Bihari Rasiya

I made this today for dinner. It's Friday night after all ! And I realised this was not on my blog.

Here's the recipe -

Rice - 1 cup
Gur / jaggery  / Brown sugar– 1 cup
Water - 2 cups (I eyeballed this)
cardamom – 1 crushed pod
Ghee 1 tsp

Recipe-

Take jaggery and water and let it boil. Then strain jaggery water and set aside. This is done to remove impurities from jaggery. I don't think this step is needed now. I used brown sugar and did not do this. 

I turned on the Instant pot in Saute mode , added the ghee and cardamom and let it sizzle. I did not use any nuts. If using some, you may want to fry them now before adding the rice and water. 

Add rice and water and brown sugar and keep on saute till it starts bubbling. Keep on 1.5 hours slow cook. Check the sweetness and consistency.Ready to served your highness !

Cooking from my blog recipes

 

Sattu paratha- http://ambrotos.blogspot.com/2011/02/sattu-paratha-makuni-or-litti-bihari.html

Tomato Chutney- http://saltiepie.blogspot.com/2011/03/tamatar-khajoor-ki-chutneytomato-date.html

Dahi Aloo aur Papad ki sabzi - http://ambrotos.blogspot.com/2011/10/dahi-aur-papad-ki-sabzi.html

 

Smashed potatoes

 

I made these following the Pioneer Woman's recipe - 

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/crash-hot-potatoes/

I used Russet potatoes and I topped them with a mix of Cheddar (Amul cheese) and Goat cheese. My brother got the goat cheese from Oregon when he went there for the Shakespeare Fest. And Amul- well because it was Diwali and the Indian store here was running an offer on it :-)

 

Pressure cooker Chinese Simmered Chicken

I made this some days back and it was finger-licking good !
The recipe is from This Old Gal blog site who also uses instant pot ❤️
http://thisoldgal.com/pressure-cooker-chinese-simmered-chicken/

I made some changes to the recipe based on ingredients I had at hand-
1- I used applesauce
2-I used onion tomato paste with Garam masala
3- I used teriyaki sauce

My sauce ingredients are as follows-

1/2 cup applesauce

1/4 cup water

1 cup onion tomato masala paste with garam masala

I followed the same process as the recipe called for. 

 

Bihar style chura bhunja

Chura bhunja or chivda recipe -

Ingredients:

1 cup Chura
1 spoon oil
1/2 cup groundnuts
Salt to taste
add fried red or green chilies, fried papad etc to taste

Method :

Heat oil in a deep pan or kadahi.
When sufficiently hot, add groundnuts, sauté for a couple of minutes and remove.
Reduce the flame and add chura . Sauté for a couple of minutes till they look crunchy.
Remove from stove, add the salt and groundnuts or any other additions as per taste.
It makes a great snack with evening chai and can even serve as chakhna 😀👍

Orange marmalade in instant pot

Using April Bloomfield's recipe from her book - The girl and her pig

Ingredients
8 medium size oranges
4 cups sugar (recipe calls for 5)
2 tsp fennel

Instructions
Wash oranges, in steel insert cover them with water, keep a heavy plate on top so that oranges don't bob up ! Steam for 8 mins, NR. Open lid and let cool.

Remove from water, reserve 2 cups of this water and discard rest. Slice oranges and check rind for bitternesss. The oranges I used did not have any bitterness or seeds inside. So I just mashed them up, added sugar, reserved water, fennel and kept on sauté for 30 mins.

If the rind is bitter then you would need to remove the white pith and also the seeds after slicing the oranges. If the quantity is less you may also use less sugar. Sugar only helps thicken quicker.

The marmalade thickened slightly at this point. Then I kept it on slow cook mode with lid partially open for steam to escape. You could also remove the lid and keep it on slow cook mode for 1.5 to 2 hours.

Once thickened, remove from heat and let cool. Transfer to clean jars and store in the fridge. Will keep for a couple of weeks. My recipe made 4 small jars.

Brownie cake

I baked a brownie cake for my daughter's 6th birthday. I cheated.. I used the brownie mix! And I frosted it 😀👍
tasted divine. Can you ever have an overdose of chocolate ? 😀😀
This is the brownie cake recipe -
http://www.lifewithgremlins.com/brownie-mix-cake-recipe-making-cake-from-brownie-mix/
And here is the frosting recipe -
http://www.crazyforcrust.com/2015/01/easy-double-fudge-brownies-amazing-frosting-ever/

Decorated with princess Sophia 😈

Shahi tukda in the instant pot

Ingredients -
crispy baked rusk - 1 whole pack
sugar - 1 cup
water -1.5 cups
ghee - 1/2 cup
crushed cardamom - 4 pods
cinnamon -1 tsp
condensed milk - sweetened - 1 can or unsweened -2 packs
use of the sweetened one makes it really sweet but yummy nonetheless
Nuts for garnish

Process -
Layer the sugar, ghee, spices and rusks in the steel insert of the instapot. Remember to grease the bottom with ghee!
Pour water on top sprinkling over the rusks so that it penetrates the rusk before reaching the bottom. Set the instapot on manual high for 7 mins, quick release of pressure once done.

Take out the rusks in your serving dish. I used one sweet and one plain condensed milk and I mixed them up before pouring over the rusks. I garnished with slivered toasted almonds.

This served 15 to 18 guests at the party.