A simple Bengali meal

We got some haddock the other day and from past experience I think the best way of cooking haddock is making fish cakes, if you are not deep frying it for fish and chips. I do love deep fried food but the rest of my family detests it. So I tried making it healthy. I made these hot and spicy bite size fish cakes, which is served with rice, “dal sedho” (boiled red lentils) and “bati posto” (spicy white poppy seed paste).

For dal sedho (boiled red lentils) all you need to do is wash and boil red lentils in salted water for 20-25 minutes or until fully cooked. You need to add in enough water so they don’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Once the lentils are cooked, in a separate pan make the “tarka”. Heat 2-3 tbsp of mustard oil (or you can use any cooking oil if you cant get hold of it!), whole red chilli broken into 2/3 pieces and 1 tsp of whole cumin seeds. Fry for a minute or two or until you get the chilli, crispy almost burnt, remove from fire and pour over the boiled dal. Check for seasoning and serve it with hot boiled rice. You can also add some roughly chopped red onions.

Posto is a typical Bengali dish. In-fact Bengalis can be divided in to two groups on this. Ones who love any preparation of posto and the others who secretly like having it but would love to tease the other group who openly loves posto.

Ideally “bati-posto” is done in a pressure cooker, but I tried making it on hob. For this you need 100 gm or so poppy seeds (you can find these seeds in the Indian shop near spices section). Dry grind them in a coffee grinder. Add water to it and make it a smooth paste. Keep it loose. Now add and mix some finely chopped green chillies, red onions, salt and 2-3 tbsp of mustard oil to it and then start cooking it on the hob. Stir continuously so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. When the water from the posto is almost gone, take it off the hob and serve with rice.

This fish cakes are very spicy and you can have them just like that or with main meals. For this I boiled the 2 fillets of haddock in water for 10-15 minutes and boiled 2 medium sized potatoes separately till they are fully cooked. Mash the fish and potatoes together (make sure there are no fish bones left in the mash). Add red chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and aamchur powder, ginger-garlic paste, 1 tsp each.  Next add salt, fresh chopped coriander, green chillies, pea nuts, all as per your taste. Mix every thing together and then make small cakes out of the mixture. Cover them well with breadcrumbs and shallow fry them in oil. Serve with rice.

The 100th post!

I cant believe I am writing my hundredth post! A few years ago someone asked me ‘Why don’t you start blogging?’ and I laughed. Me? Blogging? And now look at me, completing my maiden ton!

I wanted to do something special for this post and as usual breaking my head over this for some time. Then on Twitter I saw a tweet from Bristol Bites that she was taking up a challenge to raise funds to support a very noble cause. It is called Live Below the Line. The charity that is fighting against the world poverty. They had a challenge for the participants to have at least three meals of the day costing no more than £1 /day. The event started on 7th May and went on till 11th. While taking up this challenge you can have sponsors who would sponsor you by donating money to Live Below the Line for this noble cause. I was really excited and immediately asked Emily (Bristol Bites) that I am interested to take part, how do I do it? She got back to me immediately with all details and an invitation to join her team. I signed up and accepted her invitation on T-2 days.

I had to plan my all 15 meals for the challenge and have on £5 to do so. Not only the main items I need to buy within that but also the other things like salt, oil , pepper or any spices I intend to use should also be included in your budget. So I measured roughly how much I need for the 5 days and calculated the price of them (salt, teabags and oil) and added in my list. Here is what my list looked like.

My shopping and item cost list for the 5 days challenge :

Price Items
-----------------------------
0.85 6 eggs
0.20 0.5 kg Potato @40p/kg (Local veg shop)
0.35  350 gm Mushroom @£1/kg (Local veg shop)
0.39 pasta (500 gm)
0.45 300ml oil @ 15p/100ml
0.20 0.5 kg Onion (Local veg shop)
0.44 4 Instant noodles @ 11p
0.52 1.5kg plain flour
0.35  basic jam
0.07 teabags 20 @27p/80 bags
0.47 basic bread
0.017 50gm basic salt @34p/kg
0.18 Ground Black Pepper, Basics 25g
0.49 1 pint Milk
-------------------------------------------------------
4.977 Total

Armed with my above shopping list and my fingers cross I started my challenge on 7th May.

Day 1 : 7th May 2012

Breakfast: 2 slices of bread toasted and with jam + a cup of black tea

Lunch: Mushroom and onion pasta (cooked enough for at least 2 meals, stored the left over for another meal )

Dinner: Made hand made roti and potato fry (I made some 10 rotis and enough potato fry for another 2 servings.)

Day 1 felt quite good, was very tired by the end of it because I also had to make food for my little one and my hubby, which was obviously different from my food.

Day 2:  8th May 2012

Breakfast was again the same as day 1 , Jam toast and tea. 

Lunch : left over roti and potato fry and a cup of tea with milk this time.

Dinner : I just had a packet of instant noodles. Easy and lazy meals.

Day 3: 9th May 2012

Breakfast : Same old same old, jam toast and tea. Three days in a row, so started to get a bit boring now! I consoled myself saying to morrow I will have something different.

Lunch: Mushroom and onion pasta, left over from day 1. So no cooking for me!

Dinner: I still had 2 rotis left but there were no cooked potato left so I cracked two eggs and made two omelettes with them adding quarter of an onion, salt and pepper to each omelette. Next wrapped the omelettes in the rotis to make two individual egg roles, to complete my dinner. A little bit of tomato ketchup would have lift the flavours but that wasn't in my budget.

Day 4: 10th May 2012

Still going on ok but started to feel the pressure. Still 6 more meals left, and I am already running low in steam. Especially because I am addicted to chocolate, and that wasn’t there in my budget! I tried a lot to fit at least some chocolate in my budget but it was just not possible. Now I know I have chocolate in my fridge and I am craving for it but can’t have it! Every time I open the fridge to take something out, I felt, that bar was staring at me and asking “why I am still untouched?” Ignoring such temptation was real tough for me!  

Breakfast: I made muffins. Her is how I did! I used 2 eggs, instead of butter I used oil (2 tbsp), I didn’t have sugar in my budget but there were lots of jam so used quite a lot of them and there were no shortage of flour and milk! They aren't the best muffins I had ever tasted but it was a change from my regular jam and bread. I had 2 of 5 muffins I made.

Lunch: Instant noodles. Made them slightly different! boiled the noodles in plain water and then fried them with little onion and mushroom and the taste maker it comes with. Wasn’t bad!  

Dinner:  Made Alu paratha. Ideally we would have it with yoghurt and spicy pickle but both were not not my budget so had them just like that! Trust me it was good on its own. Had 3 out of 12 I made.

Day 5 : 11th May 2012

This was the last day of the challenge and I was eagerly waiting for it. Finally after this day I will be able to eat what ever I want, when ever I want! Trust me that dark chocolate bar in my fridge was calling me like anything and I was doing the hours countdown..15, 14, 14.5…

Breakfast: My fabulous muffins I made yesterday! I guess any thing hot out of the oven taste much better than a day old! Anyway, just two more meals left to go.

Lunch:  Left over Alu parathas and cup of tea.

Dinner: I had two of the eggs left, so decided to make some French toast (savoury version, not the sweet one!) with the bread! Basically beat the eggs with salt, pepper and finely chopped onions, dip the bread in the egg mix and shallow fry them. 

Post Challenge: 12th May 2012 and onwards

I used most of the items in my shopping list. The thing I was left with was half a pack of bread, some flour, half a bottle of jam and 2 packs of instant noodles. It might not have shown in the above meal description but I did finish all the teabags and milk I had in my budget. Now, I am back to my usual routine. During the challenge, I was so tempted to eat chocolates, I thought when the challenge ends, the first thing I would eat is that bar of chocolate sitting in the shelf of my fridge door. Surprisingly enough I didn't. I just went on with my usual life and food and forgot about the chocolate!

Well, that didn’t last long! I received a pack of Billington’s sugar and a recipe to make some chocolate muffins from Baking Mad. I made the batter but due to this last week challenge and the fact that I was working with chocolate, I was running out of patience and instead of making muffins and I made a batch of chocolate brownies and before I know almost half of it was gone! 

I couldn't raise much, but after reading my story if you feel like donating for this noble cause you can still do it here.

Speedy Chicken Soup Noodles

Now that Christmas and New Year celebrations are over, most of us are back to work. I am not joining work as yet. With my hands full at home with the little one, I hardly get time to do anything else really. I guess that’s what is making me think of all the shortcuts I can make in the kitchen and try and cook speedy one pot meals which are ready in least amount of time yet tastes good.

I try to keep some cooked meat in my fridge most of the time, they are such a life saver when you need some easy meal to be prepared. You can either buy them in the supermarkets or could be the left-over meat from last night’s supper. I had some store bought cooked chicken in my fridge which I have used to make this easy-peasy soup noodles. I made this up on the go so the measurements are really up to you. I used Lee Kum Kee brand spicy chilli-bean paste for this dish. This magic ingredient is available in most Asian food stores and truly transforms this noodle soup. You can adjust the quantity of chilli bean paste based on your tolerance/preference to hot and spicy food. 

Ingredients:

200 gm thick noodles (udon or soba)

100 gm cooked chicken (sliced into small pieces)

1 and 1/2 cube of vegetable stock powder

Spicy chilli bean paste (to your taste, I added 2 heaped teaspoon)

400 ml boiling water for the soup

1 onion chopped

1 capsicum thinly sliced

3 Chestnut mushroom thinly sliced

Oil for frying

Method:

Heat the oil in a pan and start frying the onions till they turn golden. Now add the chopped capsicum and mushroom to it and continue frying. Meanwhile in a sauce pan pour boiling water and cook the noodles according to the instructions on the pack. In a bowl pour the 400 ml boiling water and make the stock by dissolving the stock cube. Add the cooked chicken in to the onion and capsicum mix and stir well. Cook for a minute or so then add the chilli bean paste to it. Now add the stock into it and mix it well. Bring it to boil and cook for a minute or so then add the noodles and take it off the heat. Serve hot.

I garnished the soup with fresh coriander leaves.

Payesh and Bengali Misty Pulao

Bengalis are known for their sweet obsession, especially people from West Bengal. Apparently we are accused of adding sugar to every dish that we cook. I am sure that’s not true but I think for most dishes salt and sugar balances the taste of the dish rather than using only salt. Rice is an integral part of many cuisines but in India, it has meaning more than just food. We use rice grain in pujas, festivals, wedding or any auspicious occasion rituals . The list is countless. Hence its only obvious we will have countless cooked rice dishes as well.

We recently had a small celebration at home and my mother prepared the two rice dishes that I love the  most. For special occasion like this and special rice dishes which are so close to my heart I use the best rice I trust and that is Tilda Pure Basmati Rice.  The first one is the Bengali Misty Pulao and the other one is Payesh (Rice pudding). The first one we have at the beginning of our meal and the second one we have at the end of the meal.

Bengali Misty Pulao:

Ingredients:

2 cups of Tilda Basmati rice washed, drained and dried

1 Bay leave

3-4 cloves

3-4 green cardamom

1 2” cinnamon stick

2-3 tbsp Ghee

few raisins and cashew nuts

salt

2 tbsp suger

1/2 cup of peas, finely chopped carrots and capsicum (you can use frozen mixed veg, that reduces a lot of effort)

4 cups of boiling water

Method:

Heat the ghee in a  deep bottomed pan (you need a pan with a lid) and fry the cashew nuts and raisins in it first. Once they are lightly golden brown, remove them from the pan and add the whole spices for frying. About a minute later you start to get the aroma of the spices and ghee, add the rice into the pan and continue to fry. Keep the heat in medium and stir so that nothing gets burnt. In a separate pan fry the vegs with little salt. When the rice begins to change the colour add the fried vegs, raisins and cashew nuts and mix well. Now add the water. Add exactly double the amount of rice you use, no less no more. give it a good stir and the salt and sugar into it. Now cover the pan with a lid, keep the heat in medium and let it cook for next 10 minutes without any disturbance. If you are using a glass lid you will be able to see the rice absorbing all the moisture and becoming fluffy. Turn off the heat and let it rest for 2-3 minutes, then use a fork to lightly stir the rice to make it even fluffier. Bengali misty pulao is ready to serve. You can serve it with any meat or veg dish or even just like that.

Payesh:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of Tilda Pure Basmati Rice (Washed and drained)

Boiling water

1 litter full fat milk

200 ml of double cream

200 gms of sugar or if you can get some date jaggery than that will be great

Handful of cashew nuts and raisins

Ghee

1 bay leave

2-3 green cardamom

Method:

Boil the milk in a pan with the bay leave and the green cardamoms over medium heat. Be careful that the milk should not spill out or get burnt at the bottom. To prevent this keep stirring the milk time to time. Melt and mix the ghee into the washed rice and when the milk begins to boil add the rice into it slowly. Keep stirring. Add the sugar/jaggery into the milk an rice mixture and keep cooking over medium to low heat. After about 6-7 minutes you will notice the milk has reduced and the rice is almost cooked, now add the double cream and check for the sweetness of the payesh. If required add more sugar. Now add the raisins and the cashew nuts and continue to cook with stirring occasionally. Cook for another 5 minutes or till the rice is done and then take it off the heat and let it rest. Serve it hot or cold, I personally prefer cold.

The Gourmet Pizza – Domino’s Pizza Review

Another delicious treat from Domino’s. If you are a pizza lover you have got to try Domino’s Gourmet Pizza. If you are not a pizza lover, then also I would suggest to give it a try as this might change your opinion. There are three options to choose from. Firenzi (Pepperoni), Florentine (Veg) and Rustica (chicken). Check out there full range of delicious pizzas here.

We recently tried the large Firenzi Pizza, thin and crispy base with Pepperoni and double Jalepeno peppers topping (ummm..spicy and hot). You can choose reduced fat cheese but we went for the default, deliciously fresh Mozzarella cheese. The sauce base they used is also very special, made with sundried tomatoes and garlic. Absolutely delicious.

One large pizza was more than enough for two of us. In fact we couldn’t finish it in one go and had to take some rest before we attacked it again. The pepperoni was little spicy too and along with the Jalepeno peppers, it was haven. Thank you Domino’s for another delicious hot and spicy pizza.

Sorshe Ilish (Hilsha Fish in Mustard Sauce)

Hilsha or as we call it “Ilish Maach” is a hot favourite of most Bengalis. We love fish and among all types of fishes Hilsha is the king in taste. No matter what you make with Ilish maach, its going to taste great! Back home you can get this fish fresh from the market but here in UK we get it in Indian shops, frozen and at least 8-10 months old. I am happy with that. Something is better than nothing. At least I get to eat it once in a while.

Sorshe Ilish is also called Ilish maach er jhal and one of my favourites. Ideally yellow mustard seeds are used to make the paste but I think they are bit difficult to find here. So I used black mustard seeds. The biggest problem with the black mustard paste was a bitter after taste I used to end up with each time I cook it. I have tried different techniques to get rid of the bitter taste but never been that successful. Finally I switched to English mustard which is a great shortcut for me and easily available in the supermarkets.

This is a very easy to make recipe if you have all the ingredients handy. Also, if you don’t have Hilsha you can use Herring which tastes similar to Hilsha. 

Ingredients:

800 gm Hilsha (cut in to pieces)

2 tbsp of English mustard paste

2 tbsp of white poppy seed paste (We call it posto in Bengali)

1 tsp of nigella seeds

1tsp of turmeric powder

1 tsp red chilly powder

3-4 fresh green chillies

3-4 tbsp Mustard oil

Salt

Method:

Clean the fish and lightly rub them with little turmeric and salt and keep it separately. In a bowl make a mix of the english mustard, poppy seed paste, turmeric, chilly powder and salt. In a frying pan heat the mustard oil and shallow fry the fish pieces. Remove the pieces from the pan and add the nigella seeds and the green chillies in the remaining oil, fry for a minute then add the mustard-poppy paste to the hot oil. mix it well then add the fish pieces and cover them in the sauce. Cover the pan and cook it for 1-2 minutes and then remove from the heat. Serve with plain boiled rice.

Courgette Paratha

I have this really weird habit of picking up things that I really don't need while shopping. I know it’s a common complaint many men have against their wives, but I think I do it more often than I realize. Especially when I am doing grocery. I end up buying things and then keep thinking what shall I do with them. That is exactly what happened when I last went to the supermarket. I bought 1 kg of Courgettes (2 packets, around 6 of them). Then I forgot about them. I rediscovered them back in my refrigerator three days after I bought them. They were buried under the tomatoes, the green beans, the mushrooms, the green chillies, the coriander etc. etc. Well, now you know how my veg. basket looks like :)

Anyway, when I rescued the courgettes underneath all these vegs, I started to worry that what do I do with them. These are similar to a veg we get in India called “Lauki” in Hindi and “Lau” in Bengali. The typical dish that we make with these are with prawns called “Lau-Chigri” which we had recently. I looked in the internet and guess what I found a recipe in BBC Good Food called “Indian Bread with courgettes and coriander”!! That was unusual!! I didn’t expect that at all!! So I thought of giving it a try and an hour later, there I was serving courgette paratha for dinner. As usual I didn’t follow the recipe word by word and started adding different things and made my own version of it. I must tell you it’s quite difficult to handle the dough when you are using fresh raw veg as it releases lot of water and  becomes a nightmare to get the right dough consistency but the finished product was good. I loved it. Hope you like it too. 

 

Ingredients:

3 Courgettes / 500gms  (pealed and grated using the coarsest side of the greater)

1 tsp cumin seeds (dry roasted and made into dust)

1 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp garam masala powder

200 gm of plain flour and some extra for rolling the paratha

200 gm of roasted chick peas flour (we call it “Chatu” in Bengali) (you may find this in Indian store or replace with whole meal flour)

3 tbsp rice flour

2 tsp grated root ginger

3 tsp of green chilli paste (optional, I added because I like it)

Oil for frying

 

Method:

Mix all the dry ingredients in a big mixing bowl and then add 2/3 tbsp of oil in the flour mix. Give it a good mix then add rest of the wet ingredients in to it and start kneading. You will not need any water to knead as the grated courgette will release a lot of water. I found this step bit difficult as the dough is very sticky at this point. I put few drops of oil in my palms while kneading the dough, which helps to make the dough not sticking to hand. Continue kneading till you have a smooth dough. Make a log out of the dough and cut it into 12-14 equal portions. One by one take each portions and roll the in your palm to make small flat balls. Dip them in dry flour and set them aside. Dust the rolling plane with flour and start rolling each of the balls to thin parathas. Heat a heavy bottom frying pan and place one paratha and cook until you see little brown spot on the side facing down. Turn it over and cook till you see the brown spots again. Pour a teaspoon full of oil on and around the paratha and cook for 1 minute on both sides or until they are fully cooked. Serve them with your choice of veg or meat curry.

I made simple potato with onion, tomato and cumin slowly cooked on low heat. 

Peas Paratha

I found it interesting that although we consider green peas as vegetable but botanically it's actually a fruit. Arguably, the most popular English dish is 'Fish and Chips' which is basically one whole fillet of fish, battered and deep fried, served with deep fried potato wedges or chips. Sometimes this dish comes with steamed or boiled mushy peas. Either way, it tastes great because the sweetness of the mushy peas balances the saltiness of the fried fish and potatoes. 

In India we get to see peas only during the winter, when they are in season. The Indian peas are not as sweet as the European/American ones. I guess, that's why I don't get the exact taste that I used to get back home with peas based Indian dishes. 

I made some peas parathas (in Bengali we call it motorshuti-er-kachori) with the English garden peas. There was a distinct hint of sweetness to the parathas which I never got while I had the same dish in India. Both the versions do taste very nice, so no matter which peas you use, you will have an an easy and delicious dinner with this recipe. 

Ingredients:

For the filling:

100gm Peas (fresh or frozen) 

1 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tbsp oil / ghee

Salt

For the dough:

250 gm of flour

1 tbsp oil

1 tsp salt

Water

Some extra flour for rolling the parathas

Oil for frying the parathas

Method:

Mash the peas  and keep it separate, don't worry if its not a silky smooth mash (well I didn't!!). In a pan heat the oil for the filling, then add all the spices listed, fry for few seconds then add the mashed peas. Mix it well and cook till the mixture becomes dry. stir continuously so that it doesn't get burned or stuck at the bottom. Once done, take it off the heat and let it cool. 

Now for the dough, mix the dry ingredients first i.e. flour and salt, then add the oil and mix well again. Now add sufficient water to make a soft dough. Divide the dough in small balls and keep it separately. Now roll the small dough balls a little and place a spoon full of peas mixture in the centre. Seal the mixture by closing the rolled dough from all sides. Cover the balls in dry flour. Repeat the same procedure for all the balls. 

Take each stuffed ball and roll them out. Heat a frying pan, cook the parathas for 1-2 minutes on each side and cook till you see the brown spots forming on each side, then brush some oil on both side, cook for another 1 minute and remove from heat. Serve hot with pickle and Greek or plain yoghurt. 

Lamb Kebabs and Cous-Cous

Holiday!! At last!! I am so happy that finally we are able to make it. Tomorrow we are leaving for Morocco, to spend the rest of the bank holiday weekend in Marrakesh. So my tonight's dinner is inspired by Moroccan theme, with my modification of course. Here you go! 

Ingredients:

For the Kebabs


500 gms minced lamb
1 egg
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala powder
2-3 green chillies (chopped)
Handful of fresh coriander leaves (chopped)

For the Cous-Cous


300 gms of cous-cous
1 can of chickpeas (drained)
2 tbsp tomato sauce
1 red onion (chopped)
1 green chillies (chopped)
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp orange zest
Handful of fresh coriander leaves (chopped)
Salt
Olive oil
Boiling water

Method:


For Kebabs, mix all the ingredients together and make small balls out of it. Leave it to rest for some time and get on with the cous-cous. Add salt to the boiling water mix well and pour it on the cous-cous  and leave it to absorb all the water. 

Meanwhile put the meat balls in to the skewers and place it under the grill for 12-15 minutes. Keep an eye on them and turn them occasionally. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the chillies and onion. When the onions are soft add the chickpeas and keep frying for another five minutes or so. Now add the couscous in to the pan and give it a good stir. Add the lemon juice, orange zest, fresh coriander and mix well. Serve hot with the kebabs. Enjoy!

I will be back online soon, after my return from Morocco. Until then, enjoy your holidays and Happy Easter. 

Dinner Party Menu

Last weekend we had a get-together with our very close friends. We were meeting after almost six months. So, I was planning for it for quite some time. I didn't wanted to cook a lot of dishes because when you have a dinner party at your home you don't want to spend most of the evening in cooking and not spending time with your guest. I wanted something not too complicated yet delicious. After some thought, I ended up with the menu below. I did the dessert  previous night as it needed to set for few hours in the fridge, but rest of it I did on Saturday and believe me, I had enough time to make my house presentable and finish cooking before my friends arrive. Just on time. I had a wonderful time with my friends relaxing over glasses of wine, watching movies and lots of chit-chat and gossip.

Starters 

1. Chicken and sweetcorn wrapped in honey roasted ham slices

2. Spicy tuna mayonnaise wrapped in honey roasted ham slices

3. Smoked Scottish salmon flavoured with coriander & red chilli

Main courses 

1. Lamb curry

2. Scallops in coconut curry sauce

3. Spicy peas and potato

Served with Naan bread and Basmati rice

Dessert 

Chocolate Cherry Trifle

Lamb Biriyani

This weekend was very special for me and my husband. It was our anniversary weekend, so thought of cooking something very special for this occasion, something that’s not an everyday dish. Some thing that is a real treat! So, I thought of making LAMB BIRIYANI. This is considered as a royal dish in India. Its basically rice, meat and potatoes cooked together. The original recipe requires lot of ghee/ butter, which is not so good for your heart. So I thought of cutting on the calories and make a low calorie version of the biriyani without compromising on the taste and have a guilt free treat. So here you go... 

For marination you will need:

Mutton/ Lamb-500 gms (or you can use beef as well)
Yogurt-200 gms
Ginger garlic paste-2 tablespoons
Meat tenderizer- 2 tablespoons
Shah Jeera powder-1 tsp

Cumin powder - 2tsp

Coriander powder - 2tsp

Red chilly powder -1 tsp

Cloves - 2 to 3 (crushed)

Green cardamom -2 to 3 (crushed)
Black cardamom powder- 2 tsp
Black pepper powder-2 tsp
Cinnamon powder-1tsp
Fried Onion-40 gm
Green Chillies-2 to 3 (crushed)

Rest of the Ingredients :

Basmati rice- 500gm
Potato- 2 (big size, peeled and cut into halves)
Coriander Leaves- 1 bunch
Mint Leaves- 1 bunch
Rose water- 2 tsp
Milk- 100ml
Saffron - a pinch
Butter- 20 gms
Oil for frying.

Method:

Wash the meat and add all the ingredients for marinating and marinate it overnight. 

Heat oil in a deep bottom non-stick pan, add the potato, fry till golden brown then add the marinated meat in to the same pan and cook in the low flame for next 50 minutes or till the meat is done. Keep stirring so that it doesn’t burn. Mean while half cook the rice, spread it on a plate and add the butter to it. Mix it with a fork and then add the saffron, rose water in the warm milk and keep aside.  

When the meat is cooked add the half cooked rice to the pan and mix it well. Now add the boiling water to it. Now this is critical, usually two portions of water is required to cook one portion of raw rice, but since the rice is already half cooked you will only need same quantity of water as the rice is. Mix the rice well in to the pan, add the coriander and the mint leaves, close the lid and cook until all the liquid is evaporated and the rice is cooked. Check for seasoning and take it off the heat. Serve hot with raita.