Punjabi cuisine is the most well known cuisine not only in India but around the world too. Punjabi food who doesn’t love them? 
Well I have never been to punjab but the i love the parathas curries and flavoured rice. Punjabis are great lovers of wheat, they hardly cook plain rice for regular meals. Their rice is flavored with cumin/or a varied number of spices. To have a quick tour of the cuisine of Punjab visit Richa’s As Dear as Salt who is hosting Lakshmi from VeggieCuisine’s RCI for Punjabi Cuisine.
Handi Vegetable Biryani
All you need:
for the paste:
quartered – onions 1
ginger – 2 inch
garlic pods – 5
To make Rice:
Basmati Rice – 1.5 cups
whole garam masala
bay leaves – 2
cinamon – 1 large cut into medium pieces
black pepper – 1 tsp
cloves – 6-8
others:
chilli powder – 3 tsp
tumeric powder -1 tsp
garam masala powder- 2 tsp(punjabi everest)
yogurt/2 tbsp
tomatoes – 1
mixed vegetables(carrot/beans/cauliflower/peas)
to fry
cashews – 8
onions sliced thinely – 1
capsicum sliced – 1
Method:
- Make a paste of onion, ginger and garlic.
- Soak rice for half an hour. Cook rice in salted water and whole garam masala until grainy. keep aside let it cool.
- Take oil in a kadai, fry cashews to gloden brown drain keep aside.
- Fry onions until crisp drain and keep aside. Fry capsicums until soft.
- Half boil vege like beans/carrot/potato in microwave for 2 mins, preserve the stock for gravy.
- Take a wok to make the curry, heat 2 tbsp ghee/oil
- Fry the paste until raw smell dissappears, add the masala powders and tomatoes cook until tomatoes are done
- Add mixed veges, salt Bring to boil add curds. stir well until oil seperates out.
- Take a oven proof casserole grease oil or butter
- Add the cooked1/4 of the cooked rice. Spread half of the curry. Add again 1/4 of rice spread the half of onions, cashews capsicums, coriander leaves. Again repeat with rest of the rice
- Seal the caserole and bake it for 15 mins at 230 c.
- Serve hot rice with any accompanied raita.
Recipe source: Bawarchi.com
Mushroom Mattar Makani (source: Tarla Dalal cook book)
All you need
Mushrooms – 2 cups(i used button mushrooms)
Boiled peas – 1/2 cup
For paste
onions – 1 sliced
tomatoes – 1 cut into chunks
garlic pods – 4
ginger – 2 tsp
cashews – 4 cut into pieces
Boil all the above and grind into paste
Others
jeera/cumin seeds – 1 tsp
kasuri methi – 2 tsp
garam masala – 1 tsp (punjabi Everest)
chilli powder – 2 tsp
Cream – 1 tbsp
coriander leaves for garnish
Method:
- Take oil/ghee in a kadai add cumin seeds when hot.
- Add the masala paste once the cumin seeds are light brown color
- Simmer for few minutes until oil seperates
- Add all the masala powders, salt and cream
- Add mushrooms and peas and bring to boil. Garnish with coriander leaves
- Serve hot with parathas.
