Left Over Wow - Layered Methi Biryani!!

A young mom’s biggest tension in life is to get rid of the huge amounts of leftover she gets left with. My child however so I wish, refuses to eat many things that are staple to his growth. But I ain’t one of those moms who is going to quietly make those left overs my own dinner. I spice and spruce it up and make it a bigger than life thing for the full family to enjoy. This post is an idea which pretty much stemmed out of this very emotion.

So I harvest these young fenugreek leaves, about which I wrote in my earlier post- 

Growing Your Greens- Fenugreek!!

My son is extremely happy to have parathas made with fenugreek the first day. The next day too he devoured these bitter microgreens with ease and I was beyond happy. So I sowed the seeds again and this time when I harvested, I decided to try a rice dish instead. I was in a mood to prepare a wow dish, but had a big bowl of left over rice in the fridge with some hard boiled eggs which was very rudely denied by my little guy the previous night. So to serve him something healthy yet fenugreek-y, I took some carrots and ripe pumpkin to make a curry where the spice used was just these fresh microgreens from my balcony. Then I transformed the curry into a layered biryani adding in some hidden flavours. If you are positively curious about the dish now, then you should definitely read on to the next page to get possibly the most amazing yet so very simple- Layered Methi and Subz Biryani. 

Ingredients for making the Fenugreek and Veggie Curry

2 medium carrots cut in ½ inch pieces

150 gms pumpkin cut in big ½ inch pieces

Harvested fenugreek microgreens. I didn’t really weigh or measure it, but it would be approximately 3 big handfuls.

2 tbsp of mustard oil      

½ tsp cumin seeds

1 bay leaf

1 dry red chilly

Salt to taste

A pinch of Turmeric

Sugar to taste

To be ground-

2 to 3 fat cloves of garlic

2 small onions or a big one

3 green chiliies

Handful of cilantro leaves

For layering-

Cooked Rice (stale or not, nothing for guessing what i must have used!)

A boiled egg sliced

A couple of spoonful of mango and chilly pickle with mustard oil (I used a homemade mango and chilly pickle. I had followed Alpana Habib’s method of pickling. She is a famous celebrity chef from Bangladesh, whose food is quintessentially Bengali. But for this recipe, any other hot and sour and sweet pickle would work as well. I love to use the oil mixed with juice of the pickle so it is a good idea if you are buying a pickle, buy the one which is preserved in mustard oil)

A dash of milk

Sliced onion fried- barista (optional)

Chopped cilantro

Now head on to SmartIndianWoman.in for the detailed recipe.

Cheers!!

Note-

I didn’t use fried onions because it’s extremely tedious to cut fry and drain it, just for a weekday lunch to be carried to the office. But if I was to serve it in a party, I would do these extra steps willingly.

To make it completely vegetarian, just omit the egg part and you are good to go.

Attention! Attention! Attention!

Its been a long time since I took to my screen. Had been really busy in setting up a new home in a new city. It is a tedious thing to set up everything from scratch. And all I have been doing is that, personally and professionally. So, in that regards, here I am announcing a few things I have been working on these past few months.

I have started writing for 2 new publications. Both of these e-magazines are wonderful reads and I would love for you to go through it on a daily basis.

Smart Indian Women- http://www.smartindianwomen.com/

And

Squapl- http://www.squapl.com


Along with that, I have also dabbled onto restaurant consulting, about which you would keep reading. Soon we will start a journey to find the perfect blend of tea to go with my ever so popular Multi-Grain Poha Cookies, recipe of which has been bought over by a reputed tea dealer in Delhi. And then we will go on a hunt to find the best street food in Kolkata. There are many such interesting projects lined up, and I intend to make all of you a part of it as well. I will keep documenting all that happens to me here, and I hope to keep receiving encouragements/suggestions from you. 

Cheers!!

Cookies for Papa Santa?

This year, choose a healthy bite for our Papa Santa. And I have you guys covered already with 2 amazing recipes. These cookies are a killer, a great snack for your family, as well as the adorable Santa who is about to step into your house to give you your deserved share of happiness.. 

Poha Based Multi-Grain Cookie!!! 

Recipe

                          Healthy Crumbs: Fig-gy Oats Cookie!!

Recipe

Enjoy these all through the holidays! Merry Christmas!! :) :D

Poha Based Multi-Grain Cookie!!!

Poha/Chire in a cookie, who would have thought that?? I am sure a lot of you would be reading this recipe just for that name of it. For all my non-desi friends, let me translate and elucidate. Poha is the Indian name to beaten rice. It’s a favourite breakfast item, eaten everywhere in India, with veggies or dairy products. 

"Flattened rice contains no cholesterol and saturated fat at all. Also, the sodium content is very less and thus the calories in the beaten rice are not harmful. Moreover, it contains nutrients like iron, vitamin C, vitamin A and calcium too." Source- foodlve

I personally have never come across a cookie made with thus, or rather any sweet dish made with it. But, I had to do something crazy, and hence added my beloved poha in a multigrain cookie I was making for my little guy.

My little guy is in a very weird stage right now. He loves to eat, but prefers eating porridges over biting food. He is just too lazy to chew, a practice I am really keen that starts soon. So I took the longer route of introducing him to biscuits/cookies that excites him enough for him to start chewing like a pro. The road is long, but my thoughts are focused. And this recipe is an outcome to it.

Nutritionally, this recipe is quite well rounded, but if you prefer sweeter cookies, replace the brown sugar with its whiter counterpart. For us, it was perfect as we can’t eat things too sweet. Don’t cringe on butter, as that is what will bind the dough and bake it to crisp perfection. The beaten rice, though used only a half cup, will impart a great texture to the cookie. Feel free to load it with chocolate chips, dry fruits and nuts; I didn’t as my 1.5 year old will not be comfortable chewing on such hard things.

Ingredients

½ cup whole wheat flour

½ cup Poha/Chire/beaten rice

1 ½ cup oats

1 cup refined flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

14 tablespoons salted butter, softened

½ cup sugar

¼ cup light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

A handful of dried cranberries to decorate

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, oats, Poha, baking powder and baking soda. Set it aside.

In large bowl, use whisk to cream the butter and sugars until fluffy. Add an egg and vanilla. Beat until well mixed.

Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients until mixed to form a rather sticky cookie dough. Mix in the nuts or chocolate chips, if using.

Use a 2-tablespoon scoop to drop rounded portions of cookie dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. (If you don't have a scoop, roll 2 tablespoons of dough into a ball with your hands.) Space cookie dough about 2-1/2 inches apart on baking sheet. Flatten them slightly and bake in a pre-heated oven for 14 minutes until its brown and crispy around the edges. It will remain still slightly soft in the middle. Cool completely on pans before removing.

Cheers!