My 100th Post Jackfruit Biryani & Raita …and an event announcement

Hi Friends!  I am surely at the top of the world as I type my 100th Post. Last few days have been mind boggling as I was slowly heading towards a century and  was still undecided what I should  post. I wanted the recipe to be special so I kept debating with myself as the recipe names kept floating in my brain…gateux..cheesecake…savory….dessert… I was thoroughly confused errrgh.  

Amongst all this confusion I decided that it’s time I host my first event and my head started working on the theme for the event. After a lot of thought I decided on  Combo. The minute my theme was decided I knew what I had to post ….My first entry to my first event Jackfruit Biryani and Raita. 

Before I head towards the recipe and the rules for the event I want to thank  each and every blogger friend who have been kindly sending me their responses and comments  for my recipes, it means a lot to me.  Each and every blogger has an expertise in some form of cooking and their tips and notes have helped me learn so much more. It has been a good learning journey where I tried my  hands on various cuisines making myself more adept. Blogging has become a part of my life where I learn new recipes every day which has given me a platform to improvise and concoct my own versions. At the same time I have made pals around the globe whom I have never met and yet they have become a part of my life. I wait for their comments to come and when I read and answer their comment I get the feeling that I am talking to them IN PERSON.

As I had mentioned in my 50th post too I never thought I could post so many recipes but at my 100th post surprisingly I know  I still have many more to share. I still have to try my hands on so many cuisines and have to win over the “yeast ghost”.  I am still learning the art of writing good posts which are informative and at the same time entertaining. Writing is an art and I confess it has never been my cup of tea but I am surely trying… I admire so many bloggers who write so well, hence it will be unfair on my part to name just one..but I am learning from all you guys. Thank you so much.

Coming back to my today’s post….. A few days back I got hold of freshly cut raw jackfruit. I had been planning to make a biryani with it for quite sometime but always ended up making something else. This time I thought of surprising S with a biryani for lunch. I must confess I was a bad planner this time, I had just 1-1/2 hrs for S to come for lunch and was wondering how fast can this be cooked….? I was literally running in my kitchen trying to complete two steps of the preparation simultaneously at the same time. Frying with one hand and grinding with the other, the last thing that I wanted was to get disturbed….my elder son watching me work frantically asked me what are you cooking? To which I managed to  answer wait till Pappa comes… Surprise …Surprise!!! But I surely surprised myself as I managed to finish the elaborate procedure in the allotted time and gladly served it for lunch….. I can boast about myself….right!!!LOL

Ingredients For Biryani

Recipe Courtesy- Sanjeev Kapoor which I have modified to suit our taste.

500 gm Raw Jackfruit cut into pieces

1-1/2 cups Basmati rice soaked

4 medium onions thinly sliced

3 medium tomatoes chopped

2tbsp ginger-garlic paste

1-1/2 cups yogurt whisked

1 bunch coriander leaves chopped

1 bunch fresh mint torn

2 tbsp milk

5-6 strands of saffron dissolved in 7-8 tsp milk

1 tbsp Kewra water

oil for deep frying

3-4 tbsp ghee/clarified butter

salt to taste

Spices

4  green cardamom

4 black cardamom

4 cloves

2-1” pieces of cinnamon

1/2 tsp shahjeera

2 tsp cumin pwd

3 tsp coriander pwd

1 tsp turmeric pwd

3 tsp red chili pwd

1 tsp garam masala

Method

Deep fry the jack fruit and onion slices and keep them separately.

 

Meanwhile soak the rice for 15-20 mins and then drain. Boil the rice 6 cups of water along with 2 cloves, cardamom, black cardamom, 1 cinnamon and some salt, cook till it’s almost done, remove in a colander.

Heat 3 tbsp ghee and add the shahjeera followed by the remaining whole spices. Add the ginger-garlic paste and saute, now add all the spices except the garam masala and mix. Tip in the tomatoes and salt to taste (enough for the jackfruit curry), once the tomatoes are mushy add the chopped coriander then  remove the pan from the flame and add the curds and garam masala,  mix. Removing from flame is important as the curd curdles otherwise. Put the pan back on the flame and cook the masala, add the fried jackfruit and cook till it attains a  semi gravy texture.

Now comes the final part …layering the Biryani. Take a rice dish and grease it. On the base spread half of the Jackfruit curry then spread half the rice put half of the chopped mint leaves (I used mint powder as I was short of them but fresh mint is recommended). Sprinkle half of the kewra water and saffron milk. Repeat the layers again. Take a satay stick and pass it through the layers at 5-6 places. Pour a few drops of ghee there. This is an optional step but surely yields a better flavor and moistness to the Biryani. Cover the dish with an aluminium foil and bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 20-25 mins.

 

Serve hot with mix veg raita. For veg raita  mix small quantity of tomato, onion, cucumber in a cup of thick yogurt. Add a finely chopped green chili and a little chopped cilantro. Also add some salt, rock salt and a pinch of sugar. Mix properly and then add some water to adjust the consistency. Chill the raita before serving.

This Biryani is the best option for meat lovers who have turned vegetarian and obviously the hard core vegetarians to enjoy veggie-meat biryani. The raita is  the most appropriate accompaniment to the spicy biryani.

Note- Do not skip the Kewra water as it adds an amazing flavour but at the same time an excess quantity can spoil the taste.

Now that I have crossed one big milestone in blogging I thought of celebrating the same by taking up a new challenge and aiming for a new milestone. I have been participating in various events but never hosted a one. So here I am hosting my first event to celebrate my first BIG MILESTONE. I invite all my blogger friends  and non blogger friends to participate in this and make it success.

           THE  COMBO  EVENT

We always read in a post that this tastes best when served with this. For eg in a chana masala post one might say it tastes best when served with bhatoora/ puri/ jeera rice. So the Chana-Bhatoora/ Chana-poori or Chana –rice  makes a combo. Sarson da saag is served with makke di roti, Bhakri with stuffed baingan and Noodles with Manchurian . A combo can be as simple as sambhar-rice,  rasam rice or even Roti and some curry. One can share their Paratha Combo’s.

In starters …a starter is served  with a dip, similarly in desserts ..a brownie is served with a vanilla ice-cream, fruit custard with jelly and so on…..

So use your creativity, pick any cuisine of your choice and send me your combos which you feel and guarantee gel with each other.

Rules for the event

1. 
   
   Post any vegetarian combo meal between 3rd Feb-10th March. Eggs can be used but  non veg entries will not be accepted as this  is a vegetarian blog.
2. 
   
   One can send maximum of  three entries.
3. 
   
   Old posts can be reposted and linked with the event announcement page.
4. 
   
   New Posts to be linked back to the event announcement page.
5. 
   
   Picture of size 300 pixel showing the combo together is essential.
6. 
   
   Use of logo is compulsory.
7. 
   
   Send the entries in the given format to cookingoodfood@gmail.com

a. Your Name

b. Blog’s Name

c. Blog’s url

d. Blog post

e. Cuisine

f. Post link-

g. a picture of the combo

  8. Non blogger’s can email me their recipe and the pic.

For any queries kindly mail me. I will post the Round-up by 18th March unless I am caught in something more important.