Chicken (cut into medium-sized pieces) – 1 kg
Onions – 2 nos, sliced
Green chillies – 6 nos slit lengthwise
Ginger-garlic paste – 2 tsps
Green capsicum – 3 nos, sliced
Garam masala – a pinch
Turmeric powder – a pinch
Coriander leaves – a bunch
Red chilli power – 2 tsps
Tomato puree – ½ cup
Cashew paste – 1 ½ tbsp
Pepper powder – ½ tsp
Cooking oil – 100ml

Preparation
Heat oil in a wok and saute ginger-garlic paste, sliced onions & slit green chillies till golden brown. Add turmeric, red chilli powder and garam masala and stir. Pour tomato puree and cook for 5 minutes. Put the chicken pieces into the gravy and cover the wok. Let the mix boil for another 10 minutes. Add capsicum slices, cashew slices, pepper and salt. When the chicken is almost cooked, add finely chopped coriander leaves. Temper with a dollop of ghee. Serve hot with roti or steamed rice.

Rice patthiri

Rice Flour -2 cups
Water - 2 cups
Salt - to taste
For Grinding:-
Grated coconut -1 cup
Shallots - 5
Cumin seeds (Jeera) - 1 tsp

Preparation
Heat water and salt in a vessel. Stir in the grounded mixture when it starts to boil. When it boils well, put the rice flour into it. Close the lid tightly and simmer it for few minutes. Open the lid and mix the flour well with a spoon. Remove the vessel from fire and allow the content to cool. Knead it to a fine dough using hand without adding water.

Chicken varatiyathu

Chicken-1 ½ lb, (700gm) cleaned and cut into small pieces.
Onions- 2.5 cups chopped (3 medium sized ones)
Tomatoes-2 cup tomatoes (2 medium sized ones)
Green chillies - 6 chopped
Garlic paste – 2 ½ tbsp
Turmeric powder – 3/4 tsp
Red chilli powder- 2 tsp (more or less as per taste)
Coriander powder-4 tsp
2”long Cinnamon stick, 4 cloves, 3 cardamoms
Pepper- ¼ tsp (whole or crushed)
Coriander, Mint, each a small handful, chopped
Salt - to taste
Oil-4 tbsp
Curry leaves – one sprig

Preparation
Wash the chicken and lightly toss it with lemon juice and rinse again. Drain well onto a slotted drainer. Heat the oil in a large shallow pan, add the whole spices. Sauté till the fragrance fills the air and then add onions. Fry onions till transparent and add chillies, ginger and garlic and stir well. Then add the tomatoes, all the spices and chicken and cook uncovered on low heat till water comes out. Do not add any water,it will prevent the spice powders from getting cooked. This will take between 10-15 minutes. Keep stirring to avoid the spices from getting stuck to the pan. Add salt and the pepper. Check to see if the chicken is cooked. If there is no water, add ½ cup water and cook it covered for another five minutes. Add ¾ cup water to make extra gravy and let it boil well. Add the leaves, leaving the coriander leaves for the last, after switching off the flame.

Mutton Biryani

Mutton - 1kg or 2.5 lbs
Onion – 500 gm or 4 medium ones
Tomato - 200 gm or 2 medium sized ones
Green chilies – 100 gm or about 20 in nos
Ginger - 50 gm or a 4” piece
Garlic pods – 50 gm or 8 cloves (big)
Pepper powder – 1 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Plain yoghurt- 3/4 cup (thick)
Fennel (Perinjeerakam) - 1 tsp
Poppy seeds (Khus khus) - 1 tsp
Mint leaves (Pudhina) - 1/2 bunch
Coriander leaves (Malli ela) - 1/2 bunch
Curry leaves- a handful
Lemon juice - 1 1/2 tsp
Clarified butter (Ghee) - 1/2cup or 1/4 cup mixed with ¼ cup oil
Cashew nuts – 20 gm or a handful
Raisins- 20 gm or a handful

For the rice:
Basmati rice - 1 kg/ 4 cups
Cinnamon (Karuvapatta) - 4 sticks
Cloves (Carambu) - 4 nos
Cardamom (Elakkai) - 4 nos
1 bay leaf
Salt to taste
Lemon juice- 1 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste

Biryani Masala:
Cinnamon 2 gm
Cardamom 1 gm
Cloves 1 gm
Nutmeg 1/4
Bay leaves- 1
Mace 2 gm
Caraway seeds 1 tbsp
Dry roast all together and grind to a fine powder.

Preparation
Clean the mutton and cut into medium-sized pieces. Wash and drain. Soak the fennel & poppy seeds in a bowl with water for 1 hour at least and grind with very little water to a very fine paste. If it still feels grainy, add a tablespoon of grated coconut to grind it well. Keep aside. Grind together the ginger, garlic and green chillies into a coarse paste. Chop the tomatoes into cubes and slice the onions. One onion should be sliced extra fine. This one is for the fried onion garnish. Marinate the mutton with the ginger garlic chilli, and all the other spices and ingredients except the onions, biryani masala and herb leaves. Add salt too and keep covered for an hour at least.

Clean and soak rice for 30 minutes. Keep aside. Heat 3/4th of the ghee/oil in a heavy bottom pan. Add the garnish portion of the sliced onions and fry, till golden brown and crisp. Sprinkle some sugar over the onions to speed up the crisping. This should take about 10 minutes. Remove the onions and fry the cashew nuts on medium heat till they turn brown on all sides. Drain and remove. Add the raisins now and stir till they plump up. Remove onto paper towels. This ghee/oil is used for flavouring the rice so save it. Heat up the remaining oil and add the rest of the sliced onions and sauté them till they become translucent. Add the marinated mutton, the poppy seed mixture, the biryani masala and the coriander, mint and curry leaves and mix thoroughly. Keep it covered and cook on medium heat for an hour, checking frequently till the oil starts to separate and the meat gets almost cooked but still has a bite left.

If the mutton normally requires a long cooking time, you can pressure cook it for just one whistle and then simmer on slow heat to concentrate the gravy. Do not add water at all. Check taste and add more salt or yogurt, pepper etc if needed. Preheat the oven to 200 degree Celsius. Heat 3 tbsp of the remaining onion ghee/oil and add the whole spices- cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and bay leaves. Sauté for a second and add the drained rice. Stir the rice till it turns opaque and add 6 cups water (three fourth of the quantity required for ghee rice). Cover and cook the rice on slow heat along with all spices and salt, till all the water is absorbed. This would take about 5-8 minutes.

In an oven proof dish, spread half of the mutton masala and place half of rice over it. Sprinkle some lemon juice to prevent the rice from sticking. Spread the remaining masala and top it with rice followed by lemon juice. Pour 2 tbsp of ghee/oil on top of it and sprinkle some roasted onion, nuts and raisins. Close it with a layer of aluminum foil and then lid and put it in the oven for 25 - 35 minutes. Remove and let rest for another 5-10 minutes before opening. Serve with coconut chutney, pickled onions, yogurt and papadam.