Event Awards Announcement

Hi Friends,

The month of December, with all its celebrations, was a busy month for all of us. Yet some of you took out the time and effort to take part in the Herbs and Spice contest and the result is in front of us.There is great collection of interesting recipes for all of us to enjoy. Thanks Julie for giving me this opportunity to co host the event , it was a pleasure and would love to continue  hosting many more events.

The  event round up is given below,so please take your awards and post them on your blog :)

In all there were 5 categories of awards

1. Participation award
2. Top contributor award
3. Healthy dish award
4. Innovative recipe award
5.Best Presentation  award

It was very hard to pin point as every one's dishes were special in their own way. But still as its important to mention the following are the results.

1. Participation award is for all participants. Please paste this award on your blog page as a big thanks for the effort and you deserve it fully.

To All Participants 

2. The most number of dishes were sent by Sandhya  Ramakrishnan of  My cooking journey. She  has sent 16 entries .Congratulations Sandhya and thanks for sharing such wonderful recipes. Please collect your two awards Participation award and Top contributor award for this contest.

Award  given to Sandhya of My cooking journey  http://www.mycookingjourney.com

3. The Healthy dish award goes to Kitchen Queen (http://realhomecookedfood.blogspot.com) for the yummy and healthy Methi Dhebras. Please collect your Healthy dish award and paste it on your blog. Also collect the participation award too.

Award given to Kitchen Queen of realhomecookedfood.blogspot.com

4. Innovative dish award goes to Nandini from  http://www.nandinisfood.com for  her dish of Chicken lollipop that she has made and presented so well. Please collect this award and the participation award too.

Award givent to Nandini from www.nandinisfood.com

5. The  best presentation  award goes to Chandrani of cusine delights  http://cuisinedelights.blogspot.in for the  dish Tangri kebabs she made using the micro wave. Please collect your award for the creative dish and another award for participation.

Award given to Chandrani of cusinedelights.blogspot.in

Thanks,
Viya S

Chicken Biryani

Chicken biryani is the queen of all biryani's. A rich rice dish prepared by using spices and of course chicken too. It is a favourite of my family, especially my husband loves chicken  biryani :))
Biryani is a perfect dish for entertaining a crowd and  for the  holiday season....

Ingredients: You will need
4 cups basmati (long grain ) rice
4 medium sized onions grated 
5 tbsp oil
3 to 4 cloves
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 cinnamon stick
2 tsp fresh garlic
2 tsp freshly grated ginger
2 tsp freshly chopped green chillies
2 medium sized tomatoes pureed
2 tsp salt
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp garam masala powder
4 to 5 cardamom
4 lb chicken thighs medium sized
1 cup water
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup freshly chopped coriander leaves
1/4 cup freshly cut mint leaves
8 to 10 saffron strands
1/4 cup milk
2 medium onion sliced thinly
3 tbsp oil
Yoghurt Marinade
1 cup plain yoghurt
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tbsp garam masala
1 tsp freshly lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1 tsp red chilli powder

Chicken Biryani 

Method
1. Wash and boil the rice for 10 to 12 minutes, drain and keep aside.
2. Wash and clean the chicken thighs, and add to the Yoghurt marinade and keep for about 30 minutes.
3. In a medium size bowl, mix yoghurt along with the other marinade ingredients and add the chicken.Keep aside.
4.Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan, add cumin seeds, bay leaves,cloves,cinnamon stick and add the grated onions. Stir till golden brown,add in the pureed tomatoes,ginger,garlic and green chillies and continue cooking till oil appears on the sides of the pan.Add the spices and the marinated chicken. Stir together for about 10 minutes,allowing the chicken to mix well with the onion and tomatoes. Add 1/2 cup water and boil covered for 10 to 12 minutes till chicken is cooked in the  curry. Keep the chicken curry aside.
5. In a separate wok fry the thinly sliced onions.Add cardamom  and bay leaves. Fry the onions till they are brown and crisp. Drain over  paper towel and keep aside.
6. Microwave the 1/4 cup milk for a few seconds,add the saffron strands.
7.To start layering ,first place a layer of cooked rice in  a deep baking tray .Add a few sprinkles of saffron milk,then add a layer of the chicken curry.Next add a layer of fried onions,followed by again a rice layer,add mint leaves too , repeat these layers. Cover the baking dish with silver foil and put in the oven to bake at 350 F for about 20 to 30 minutes.

Baking  the Biryani 

Chicken Biryani

Optional:You could boil 2 eggs till hard boiled, peel the shell and slice thinly to decorate over prepared biryani, garnish with freshly chopped coriander ,fried onions, cashews and mint leaves.
Enjoy~

Chicken Hyderabadi Hot nSpicy~ contribution from Sonal Kaza

The other day I had friends over for dinner and it was a potluck. Sonal, a close friend of mine, prepared  Chicken Hyderabadi, an Andhra style chicken that is full of flavor and spice. So nice of her to share her recipe with all of us. Enjoy !!!!

Ingredients

2 pounds chicken (cleaned and cut into medium size pieces)

3 tbsp ginger garlic paste

2 medium size onions chopped

4 tbsp oil

Ingredients (For Marinating)

2 tsp red chili powder

salt to taste

4 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp turmeric powder

Ingredients(For Dry Masala)

4 tbsp whole coriander seeds

2 tbsp uncooked rice

1 tbsp fennel seeds

1 tbsp whole peppercorns

2 tsp cumin seeds

8 to 10 whole red dried chilies

Ingredients (for garnish)

1 green bell pepper sliced

10 to 12 curry leaves

1 tsp fresh coriander leaves chopped

2 tsp oil

Method:

1.Take red chili powder,turmeric,coriander powder ,salt and rub this marinade onto the chicken pieces and keep chicken marinated for an hour or two.

2. Heat a pan, and on medium heat  dry roast the masala ingredients and grind to a fine powder.

3. Heat 4 tbsp oil in a thick bottomed pan, add in onions, brown to a golden color, add ginger garlic paste and marinated chicken pieces. Stir  for  15 to 20 minutes. Add 1cup (200ml) water,continue to cook over medium heat.

4. Add  powdered masala to  chicken  continue cooking another 10 to 15 minutes until the chicken is cooked.

5. Heat 2 tsp oil shallow fry bell pepper and curry leaves, remove and  garnish over the cooked chicken, sprinkle some fresh chopped coriander.

Chicken Hyderabadi

Thanks Sonal for sharing such a tempting chicken recipe with All!!