[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by rajatsingh78

I am planning to buy or get a custom barbeque made. Guys - your help...suggest anything that I am not foreseeing here, or a better plan/advise

The BBQs available here in India (at least in Bangalore) are overpriced. My friend got this from Dubai for < Rs.500. Said he picked it up from Carrefour - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



I saw BBQs starting from Rs. 200 at Carrefour Malaysia. If you have anyone coming from abroad, ask them to pick one.

But at the end of the day, no better satisfaction than a good DIY.

@maddy, thanks for the link to the Ramsey video. I knew he had come to Kerala and was wondering when the show will be aired.

[tsk1979]

I bought a barbecue grill for around 400 from a local shop. Made of iron

[rajatsingh78]

I know about Carrefour (when I visited Spain) and saw some grills, but never thought of picking because of their size but 200/400 is dirt cheap

Originally Posted by Jaguar

The BBQs available here in India (at least in Bangalore) are overpriced. My friend got this from Dubai for < Rs.500. Said he picked it up from Carrefour - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I saw BBQs starting from Rs. 200 at Carrefour Malaysia. If you have anyone coming from abroad, ask them to pick one.

But at the end of the day, no better satisfaction than a good DIY.

@maddy, thanks for the link to the Ramsey video. I knew he had come to Kerala and was wondering when the show will be aired.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

I bought a barbecue grill for around 400 from a local shop. Made of iron

From where in Delhi? I will be shortly travelling to Delhi and will pick but this DIY will be completed for sure,
Could you please upload the pic as well ?

[tsk1979]

I got it from a local market in Noida. There are lots of shops where which sell to restaurants etc.,
Its a pretty big rectangular grill

Its a very crude and desi cast iron version of this, with thick iron rods for keeping the coals.

HOPE/GLORY BLOG Blog Archive Balcony BBQ grill by Henrik Drecker

[rajatsingh78]

You from NOIDA...good, please let me know the sector, I was in NOIDA for from 2002 until 2008, and will be putting up in Indirapuram,

But I know what you are talking about, its the grill used by those street side vendors to sell kebabs (sector-29 Bhramaputra market), which would be impossible to bring back via flight

Originally Posted by tsk1979

I got it from a local market in Noida. There are lots of shops where which sell to restaurants etc.,
Its a pretty big rectangular grill

Its a very crude and desi cast iron version of this, with thick iron rods for keeping the coals.

HOPE/GLORY BLOG Blog Archive Balcony BBQ grill by Henrik Drecker

[sbraj]

Tried my hand at Trivandrum style mutton curry. Wife maintains a diary with different recipes collected from various sources, I picked up this one.

This attempt was a one-man-show right from mutton purchase, cleaning, cooking to garnish and presentation. It was first time that I am doing some cooking totally independently.

Note - I had toned down on spices, chilli powder etc to suit our 4 year old's appetite. For spicier version, spices/powders can increased.


Ingredients

• 1 kg mutton, cut into medium pieces

• For the marinade:
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
  • 4 tsp corainder powder
  • 3 tsp chili powder
  • salt

• Spices, to be dry roasted and ground:
  • 2 tsp saunf
  • 2 tsp khus-khus (optional, when used provide a rich base)
  • 1 sticks of cinnamon
  • 10 cloves
  • 2 cardamom pods

• For stir frying:
  • 3-4 medium sized onions sliced
  • 1 bunch of coriander leaves
  • 1 tsp mustard seeds

• Salt to taste

Method

Marinate the mutton with the powders, salt for few hours in fridge. Then, add little water and pressure cook it in low flame for 20 minutes.

Heat the spices in a tava (without adding oil), let it cool down and then grind it into powder in a mixer.

Add oil to tava. Once oil heats up, add mustard seeds. Once the seeds start bursting, add curry leaves followed by sliced onions. Stir fry the onions till light brown. Now add the ground masala powder and continue to stir fry for 3 minutes. Add the cooked mutton, mix well until the the gravy is thick. Dish is now ready to serve.

[Rocky_Balboa]

Fig Halwa in 10 mins.

Ingredients:
1) About 20 dried figs
2) 5-10 pistas, cashews and peeled badams
3) 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder
4) 1/2 cup sugar/ sugar-free substitute
5) ghee

Directions:
1) Soak the nuts in water for about 5-10 mins.
2) Drain the water and puree them in a mixie with cardamom powder and sugar, to a paste format.
3) Heat ghee in a pan, add the puree and saute over low flame, until ghee mixes well with the puree. (remember to stir continuosly)
4) Garnish with nuts and serve hot or cold.

Optional:
5) Add milk to the pan, after step(3) and stir until the halwa mixes well with the milk.

Prepared this for Diwali and everyone (in the family), acted as if it was good.

[Aroy]

Tried this Hyderabadi Biryani a lot at home.

Part 1
Mutton pieces cut big (50-70g each) - 1kg
Curd - 1 cup
Mint (pudina), Coriander (Dhaniya) Leaves - 100g
Green Chillies - 50g
Nutmeg (Jaiphal) - 1 nut
Ginger 50g
Garlic 50g
Salt - to taste

Grind the dry herbs.
Chop the fresh herbs.
Make a ginger garlic paste.
Mix every thing in curd, and then marinate the mutton in it. I normally do this a day or two ahead, but a few hours should be enough. Add salt till the marinade is just about OK. If you want to save space or utensils, put the whole thing in a couple of plastic bags, tie the mouth shut and keep it in the fridge.

Part 2
Ghee - 200g.
Onion - 250g.

Cut the onion into rings and fry in the ghee till golden brown.
Mix half the rings with the marinated mutton.

Part 3
Rice 1/2 kg
Cardamon - big & small, 5+5 pieces
Bay Leaf - 1
Whole Black pepper - 10-15 pieces
Mace (Jayatri) - 1 or 2 leaves
Salt - to taste

Boil the spices with salt in 2-3 liters of water till the essence of the spices is absorbed. If you want you can retain the spices, else filter then out.
Put rice in the above water and boil it till it is about 50% done - just loosing its hardness. Strain the rice.

Part 4
Biryani pot. The thicker the pot the better. I use a 8"-10"" dia, 2mm thick pot for 1 kg, 12" - 18" dia for 2 kg meat. The mutton should form a single piece layer at the bottom with no gaps or overlapping.

Put mutton in the pot and pour the ghee from onion frying. Mix thoroughly. There should be enough liquid to just cover the mutton. Add some curd or water to make up the level.

Now layer the rice, inter spacing it with fried onion.
On the top layer you can sprinkle Mint, Coriander leaves if extra flavour is required.

Put the lid on and seal it with atta.

Part 5
You need very low heat for the biryani to cook properly. I use a tawa on low gas to act as a heat sink and put the cooking pot on top of it.

Start with high heat and you will notice steam coming out of some break in the seal. Reduce the heat till the steam stops. Now you have the perfect heat to cook.

The cooking time will vary between 2.5 and three hours.

DECODING FAILED ATTEMPTS
I will try to give you some of the signs and remedies of failures that have occurred.

1. Over cooked rice and under cooked mutton. The reason are
- heat lower than required. Happened once when the pot was too high above the flame.
- initial rice over cooked (> 50%) or too much water in the mix. As rice will bloat up with all available water better to have too little than too much.
- cooking time too little for the mutton. This can happen if either the mutton is tough or marinade too short

2. Perfect Rice, burnt Mutton.
- Too high a flame
- Too little moisture. This is a tricky thing. Good pink mutton releases a lot of water, while old tough meat very little. Try and get pink mutton from an animal not more than 6-8kg dressed.
- Seal leaking, hence all moisture let out as steam. Note how to get the perfect heat. If the steam does not stop leaking, reduce the heat and in extreme case put another tawa between gas and pot (rarely required unless you have a really big burner).

3. Biryani Bland. You have used too little spices.
- For that hot feeling increase the quantities of green chillies and pepper.
- Increasing fried onion will give you a sweater taste.
- It is assumed that spices you use are fresh and potent. Old spices especially those ground months ago loose their potency. In such cases use more.
- For exotic taste you can sprinkle Rose or Kewra water, or saffron (mixed in hot milk)

4. Excessive salt. Happens when you either unmindful while mixing marinade and have not tasted it, or when there is too much salt in the water used for boiling rice. There fore please taste before you go ahead.

In case there is too little salt in the final dish, just mix table salt, a little at a time when you open and taste the dish first time.

NOTES

The recipe is scalable. I have tried between 1/2kg and 5kg of mutton. As long as you have large enough pots to accommodate the meat in one single layer. I have pots ranging fro 8" to 25" in diameter.

All ingredients are to suit individual taste. Thus you can play around with the quantity of leaves, garlic and ginger.

Marinating the mutton for upto three days is OK. It just adds to the taste as spices are absorbed better.

In order to have a perfect balance between rice and meat, the cooked rice should taste heavenly on its own. Hence the masala in the rice water.

I always taste the marinade. It should taste perfect on its own.

[neel385]

Hey Aroy!! That must be the most detailed biryani recepie I have come across in a long time!! Great work!!
I have known a few people to add "saha jeera" to the marinade as well. Does give a nice fragrance me thinks.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by neel385

Hey Aroy!! That must be the most detailed biryani recepie I have come across in a long time!! Great work!!
I have known a few people to add "saha jeera" to the marinade as well. Does give a nice fragrance me thinks.

Thanks.

When I started about a year ago, I went through the net for a compatible recipe. Then I watched the discovery feature where a grand old man made the biryani in Hyderabad. I tried a few combinations and homed down to the current version.

You should try it soon. This version gives melt-in-mouth mutton, with fragrant rice. Pile up on green chillies if you like it hot!

[prince_pervez]

Originally Posted by neel385

I have known a few people to add "saha jeera" to the marinade as well. Does give a nice fragrance me thinks.

The secret to well marinaded meat is the time and slits on the meat. Make slits so that the masala is absorbed in the meat.

I do the following.

1 )I clean the chicken/goat meat of visible and hanging fat and gore.
2) Add a pinch of salt and turmeric before hand and mix the meat with it.
3) Keep it for atleast 5-6 minutes and in the mean time prepare the rest in the grinder.
4) Put corriander leaves, mint leaves, cut green chillies, chopped tomatoes, and a spoon of ginger garlic paste and make a paste of this in the mixie.

While the mixie is doing its thing put curd over the meat and aplly it on the meat. Keep it for another 4-5 minutes. Then when the mixie masala is ready pour it over the meat and mix it and keep it for 1/2 hour and prepare the other biryani ingredients.

The most challenging part is the point where the half cooked rice meats the half cooked meat. If you get that part right then you are the champ in Biryani cooking affairs.

[Fraz33r]

Originally Posted by Aroy

When I started about a year ago, I went through the net for a compatible recipe. Then I watched the discovery feature where a grand old man made the biryani in Hyderabad. I tried a few combinations and homed down to the current version.

Hey Aroy, great recipe and those minor observations. I also look around on the net for some exiting recipes. One thing i had to ask you is, i have seen most of them (on the net ) cook the chicken/mutton like any ordinary sabzi style and then on low heat put up the rice over the top, (i have tried that, it tastes good but not the conventional biryani though).

and secondly, is the marinade spices, herbs sufficient enough to make the bottom chicken tasty, i mean it is not explicitly going into the oil (in separate ways)as such hence the question.

[sbraj]

Excellent tips, Aroy. I think I will try this recipe soon.

One question though.

Originally Posted by Aroy

Mutton pieces cut big (50-70g each) - 1kg

Originally Posted by Aroy

Rice 1/2 kg

Originally Posted by Aroy

I have tried between 1/2kg and 5kg of mutton.

I have always thought that the proportion of meat and rice should be 1:1. As per your recipe, it is 1:0.5. Would there be enough rice?

[Samurai]

Although I can do enough cooking (thanks to MTR powders) to avoid starvation, there is one dish I can cook better than my mom or any other relatives. In fact, I learnt to cook that dish in my teens simply because my mom didn't have the muscle power to do it right.

The dish is Ragi Mudde, or Ragi balls, native to south Karnataka. It become famous in Delhi too when a certain humble farmer accidently became PM in the 90s. So here it goes.

Requirements:
1) A cooking vessel with thick bottom and a very sturdy handle. Trust me, this is important.
2) A very sturdy and thick wooden ladle with a shallow bowl. If it isn't strong enough, it will break. This is how you can judge, if you can't break the ladle with your bare hands, it should be good enough.
3) An ordinary steel cooking spoon for scooping the Ragi floor.

Ingredients (for 2 people):
1) Half KG Ragi flour. (safe to have little more, say 1KG)
2) Quarter teaspoon table salt.
3) One liter of water.

Start:

1) Pour 1 liter of water into the cooking dish and place it over the gas stove.
2) Add the salt and one teaspoon of Ragi floor and mix it thoroughly, don't leave any lumps.
3) Turn on the fire at high setting and bring the water to a boil.
4) Once the water boils, turn down the fire to a simmer.
5) Using the dry steel spoon, scoop 3-4 spoonful of ragi and put it into the water. Don't wet the steel spoon.
6) Using the wooden ladle, mix the ragi flour into the water thoroughly to remove all the lumps.
7) Repeat steps 5 and 6 until becomes really hard to turn the ladle. Knowing when to stop adding more flour is a matter of practice. Generally 1/2 KG flour will be fine with 1 liter of water. Ultimately, ensure that no lumps are left.
8) Turn off the fire, close the vessel, leave it for few minutes.
9) Now the real difficult part, making the balls. Using clean wet hands, make cricket ball sized balls from the thick ragi paste. You can scoop out the hot thick paste using the ladle, dump it on a plate, then with wet hands mold it into balls. Keep wetting you hands with clean water. The wetness in the hands will both protect you against heat and from stickiness of the paste.


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The ragi balls can be served with any spicy gravy. The favorites are mutton curry, chicken curry or Palak curry.

How to eat Ragi ballls? Squeeze off a marble sized ball from the big ball, lubricate it with the curry, and swallow the ragi ball.

Enjoy!

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by sbraj

Excellent tips, Aroy. I think I will try this recipe soon.

One question though.

I have always thought that the proportion of meat and rice should be 1:1. As per your recipe, it is 1:0.5. Would there be enough rice?

Biryani is made in various ratios of meat to rice, depends on your taste. As we are a family of meat eaters, we love lots of pieces of meat in the Biryani, hence the ratio. If you use premium basmati rice it will grow quite a lot and you will have plenty of rice.

With my ratio you should have about 2-3 inches of meat and 6-8 inches of rice in the pot.