Aloo Biryani with Cucumber Raita, Chole-Dill Chaat, Rice Cake Flower

Siri of "Siri's corner" is guest hosting "Recipes for rest of us-Dinner" event, which is started by Ramki. My Aloo Biryani with Cucumber Raita goes to Siri.

Rachana of "The Gourmet Launchpad" blog is asking for "A Heathy Bite" for her healthy and tasty party appetizers event. I am sending her my healthy and tangy "Chole-Dill Chaat".

Chitra amma of "Chitra amma's kitchen" is hosting a cute event to celebrate her first blog birthday called "Kitchen Masterpieces" and asking us to create anything we fancy with food we eat. I took a hint from her own dosa art and made a Plate idli flower for her, hope she likes it!

Thanks to all of you, enjoy hosting! :)

Aloo Biryani with Cucumber Raita:
I made this Aloo Biryani the easy way. Instead of cooking and layering like the usual Biryani is done, I mixed the masala to already cooked rice and sauteed Potatoes like Pulao. Instead of Aloos, you can also add mixed veggies or meat to this Biryani masala too.

Also I am not supposed to use exact measures as per the rules of this event and recipe should be easy enough for a 10yr old to make this dish, so I threw in some "this and that" to make this Biryani. I cooked, peeled and sauteed the Potato cubes with a bit of salt in little oil first to make it easy to cook. Have fun!

Aloo Biryani:

1. Cook rice with pinch of salt, some lemon juice and bit of ghee, spread on a plate to cool. Prepare the Potatoes as above and set aside.

2. Heat oil, add few raisins, few cashews, few cloves, cinnamon pieces, crushed Cardamom pods.
3. Add about 2 handfuls of minced onion, fry until golden. Add ginger and garlic paste, saute for a minute.
4. Sprinkle coriander seeds powder, Cumin seeds powder, pepper powder, chill pd, pinches of turmeric, bit of garam masala, salt stir for a minute. Add some milk mixed with a pinch of saffron and Rose water, simmer until thickish paste. Ground poppy seeds added to Biryani will give a special taste.
5. Add potato cubes and rice and mix everything well. Adjust the spices and salt. You can garnish the Biryani with toasted Almond slivers if you like. Serve with Cucumber raita.

Cucumber Raita:
Mix enough yogurt, few pinches of salt, pepper pd, few cilantro and mint minced and cumin seeds powder and peeled and cubed cucumber pieces. Let it rest for a while before serving.

Serve with Biryani and enjoy! :)

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Chole-Dill Chaat:
This is a simple Chaat you can serve in a small bowl and a spoon in any Indian party. It's fairly dry, flavorful and nutritious too. If you don't like Dill leaves (Suwa bhaji), you could replace it with baby Spinach or Fenugreek leaves or skip the greens all together and use just Chickpeas.

Here is how I made it:
1. Heat 2 tsp oil, saute 1" grated ginger until slightly golden. Add 1/2 a bunch of chopped Dill leaves, pinch of salt and 1 tbsp water, stir fry for 2-3 mins.
2. Now 1 can of drained and rinsed Organic Chickpeas, enough salt and add 1-2 tsp or more chaat masala. Mix well and heat it through. It should wet but without gravy, not very dry either.
Since canned chickpeas are already cooked and soft, you just need to mix with spices and heat it.
3. To serve, squeeze some Lemon juice on top, mix and serve in a small bowl. You can sprinkle red onion chopped and sliced green chillies if you can handle it but not necessary.

Chaat masala:
1 tsp Coriander seeds powder, 1 tsp Cumin seeds powder, 1 tsp Amchoor/dry Mango powder, 1/4 tsp chilli pd, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp black salt (Kala Namak) and 1/4 tsp coarse pepper powder. Mix all these and use as much as you need in the above Chole chaat or Aloo chaat or any Chaat!

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Rice cake/Thatte Idli Flower:
I used one Rice Pancake aka Thatte Idli or Idli steamed in Dhokla stand plates, cut a flower with a pancake flower mould, filled the middle with Zucchini chutney and stuck a carrot pickle there. Sprinkled some coarsely ground pepper powder around the idli and garnished the corners with some chutney powder! I know! It's a very juvenile art from me but then I am not artistic enough to make anything else! Hahaha!!
Thanks to Chitra amma, I enjoyed being a kid again for few minutes! :))

Enjoy the rest of the week, see you all later! :)