Learning to cook with Daffy Duck

[Chicken_Biryani]

Re: Learning to cook with Daffy Duck

@lafuriaroja

CB, I had a few general cooking questions about cooking pakistani food:

1. Typically I brown my onions and then blend them in a blender so they’re a fine paste and I can make a smooth salan. Does this affect the flavour?

2. With tomatoes, I also blanch them, remove the skin and then pop em in the blender to make a smooth base, does this affect the flavour as opposed to the traditional method of slowly cooking them until they become a part of the salan?

3. You mentioned blending garlic and ginger together affects the flavour, why is that?

hi Lafu,

you have intesresting queries .. here are the detailed answers :

1- yes most certainly the flavour gets affected when you blend the browned onions … what you can do to get that smooth paste it that you blend raw onion into a coarse paste .. dont let it become runny.. usually just two runs are enough in the blender … then when you are frying the onion in the oil, add quarter cup water and cover the lid … that will soften it up first … then as water evaporates you will start stiring it quicker and brown it to what ever level you like …

This will ensure that the onions get blended nicely into the salan without you hving to blend it again …

2- about the tomatoes , blanching can make it taste different .. but if you blend it fine along with the skin … and then add it to the salan , the taste wont get affected at all. there are only some salan’s where cubed tomatoes add value .. they are mostly vegie salans like bindi … where you need slow release water content … thats the purpose that tomatoes serve …

3- yes in my opinion ginger garlic mixed together or added at the same time affect the flavour … why ? i have no idea but I have felt that ginger takes over the taste and aroma of garlic immediately …

but when you do garlic first , it gives out a very nice aroma to the masala and then when you add garlic after a few minutes .. you can smell that the aroma gets better and beautiful rather then a mixed bag of smells

Taste wise , I think garlic needs a bit of toasting to give out its aroma … while ginger doesnt need the frying as much .. it just mixes well within seconds and when you put in the spices it absorbs the spices too … but if you over cook the ginger it wont absorb the spices …

hope this helps ..

[DaffyDuck]

Re: Learning to cook with Daffy Duck

CBuu where is my Biryani recipe? He will come next month and I still havent tried it

[Chicken_Biryani]

Re: Learning to cook with Daffy Duck

OK Daffy ... sorry for the delay sweets ... but here is your recipe:

Soak rice for an hour and a half ..

Now in a pot , heat oil really well and add in some zeera , when it sizzles , add in thinly sliced onion ( just one small onion ) ... fry until translucent ... then add chicken pieces ( bones wala ) and fry well on medium heat until its water content dries out fully and its browned slightly ...

Add in ginger , garlic paste ... and fry some more ... then add in salt ( one and a half tsp for the salan and then add 3/4th tsp per cup of rice ) ... half tsp red chilli powder .. some whole masala's like peppercorn, cloves, small stick of cinammon ... then add about one tblespoon yoghrut .. and cook this all ... then add shan biryani masala half packet only ... and add one and a half cup tomato paste... and while it cooks drop in two whote green chillies , some fresh corriander ... and let it all cook until oil separates ...

Finally if you like potatoes in biryani .. add some in the salan and cook it ...

Now in a separate pan , brown some sliced onion , drain and keep aside
Boil rice , drain and keep aside ..

Now in a large pan , add half the salan ... then layer the rice , then salan , then rice .. then spread some mint leaves and the browned onion on top, spread some red food color on top ... and if you like some extra ooomph .. then in a frying pan heat one tablespoon oil, add in zeera seeds, corriander seeds, whole red chilli, crushed garlic, fresh mint leaves and immediately top it on the biryani .... then cover the pot and let it all be on dum for 30 minutes ...

Mix the biryani ... and let it be for another 15 -20 minutes ... its ready to enjoy

[Chicken_Biryani]

Re: Learning to cook with Daffy Duck

If you dont want to use Shan masala's for biryani .. here is a how to make your own biryani masala :

cloves
black cardamon
javetri
bay leaves
green ilaichi
cinammon stiks
pepper corns
kasturi methi leaves
fried onions
cumin powder
corriander powder
black cumin
dried plums
red chilli
haldi
anardana seeds
saunf seeds

in a blender , take about 10 peices of cloves , 4 peice of black cardamom .. 3 peice of javitri .. 10 pepper corns ... 10 green crdamom ... 4 peice of cinamon sticks ... 3 to 4 bay leaves .. 1 teaspoon of anardana seeds ... 1 teaspoon of fenugreek leaves ... two table spoons of fried onions .. half a teaspoon of black cumin seeds ... 2 tablespoons of corriander powder .. 1 table spoon of cumin powder ... one teaspoon of red chilli, half a teaspoon of haldi ..

blend ... can store this mixture for a month or two months in airtight jar...

I dont use fresh coz I dont get some of the ingredients easily :(

[Enigmatic]

Re: Learning to cook with Daffy Duck

CB I have a question:

What brand of garam masala do you use? So far the garam masala I have used (I think it's Natco's) it has a real strong taste (for pulao and biryani) no matter how little I use

Can you suggest me how much garam masala (whole) should I use if cooking for 3 people as well as the shan's biryani masala too?

[Chicken_Biryani]

Re: Learning to cook with Daffy Duck

Enigmatic, I know exactly what you mean regards the garam masala .. I bought Natco wala too by mistake and hate it ... I tried east end ka garam masala it was much better but still not the type that we would like ...

So I just powder my own equal amounts of corriander seeds and zeera...

in the biryani, take a pinch of each (peppercorn , cloves, small cinammon bit ) zeera quarter tsp, corriander seeds quarter tsp...

biryani masala...about 3-4 tablespoons shlould be enough..

[Sheal]

Re: Learning to cook with Daffy Duck

@DaffyDuck

Princess - You and I have a tough call for being the biggest fans of CB. That chicken karahi recipe sure was yummy and it got all chat phat at my end as well.

Thanks for the praises. Im going to try out more recipes in Ramzan and keep positing pictures.

Yesterday i tried “Kachay keemay kai kabab”. My family loves them. I got some keema and without boiling or frying it, i added salt, red chillies, sukha dhaniya, zeera and black pepper. Made them into circular shapes, although they never become exact circular and have edgy ends but its more of a circular shape. Now simply fry them in a non-stick pan. Ill try to fry them today and upload the pictures here.

Today, Ill try to make “chotay samosay” of chicken.

Tip: if u add finely chopped onion in it. it will help in reducing the cooking time. + add some ginger garlic paste.

to ensure rice dont break u can add 1 table spoon of vinegar while boiling them or lemon juice right before giving dam.

[DaffyDuck]

Re: Learning to cook with Daffy Duck

@Chicken_Biryani

OK Daffy ... sorry for the delay sweets ... but here is your recipe:

Soak rice for an hour and a half ..

Now in a pot , heat oil really well and add in some zeera , when it sizzles , add in thinly sliced onion ( just one small onion ) ... fry until translucent ... then add chicken pieces ( bones wala ) and fry well on medium heat until its water content dries out fully and its browned slightly ...

Add in ginger , garlic paste ... and fry some more ... then add in salt ( one and a half tsp for the salan and then add 3/4th tsp per cup of rice ) ... half tsp red chilli powder .. some whole masala's like peppercorn, cloves, small stick of cinammon ... then add about one tblespoon yoghrut .. and cook this all ... then add shan biryani masala half packet only ... and add one and a half cup tomato paste... and while it cooks drop in two whote green chillies , some fresh corriander ... and let it all cook until oil separates ...

Finally if you like potatoes in biryani .. add some in the salan and cook it ...

Now in a separate pan , brown some sliced onion , drain and keep aside Boil rice , drain and keep aside ..

Now in a large pan , add half the salan ... then layer the rice , then salan , then rice .. then spread some mint leaves and the browned onion on top, spread some red food color on top ... and if you like some extra ooomph .. then in a frying pan heat one tablespoon oil, add in zeera seeds, corriander seeds, whole red chilli, crushed garlic, fresh mint leaves and immediately top it on the biryani .... then cover the pot and let it all be on dum for 30 minutes ...

Mix the biryani ... and let it be for another 15 -20 minutes ... its ready to enjoy

Thank You so much! Im takign a print & will try it today, Insha Allah. Please tell me how can I beautifully decorate it so it looks yum as well?

I think Pudina leaves, a little zarda rung and what else could do?

[DaffyDuck]

Re: Learning to cook with Daffy Duck

Tip: if u add finely chopped onion in it. it will help in reducing the cooking time. + add some ginger garlic paste.

to ensure rice dont break u can add 1 table spoon of vinegar while boiling them or lemon juice right before giving dam.

The chopped onion tip is for the kababs right? Thank You so much, I so didn't know it would help me cook them well.

1 tbsp of vinegar/lemon juice - such a different tip, thank you Sheal!

[xjatti2khanx]

Re: Learning to cook with Daffy Duck

some brill tips here CB :hugz:

DD - for deco on biryani check this ladies vid - she has some brill cooking vids too

i have made most of her recipes

" CHICKEN BIRYANI " Bajias Cooking

[MissChievous]

Re: Learning to cook with Daffy Duck

Some amazing tips here; I've always wondered what was going wrong and it turns out to be only the minute things. Thanks a lot.

Chicken Biryani...would you have any handy tips for making seekh kebabs? Mine seem to break as I'm turning them on the grill and then go quite hard after they've cooled. Do you have a nice recipe, please?

(Sorry to jack your thread DaffyDuck).

[Marmalade]

Re: Learning to cook with Daffy Duck

Chicken Biryani I just tried out your chicken karahi recipe. It turned out very yummy :D