Yam fry

Yam fry or Chenai mezhukkupuratty is a typical kerala dish which is generally made in a iron wok. For this week's alphabets I mostly depended on english words. So I didn't think a lot for Y. I had decided it has to be Yam. But the decision of curry or fry was made last week.

Most keralites have a backyard at home where they do some farming. I have seen most of the keralites growing Yam in their backyard. Yam is a root vegetable and takes about 5-6 months to grow. I have seen big yams weighing about 5 kgs also. I tried growing yam in grow bags / sacks and it yielded me small yams - weighing 500-750 grams. That was ideal for making a curry for a day.

I love to have this yam fry with dal and rice. Although it will also be a good side dish for rasam rice.

And this is a no onion / no garlic recipe . 

Ingredients:

Yam / Chena - 500 grams

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Chilly powder - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

Coconut oil - 2 tbsp

Mustard - 1/2 tsp

White Till seeds - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - few

Method:

• Chop the yam into small cubes.
• Boil the yam with salt, turmeric powder and chilly powder and cook until the yam is soft.
• Heat coconut oil in a wok, add the mustard seeds and once the seeds start to splutter, add the curry leaves and the till seeds.
• Add the cooked yam and mix well.
• Fry the yam on medium-low flame, stirring occasionally, until yam is crispy on the outside.

Serve hot with rice and a curry of your choice.

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Xmas Fruit Cake

X for Xmas cake!! I didn't think of other options from X.Now don't start thinking that how can a cake fit into Kerala recipes. The christian communities in Kerala are very good cake bakers. The cake that I am presenting below is baked by every christian in their home at Christmas time. From christians this recipe has passed on and now most of the malayalees who are interested in baking do bake this cake. You will also get this fruit cake or plum cake or christmas cake in every other bakery in kerala during christmas time.

For this recipe I tried taking some step by step pictures. I found it very difficult to take step by step pictures while simultaneously preparing the cake. My main problem was my hand was not clean because of which i couldn't hold the camera. I guess we need an assistant with us all the time :). Wonder how the others manage it. 

I have tried this cake recipe around 3-4 times, mostly during christmas times. This time I made it specifically for the blogging marathon and it came out perfect! I was happy with the outcome. I got the initial recipe from my MIL and over time I have also adapted some steps after reading a couple of blog posts. 

Ingredients:

For Soaking:
Mixed fruits - 3 cups
Rum/Brandy - 1.5 cups

For Caramel:
Sugar - 3 tbsp
Warm water - ¼ cup

For Cake:
Plain flour (maida) - 2 cups
Baking powder - 1¼ tsp
Baking soda - ½ tsp
Sugar - 1 cup+ 2 tbsp
Unsalted Butter - 250 gms (1 cup + 2 tbsp, approx) @ room temp
Eggs - 4 @ room temp
Vanilla essence - 2 tsp

For Spice Powder:
Cloves - 2
Cardamom - 2
Cinnamon - a small piece
Nutmeg - a small piece

Method:

• Soak the dry fruits in brandy / rum. I used a combination of tutti-fruity, plums, cashews, raisins, badam, apricot, orange and lemon peel. I soaked this for about 4 hours.
• Grind all the spices listed under "For Spice Powder" with a pinch of sugar, to a fine powder & keep it  aside.
• Sift the plain flour with baking powder & baking soda. Powder the sugar & keep aside. 
• Separate the yolks & white of the eggs. Beat egg whites till soft peaks form. Keep aside.

• Heat 3 tbsp of sugar in a thick bottomed kadai. Don't add water, let the sugar melt in the heat. When the color of the melted sugar becomes dark brown, remove the kadai from fire & add ¼ cup warm water to this. Bring it back to the heat & boil for a few more mins, 1-2 mins. Remove from fire & let it cool completely
• Preheat the oven @ 180 C for 15 mins, before baking.
• Drain the soaked fruits & keep aside. Retain 4 tbsp from the drained liquor. Toss the drained fruits in 1-2 tbsp of flour. (This will prevent the fruits from sinking to the bottom of the cake). 
• Beat butter and sugar for about 10 minutes until the butter turns fluffy. Now add the egg yolks one by one and beat for another 5 minutes.

• When it becomes smooth add vanilla essence & cooled caramel & spice powder & beat again. 
• Add the sifted flour in 2 batches. Beat after each addition.
• Fold in the beaten egg whites in 2 parts & combine till no white streaks are visible. Fold in the soaked fruits & 4 tbsp of retained liquor. 
• Grease the baking dish & line with baking paper. Pour the batter into the prepared tins. Bake in the pre heated oven for 40-45 mins or until the skewer inserted comes out clean. 

Notes: 

• You need to be very careful while making caramel since the water tends to splash & can cause burns. The caramel can be made earlier and refrigerated.
• The baking time can vary depending on the oven & also the size of the tin used.
• There is also an alcohol free version and an egg free version available. Since I haven't tried I can't comment on it.

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Wheat rava peas biriyani

Today we have to post a recipe starting with W and I am depending on english words. I had two choices for W - either start the recipe name with Whole or start with Wheat. I chose the later. As I have said in my earlier posts, wheat rava is largely used in kerala these days. It is promoted as a healthy food mainly to reduce diabetes. I wanted to try something different. So I tried a biriyani.

I have only replaced rice with wheat rava. I tried my best to make it malabar style. The wheat rava biriyani was excellent!! I am in love with it. I added only peas as the main vegetable - only peas was available at home at that time. But we can add all types of vegetables that are generally added for vegetable biriyani/pulav.  Do try this biriyani. I served this with salad and juice. It was so refreshing in this summer.

Ingredients:

Wheat rava - 2 cups

Peas - 1/2 cup

Shallots - 100 grams (peeled)

Tomato - 2 (finely chopped)

Ginger-garlic paste - 2 tbsp

Coriander powder - 1 tbsp

Water - 4 cups

Ghee / nei - 3 tbsp

Curd - 1 tbsp

Green chillies - 4 

Salt - to taste

Dry masala:

Cinnamon / patta - 2 1" piece

Cardamom / elakka- 4

Cloves / lavangam- 8

Bay leaf / karuvapatta ila- 1

Saunf / Perunjeeragam - 1 tsp

Maze / jathi pathri - few strands

Peppercorns / kurumilagu - 1 tsp

To garnish:

Ghee / nei - 1 tbsp

Cashew nuts / andiparuppu - 1 tbsp

Raisins / munthiri - 1 tbsp

Coriander leaves - few

Mint leaves - few

Method:

• Grind the shallots, green chillies, ginger-garlic into a smooth paste.
• In a kadai, add 1 tbsp of ghee. Fry the cashews and raisins until they turn brown. Drain and keep it aside.
• Add another 3 tbsp ghee. Add all the dry masalas and fry for a minute. 
• Now add the onion-garlic paste. Fry until the raw smell goes away and the paste turns light brown.
• Now add finely chopped tomatoes and peas. Keep frying them until the tomatoes turn mushy and you can see oil oozing out of them. 
• Add the coriander powder, salt and curd. Mix well and cook for another 2 minutes.
• Now add 4 cups of water. Let the water boil. Check for salt.
• Once the water is boiled add the wheat rava and mix well. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.
• After 5 minutes, check if all the water is consumed. Mix well.
• Garnish the biriyani with fried cashews/raisins, mint/coriander leaves

Wheat rava Peas Biriyani is Ready!!! Enjoy this healthy biriyani!!

Notes:

• We can use tomato puree instead of finely chopped tomatoes.
• We can also garnish the biriyani with fried onions.
• Add more vegetables to make the biriyani more interesting.
• Curd can be avoided if you feel the biriyani will turn tangy.

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Vada - Using Urad dal Flour | 250th Post

Well, I am publishing my 250th post.  When I initially made the list for A-Z recipes my choice for V was Vellarika Pachadi. But when I started scheduling the posts I understood that this would be my 250th post. So I Wanted something special for V. I searched for some kerala based sweets but was not successful in finding one from V. During the course of the Mega Marathon it stuck me that V for vada. But I have already posted medhu vada recipe in my blog.

When I saw these MTR ready made packets for making vadas, I read its contents. It basically had urad dal flour. That gave me the idea why can't I try vadas with urad dal flour. I tried and it was successful. Really not bad. The only problem I found was when the vadas cool down they became little hard. I gave these vadas to my friends and they didn't find any difference. They all loved the vadas. H was telling - the sponginess seems to be little less when compared to the traditional batter made vada. But I also feel since we knew that these were made from urad dal flour - we were trying to find 6 differences :-)

I guess there would be none in South India who are not in love with this donut shaped fritters. There are many forms of this which are famous Rasam vada, thair vada .... My favourite is sambar vada.
For making this vada, I fried the urad dal - just to make the dal crisp. Didn't allow the dal color to change. I powdered this urad dal and stored in an airtight container. Now over to the recipe.

Ingredients:

Urad dal flour - 250 gms
Rice flour - 25 gms
Water - 3/4 cup
Onion - 3 tbsp (finely chopped)
Cabbage - 4 tbsp (finely choped)
Ginger - 1 tblsp (chopped finely)
Curry leaves - few
Green chillies - 2 tbsp (finely chopped)
Pepper powder - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Oil - to fry the vadas

Method:

• In a mixing bowl, combine the flours, onion, cabbage, curry leaves, green chillies, ginger, pepper powder and salt. Add about ½~¾ cup of water to make a very thick paste like batter. Add water very slowly, so that you won't end up with watery batter.
• I kept this batter in fridge for about 30 minutes.
• Just before making the vadas, add the baking soda and mix well.
• Heat oil for deep frying. Apply water in your hand. Take lemon size ball of the batter, hold it in your four fingers, make it little flat using your thumb. Put a hole in the vada and slightly slide it into the oil. For the next vada again apply water in your hand and repeat the process.
• Fry on medium flame until golden. Flip carefully and fry on the second side until golden. 
• Fry 3~4 vadas at a time depending on the size of your pan. Repeat with rest of the batter.

Serve hot with chutney and sambar!!!

Notes:

• You can use a ziplock cover also to make the vadas if you are not comfortable with your hands.
• I added cabbage to the vadas just for a change, this can be avoided.

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Ulli chamandhi | Chutney with onions

We are in the final week of this Mega blogging marathon. I am really happy since I was able to complete all the recipes in time. No hassles this time :-). And there is one more good news to share. My blog's pageviews crossed one lakh :-)

This week's English alphabets are bit tricky ones. For many I had to depend on English words to fulfill the JTTC condition. Atleast, I didn't think a lot for recipes starting from U. Ulli in malayalam means onions. Ulli chamandhi is a very spicy and tangy chutney which would be a good accompaniment for idli, dosas, appams etc..

As it has no coconut, it is diabetic friendly and doesn’t spoil quickly as well unlike the other chutney varieties. So this is an ideal chutney for travels. This is very simple, easy to make chutney and I would say everyone should try this.

Ingredients:

Shallots - 2 cups (peeled)

Red chillies - 8 (long ones)

Tamarind - gooseberry sized ball

Salt - to taste

Oil - 1 tbsp

Curry leaves / Coriander leaves - to garnish

Method:

• Heat the Oil, add Sliced Onion and fry until they turn brown.
• Then add Red Chillies, Tamarind piece. Fry for about 2 minutes.
• Remove from heat and keep aside until the ingredients cool down.
• Then Grind all the ingredients along with salt. No need to add water.
• Garnish with curry leaves or coriander leaves.

Hot and spicy chutney is ready!!!

Notes:

• This is a very hot chutney. Add or reduce red chillies according to your taste.

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Theeyal | Tamarind gravy with friend coconut

Theeyal is a typical Kerala Gravy dish which I feel is very similar to Tamil Nadu's Puli kozhambu.
This gravy goes very well with rice. In some parts of kerala I have seen this dish also served in sadhyas.

The making of Theeyal requires a fine balancing of flavours. When I think of Theeyal, the first thing that comes to my mind is the flavour of roasted coconut and tanginess from tamarind. Both flavours should go hand in hand and not overpowering the other.

Theeyal can be made with lots of veggies like Paavakai / Kaipakya theeyal (bitterguard), vedakka theeyal (okra), vazhdhanangya theeyal (brinjal) etc. My favourite is ulli theeyal made with shallots and I am presenting the same here.

Ingredients:

Small onion / shallots - 250 grams (sliced)
Grated coconut - 1 cup
Chilli powder - 2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - ¼ tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
Tamarind - size of a gooseberry
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Curry leaves - one spring
Coconut oil - 2 tbsp

Method:

• Soak tamarind in ¼ cup of warm water and keep aside.
• Heat oil in a pan and add coconut. Fry the coconut till it turns a darker shade of brown. Make sure you stir it continuously. 
• Once it has reached dark brown, switch off fire and add all masala powders (chilli, coriander & turmeric). Keep stirring for a min. The heat from the coconut is enough to fry these powders.
• Grind the coconut without water to a smooth paste. The oil from coconut will be released while grinding and the paste will be very mushy/oily.
• Heat oil in a kadai. Once the oil is hot add mustard and fenugreek seeds. Once the mustard splutters add the sliced onions and curry leaves.
• Cook till the onion begins to brown. Make a paste out of the soaked tamarind. Add the tamarind pulp and salt to the onions. Let this cook for 5 minutes.
• Add the ground coconut paste and mix well. Let the whole mixture cook for 5 minutes.

Theeyal is ready!! Serve with hot rice and papads!!

Notes:

• 1 red chilly can also be added for the tadka.
• The curry tends to thicken as it rests, so adjust the qty of water accordingly. Curry keeps well in fridge for 3-4 days.

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Sharjah Shake | Milk shake with bananas and nuts

As I said earlier in this mega marathon I am trying to cover all types of recipes. So here's  a summer special - super cool drink. Presenting sharjah shake which is very famous in the malabar area and is available in every other fruit juice shops or ice-cream parlours.

I tried to find out why this juice is called sharjah shake but the the answers I got were 3 words - "I don't know". Well as far as I understood there is no connection between this juice and sharjah or UAE. Probably somebody from gulf tried this juice for the first time in Kerala and to make it an instant hit named it sharjah shake. We Indians always have a liking for foreign products right!!

Whatever be the story behind it - This is mind-blowing cool drink which can be easily made at home and kids will definitely enjoy this.

Ingredients:

Milk (frozen) - 1/2 litre

Sugar - 4 tbsp

Banana - 2 (big)

Bournvita - 2 tbsp

Cashew nuts - 5

Vanilla ice cream - 1 scoop

Method:

• Take the frozen milk packet, without opening it, crush the frozen milk well with a chapathi roller. 
• Put in in a mixer. Add two bananas ,sugar, bournvita and  3 pieces of cashew nut.
• Mix it well in the mixer. Add one table spoon of vanilla icecream and mix for 5 seconds. 
• Turn off the mixer once the milkshake is thick enough.
• Pour it into a glass, add the remaining cashew nuts and top it up with bournvita..

Sharjah shake is ready!!!

Notes:

• Instead of bournvita you can also add boost or chocolate horlicks.
• Instead of mixing vanilla ice cream you can top up the milkshake with vanilla ice cream
• Frozen milk works best. This can probably be tried with chilled milk also.

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Rasakaalan

Today in JTTC - we are publishing recipes with R and I have chosen an authentic - palakkad iyer recipe - Rasakaalan.

This is yet another dish made with curd/yogurt and coconut. I have taken the basic recipe from palakkad chamayal - a blog which has many authentic palakkad iyer recipes. I have heard malayalees talking about kaalan, which is also served in sadhyas. I honestly don't know the difference between kaalan and rasakaalan or if there is a difference. Rasakaalan is ideally had with rice and a nice mezhukkupuratti as side dish. I have seen that this is a good combination with dosas too. This would be ideal for this summer season since curd cools the body.

I have listed many vegetables that I used to make this rasakaalan. But my mom says only chenai (yam) is mandatory. The rest is our choice

Ingredients:

Pumpkin (Mathan) – 100 gms

Ash Gourd (Vellari) – 100 gms

Raw Banana (Vaazhakka) – 1

Yam (Chena) – 100 gms

Sour curds (Thair) – 1 cup

Grated Coconut – 1 cup

Methi Seeds (uluva) – ½ tsp

Red Chilies (Unakka mulagu) – 3

Turmeric Powder – a pinch

Jaggery (sarkkara) – 5 gm

Mustard Seeds (kadugu) – ½ tsp

Coconut Oil – 2 tsps

Curry leaves – a few

Method:

• Wash and cut all the vegetables into cubes. Cook the vegetables with a pinch of turmeric, and salt in a wide-bottomed vessel.
• Heat a small pan, fry the methi seeds and 2 red chilies in about ½ tsp of coconut oil. Grind the fried methi seeds and red chilies with coconut adding little sour curds into a smooth paste.
• Once the vegetables are cooked, add the ground paste and let the mixture boil for 2 mins. Then add the beaten sour curds. Mix well. Check for salt. Simmer for 2 mins. Do not let the rasakaalan boil after adding the curds.
• Heat a tsp of oil in a pan, add mustard seeds. Once they splutter add one red chilly and the curry leaves - fry for 30 seconds -  add it to the rasakaalan.

Delicious Rasakaalan is ready to be served with hot white rice.!!! Serve with papads!!

Notes:

• Highly sour curd is used to make the rasakaalan.
• The vegetables can also be pressure cooked.

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Quick Semiya payasam | Sweet porridge with semolina

In this mega blogging marathon for the alphabet 'Q' I had to take help from English. There were no direct recipe names in malayalam - so I chose this quick semiya payasam and believe me - this recipe is really quick. South indian meal is incomplete without a sweet ending of Payasam and this definitely holds good for Kerala Sadhyas. In Kerala, the payasams can be broadly classified into 2 types - one which is made of milk + sugar + some other ingredient and the other one made with jaggery + coconut milk + some other ingredient.

The Onam celebrations in kerala start 10 days before the actual festival on "Atham". And in olden days all the 10 days we had one or the other payasam for lunch. But now a days payasams are made on the first day (Atham) and then on the festival day. So first day generally people make very easy payasams and the recipe I am posting here would be ideal for this.

This payasam is cooked in a pressure cooker and not with condensed milk, though the taste of the payasam makes you wonder if there is condensed milk in it. Since milk is pressure cooked for 30 min and opened after another 30 min, the milk will turn light pinkish in colour and slightly thicker. I used full fat milk and added only a teaspoon of ghee to lightly fry the cashewnuts and raisins. 

Ingredients:

Milk - 1.5 litres

Sugar - 1 cup

Roasted vermicelli - 4 tbsp

Ghee - 1 tbsp

Cashews / raisins - 1 tbsp

Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp

Method:

• Add 1 litre of milk to the pressure cooker. Close the cooker, put the whistle and put the cooker on high flame. When the whistle is about to go....immediately simmer the fire for about 30 min. After 30 min switch off the fire and leave the cooker unopened until all the pressure releases.
• Meanwhile on the other stove - in a kadai add ghee and fry the cashews and raisins and keep it aside.
• In the same kadai or another vessel - add the rest of the half litre of milk and add the roasted vermicelli. Keep stirring until the vermicelli is cooked well. Switch off flame
• Open pressure cooker you will notice that the milk has become slightly pink - Add the cooked vermicelli along with the milk. Add sugar, mix well and heat the payasam for another 10 minutes and switch off flame.
• Add the cardamom powder and cashews/raisins to garnish.

Semiya payasam is ready!!! 

Notes:

• If you are using plain vermicelli do not forget to fry them in a tsp of ghee, I used roasted vermicelli available in stores these days.
• The pressure cooker needs to be very clean otherwise the milk will curdle.
• It is also important to wait near the cooker while the steam builds up and when the whistle is about to go, simmer it for 30-40 minutes. Don't let the whistle to go.

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Prawns Biriyani

Yippee!!! My Favourite. Ok any type of biriyani is my favourite. I guess Prawns biriyani was the first recipe I made after deciding to join this Mega Blogging Marathon and this was the first time I made it - I mean with prawns. It came out splendid. Fortunately I also got big sized prawns which added to the flavour. I make biriyanis quite often, which is like once in 2 weeks. I feel biriyani is more easier to cook than making rice, 2 curries, 2 side dishes etc etc for a weekend menu.

Now its my turn to over-load the post with photos. I put 3-4 photos in one post generally. But with this recipe I was not able to finalize on those 3-4 and this being my favourite recipe I had clicked many and all of them turned out to be worth publishing... Well according to me...

Prawns are named Chemmeen. So this recipe is Chemmeen biriyani. I didn't want to do this post in 'C' because I had lot of options for the alphabet C and very less options for the alphabet 'P'. 

I have made this biriyani malabar style. In malabar side, they make the ghee rice (nei chor) separately then the biriyani masala and then mix both and make a dum out of it. As I have said in my previous biriyani related posts - in Kerala biriyanis are not made with basmati rice. They are made with a very small type of rice called jeeraga samba or gandhaga shala rice. Currently the price of this rice ranges in between 70-80 rs per kg. And this raw rice has an awesome smell. When you wash the rice itself you can feel the smell floating in air. Enough said - over to recipe.

Ingredients:

For Ghee rice:
Jeeraga samba / Gandaga shala / Jeera rice - 450 gms
Ghee / nei - 3 tbsp
Cinnamon / patta - 2 1" piece
Cardamom / elakka- 4
Cloves / lavangam- 8
Lemon juice - 1/2 a lemon
Bay leaf / karuvapatta ila- 1
Saunf / Perunjeeragam - 1 tsp
Maze / jathi pathri - few strands
Peppercorns / kurumilagu - 1 tsp
Green chillies - 4 slitted lengthwise
Water : rice - 2:1
Salt - to taste

To garnish:

Ghee / nei - 1 tbsp
Cashew nuts / andiparuppu - 1 tbsp
Raisins / munthiri - 1 tbsp
Coriander leaves - few
Mint leaves - few

Biriyani masala:

King sized prawns - 500 gms
Oil - 4 tbsp
Onions - 4 large - chopped lengthwise
Tomato - 1 - chopped lengthwise
Ginger-garlic paste - 2 tbsp
Green chillies - 2 chopped
Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
Chilly powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Coconut - 2 tbsp
Curd - 2 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp

Method:

For the Ghee rice / Nei chor:

• Clean the rice and wash it thoroughly 2-3 times. Soak it in water for 10-15 minutes
• Meanwhile heat the pressure cooker in which we are planning to prepare the rice.
• Add 1 tbsp of ghee. When the ghee is hot add the cashews and raisins and fry until they turn light brown. Keep it aside.
• Now add another 3 tbsp of ghee. Add all the dry masala items listed under "For ghee rice". Fry for a minute.
• Add the slit green chillies and fry for about a minute.
• Add the drained rice and fry for 3-4 minutes. 
• For me 450 grams rice equalled 3 glasses of rice. So I added 6 glasses of water.
• Add the required amount of salt. Stir well and let the water boil.
• After boiling for about 3-4 minutes when the water has reached half the quantity and when the rice:water looks like a semi-solid consistency add the lemon juice and mix well. Now close the lid of the pressure cooker. Cook for one whistle and lower the flame and cook for about 2 minutes. Switch off the pressure cooker after 2 minutes.
• When the pressure is released, open the pressure cooker and spread the rice in a flat plate or a big bowl.

For the biriyani masala:

• Marinate the prawns with 1 tbsp of ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder, pepper powder and salt and keep it for 2-3 hours in the fridge.
• Meanwhile heat a kadai. Add 1 tsp of oil. Add the coconut, half the quantity of the chopped onions, chopped green chillies and fry until they turn light brown. At this stage add the coriander powder and switch off the flame. Keep stirring for about a minute. Once this mixture is cooled grind it with a little water and keep it aside.
• In the same kadai add 4 tbp of oil. Shallow fry the marinated prawns. Just ensure that the prawns have turned white from the translucent color. Drain in a paper towel and keep it aside.
• Use the same oil to cook onions and remaining ginger garlic paste. Once onions are fried well, add chopped tomatoes and stir well.
• Once the tomatoes are cooked, add curd, coconut paste and salt. Once it boils add fried prawns and cook in low flame for 5-6 minutes. Add the garam masala and pepper powder and mix well. Cook for 2 more minutes & remove from fire.

Layering the Biriyani or making a dum biriyani:

• Take a large microwave safe bowl. Apply some ghee in the bottom. Put one layer of rice and then one layer of masala in the dish, garnish with little bit of cashews/raisins/coriander leaves/mint leaves. 
• On top of that spread some rice and make another layer. Again spread another layer of masala on top of the rice. 
• Repeat the process until the masala and rice is finished. The top layer should be of rice. You can drizzle ghee at the top if needed. Add some coriander leaves in the top.
• Microwave high for about 5 minutes.

Flavorful malabar chemmeen biriyani is ready!!! I served with raitha, biriyani chammandhi and papads!!

Notes:

• Lemon juice is added to keep the rice separate. So don't miss it.
• The layering of the biriyani can also be done on stove-top. Heat a tava. Place the bowl with layered biriyani on top of the tava. Also place a vessel of hot boiling water on top of the biriyani bowl. Keep this for 5 minutes. 

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