#when you dont have the lid on all the heat and steam escapes from the top of the pot

[be-lie-versneverdie]

DOES IT BOIL FASTER WITH THE LID ON?

YES?

[decayingliberty]

How to cook rice in a pot without burning it at the bottom, a guide by me

1. Rinse your rice well.

2. Put rice in a pot and cover with water. The water level should be one knuckle width above your rice.

3. Put on stove on high heat until the first bubbles break the surface. Stir twice during that time, make sure to scrape the bottom.

4. Turn to low heat. Scrape the bottom and make sure no rice grain is sticking.

5. Cover with lid and leave a small opening. Cook for 20 minutes. Close the lid completely when the rice has soaked up all the water (about 5 - 10minutes in). Do not disturb the rice while it cooks.

6. After 20minutes, take it off heat, do not lift the lid, let it sit with the lid closed for at 10 minutes (or at least 5 minutes).

7. Fluff your rice with a fork or chopsticks and serve.

Some explanations:

- Do not add salt. Salt will make the rice burn before it can cook. Same with soysauce.

- Leaving a small opening with the lid will prevent the starchy water from boiling over. If you have a lid with a steamhole, you can leave it covered all the way.

- Letting the rice sit off heat will make the steam loosen any bits that have stuck to the bottom.

- If your rice is too mushy, open the lid and let the steam escape for one to two minutes when taking off heat. Cover it again and let it rest.

- Fluffing the rice immediately after taking it off the heat will crush the grains and make it mushy. And when you fluff up the rice, do not use anything with a big surface, like a spatula or a spoon.

Bonus: You can crack an egg onto the rice when you take it off heat, and let the egg cook in the 10 minutes off heat. Do it quickly and put the lid back on soon, you dont want all the steam to go.

[edigestfoods-blog]

EDigest Foods a hotspot of Hyderabadi Biryani

In my recent visit to Greater Noida I got to know about  EDigest Foods from my friend. It serves delicious Hyderabadi Chicken Dum Biryani and it’s the best biryani in greater noida.

This recipe originated from the royal kitchen of the Nizams. It is a dish that doesn’t call for an elaborate process but requires a lot of ‘tender loving care’. Kachha (raw) biryani is in Hyderabadi style, where marinated raw chicken and partially cooked basmati rice are layered and cooked on dum, over low heat. I have prepared this biryani several times, and the recipe is perfect and has never failed me. Once the biryani is cooked on dum, as you open the lid, the kitchen smells fragrant, rich with the reassuring aroma of pure ghee, saffron and the chicken cooked to melt in the mouth with tenderness.

 SERVES: 5

Cooking time 45mins

INGREDIENTS: For the Aqni:

STEP 1:MARINATION

Marination time:1hr minimum

1.Chicken with bone 1kg

2.Salt to taste

3.Red chilli powder 2tspns

4.Turmeric powder 1/4tspn

5.Ginger-garlic paste 3tbspns

6.Garam masala powder 1tspn

7.Green chillies 15(slitted)

8.Coriander leaves 1 bunch(finely chopped)

9.Mint leaves 1/2 bunch(finely chopped)

10.Fried onions 2 handful

11.Yogurt 400gms

(put it in a strainer or a muslin cloth and use the hard curd for marination)

12.Oil 3/4cup (use the leftover oil that you used to fry the onions)

 METHOD FOR THE MARINATION:

 Wash the chicken and leave it in a strainer atleast for an hour so that you don't have any water in it.

Add all the ingredients one by one into the chicken.

Leave it to marinate atleast for an hour or you can even marinate a day earlier and leave it in the refrigerator overnight.

 STEP 2: BOILING THE RICE

 INGREDIENTS FOR THE ADHAN:

1.Basmati rice 5 cups(I use India gate)

2.Salt 9tspns

3.Caraway seeds 1tspn(shazeera)

4.Cardamom 5(elaichi)

6.Cloves 4(loung)

7.Cinnamon 2sticks(patta)

8.Bay leaves 2

 METHOD FOR PREPARING THE RICE:

Soak rice in lukewarm water for a minimum of 30minutes.(this will make your rice grain longer). Simultaneously in a big wide vessel,boil lots of water with salt,caraway seeds,cinnamon,cardamon,cloves and bay leaves.

When the water starts boiling add the soaked rice to it.

Give it a stir,dont keep stirring everytime as this will break your rice grain.

Cook till the rice grain can be broken into 2 when held between two fingers.

This will take 2-3 minutes as you have already soaked the rice for 30minutes. Keep checking now and then.

Drain the rice in a strainer and keep the rice aside.

 STEP 3:LAYERING

INGREDIENTS FOR THE LAYERING:

 1.Lemon juice of 1lemon

2.Coriander leaves 1cup

3.Mint leaves 1/2 cup

4.Fried onions 1cup

5.Saffron 2 pinches(mixed in luke warm milk)

6.Luke warm milk 1/2 cup

7.OIl 1/2 cup

8.Desi ghee 2Tbspns

 METHOD FOR THE LAYERING:

Take a wide vessel in which you wish to dum the biryani in or you can alternatively use a clay pot.

 LAYER 1:

Put a very thin layer of rice as your first layer This is a protective layer so that you don't burn your chicken in case you over cook.

 LAYER 2:

Put the marinated chicken as your second layer.

 LAYER 3:

Put half of the cooked rice as your third layer.

 LAYER 4:

Sprinkle evenly fried onions,coriander leaves,mint leaves and lemon juice as your fourth layer. (fried onions should be put in this layer and not the final layer as they go darker if put in the last layer because of the steam).

 LAYER 5:

Put the remaining half rice in the fifth layer.

 LAYER 6:

Finally sprinkle the saffron mixed in milk evenly.

Desi ghee mixed with oil should be put in from the corners to make full circle.

Seal this with aluminium foil.

 FINAL STEP: COOKING METHOD:

Cook on high flame for 8-10 minutes till you see some steam escaping.

Now lower the flame for 15minutes.

Keep rotating your vessel clockwise every 3 minutes.

Switch off the stove and leave aside for 10minutes.

Don't mix in the whole biryani when you serve.

Take them out in layers like the chefs does.

 So whenever you visit Greater Noida or you are from their itself then don’t hesitate and visit EDigest Foods with your family,friends and loved ones as it’s the best restaurant in greater noida.