Aloo Tikki Chana Chaat

Hi friends today I am sharing another mouth watering dish known as Aloo Tikki Chana Chaat. Basically it is a snack item and typically served at road-side tracks from stalls or food carts in India and Pakistan. With its origins in Uttar Pradesh (India), chaat has become immensely popular in the rest of South Asia.

Chana Chaat

Ingredients:
1 ½ cup chickpeas pressure cooked for 15 to 20 minutes with 1tsp full salt which were soaked overnight;
Tomatoes 5 medium-large;
Fresh coriander a handful and 2-3 little green chilies;
1 Onion chopped for garnishing;
Keep some boiled chickpeas water separate when you drain them;
1 ½ tsp cumin seeds, 1 ½ tsp chili powder, 1 ½ tsp chaat masala powder and 3/4 tsp salt;
½ Cup Tamarind pulp, it has salt in it already so when you add salt in chickpeas be careful;
1 tbsp oil.

Method:
Heat oil in a pan, add cumin seeds let them turned golden in color, add sliced tomatoes cook till they separate water and turned into puree form;
Add boiled chickpeas, stir well;
Add chili powder, salt, chat masala powder, stir well;
Add tamarind pulp abt 2 tbsp, make sure the flame is at low heat;
Add green chilies, coriander leaves.


Aloo Tikki

Ingredients:
5 medium sized potatoes boiled ( preferably Talegaon or wafer aloo);
2 green chilies finely chopped;
1 tsp. Shah jeera;
1/2 tsp. red chili powder;
2 pav bread loaves or 5 regular bread slices soaked in water;
Few coriander leaves finely chopped;
A small bowl of oil for frying;
Salt to taste.

For filling:
1 finely chopped onion
ginger
2 green chilies
coriander leaves
1/2 tsp dhania powder
1/2 tsp jeera powder
1/2 tsp aamchoor powder
Mix everything together.

Method:
Mash boiled potatoes, add shah jeera, chopped green chilies, red chili powder, chopped coriander leaves, salt to taste and bread slices soaked and well drained. Mix all ingredients together and with the help of few drops of oil make even dough;
Make lemon size balls out of dough, flatten in palm with the help of oil;
Fill the onion filling abt a tsp and close well so that the filling doesn't sneak out, make equal size patties;
Heat enough oil in a pan to shallow fry the patties or tikkis in med to high flame for abt 2 min or till the tikki turned golden brown.

How to serve:
Take a platter pour 2 tbsp of chana chaat, decorate 2 aloo tikkis over it;
Garnish with curd, green chutney, sweet tamarind chutney, besan bhujia or papdi and some chopped onion.

Layered Chicken Biryani

Hi friends what could be a more perfect start than sharing the recipe of Layered Chicken Biryani as my first post. This recipe is simple yet amazingly aromatic and tasty. There are different varieties of Chicken Biryani mostly found in the old cities of India, each of them differs on the basis of their unique cooking style and flavor. Today the recipe I am sharing here is easy to cook with not many ingredients involved. This is called Layered Chicken Biryani because it has a layer of chicken then a layer of rice again a layer of chicken and then again a layer of rice.

Serving 5-7 persons

For this Layered Chicken Biryani all we need is:

Ingredients:

Chicken 1 kg

Basmati Rice 750 grms

Refined Oil 250 ml

Onion 750 grms

Ginger Garlic Paste 1 tbsp

Dry Garam Masala Powder 2 tsp

Red Chilli Powder 1 tsp

Turmeric Powder 1/2 tsp

Coriander Powder 2 tsp

Yogurt 1 cup

Green chillies 4-5

Mint Leaves a handful

Kewra water (optional) 1 tsp

2 Edible colors

Ghee (clarified butter) 2 tbsp

Cumin seeds 2 tsp

Bay Leaves 2-3

Cloves 4-5

Lemon Juice 1 tbsp

Milk 2 tsp

Salt according to taste

For Dry Garam Masala Powder we need:

Cumin seeds 1 tsp

Black Pepper 1 tsp

Black cardamom 2-3

Green Cardamom 2-3

Cloves 6-8

Nutmeg 1/2

Cinnamon 2 inch stick

Method:

1. Wash Chicken thoroughly, add 1/2 cup of yogurt, 1 tsp of red chilli powder, 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder, 2 tsp of coriander powder, lemon juice 1 tbsp and salt. Mix every thing together preferably with hand. Keep it aside for 1/2 an hour for marination.

2. Wash and drain Basmati rice and keep them aside for 1/2 an hour.

3. Chop onions length wise. Take a karahi or wok, heat 200 ml of oil in it , now add Chopped onions and fry till Golden brown, now separate the onions from oil and add marinated chicken in the same oil. stir well for 2 minutes on medium flame, now add ginger-garlic paste and dry garam masala powder about 2 tsp. add a little bit of salt more and stir well, cover the karahi with lid for 3-5 minutes. 

4. Let the chicken separates its water. Crush the onions with hand which were separated from oil and add them to chicken. add another 1/2 cup of yogurt and kewra water and cook till its done. stir occasionally.

5. In a pot boil 2 ltrs of water, add 2 whole green chillies, 2-3 bay leaves, 4-5 cloves, 5o ml of oil and salt. when the water starts boiling add rice in it. stir occasionally. After few minutes when the rice started boiling do not stir. Check if the rice is cooked. Drain the water till the last drop.

6. Take a Cauldron spread 1 tsp of cumin seeds, now spread half of the chicken in it, now spread half of the rice over chicken, spread finely chopped green chillies and mint leaves over rice, again spread the remaining chicken and then remaining rice. 

7. Take 1 tsp of milk add  a pinch of first edible color and mix well. To add make space in biryani with a blunt knife and pour the color in it. Again take another tsp of milk mix another color and add it to the opposite side of first color. 

8. Heat Ghee in a pan add 1 tsp of cumin seed and 1 length wise chopped onion in it. when onion turned golden brown spread it over the biryani, Cover it and put it on dum or the low flame for 5 -10 minutes.

9. Serve hot with green chutney and mint curd.