Feb 25, 2013

Easy Indian recipes you must try to cook.

Yakhni Pulao (Serves four)
Ingredients:

Basmati rice: 1 kg 
Meat: 2 kg 
Onion: 5 
Cardamom: 1 tablespoon 
Clove: 10 
Cinnamon stick: 6 pieces 
Shah Jeera: 1 1/2 teaspoon 
Ginger: 2 pieces 
Garlic: 4 pods 
Whole Kali Mirch: Onetablespoon
 Red Chilli: As per taste
 Coriander Seeds: 1 1/2 tablespoon 
Ghee: 250 gms
 Salt: To taste

Method: 
Fry the onions. Keep them aside. Cook the meat in water along with all the ingredients. Use whole spices only. Once the meat is tender, remove the stock. Crush the spices in a mixer and keep them aside. Immerse the rice in water, 10 minutes before cooking. Fry the crushed spices in ghee. Mix the rice with the meat. Stir and fry it along with the spices. Add the stock. Mash the fried onions and place it on top. Cover the utensil. Once the pulao is ready, serve with coriander.

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Khichdi
Ingredient: 

Basmati Rice: 1 cup 
Masoor Dal: 1/3 cup 
Moong Dal: 1/3 cup 
Medium-sized Onion: 1 chopped 
Grated Ginger: 2 tablespoon 
Minced Garlic: 1 tablespoon 
Ground Red Chilli: 1/4 teaspoon 
Salt: 1 teaspoon 
Grounded Cumin Seeds: 1 teaspoon 
Coriander: 1/2 teaspoon Peeled and
 Crushed Cardamom: 2 Cinnamon: 1/4 teaspoon Water

Method: 
Wash and rinse rice and dal and soak for at least 1 hour, then drain. In five quarter pot, heat ¼ cup vegetable oil and add one chopped onion until golden brown. Add rice and dal to browned onion and stir for one-two minutes on medium heat until any residual water is dried. Add double measure of water and let rice and dal come to boil when partially covered. When the steam comes out, close the pot completely and turn down heat to low simmer for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare Bhagar by browning onion in ghee/butter with whole jeera and red chilli. For preparing Bhagar, you need one medium onion chopped, ¼ tsp whole jeera, twothree whole red chillies and two-three tablespoon butter/ghee. Finally, pour Bhagar of brown onion, jeera and red chilli over cooked khichdi.

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Carrots, Eggs, or Coffee; "Which are you?"

A young woman went to her grandmother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved a new one arose.

Her grandmother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water. In the first, she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs and the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil without saying a word.

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her granddaughter, she asked, "Tell me what do you see?"

"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.

She brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they got soft.She then asked her to take an egg and break it.

After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg.

Finally, she asked her to sip the coffee. The granddaughter smiled, as she tasted its rich aroma. The granddaughter then asked. "What's the point,grandmother?"

Her grandmother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity--boiling water--but each reacted differently.

The carrot went in strong, hard and unrelenting. However after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior. But, after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened.

The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water they had changed the water.

"Which are you?" she asked her granddaughter.

"When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?"

Think of this: Which am I?

Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity, do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff?

Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and a hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.

When the hours are the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate to another level?

---AUTHOR UNKNOWN —