Chettinad Chicken Biryani / Seeraga Samba Chicken Biryani / Chettinad Style Chicken Biryani

When My BIL visited us on this May, he brought me a Cook Book, Veetu Samayal by Chef Damu which he bought long back in Chennai Book Fair.  It is My very first cook book that too one of my favorite Chef, Damu's. I have tried so many recipes of him which I watched in his TV shows and this is the first time I cooked a recipe from his book. This Cookbook contains more than 150+ recipes from simple daily cooking recipes to biryani/pulao and also some popular North Indian recipes. Very simple book without pictures with easy instructions. Its a vegetarian book, and I tried the Chettinad Saiva biryani recipe with chicken and it turned out so flavorful, spicy and delicious. Also i used Seeraga Samba rice which i bought from Patel Brothers in Devon Avenue last month. Its been more than 6 years i tasted Seera Samba Biryani and finally happy to see the 2 kg rice bag in Patel Brothers. Without a second thought, bought the packet and tried this Chicken Biryani, Kuska/Plain Biryani, Ambur Biryani recipes. I prepared this biryani in a hurry with guests at home, so did not take step wise pictures will update it later. Don't scared about the long list, its all spices only, the method is simple with great authentic taste and flavor. Now off to the recipe...

Cherry Tomato Lettuce Salad / Cherry Tomato Salad With Simple Vinaigrette Dressing !

Salad is a simple dish that contains fresh vegetable, fruits or with cooked meat/chicken, even eggs. We love salads with fresh veggies and fruits than the meat salad.The most favorite part of any salad is its dressing or salad sauce. It may be a simple vinaigrette or creamy ranch. I mostly prefer tangy and sweet kind of salad dressing where as my kids prefer the creamy sauce dressing with ranch, honey mustard, sour cream or yogurt.
This Cherry tomato Lettuce salad is a refreshing and simple salad with basic vinaigrette dressing with honey touch. This can be either served as an appetizer salad or as a dessert salad after a meal.
I got some fresh cherry tomato from my friend Gaury's Garden. These tomatoes were literally sweet and perfect for this salad. Use cherry tomato or grape tomato or pear tomato for this salad.

Millet Yogurt Bhath / Thinai Arisi Thayir Sadham

Today's recipe is simple and comfort meal with Millet/Thinai Arisi and Curd, thinai arisi thayir sadham. I like millet substitute for rice than oats and brown rice. Millets get cooked fast and also tastes great than brown rice. So alternative days i cook millet for me as plain and have it with any side dish. Sometimes i like to make masala bhath, sambar sadham and this curd bhath. This thinai arisi thayir sadham is one quick one pot meal, healthy and filling too. Here i used fox tail millet but you can try the same recipe with other millets like little millet/kodo millet/barnyard millet.

Chocolate Coconut Cake / Eggless Chocolate Coconut Cake / Chocolate Cake with Lindt Dark!

Early this month weather was too cold only 40 F or less but from this week weather is good and its Fall now here. The leaves turning golden yellow to orange red and in some plants i could able to see nice pink tinges. Its less colorful compared to Wisconsin but still looks pretty and pleasing. After a long time i turned on my oven this week and baked cakes and cookies for my family. Fall and winter are the right time to bake more, so that our house gets warm and also we could enjoy the yummy goodies at home.

For this month's Shh Secretly Cooking Challenge i was paired with Veena of Great secret of Life and she gave me Chocolate and Coconut as my secret ingredients. Both are my favorite ingredients and i couldn't prevent myself from baking. After a long thought i decided to bake a cake with the given ingredients. I already have baked a Vegan Muffins with this chocolate and coconut combo, Chocolate Coconut Muffins. This time baked a rich buttery and chocolatey cake. I slightly tweaked this recipe, also i used lindt 90% cocoa Dark Chocolate and the cake was so flavorful and mild sweet. The chocolate dominated more and there was no coconut flavor but I could taste the coconut in every bite. This chocolate coconut cake is perfect tea time or snack cake, the mild sweet and
rich chocolaty cake pairs well with a cup of coffee or milk.

Chicken Cutlets / Chicken Tikkis / Chicken Cutlets Recipe

Cutlets are a deep fried patties that can be made with veggies, meat, fish, paneer, tofu, beans and more. I often make patties/tikkis with veggies and legumes for my kids snack. They love to eat tikkis more than other snacks and these tikkis/cutlets are one easiest way to feed veggies to my kids. This time for a change tried with chicken, unlike other chicken recipes, chicken cutlets are easy to make if you have cooked potatoes and chicken in hand. You can also use any left over chicken from curries, chicken fry. I used the pressure cooked chicken which i made Chicken dry Curry recipe. Since i spiced the chicken already, i did not add much spices to my chicken-potato mixture. If you are using just boiled chicken adjust spices to desired taste and spiciness. I referred vahchef's chicken cutlets video and tweaked it to my taste. Here you go.,

Restaurant Style Channa Masala / Channa Masala Recipe

Chickpeas/Channa is my only favorite legume and i love this chickpeas in any form, that too Channa Masala is my most favorite side dish recipe. I learned this Restaurant Style Channa Masala from my Neighbor, who was a catering student. Not only channa she also shared me the recipes for basic onion tomato gravy for any side dish recipes, Chinese Hakka Noodles, Biryanis and few more. This Channa Masala recipe tastes exactly like the one served in Saravana Grandstyle Restaurant in my home town. This Channa Masala recipe is recipe is very special to me and there's also a short story behind it. 

Homemade Paneer / How To Make Paneer (Cottage Cheese)

Again I am here with an another Indian Basics,Homemade Paneer Recipe. Paneer/Cottage cheese is loved by both Vegetarians and Non-Vegetarians, especially kids love it a lot. Inspite of its high fat content, paneer are a good source of protein too. Anything with paneer is sure a hit and we can make tons of dished with this versatile paneer from Paneer Kheer, Paneer Jalebi, Paneer Curry, Paneer Paratha. I have some handful of Paneer Recipes in my space and now its time for to share How to make Paneer at home. Planning to post few more Indian Basics here and like all the Homemade version, this Homemade Paneer also tastes and smells so good.