Sheer Korma

Sweets
Region : Hyderabad
Ingredients : Vermicelli - 100gms Milk - 1.5litre Sugar - 250gms Chopped cashew nuts - 50gms Chopped almonds - 50gms Chopped dates - 50gms Powdered cardamom - 6nos Butter  - 4tsp Water - 250ml  Method of Preparation :  Fry nuts in 2tsp butter till light golden colour, drain and keep aside. Fry vermicelli in the remaining butter until golden brown. Make a sugar syrup (one string consistency).  Boil the milk until it is thickened to half the quantity. Add the fried vermicelli to the milk and cook. Do not allow lumps to form. Add sugar syrup and cook for a while until it comes to a homogeneous consistency. Sprinkle cardamom powder. Garnish with fried nuts. Serve hot or refrigerated

Shahi Tukre

Ingredients : Slices of bread  - 4nos Condensed milk - 6tbs Milk - 1/2litre Ground cardamom seeds - 1/2tsp Nutmeg - 1/4tsp Almonds - 15gms Pistachios - 15gms Charoli - 15gms Walnuts - 15gms Cashew-nuts - 15gms Raisins - - 15gms

Method of Preparation : Trim and cut each slice of bread into four pieces and deep fry to a golden brown colour. Drain thoroughly and keep aside. Fry all the nuts and pound coarsely. Also fry the raisins. Take a wide pan and put in milk, condensed milk, 2 tablespoon sugar, cardamoms and nutmeg. Cook on a low fire till the mixture turns a little thick, then put the fried bread side by side in the pan. Let it cook till all the moisture is absorbed by the bread. Serve cold garnished with nuts and raisins and covered with foil.

Nawabi Pulao (Hyderabadi Meal)

Ingredients: Chicken - 1/2 kg Mutton - 1/4 kg Curd - 1 cup Milk - 1 cup Rice - 1/2 kg Eggs - 2 Onions - 3 Shelled green peas - 1/2 cup Pod garlic - 1   Big piece of ginger - 1   Rose water       Oil - for frying   Salt - to taste

Method: Wash rice and soak in water for 15 minutes. Cook it with salt and water. Clean and cut the mutton into cubes and joint chicken. Boil the eggs and keep aside. Boil green peas with salt and keep aside. Slice the onion. Grind ginger and garlic to a smooth paste. Heat ghee in a frying pan. Add onions, ginger, garlic paste and fry well. Add mutton pieces and fry for a few minutes. Add jointed chicken and fry well. Add 3 cups of water and salt to taste and cook on a slow fire until the meat is tender and only 1/3 of the gravy is left. Add some more ghee and add well beaten curds. Cook on a slow fire until the curd gets absorbed by the meat. Add  1 teaspoon of rose water after this has cooled. Take a heavy bottomed vessel and arranged alternate layers of rice cooked meat, making sure that the first and last layer consist of rice. Place in an oven and cook until the rice grains are separate. Serve garnished with fried onions, quartered hard, boiled eggs and boiled green peas.

Haleem

Ingredients : Wheat (whole) - 200gms Boneless Mutton - 300gms Green Chillies - 20gm Ginger - 2"piece Garlic - 6-8 flakes Ghee - 100gms Sliced onions - 3 medium Turmeric - 1/2tsp Garam Masala - 2tsp Salt - to taste

Method of Preparation :  Clean wheat and soak in water for 2 hours. Grind ginger, garlic and chillies to a fine paste. Clean and slice mutton into small pieces. Marinate mutton pieces with half quantity of ground paste and salt for 1 hour. Pressure cook the soaked wheat and marinated meat till done. Mince and grind to a fine paste. Heat ghee in a pan and saute onions till brown. Add turmeric, garam masala, salt and remaining ground paste and keep stirring occasionally on a low flame till the mixture leaves the sides of the pan. Adjust seasoning and serve hot

Mirch Ka Salan

Ingredients :     Green chillies - 250 gms Oil - 50 ml  Tamarind pulp - 30 gms  Beaten yogurt - 100 gms Lemon juice - 2 tbsp  Salt - to taste Roasted onions - 250 gms  Roasted peanuts - 35 gms  Grated coconut - 35 gms  Ginger - 10gm Garlic - 10gm Sesame seeds - 5gm  Chopped coriander leaves - a sprig

Method: Grind roasted onions, peanuts, coconut, ginger, garlic and sesame seeds to a fine paste. Heat oil and deep fry green chillies, remove and keep aside. Fry the ground paste in the same oil by stirring continuously. Pour little water at regular intervals while frying the paste. Stir well by adding yogurt, lemon juice and salt. Add tamarind pulp and stir well until the gravy is of sauce consistency. Add fried chillies. Bring to a boil and remove from fire. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with biryani.

Lamb Biryani

Ingredients :  Sliced lamb - 500gms Basmati rice - 500gms Water - as required Mace powder - 1/2tsp Green cardamom - 4nos Black cardamom - 4nos  Cloves - 4nos Bay leaves - 5 Oil - 200ml Sliced onions - 50gm Ginger-garlic paste - 5tsp Salt - 2tsp Chilli powder - 2tsp Water - 1litre Brown onion paste - 31/2tbs Saffron - a few strands Sliced onions - 60gms (fry the onions till brown and keep aside) For the covering: Flour - 1/2cup Butter - 100gms

Method of Preparation :  Wash and soak rice in water for one hour. Drain and boil in sufficient water with mace powder, green and black cardamom, clovesand bay leaves till three-fourth done. Remove from heat, drain and keep aside. Heat oil in a pan and fry sliced onions till brown. Saute by adding ginger-garlic. Put the lamb pieces and fry for about 10 minutes. Add salt, chilli powder and water and cook for about 20 to 25 minutes on medium heat. Stir in the brown onion paste and cook till the lamb pieces are tender and the curry thickens. Remove from heat. Mix butter and flour. Knead to a smooth soft dough by adding enough water.  In an oven proof vessel place alternate layers of rice and lamb curry. Sprinkle saffron and browned onions. Seal the vessel with the prepared dough and place in a moderately hot oven (150oC to 175oC) for 20 minutes or till the covering is cooked.

Hyderabadi Samosa

Region :Hyderabad

Ingredients : For the dough : Flour - 500gm Salt - 1/2tsp Ginger juice - 1tsp Garlic juice - 1tsp Ghee - 3tbs Milk - 1cup For the Mince : Minced chicken - 500gm Ginger-garlic paste - 1tbs Minced onion - 2nos (large) Ghee - 2tbs Coriander leaves - a handful Chopped Mint leaves - 1tsp Groundnut oil - for frying To be ground : Green chillies - 6nos Peppercorns - 5 Coriander seeds - 1tbs Cumin seeds - 1/2tsp Cinnamon - a small piece Green cardamom - 4nos Method of Preparation :  Grind all the ingredients to be ground to a fine paste and keep aside. Boil the mince with ginger-garlic paste and salt till done.  Heat ghee in a pan and fry onion. Add ground masala and sauté well for 3-4minutes. Add the mince and fry till dry. Mix in the coriander and mint leaves. Keep aside. Sieve the flour and salt together. Rub in the ghee till the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Make a bay in the centre and put in the milk, ginger, garlic juice. Mix well and knead to a soft, but not sticky dough. Divide the dough into 6-8 portions. Roll each portion into a thin chapati. Place a heaped tablespoon of the mince filling at the centre. Cover with another chapati. Seal the edges by pressing down. Cut into triangles and deep fry in hot oil.