Chicken Biryani

I got this recipe from here and after making a few changes this is what I ended up. All you connoisseurs out there may argue that this is actually a pulav, but trust me this dish actually smells like and tastes just like biryani, even though it is prepared like a pulav!!!

Ingredients:
150 gms boneless chicken (cut in to large pieces)
3 medium sized onions (grind to a paste)
2 potatoes (cut in to one inch pieces)
2 medium sized tomatoes, chopped
3 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 inch piece of ginger
1 tbsp mint leaves. finely chopped
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp pepper powder
2 tbsp yoghurt
1 tbsp garam masala (We were out on Biryani Masala, hence this substitution, pls use Biryani Masala)
1 piece of cinnamon (1 inch)
5 cardamons
Oil for cooking
Salt to taste

For rice:
2 cups of long grained basmati rice
4 cups boiling water
5 cardamons
10 pepper corns

Method:

1) Marinate the chicken pieces in turmeric powder and salt.
2) Wash the Rice and keep aside for 30 mins.
3) Heat 4 tsp of oil and fry the potato cubes until brown, remove and keep aside.
4) Heat 2-3 tsp of oil and add the onion paste, minced ginger and garlic and cook till the raw smell disappears.
5) Add the chilly powder, cumin seeds,turmeric powder, pepper powder and tomatoes and cook for a couple of minutes.
6) Now add the chopped mint leaves, yoghurt, cardamom and cinnamon stick and salt. Add a little water if the mixture gets too dry.
7) When the tomatoes are reduced to a pulp add the marinated chicken pieces. Cover and cook on low heat till the chicken is tender.(At this point the gravy should be fairly thick).
8) In a large pan heat about 3 tsp of ghee and fry the cardamons and pepper corns.
9) Add the rice and, fry till the rice is coated with the ghee (couple of mins).
10) Add the 4 cups of boiling water to the rice.
11) Add the fried potato pieces and the chicken mixture, stir gently to mix into the rice.
12)Bring to a boil and then cover vessel, reduce the heat to very low and let it steam for about 20 mins.
13) Every now and then keep shifting the pan, so that the rice at the bottom is evenly cooked and does not burn, ten minutes into the steaming open and mix the rice, I know this is not advisable, but this ensured that all the rice is evenly cooked)
14) Serve hot with cucumber and tomato raita.

Human Interest Story...

This is one story I would really like to know. Come rain or shine, the man in  this pic is a regular fixture at a busy road in Andheri East. No, he is not a traffic cop, but he helps regulate traffic, he even dresses in khakhi coloured outfit and the traffic cops and regular commuters humor him. The thing that attracted my attention to him was his total dedication to the job at hand and also the look of happiness that was on his face while he is at work, it is like watching a child play at being a traffic police!!!

He takes his work rather seriously, I normally reach the spot where he stations himself around ten minutes to nine in the morning and he is busy at work. Makes me wonder, if I had that kind of dedication in life, I'm sure my life would have been different...

Down memory lane...

At the lunch table we were discussing things that we did as kids, I have listed below some of the most common ones, I know this is a sure shot way of declaring my age to all and sundry...but what the h*** I believe I am and will remain 18 till I die...

1) Renting Bicycles - We would rent bicycles by the hour, each person having a personal favourite for which we were ready to wait the extra 10-15 mins incase it was already rented to someone else, then the haggling with the shopkeeper incase he charged extra because we arrived 5-10 mins late after the appointed hour. Also as we were forbidden from riding the bicycles on the roads,we would end up with bruised ankles and legs thanks to accidentally grazing them on the pedal and chain of the cycles as we wheeled the bicycles till our housing complex

2) "Pepsicola" - No I'm not referring to the Cola marketed by Pepsico, rather this is frozen treat made of water , sugar and fruit drink concentrate, that is filled in plastic tubes. Each costing 25p for the regular sized ones or 50p for the extra large ones or the more expensive "Milk Pepsicola" which was made of milk, sugar and delightful flavours like Chocolate, Pista, Mango and Rose. I'll have you know that the Chocolate flavoured one was my favourite. My mum used to come pick me up from school and incase she ever happened to stop at the grocery store on the way back we would get one of the aforementioned Pepsicolas.

3) Big Babol - I remember collecting the wrapper of this bubble gum, I forget the deal, but I guess it was something like for every five wrapper you would be one bubble gum free...

4) Gully Cricket - Yeah we had an all girls team and used to have a blast playing Cricket with a tennis ball and the most mind-boggling rules.

- One Tappi out - If the ball is caught after just one bounce off the bat, you were declared out!!!

- Full Toss out - If you hit the ball and it crossed the boundary, you were declared out!!!

- If you hit a window-pane, you were SUPEROUT, though there was no one left on the field to declare you out after that, with the players scattering in all direction to avoid being caught by the house owner!!!

5) Climbing trees, walls, water tanks etc - We just loved climbing trees, there were two guava trees behind my building and they were favourites with us kids, as they were quite easy to climb and had the most sweet guavas. Then there was the hilarious habit of climbing on the housing complex compound wall and walking on it till the point to where it was further enhanced for safety with barbed wire. No I didn't spend my childhood in a maximum security prison, barbed wire mounted on iron stands was used to increase the height of boundary walls and I believe it is still used in some area, though my housing complex now has replaced it with an iron fence.

6) Raiding fruits off trees - There were quite a variety of fruit trees in and in the vicinity of housing complex. We had Guava, Tamarind and Jaamun trees (a tall tree bearing a purple fruit). The school which shares the west boundry wall with my housing complex had mango trees, the bungalow which was situated just outside the south boundary had Avla trees. Come Summer vacation kids of all ages would raid these trees, getting the fruit off the society trees was quite easy but the getting the ones off the school compound and the bungalow required careful planning. For we had to deal with the society watchman and the owner of the bungalow (this fellow was quite vicious, he once chased us with a knife).

I could go on for ever...

My first batch of home made chocolates...

It is Learning at work week, and today there was a session on Chocolate Making and Tips on Baking Cakes... throughly enjoyed the session and even tried making chocolates once I got home... chocolates turned out just fine... picture alongside, judge for yourself... planning to bake a Chocolate Cake over the weekend... pics of the same will follow eventually...

Near Death Experience...

Of late I seem to be courting death a lot, though the latest episode left a few casualties other than yours truly. Now that I have your complete attention, here's the low down on how I escaped certain death and the upshot of it all...

My office colleagues and I normally eat at the office canteen or at restaurants in and around Hiranandani Complex, Powai. I'm especially fond of Subway, Gloria Jeans, Rodas Cafe (it has closed for renovations, but they had the most amazing sandwiches and the pastries were to die for) and Aromas (the Sicilian Risotto and all kinds of Pastas are absolutely divine). However that fateful day we decided to go to R City Mall, a couple of us wanted to try the new Italian Restaurant Cassamia (P.S. - You must have guessed by now, I'm crazy about Italian food) but the others hate Italian food so we ended up at the Food Court which gives a wide range of foods to choose from. After Italian food, I like Chinese and accordingly made a beeline for the Chinese restaurant and placed my order. I'm not judging anyone or anything but after eating the food I started feeling a little queasy and the next day it resulted in a full blown case of a badly upset stomach.

I would have pulled a sickie, but for an interview that was scheduled for a six month project in Hong Kong and I really wanted to land the same. I somehow managed to drag myself into office and do the interview (FYI-I got the project) and went home early as I really was of no use to anyone in that state. Late that night, rather at three in the morning I woke up due to intense pain in the tummy, the pain seemed to be following the motion of waves, it would start like a dull pain and at its peak it was like my intestines were being wrenched by an invisible force and then ebb away into nothing, much like labour pain (not that I have ever experienced it, just that there is too much information on the said subject thrown in your face these days and it seems quite similar). I got out of bed and went into the kitchen to look for some medicine to alleviate the pain and was looking through the cabinets when a fresh set of pain waves hit me and this time it was by far the worst set, I just couldn't stand, also started sweating profusely, that is when I decided to get my mom involved and I knocked on the bedroom door and collapsed in a heap right outside the door.

Things got interesting after that, when my mum opened the door and saw that I had fainted, she called out to me a couple of times and she herself collapsed. All this commotion had by now woken up the entire house hold. My mum soon came to and there were four near blind people (everyone in my family except me needs really high powered glasses and in the commotion they couldn't locate the said glasses) trying to revive me. Apparently I made a strange gurgling sound and stopped breathing for a while. Water was being sprinkled, my name was being shouted and there were worried looks all around and finally I came to my senses and started responding to them. It all happened in the span of a few minutes and is quite funny when you think about it now but my family went through hell while it was happening.

The upshot of this event is that I had to pull out of the Hong Kong project. What with my sister's wedding in October, my mum wasn't very pleased with me going to Hong Kong in the first place and thing fainting spell rang the death knell. She put her foot down and made herself quite clear that living alone in Hong Kong wasn't a good idea. I could have still accepted the project but that meant giving everyone at home extra tension as if the tension around the wedding preparation isn't enough. My mom for sure would worry her head off thinking about me fainting in Hong Kong with no one to revive me, so after careful consideration I decided to pull out of the project.

The only request my sister had the next day was "Incase you feel the need to faint anytime in the future, please ensure that you breathe !!!".