PULAO, BIRYANI, WRAPS & ROLLS SUIT MY FAMILY!
They want only these kinds & nothing else! This lessens my time of stay in the kitchen but there is one major problem, my family is not in the habit of having salads with their meals! I am uncomfortable giving them only meat and fish proteins without any vegetable day in and day out! This should not be what our intake be like! At a ripe age, in fact during the sun set of my life, I have understood the importance of having vegetables at least at one meal per day! If I serve it with flat or puffed breads and rice; they would eat! This is the reason why I do not simplify my cooking chore! It is also because I am a Bengali, our predecessors are used to a five course meal on a daily basis! I also hear of the present day Bengalis having an avocado toast for breakfast or oatmeal with fruits! There is no wrong in either of the two, whatever suits! I would stand somewhere in the middle of the two extremes! I am not fond of any extremes! How beautiful it would be had my people would have a bowl of salad with pulao & chicken or baked fish & buttered rice! Because they do not touch the salad bowl, they do not get their coveted bowls of non-vegetarian pulao or a meat filled wrap on a regular basis!
I AM AGING BUT, HENCE I LOOK FOR EASIER WAYS OF COOKING, IF NOT THE FASTEST!
Given our tastebuds, we hardly have anything to whip up fast! I do not believe in fast cooked vegetables, least to be eaten raw. They should not be over-cooked but well cooked! At this time, the quickest recipe that would make me happy is a Russian Salad! May be because it has potatoes in it that is why I like it! Also I am fond of the dressing of it and keep thinking how it can be healthy, it has to be high in calorie! Besides all these, the thing is that we cannot eat a salad bowl sitting together as a family; then I have no interest going through the process of making myself a salad even if it is of my choice! Instead, we would enjoy having a "mochar ghonto" or "kofta curry" together! The joy of having a meal together with your own is immense, it hurts mumma how her son eats his meals alone and has to arrange his every meal all by himself! Then, that is the way he would become independent I am told! What I know is I continue to live with tension, fear, worries about his safety and security until my end! Leave those, let us see what I ate yesterday! It was meals of my choice! For lunch, I had rice with my favourite Bhola Mach! For dinner, I enjoyed a khichuri meal!
What you good people do not see are that I had two "Purir Khaja" and two "rice flour snack" with Cristine's coffee in between! T would never tempt himself to have something in between meals; does he at all love food? May be today he would have the starters sitting with his friends! A friend's family is leaving for Abu Dhabi next month! Until the son was here, he enjoyed the variety of food mumma cooked for him!
WHAT IS MICROWAVE CHICKEN RICE?
It's been long I had been wanting to share this "useful" recipe with you all beautiful people! It is the occasion of Rakshabandhan approaching, my biryani prone brother would enjoy this. There are birthdays in the family too! Also, I wish to share such recipes for my son that can be cooked in few easy steps! I am scared about his health! One can cook it in a mono microwave without the grill mode! Not always we wish to take the hassle of cooking a biryani, for me it's royal, it's laborious! I would never call a cooker made meat and rice a biryani! I can always cook a boneless chicken, potato & rice bowl using some fresh herbs and spices; name it MICROWAVE CHICKEN RICE! Why do we need to call it a Biryani? Tomorrow is a National Holiday in the island, I think besides the world; the entire South East Asia would want to cook this gluten-free, meat & rice recipe!
INGREDIENTS :
BONELESS CHICKEN CUBE : 400-500 GM
RICE GRAIN : 1 COFFEE MUG [I USED SHORT GRAIN JEERAKASALA VARIETY]
CUBED POTATO : 7-8 PIECE
CHOPPED CORIANDER LEAF: A HANDFUL
CHOPPED MINT LEAF : 2-3 TBSP
SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 3-4
SLICED ONION : 1 SMALL TEA CUP
GINGER PASTE : 2 TBSP
GARLIC PASTE : 3 TBSP
CUMIN POWDER : 1 TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1 TSP
CORIANDER POWDER : 2 TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1 TSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 2 TBSP
WATER AS REQUIRED
PROCEDURE :
We would wash the chicken pieces well & marinate with the ginger and garlic pastes, washed & sliced onion, all of the spice powders, the oil & the salt! Let us rest it covered for over an hour!
We are to wash the rice grains well & soak for an hour, then drain the water! We would take the washed & drained rice in a microwave proof deep bowl!
We would uncover and add the potato cubes marinated with salt, the washed & chopped mint & coriander, the washed & slitted green chillies! We are to fold in well!
To that, we would add water as much required to just cover the rice, meat & potato mix! We would adjust the salt at this point a bit! We would fold in well & cover! Too much of water may spoil the texture of the rice!
We would cover the bowl & cook for 20 minutes at 600 power! You are to check your temperature, machines differ!
In between, we can stop and stir but I scared the rice grains may break! Once about twenty minutes of cooking is done, we would neither take the bowl out immediately, nor uncover! We would let it be at rest for 8-10 minutes, then take out!
We would mix the thing lightly before serving! We would have it hot with some raita & salad!
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