Veg Biriyani Recipe

Ingredients

One Potato – dices into small cube sized pieces and soak in water
Beans – about 10 of them chopped into medium pieces, soak in water
Carrot – about 2 of them chopped into medium pieces, and soak in water
Onions – big ones, 2 of them sliced thin and long
Green peas – a handful
Mint and Coriander leaves – one medium sized bowl
Ghee – 2 to 3 teaspoons
Curd – 4 tea spoons
Groundnut oil – 4 to 6 teaspoons for the onions to caramelize (same can be later used for vegetables to be cooked), 4 teaspoons for the spices to be cooked along with rice
Basmati rice – One cup upto brim (standard cup measure)
Multi spices pack – 2 packs (contains cloves, elaichi, cinnamon, star anise)
Bay leaves – 3-4 for vegetables, 2-3 for rice
Shahi jeera – for vegetables (2-3 teaspoons)
Turmeric powder, chilli powder, garam masala, biriyani masala, salt, cumin powder
Ginger garlic paste – 2-3 teaspoons
Methi leaves – half a handful
Chillies to taste (I used one long chilli, you can desire to add 2) – diced into medium pieces

Preparation

You need 2-3 vessels. Of these one is a small one for caramelizing onions. The other two are fairly bigger and preferably made of cast iron as it to withstand cooking heat.

Caramelizing onions

Of the diced onions, take 1/3 of that and fry it in the oil, until they start turning golden brown. You need to keep stirring and turning them around and the moment you see them moving towards reddish brown colour, take them out and let them dry and cool off on a tissue so that all oil is removed. Keep these caramelized onions for later.

Rice Prep – Parallel step 1

You need to do these steps in parallel with the next one which is veggie saute, but you can start this one so rice keeps cooking when we do the veggies. For this we begin doing as below

one cup basmati rice filled to brim is to be washed in water and all the dust to be removed
Put 3-4 teaspoons of oil in a vessel and add spices to the oil once its warm
Add 1/2 handful shahi jeera, 3-4 cloves, 2-3 bay leaves, 2 cinnamon bark pieces, 3-4 elaichi and nicely fry in oil
Once you smell the aroma and its sufficiently fried, add the washed rice into the vessel and 2.5 cups of water (using the same cup as the rice was measured in) to the vessel
Add one spoon of salt and keep the flame low to cook the rice, vessel can be kept open as this will give time for you to do step 2 below

Veggie saute – Parallel step 2

Take 4-6 teaspoons of oil in a vessel and heat it. Add 4-6 elaichi, 3-4 cloves, 3 bay leaves, half a handful shahi jeera, and 2-3 cinnamon bark pieces to the hot oil. You can feel the aroma as you gently turn them around in the oil. Always keep the heat at medium or low. Never on the high side as it can burn the vessel and the food inside leaving it utterly distasteful.
Add the chillies and stir
Add the shahi jeera and stir
Add 2/3rds of the uncaramelized onions and continue stirring.
Add 1.5 spoons of salt, 1/2 spoon turmeric, 1/2 spoon red chilli powder, 1 spoon cumin powder, 1 spoon biriyani masala, 1/2 spoon garam masala
Potatoes naturally have water content in them which is needed while stirring when oil content goes low, so add these first along with the ingredients already added so far. Stir these potatoes nicely into the spicy mixture until the absorb all the spices well. At this stage the potatoes will begin to let out the water they have so we need to continue with others
Add the carrots next, and add 1/2 spoon salt more and stir
Next is Beans and green peas – add these and continue stirring
Add 1/2 spoon turmeric, 2 spoons garlic ginger paste, 1/2 spoon of garam masala, 1/2 spoon biryani masala, 1/2 spoon red chilli powder, 1/2 spoon cumin powder and saute the vegetables well.

Tip: If you find vessel is losing water and oil content and going dry, take some water into your palm and sprinkle it into vessel. Max only 2 times in one go, and continue stirring. You can do this sprinkling water two times, again a total of only two times. Only to ensure that vessel is never dry.

Bonus tip : never keep stove in high it will burn the vessel and burn your food. The last thing you need is this.
You need to keep the vessel oiled and moist at all times until the veggies consume all the spices.

Bringing everything together

Once the veggies are prepared, switch off the flame, it will remain warm (dont close the veggies)
At this stage the carrots and potatoes will feel undercooked. To check spice content, eat a cooked carrot piece and if you feel ok, then nothing more to add. It is ok for it to be little salty and if you need more spice add chilli powder and saute it with a spoon of oil and half a handful of water until the spices merge to the preparation

Getting the Biryani together

Take a fresh cast iron vessel, into this pour all the veggies prepared and form a bed of veggies
Next put the semi cooked rice and form a bed of rice on the veggies
Add 3 teaspoon of melted ghee to the top all around
On this rice, put coriander and mint leaves all over and add caramelized onions as well
Next put more rice on top of that and again form a bed of rice
Add more mint and coriander leaves and the rest of the onions on top
You can add ghevar water and saffron to this on top if you want it, I did not use both
Add 2-3 teaspoon ghee again on top
Now put this whole thing on low flame, close the top of the vessel and let the mixture cook for 5 minutes (not more than this because everything is already cooked and just needs to finish)
After 5 mins, sprinkle half a handful of water into the container at top, close the vessel again for 5 minutes
Turn off the stove and wait another 5-10 minutes as the remaining heat will let the veggies cook fully underneath as well as allow rice to be fully cooked state (you can break the rice with your fingers to see if its cooked)

Serving suggestion

Take a tablespoon and go from top all the way until the end of the vessel to pick rice, veggies everything in one go, and serve onto the plate for eating. Biryani can be served with curd raitha to make it tasty for your guests.

This set of measures are such that the Biryani made would be suitable for two to four people.
Enjoy your meal and let me know if you got the taste right in the comments !

Written with StackEdit.

The Desert Safari desert camp experience (with videos)

In my last couple of posts I discussed the buggy rides and dune bashing experiences in Dubai. To conclude the journey in this post I will take you through the evening camp event.
After the sun down we settled into the evening camp for an evening filled with a short performance and dinner. The camp has a restroom area, and some stalls for food, henna, and hookah facilities for the visitor. As is the case all over Dubai, you are treated like a VIP if you have the money. The more the money you pay, the better the treatment. This is evident in everything – from the vehicles that get you to the camp, to the food offered, to the seating, to special photographs with eagles, etc. The food for VIPs is unlimited and is served at the place you are seated, and typically with a quanity much more than you need.

It is all about satisfying guests as per what they pay but I sincerely wish the people providing all these facilities do think of the needy as well. I am a strong believer that food must not be wasted and the situation at the desert camp is somewhat on the contrary.

Performances (fire and belly dance)

Coming to the performances, there were two performances one by a male and the other one by a female. The dance by the male was something involving colourful clothes and tricks with fire – the whole stage is lit up with the light and its a spectacle to watch and enjoy. There is a lot of spinning in the dance and also doing lots of tasks when that goes on which is in itself not so easy a task. You can take a look at the video below

The performance by the female is also one of the main reasons people sign up for the camp evening event – the famous belly dance. And for those of you who think it is very sexy and the likes – let me tell you one thing – it is simply not easy for a normal person to do this dance. Even for the talented in this field it is an enormous level of energy burn and the level of composure and fitness needed to finish off with this for a whole 15-20 minutes is nothing short of humongous. You can take a look at a part of the dance in the video below. One look at the hair spin the lady gives will give you a dizzy feeling.

Food options

As you would have guessed, the food options for vegetarians is pretty minimal. At best there is the sweet (like a jamun) dipped in date sauce. Add some salads made from veggies, and some really bad mixed rice (not the biryani types) and of course Pepsi/coke & some dessert in the desert that gets over even before it starts being served! You know what I’m talking about now.

Toilet facilities

In one word : SAD.
In many words the toilets aren’t maintained properly. There doesn’t seem to be proper drainage system making the whole place stink. It’s really bad and the management of the place can certainly look for better bio toilet options.

Other facilities

There are other things to do at the camp. Like a bit of camel ride, or smoking some hookah. Plenty of coke on the floor. If you are willing to pay more you get corn etc. There are obviously some mehndi stalls which help you to sport some good designs on your hands or feet. There are also photo opps with Arabic clothing which would cost you a bomb.

Conclusions

The entire desert safari experience is a one off experience that will let you enjoy the desert in its raw and full glory. It will give you a glimpse of some fantastic buggy riding, some scintillating dune bashing that’ll leave you mesmerised. Further the glorious sunsets and the evening performances will leave you dazzled at the end of the journey. Although you will be tired while returning home, rest assured these set of adventures will be etched in your memory forever.

Giria’s Explorium – half a day worth of learning experience for your kids

Giria’s is a well known name in FMCG industry with many showrooms selling lots of home appliances all over the country and many in Bengaluru. However little is known about their Explorium centre which is constructed especially for kids to learn lots of things.

The explorium is in Domlur, right opposite the EGL business park and is easy to spot. It opens between 9 to 10am and if you are one of the first few there, you can get a good parking spot for your car. The entry fee is a split of 70% – 30% between adult and kid and for two adults and kids is around Rs 2000/-. That is about 7-8$ for a ticket which is reasonable. Once you pay up and while you enter you are tagged with an wrist sticker to let you in along with your kid/s.

Some of the things which are installed for learning purposes include a huge rocket with steps to climb into and go into the many sides of the rocket and climb down again. Kids will perpetually enjoy this as they get to explore the inner realms of the rocket though its mostly metal and nothing electric within. They can easily spend about an hour there.

Also there are pins against which kids can push their body parts and the relevant shapes will manifest on the other side. This gives kids the ability to explore and touch and feel and understand the shapes that are generated by this game. Further There are air based experiements which explain centrifugual forces and their effects on many materials such as paper, cloth, dense and light materials, hollow balls, etc.

The other game is about applying a huge amount of force to set a ball right to the top of the celiing explaining how the energy is transferred to produce motion. Besides these there are a couple of electric circuits related experiments which will show the kids how a light bulb can be made to glow based on rotary forces applied. You can build paper planes as per instructions given and see which plane flies the farthest. Further there are huge building blocks with which you can build entire cities (not literally of course) – and make shapes out of blocks.

Further there are installations to show you how JCB’s and cranes operate and let the kid get a sense of how to operate this mega machines in real life. The kids get to move blocks and lift mud using these earth mover machines themselves which is a reasonable learning. A little ahead on the ground floor are other experiments to make kids understand gravitational forces by rearranging channels along which the balls move.

Also in a separate section are water related experiements to teach how water flows, how dams are constructed and wheel based water lifts and so on. There is a water fountain which was not working at the time we went there.

The first floor is more for younger kids having gardens, paint art, sand art and so on. The second floor has a restaurant run by the Chancery Hotel near Raj Bhavan and a store which sells toys. Both of these are slightly expensive and the restaurant food is decent even if not the seating spaces. The seating is at best average and could have been better.

Unless otherwise the management decides to keep changing the sets of experiments on a regular basis, this is just a one of stop for your kids to spend some time. A much better and more advanced place of similar nature is the Visweswaraya Musem which is well known for the exposure it gives to multiple segments such as science, math, agrictulure, electricity, etc.

So if you want your kids to learn something new which is different from the ordinary games and fun people have at all the malls, the Explorium is a good place to visit for once. It is not terribly expensive and the games there are a little more of a stimulus for the kids minds compared to the electronic racing games at malls. I would say that the Explorium is a place to visit at least once if you are in Bangalore.

Review of the Astoria Business Hotel Stay, Madurai

This was a long pending post from my side and I finally found some time to write on this topic. I had a chance to plan a trip to Dhanushkodi and got the opportunity to stay at Astoria Hotel in Madurai for a day. This is a business hotel and I needed a stay only for a day so I chose the hotel.

A few notable things about this hotel are the following

Its walkable from the railway station as long as you don’t have too much luggage
Its preferred to take an auto from the station if you have kids
It is situated somewhat nearby to the Meenakshi Temple in Madurai which is easily reachable by auto within 10 minutes

The front facade of the hotel is one vertical block which mostly present the corridor end windows and the conference room windows on the top floor. There is no access to the terrace as such for visitors.

The entry lounge is good with ample light and seating. This hotel offers 24 hours checkin and checkout with prebooking via multiple travel portals or directly via calling the hotel. I paid nearly about Rs.5000/- per day which is on the steeper side and includes breakfast along with the room. The rooms themselves were well appointed, but were kind of small. Since its a business hotel, the type of travellers mostly expected are the ones who stay in the hotel for about a day and move on to other places near madurai for their business needs.

To this extent the rooms offer the comfort necessary from the relentless heat of Madurai. Thankfully I landed there at a time when Madurai received some rainfall the previous day so the city had cooled down a bit from temperatures of over 38 deg C.

The rooms have thick and large curtains shielding all the harsh light coming in, have a study table with a suitable chair, and a small coffee table with a lounge chair. The beds themselves are a bit soft and springy, the types which you can sink into, though my personal preferences would tend towards slightly harder beds which are not known to aggevate back problems.

The television set is mounted on the wall and the wall also has shelves that hold the glasses and coffee maker. The bathroom is well appointed though the shower is not movable enough making it spray all the water all over the room. It could have been designed better though it does the job for a business traveller. The bath has dispensable soap machines which is the trend nowadays and in my opinion, I prefer this over hundreds of small soap cakes being produced that go a waste on daily basis.

These days hotels have reached a situation wherein you can also say whether or not you want the towels washed or not in order to save water and effort and I highly value this mode of working as it conserves resources.

The cafeteria was good and well appointed in terms of furniture. The breakfast was expensive on the second day, but on the first day it was complementary. I did use the room service once or twice and found it to be good. The people attending to you at the hotel are quick and respond pretty soon to your requests which is what a traveller looks for.

The food itself was good with lots of variety ranging from indian, western, veg and non veg options and was tasty too.

The Astoria Hotel has a view to die for and you can see the Madurai Meenakshi temple very well during the clear nights in the city. The central location, accessibility to Railway station and reasonably close from the airport (~ 10-12km) and a decent variety of rooms, food make this place a business friendly hotel.

If I go again to Madurai, I will stay in Astoria and would recommend this hotel to others too.

Faasos food ordering experience and review

I had the option of ordering food from Faasos sometime back. I had just left office and was halfway to my home, when I realized that I was getting hungry and impatient to have some good food. I had about thirty minutes left to cross my limits of staying hungry and needed some food before that. Sure I could have just stopped my car and eaten something before coming home, but with Bangalore traffic, the thought of never reaching home had to keep me going on the road.
I quickly took out my iPhone, where I had the Faasos app loaded, and since I was at a traffic signal where traffic had come to a dead stop, I was jobless and so started browsing the food menu on their app. They have a limited number of items, but well packaged and one can easily find the food type they need via the categories section. For some food types like rice items, they have three different sizes of boxes depending on whether you are ordering for yourself, or family. I quickly picked the item I need, entered my address, chose Cash on Delivery option to avoid going through payment gateways and was greeted with an “in-progress” screen which told me how soon my food could reach me.

In this particular case, the timing was just right. Thirty minutes. So me reaching home and the food reaching home was just at the same time as per calculations. Now in case you are wondering how I was so accurate about me reaching home in this traffic, I have done this for a whole year now and can gauge roughly how long I need to get home.
Once I reached home, the app showed me that there was three minutes left for my food to get delivered, but there was no sign of the delivery guy. I was wondering whether they will even turn up on time, and when the timer stopped at zero, surely there he was with my food right in front of my home. I have no idea how these guys maintain time, but this alone is just enough for me to order through them again. They are highly predictable, and they always have an outlet nearby which makes them reach on time unlike the olden days pizza deliveries which was entirely dependent on traffic conditions!
The food itself was a bit spicy to my liking, but enough to fill you up for the night. The bills were not crazy either and no extra tips either. For the single item I booked, the bill was Rs.150/-. Very reasonable if you ask me to satisfy your hunger pangs. Would I order again from them, surely yes! Would I recommend Faasos to others, surely yes. Go ahead try them once, and I am sure you would have the same opinion as me.

Happy Eating !

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