Through the stomach to the heart
By: Manvitha Katta
Indian mothers have this one meal that they whip up whenever they need to impress their guests and blow them away with their hospitality. Indian mothers are obsessed with making sure their guests are well fed (or more like stuffed) and humbly deny any praise while secretly relishing the fact that everyone loves her food. So as per tradition, my mother and grandmother both have their signature dishes. My mother has her chicken biryani and for my grandmother it is her mysore pak.
My grandmother on my dad’s side passed away when I was four years old so I only have very faint memories of her and stories that my dad and aunt’s and uncle’s have told me. But from what I’ve heard, she loved to eat, read and nap so she is definitely someone I would have loved to spend time with. My dad raves about all of her food but the one thing he always talks about is mysore pak, a desert made with lots of butter and upper arm strength.
My dad grew up in a small town in South India and his family had worked in the Indian Railways for generations, so this meant they would always have neighbors, relatives, and friends pop in all the time. They would be served chai or coffee and mysore pak and talk for a couple of hours. But she never let it get too late though, because her five children had to get to bed so they could go to school the next day. My grandfather traveled a lot so everything was under my grandmothers firm but loving control. She like order and was strict (how else do you raise 6 kids?) but laughed at very instance she could. Unfortunately, Mysore pak was a recipe she had mastered so she never wrote it down. My aunts have tried to replicate it but nothing ever comes close to it. Maybe I’ll be the one to get the closest to it someday?
My grandmother on my dad’s side passed away when I was four years old so I only have very faint memories of her and stories that my dad and aunt’s and uncle’s have told me. But from what I’ve heard, she loved to eat, read and nap so she is definitely someone I would have loved to spend time with. My dad raves about all of her food but the one thing he always talks about is mysore pak, a desert made with lots of butter and upper arm strength.
My dad grew up in a small town in South India and his family had worked in the Indian Railways for generations, so this meant they would always have neighbors, relatives, and friends pop in all the time. They would be served chai or coffee and mysore pak and talk for a couple of hours. But she never let it get too late though, because her five children had to get to bed so they could go to school the next day. My grandfather traveled a lot so everything was under my grandmothers firm but loving control. She like order and was strict (how else do you raise 6 kids?) but laughed at very instance she could. Unfortunately, Mysore pak was a recipe she had mastered so she never wrote it down. My aunts have tried to replicate it but nothing ever comes close to it. Maybe I’ll be the one to get the closest to it someday?
I don't have a formal recipe for this because either this wasn't written down or it was lost in the process of my dad's family moving away. I borrowed this recipe from http://hebbarskitchen.com/mysore-pak-recipe-easy-homemade/
Ingredients
Instructions ( 1 cup =255 ml)
heat ghee and oil recipe:
Ingredients
- 2 cups sugar
- ½ cup water
- 1 cup besan / gram flour / chickpea flour / kadle hittu, sieve well
- 1cup ghee / clarified butter
- 1 cup oil / vegetable oil
Instructions ( 1 cup =255 ml)
heat ghee and oil recipe:
- Add ghee and oil in a large pan.
- The ghee and the oil should come to a simmer while you make the rest of the mysore pak.
- firstly, in a large heavy bottomed pan, heat sugar and water to a boil.
- keep boiling and stirring till the sugar attains one string consistency.
- furthermore, keep the flame on very low and add sieved gram flour little by little.
- give a good stir making sure no lumps are formed.
- further add more besan and continue stirring. add approximately in 3-4 batches.
- adding in batches and continuously stirring avoids from forming lumps.
- now take a ladleful of hot ghee-oil and pour over the besan mixture.
- further,continuously stir till oil is absorbed completely.
- furthermore, add another ladleful of hot oil-ghee. sizzles and starts to froth at the top.
- keep continuously stirring till all the oil is absorbed.
- further, keep repeating 4-5 times till the mixture starts to separate from pan.
- and also the oil will start releasing from sides. no more the besan mixture will absorb oil.
- immediately, transfer the mixture to greased tray of enough depth. this helps to continue cooking and get golden brown colour in between.
- further, after 5 minutes cut into pieces as desired.
- after 30 minutes separate the pieces.
![Picture](/uploads/6/0/9/5/60954725/published/img-9526.jpg?1487611454)
My mom wins hearts with her chicken biryani. Biryani is a mix of meat, spices, and basmati rice and is our family’s go-to party/celebration/holiday meal. She layers the chicken and rice and let the oven works its magic. Even though it has a long list of ingredients and requires a few hours, the time and spices do most of the work in the oven. Traditionally, this would be done in a huge heavy pot with a really tight seal but this is 2017 and no one has the time or patience for that. Everything about biryani is delicious but my favorite part is the crispy caramelized onions that my mom puts on top of the finished rice.
Every family event or community event and potluck, my mom would be asked to make this. I would help my mom make this by chopping up all the onions and other spices but honestly I would end up eating the least of it because everyone else would eat it all up first. My mom is so hospitable a person that she would encourage us to try everyone else's food and let the others eat what my mom made. It's okay though because as I got older, the only way to ensure that I got to eat some would be to save some for myself before we took it where it needed it to go. Then I'd be able to get 2nd or even third helpings of it ;) And I would just ask my mom to make me some whenever my birthday month or a holiday came around!
Every family event or community event and potluck, my mom would be asked to make this. I would help my mom make this by chopping up all the onions and other spices but honestly I would end up eating the least of it because everyone else would eat it all up first. My mom is so hospitable a person that she would encourage us to try everyone else's food and let the others eat what my mom made. It's okay though because as I got older, the only way to ensure that I got to eat some would be to save some for myself before we took it where it needed it to go. Then I'd be able to get 2nd or even third helpings of it ;) And I would just ask my mom to make me some whenever my birthday month or a holiday came around!
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups Basmati rice
2 bay leaves
1 chicken cut into 4 or 8 pieces (1000-1200g)
For the chicken marinade
3 Bay leaves
3 green cardamom pods
3 black cardamom pods
2 Cinnamon sticks
4 Cloves pods
1 teaspoon Shahi jeera (you can use 1/2 teaspoon cumin if you can’t find it)
6 black pepper berries
1 tablespoon coriander
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoon garlic paste
1 1/2 teaspoon ginger paste
1 teaspoon star anise
1 bunch Coriander, chopped (about 3/4 of a cup after chopping )
1 bunch mint chopped
1/2 teaspoon mace
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Salt
1 cup yogurt
2-3 green chillies cut into 1 cm pieces (optional)
For cooking the Biryani
1/2 cup rosewater
1/2 teaspoon saffron
1 cup fried onions
2-3 tablespoons ghee
1. In a food processor, combine all of the ingredients for the marinade and place all of the marinade ingredients and process until the spices are finely ground
2. Place the chicken in a bowl and add the marinade and toss to combine. Refrigerate the chicken mixture overnight.
3. Next Day: wash the basmati rice and soak it in warm water for 1 hour, drain, discard the water
Cooking the rice:
4. In a pot bring 10 cups of water to a boil, add 2 bay leaves and a tablespoon of salt
5. Add the rice to the boiling pot and cook the rice until they are about 70% cooked through. The rice should not be cooked through completely because it will continue to till 70% done.
6. After the rice is cooked, drain the rice and discard the water.
7. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
8. In an deep aluminum pan, layer the marinated chicken in the bottom of the pan. Next layer the rice. Add a layer of fried onions. Repeat the layering process until you're finished with all of the chicken and the rice. The last layer on top should be the rice.
9. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and put it in the oven to cook for about 35-40 minutes. You'll smell it when it's ready.
10. Add the remaining fried onions and cilantro after it comes out of the oven and it's ready to eat!
2 1/2 cups Basmati rice
2 bay leaves
1 chicken cut into 4 or 8 pieces (1000-1200g)
For the chicken marinade
3 Bay leaves
3 green cardamom pods
3 black cardamom pods
2 Cinnamon sticks
4 Cloves pods
1 teaspoon Shahi jeera (you can use 1/2 teaspoon cumin if you can’t find it)
6 black pepper berries
1 tablespoon coriander
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoon garlic paste
1 1/2 teaspoon ginger paste
1 teaspoon star anise
1 bunch Coriander, chopped (about 3/4 of a cup after chopping )
1 bunch mint chopped
1/2 teaspoon mace
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Salt
1 cup yogurt
2-3 green chillies cut into 1 cm pieces (optional)
For cooking the Biryani
1/2 cup rosewater
1/2 teaspoon saffron
1 cup fried onions
2-3 tablespoons ghee
1. In a food processor, combine all of the ingredients for the marinade and place all of the marinade ingredients and process until the spices are finely ground
2. Place the chicken in a bowl and add the marinade and toss to combine. Refrigerate the chicken mixture overnight.
3. Next Day: wash the basmati rice and soak it in warm water for 1 hour, drain, discard the water
Cooking the rice:
4. In a pot bring 10 cups of water to a boil, add 2 bay leaves and a tablespoon of salt
5. Add the rice to the boiling pot and cook the rice until they are about 70% cooked through. The rice should not be cooked through completely because it will continue to till 70% done.
6. After the rice is cooked, drain the rice and discard the water.
7. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
8. In an deep aluminum pan, layer the marinated chicken in the bottom of the pan. Next layer the rice. Add a layer of fried onions. Repeat the layering process until you're finished with all of the chicken and the rice. The last layer on top should be the rice.
9. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and put it in the oven to cook for about 35-40 minutes. You'll smell it when it's ready.
10. Add the remaining fried onions and cilantro after it comes out of the oven and it's ready to eat!