take for seasoning curries.
Fry chopped small onions in this.
Pour the batter into this.If you cook this on an ordinary firewood stove cover with a banana leaf / vazhayila and place a lid on it and put some coal over it.
Or you can bake this in an oven. check it is cooked and browned as you see in the picture.
Do add ghee roasted coconut pieces / thenga kothu for extra taste!



Cut into pieces and serve with tea when it is done.. Enjoy!

How to make kalthappam in a pressure cooker.
Somebody had asked me how to make kalthappam in a pressure cooker. I was not able to reply that time, and recently I tried it that way.. It was really easy to make.
Here is the procedure, do the seasoning first when the pressure cooker is hot, When the onions turn brown, pour the batter into that. Close the pressure cooker lid without putting the "weight".
Then pressure cook for 2 minutes on a high flame, then lower it , cook for about 5 minutes. After that put off the flame, keep the lid closed and allow to cool for some time... It was very easy to make, hope you too could try this way! :)

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Paalaliya

I do not like sweets especially chocolates. Jaggery contained desserts or candies were the only sweet that makes me satisfied. Recently I read in newspaper that chocolates contain a product derived from p*g bristles and human hairs , which is used to give glazing for the chocolates. Some says this product is used in our daily bread and other baking products too. I don't know how much of this is true. You can find more information from net.
My kids are addicted to chocolates, so I am always looking for some way to stop them eating it. This one I prepared for them using a recipe from vanitha. This cannot be an alternative to chocolates , but I gave it when kids craved for some sweet... :)



Ingredients used and how I prepared
This recipe needs mainly two ingredients, i.e. roasted rice powder and jaggery.For making rice powder first dry roast parboiled rice (puzhungalari) until it turns little brown and powder them when it cools. Make fine powder (or sieve the powder to get fine powder). For this see the rice balls recipe.
We need 1 1/2 cups of this powder.
Melt 2 1/2 big blocks of jaggery (ie, about 250 gm) in little water. ( abt 1/4 cup).
If the melted jaggery contains impurities remove them by straining it. Heat it again, allow to boil and when the jaggery turns thick and sticky (nool paruvam) add the roasted rice powder.Mix well. Now the mixture turns thick and removing from the pan, pour it on a greased plate. Flatten it using a roller, allow to cool. Then cut into pieces.Garnish with cashew nuts or other roasted nuts.

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Athisayappathiri / Athrippa pathiri

Want to surprise your family? Then make this.. :) Athisayam means surprise. So making this may be a surprise in the families of Malabar side. Some call this Athrippa pathiri, which means this really needs much care and attention while preparing and makes in special occasions.
Am not hailing from Malabar, so if I have made any mistakes, those who come from Kozhikkodu and Kannur side, please tell me...I tried making this using the old magazine recipes and was worth. It was a heavy meal which was so delicious but not simple.. :)
I hope the recipe is not giving a heart ache to those who have cholesterol threat seeing the number of eggs, you have another chance when I come with muttamala (egg garland ? ) recipe .. :)



Athisayappathiri / Athrippa pathiri
Chicken 1/2 kg
eggs 6
maida 1 cup
coconut milk 1 cup
onion 3 medium
ginger 1 inch piece
garlic 4 small cloves
green chillies 3 or 4
pepper powder 1/2 tsp
turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
fennel seeds powder 1 pinch
garam masala powder 1/4 tsp
coriander leaves chopped 1/4 cup
oil
ghee
salt

Grind,
garlic and ginger together.

Cook,
chicken with turmeric and salt. Cool down. Remove fleshy part from the bone.Make it very small pieces or use minced meat.

For making dosa / pola,
Mix maida with 1 egg, coconut milk and salt. Add enough water to make dosa like batter.
Heat griddle and grease it and make 7 or 8 dosas.

For making a batter of eggs,
Break remaining 5 eggs and mix it with crushed green chillies (as per taste) and enough salt. Keep this batter aside.

For making meat masala,
Heat oil in a pan, put fennel seeds powder. Saute chopped onions until transparent. Add garlic and ginger paste.Saute them for a while. Then add
chopped green chillies , coriander leaves , garam masala, pepper powder ,cooked chicken and enough salt. Mix them well by stirring continuously for few seconds.
Remove from fire and keep aside.
Take another heavy bottomed vessel(non-stick is good). Apply little ghee in the bottom and sides.
Take one dosa and dip it in the egg batter.
Place this dosa in the greased vessel. Spread little of the above prepared masala over it.
Again, dip one dosa in the egg batter, place it over the first dosa topped with masala mixture.
Then put the masala over it again, as we did for the first one.
Continue this until the dosas and masalas are over.
After placing the last dosa on top, pour the remaining egg batter over it. So it will spread it self in the sides of pan covering the previously placed dosas.
Cover and cook this on a low flame until done. This takes about 10 more minutes only.



Second method,
Mix maida with eggs (use 4 eggs) , salt and enough water. Make 7 or 8 dosas with it. Keep the remaining batter aside.
In this preparation, no need to make egg batter separately.
Place one dosa in the greased vessel, put the masala mixture over it.
Then place another dosa over it, top it with masla mixture.Continue this procedure until all dosas and masala mixture is finished.
After placing the last dosa, pour the remaining dosa batter over this. Then cover and cook on a low flame until done.
I tried the first method, but the second method seems little much easier than the first.



Thanks to Roopa for giving the "you make my day" award and Madhavi for giving the "nice matters" award to me, you all are really very nice...!

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Ghee rice -Thalassery style

I had posted a ghee rice / neichor recipe before which is the normal method of cooking rice with water in a 1 : 2 proportion. This is the method we usually follow at home, which is the easiest way of cooking rice. I have seen my Thalassery neighbour always cooked ghee rice using the frying method. She fried rice in an immense amount of ghee, before cooking it in hot water. If she makes Biryani, she prepared ghee rice first using the same method and then mixed it with biriyani masala. (See the procedure here) The amount of water used is lesser in this method since we cooked rice once in ghee. I don't know this method is followed in any other place.
Two of my readers had the same doubts, why their ghee rice turns yellow or the rice is so sticky after cooked. A poor quality rice, the excess amount of water, the color and less amount of ghee etc may affect the outcome.



Ingredients
Basmati rice 2 cups
ghee 3 Tbsp
onion 1
cashews and raisins as desired
fennel seeds 1/4 tsp
cardomam 2
cloves 2
cinnamon 1 " piece
water 3 cups(for 1 cup rice 1 1/2 cup water)



How to prepare
Wash and soak rice for half hour in water. Drain it and keep aside.
Boil water with salt and keep it hot.
Heat ghee.Roast cashews and raisins and take out and keep aside. Add fennel seeds and other spices with chopped onion.
When the onion is transparent, add washed and drained rice.Roast rice until it slightly changes color. Add the previously boiled hot salty water into it.
Boil , reduce heat. When the water absorbs and holes appear on top,keep the lid closed and switch off fire. Keep it covered for half hour.
When you serve, slowly separate the rice with a fork or a big spoon without pressing it much.
Garnish with the roasted cashews and raisins.
If your rice is not roasted properly, the amount of water wouldn't be enough for cooking rice completely. If so, add 1/2 cup or more hot water into it and cook for few seconds too. So keep extra hot water aside when you cook.
Keep the lid closed in the whole process. You can open the pan in-between and just stir the rice until you switch off fire.



Ghee rice is usually served with parippu / dal curry, kachambar and thairu / raita..See the dal perparation here.

See neichor with kachambar here.

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Pazham Nirachathu / Stuffed Bananas

Pazham nirachathu / Banana stuffed with a sweet mixture of coconut,egg and sugar is another Malabar dish, usually served during iftar (nombu thurakkal / breaking time of Ramadan fasting) or for guests. Preparing this dish was a challenge for me all the time. Making slits on the banana (4 or 2 ) without cutting the ends , stuffing them and deep frying the whole banana in oil was little bit difficult. I always ended up, making only 1 or 2 slits(it is enough ) and shallow fried.. :)



Pazham nirachathu / Stuffed bananas Ingredients
Bananas ripe 2
egg 1
cashew nuts few
raisins few
coconut grated 1 Tbsp
sugar 1 Tbsp
maida 2 Tbsps
cardomam powder 1 pinch optional
water

How to prepare
Peel bananas. Make 4 slits on it without cutting the ends.

Break egg and beat it with sugar.

Heat ghee, Add the beaten egg mixture, and stir until it turns granules. Add cashews, raisins and coconut and stir. Remove from fire. Let it cool.

Fill the inside portion of bananas using this mixture.

Make a very thick batter using maida and water. Using this close all the slits of bananas. Heat oil in a pan ,deep fry them.
A friend from Kannur side suggested me to roll dough like chapathis and wrap the banana, close edges and deep fry. You can prepare this in another way too. For that steam cook bananas, peel and follow the same procedure. I haven't done that way yet.Those who do not love egg, please avoid it and add more coconut in the filling. Don't use too ripe bananas for this.

See the other banana dishes here,

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Kunjippathiri / Kozhi Pidi / Steamed Rice Dumplings In Meat Gravy

Pidi / Kunji pathiri are small rice balls that steamed and cooked in the tasty meat, fish or vegetable curry. This is really a delightful dish to take as dinner or evening snack. Pidi has an important role in Malabar cooking since it is their one of the main dishes served for the guests. People from Malabar are well known for their hospitality(ie.salkkaaram). I had few neighbors from Kannur (Cannanore) and Thalassery (Tellichery) side. Every evening , they would bring some delicious snacks for us. I started expecting them knocking my door every day, after a few days I joined with them .. :D
Some times (most of the days) , they shared whatever they cooked for lunch and dinner too, and made me even to think stop cooking.. :) If it is Ramadan month, they prepared various dishes for each day, and dished out to all the neighbors! I felt bad some times, since a person hailing from Central Kerala, our dishes are totally different from theirs, and with a baby (my D was only 1 year old at that time) I couldn't reciprocate the same way they do. But it was also a boon for me, I could learn a little of their cooking methods..
When you make Pidis, make it smaller than this. I have made it little bigger than the original pidis, since I couldn't spend much time for preparing this...


Pidi in mutton gravy..

Kozhippidi/Kunji pathiri Ingredients
Chicken 1/2 kg boneless
onions 3
tomato 2
green chillies 2
garlic paste 1 tsp
ginger paste 1 tsp
garammasla 1 tsp
pepper powder 1 tsp
chilli powder 1 tsp
coriander powder 2 tsp
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
coriander leaves few
coconut milk 1 cup thick
shallots / chuvannulli 5
coconutoil
salt

For making pidi
rice powder 2 cups
water 1 cup
small onions 4
cumin seeds 1/4 tsp
fennel seed 1/2 tsp
salt



Method
Make a paste of small onions , cumin seeds and fennel seeds together.
Boil water. Add salt. Pour this to the rice powder and mix well . Add the above paste and knead it to make a dough.
Apply little oil on palms, make small balls from this and press to make like very small pathiris. Steam them for 5 minutes using an Idli vessel or some thing like that.
Keep aside.
Clean and cut chicken into small pieces. Mix it with chopped onion,tomato,green chilly crushed,garlic and ginger paste and all the powders and salt. Add little water enough to cook. When it is half cooked add coconut milk and the prepared pidis to it. Cook on a low flame until the chicken is cooked and the gravy is thick. The pidis should be covered with the masalas.Mix with chopped coriander leaves.
Heat coconut oil, roast chopped small onion and pour this to the preparation.

There are some other methods too for making this.The methods varies for different regions. A fried of mine suggested to make like we do for pathiris.(See the procedure for making pathiris here) So in that way we should add rice powder to boiling water with the other ingredients. Make dough like we do for pathiris and make small pidis as I described before. This method is much better since the flour is already cooked in the boiled water, so you can add the pidis directly to the curry with out steaming them. Boil them for a while with curry.

Some makes this by grinding rice, especially people from Kannur District. I really appreciate their enthusiasm for making good , wondrously tasted dishes, but for me everything seemed little lengthy. I hate standing in the kitchen for long, and finishes cooking soon with the already available ingredients only.. :) So if you are interested to follow the proper Malabar recipe for making pidis I will try to mail it for you, Insha Allah..

Update-Vegetarians can use potato and cauliflower instead of chicken.

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