Seekh Kebab Pulao

Does it happen to you that you enter the kitchen and suddenly your brain is bombarded with ideas of how to make   a dish????!!!! :-?
This happened to me yesterday.In the morning i was feeling sooooo lazy ( i usually do on Fridays cos its our weekend).Then i have bath and come to the kitchen thinking of making something which will not keep me in the kitchen for more than 10-15 minutes...then bangggg!!! Something happens and my brain  is all excited and keeps on bombarding with ideas.. *-:)  What was supposed to a be a plain simple mutter pulao finally became a seekh kababa pulao ( and the rice being boiled in coconut milk)... never even thought that this will be the lunch on my lazy Friday!!! I surprised myself ..hehehhe and N too!!!

I was watching Sanjeev Kapoor's recipes on youtube( we have not bought a TV and are not planning to buy one).N and i have been married for 6 years and we have never owned a TV , first it was because we were sailing most of the time and then we got so used to not having the tv that we do not miss it anymore. So for enteratinment i watch some videos, cookery shows, etc on youtube.
In one of those shows i heard Sanjeev Kapoor mention that it is a very good  practice to  boil the rice for pulao in coconut milk!! This idea struck me first and then  my mom's fried  rice recipe came into my mind in which she used a ginger garlic green chilli paste. It gives a wonderful flavour to the rice. So now i had two things which i had to incorporate- coconut milk and the paste.
Then suddenly i remembered i have some seekh kababs in the fridge.. Ok now that was also going into the pulao.Tak tak tak the idea came coming .. god knows from where!!! I dint want to boil the kabas with the rice so i kept it for the end..

Anyway what resulted was a different pulao- the vegetable +kabak pulao which i am going to call seekh kabab pulao.

So here is how i went about it.


Ingredients:


Basmati Rice- 1 cup( soaked for 1/2 an hour)
Coconut milk-1 and 1/2 if making in pressure cooker, 2 if making in deep pan. ( refer notes)
Ghee-2 tbspn
Bay leaf-1torn into 2-3 pcs
Cloves-3
Cinnamon-1 inch piece
Peas-1/2 a cup
Carrot,cut into small pieces-1/2 cup
salt to taste
Mint leaves-3-4
Seekh Kababs-3
Oil for shallow frying seekh kabab-1-2 tbspn(refer notes)



For the paste

3 pods garlic
1to 1 1/2 inch ginger piece
1 green chilli( if u like it hot add one more green chilly)
Crush these together to form a paste.

For garnish

Cashewnuts-6-7 (chop each piece into 4)

Raisins-8-9
Ghee 1 tbsp for frying
Coriander /dhania leaves



Method:

Heat the ghee on pressure cooker and add following- bay leaf,cinnamon, cloves,Saute for a minute.
Then add in the peas and carrots.Stir well.

Now add in the paste.Saute for 2-3 minutes till you get a nice smell from it.

Add the rice into it and mix well.Pour the coconut milk and add salt.


Put in the mint leaves.Close the pressure cooker and keep the whistle when steam comes out.It should be ready in 3 whistles.In the mean time you can fry your seekh kabas and cut int small cubes.

Now after the rice is cooked in the pressure cooker and the steam escapes,take the rice out into a  big bowl and mix in the kabab pieces.



Fry teh cashews and raisns in the ghee and pour over rice.Also garnish with chopped dhania leaves Serve hot with raita/salad of your choice

In Kerala a common salad is tomato , onion and dhania leaves in beaten curd and i made that .
Beat some curd diluting it with a little water..add one chopped tomato and one chopped oinion.Add salt and some dhania leaves.Thats it.

Notes:

I made the coconut milk with Maggi coconut powder.You can 2-4 tablespoons f the powder.

The kababs may be deep fried, shallow fried or made in microwave.Follow package instructions.

I did not want the rice to be yellow so i did not add turmeric(haldi).

Chicken Chettinad

Chicken Chettinad is  a very spicy and delicious dish from my neighbouring state Tamil Nadu.Many ingredients go into this chicken chettinad but the process is simple.This goes well with rice  and chappathis.


My husband had a misconception that chicken tastes best when eaten outside.Cannot blame him.Born into a Brahmin family he was introduced to non-veg only when he started sailing.In the first few  months of marriage i never tried chicken at home either.But then i got Lakshmi Nair's recipe book as a gift and i tried this out. There has been no looking back.Now he loves chicken made at home!!!!And this is one thing he wants  on the menu when he signs off.And he loves it with Jeera rice.  I would recommend it.

This chicken is for people who love coconut.The gravy primarily is coconut which is ground to a paste.

Chicken Chettinad


Chicken- 1 kg( cut into medium pieces)

Onion 1

Oil-1/2 cup

 Red chilli powder- 2 tablespoon

Star anise-1

Ginger( finely chopped)-1 tablespoon

Garlic(finely chopped)-1 tablespoon

Grated coconut- 2 cup

 Khus khus( poppy seeds)-2 teaspoons

Saunf-1 teaspoon

Cinnamon-2 pieces

Cardamom-4

Cloves-5

Turmeric-3/4 teaspoon

Garam masala powder-3/4  teaspoon

Tomato( finely chopped)-3 medium

Lemon  juice- of ½ lemon

Salt-as per taste

Dhania leaves-1/2 cup

Curry leaves- 10-15

Method


1)Grind  coconut,khas khas,saunf,cloves,cinnamon,cardamom and turmeric to a fine paste.

2)Heat oil in a thick bottom pan and sauté onions in it till light brown.To this add ginger and garlic and also star anise.Saute well.

3)Add red chilli powder to this  and when the raw taste is gone,add the coconut paste to it.Saute well.

4)Add the chicken pieces to this and sauté for 10 minutes.Add salt and the chopped tomato to this. Wait till the tomatoes turn mashy and then add 2 cups of water.Let the chicken boil in this.

5)When the chicken pieces are boiled and the gravy becomes thick and covers the chicken pieces,add lemon juice.Garnish with dhania and curry leaves.

Serve with jeera rice,plain rice or rotis. Bread and this curry and idlis with this  curry will also taste good.

Yes idlis and chicken are a vow combination!!!

( If you do not have khus khus , skip it.. will still taste good)