I had tasted this dish at hubby's friend Lt. Col Kartik's place. His wife Chabi is an awesome cook and I was totally bowled over by this dish. The best part is that it is a complete dish and you don't need to cook anything else. Also looks extremely presentable with a lot of accompaniments. 

I felt like cooking Khow Suey today and searched online for recipes. Surprisingly I found only Indian recipe blogs :) Now  I really wonder whether this is authentic Burmese - need to do some research later. 

The recipes I found contained garam masala, dhaniya etc so I think it must be the Indianised version of the Burmese recipe (if that exists that is). Here  is how I cooked the dish



Method

1. Take 1/2 cup oil in a pan and deep fry 1 onion cut into longish slices,  till caramalised. In the same pan deep fry thin slices of 3-4 pods of garlic. Drain and keep aside for garnish
2. Add 250 gms of boneless chicken slices marinated in salt  and Saute for 10 mins or till 80% done. Drain and keep aside. 

3. Now in the same pan, add 1 finely chopped onion and saute. Add 1 tsp finely chopped ginger, 2 red chillies finely chopped and 1 tsp finely chopped garlic and saute till onions are brown. Add 1/2 tsp of turmeric, 1 tsp each of red chilli powder, and 2 tsp of coriander powder (alternately you can add Curry masala powder if you have that at home). Add salt and cook for another 5 mins. 


4. Add the chicken and cook. Now add some water  so that the chicken is covered, 2 tsp lemon juice and cook till the chicken is almost cooked.

5. Parallely, keep 1 pack of egg noodles (I used Ching's egg noodles) for cooking according to instructions on the pack. Time it such that it is just cooked before you are ready to serve the dish. You should ideally strain the noodles from hot water and drain it under cold water to stop the cooking process. I added some salt and oil to the noodles while cooking.
6.  Add 200 ml of coconut milk to the chicken. I also added some Maggi chicken cubes mixed in water for additional taste.
7. You can add some basil leaves and lime leaves if you have them readily available. Let the whole dish come to a good boil and the khow suey is ready to be served.
5. Meanwhile chop some coriander leaves and some spring onions for garnishing.


Serve the chicken gravy on the noodles and top it with the caramalised onions, garlic, spring onions, sliced boiled egg and coriander leaves. Try this dish - I am sure you wont be disappointed.

Again a one pot dish that I love cooking on holidays. This is a slightly elaborate recipe but if you can multitask you can cook it on 30 mins flat like I managed today.




Recipe is inspired from http://www.vahrehvah.com/popvideo.php?recipe_id=1310&Vegetable%20biryani

1.    Soak 2 cups of Basmati rice for 30 mins in water.

2.    Cook it in boiling water. Add salt and 2-3 cloves, 1 bay leaf while cooking. Drain the rice when around 70% done and keep aside.

3.    Add 2 tbsp ghee in a flat pan. Add whole garam masala - 2 bay leaf, 4-5 cloves, 4-5 black pepper, 2 cardamom, 2 tsp cumin seeds and saute

4.    Add 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste and saute

5.    Add 1 cup carrots, potato and cauliflower all cut into big pieces

6.    Add salt to taste and cook till vegetables are around 70% cooked

7.    Add 1 cup mint leaves, 1 cup coriander leaves and 3 green chillies slit lengthwise into two. Add ½ cup of fried onions

8.    Add 3 tbsp Garam Masala (you can add Biryani Masala if you have it readily available)

9.    Add 1 cup curd and mix all this well. Now add 1/2 cup of Paneer and sauté.

10.  Now take a flat vessel and spread ¾ of the vegetable mixture at the base. Check this for seasoning and adjust salt if needed

11.  Spread ¼ cup curd. Now add a layer of rice (use ½ of the cooked rice)

12.  Add cashew, almonds, ½ cup of mint, ½ cup of coriander and ½ cup of fried onions. Add the remaining vegetable mixture and rice and add saffron soaked in water

13.  Cook this whole flat vessel by covering it with a lid for 5 mins by keeping the vessel on a tawa to avoid burning the base of the biryani.

14.  Serve with Curd/raita

I love one pot dishes as they are easy to cook.
Bisi Bele Bhaat has been a personal favorite dish since years but we never tried it at home. I always thought of it as a complex dish because of the sheer mix of spices and hence used to order it frequently at Udipi restaurants. So on a lazy Sunday, as I was browsing the internet for a one pot dish, I stumbled upon this dish and thought of cooking it. It took me less than one hour to cook this but the flavours in the dish are amazing and so worth the effort.

Here is the recipe I followed.

1. Take 2tbsp of ghee/cooking oil in a pressure cooker
2. Add 1 tbsp of mustard seeds, 1tbsp cumin seeds, 2 dried red chillies, 1 onion diced into cubes, 2 green chilli slit in the centre, 2 twigs of curry leaves and then 1 pinch of asafoetida in that order on medium flame.
3. When onion is slightly brown add 2 teaspoons of ginger garlic paste
4. Add 1 carrot, around ½ cup of cauliflower, ½ cup of beans, ½ cup of peas, ½ cup of okra, 3-4 small sized brinjal all diced into ½ inch cubes. No fine cutting required here as the vegetables melt down in this recipe.
5. Add a pinch of turmeric as you sauté the vegetables on medium flame
6. After 5 mins, add 1 cup of toor daal (which has been pre-soaked in water for half an hour after draining the water) and 3 cups of rice (again soaked in water for half an hour and drained)
7. Add 1 tomato diced into cubes

8. Add water (quantity should be so much that there is one inch of water on top of the rice).I like it a bit runny and hence added a lot of water

9. Cook on medium heat for at least 2 whistles

10. Once you put of the pressure cooker, wait for the pressure to ease and open the lid. Add 1 cup of tamarind water and 5-6 tbsp Bisi Bele Bhaat masala(see below).Adjust the water if needed according to your liking.

11. Cook some more till the masalas are well dissolved

12. Garnish with freshly chopped coriander. Serve with raita and papad.

Method of the Bisi Bele Bhaat masala
Dry roast 6 dried red chillies, 1 tsp fenugreek (methi) seeds, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 2 inch cinnamon, 5-6 cloves, 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, 1 tbsp coriander seeds, 2tbsp chana dal and 2tbsp urad dal on low flame. You can add pieces of coconut around 1tbsp to this. Once you can smell the spices and they are little brown, grind the powders to a coarse paste.

This dish can serve 6 people. One can experiment with the vegetables but brinjal gives this dish a distinctive flavor and hence don’t miss this ingredient

Recipe inspired from Vahrevah.com