Ambur Chicken Biryani, a delicious and flavorful biryani made from chicken and jeeraga samba rice. From the tv show "Sutralam Suvaikalam", i got to know about this Biryani, the ingredients are almost the same as we normally use for biryani, but the procedure and when to add what is somewhat interesting and unique in this biryani making and that's give wonderful aroma and taste to the biryani. I had tried this biryani with both mutton and chicken in the same process and both turned out so aromatic and yummy. The key ingredient to get the authentic taste of Ambur style biryani is the jeeraga samba rice, the flavorful of this rice is quite unique and makes the best biryani.

Traditionally the Ambur biryanis are cooked in "Dum" process, since that's a long process i have chosen the pressure cooking method of making this biryani and to my surprise it turned out amazingly well too. Making garlic & ginger paste separately and saute them till aromatic and using freshly grounded chili paste instead of red chili powder are the key things in this process of making biryani. So what are you waiting for, make this regional famous biryani on the weekend and enjoy with your family.

Ambur Chicken Biryani | Biryani Recipe

Preparation Time : 30 mins | Cooking Time : 25 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Biryani | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
Chicken - 200gms
Jeeraga Samba rice - 1/2 cup
Onion -1 
Tomato - 1 
Red Chili - 5
Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Ginger paste - 2 tsp 
Curd - 2  tbsp
Mint & coriander leaves - a handful each
Lemon juice - 2 tsp
Bay leaf - 1
Cinnamon - 1/2 inch piece
Cloves - 5 
Cardamom - 2
Ghee - 1 & 1/2 tbsp
Oil - 1 tsp 
Water - 1 cup
Salt 

Procedure

First clean the chicken and soak the rice in the water for 30 secs. Soak the red chili in hot water for 30 and grind into smooth paste, keep curd and ginger & garlic ready. Cut the onions into thin slices and tomatoes into small pieces. Roughly chop the coriander and mint leaves and keep everything ready.Heat the pressure cooker with oil and ghee, add the cinnamon,cloves and cardamom, saute it in the oil-ghee mixture for 30 secs, then add few onion slices.Next add the garlic and saute till it becomes fragrant and then add the ginger paste.Saute till the raw smell leaves, then add the grounded chili paste and saute it for 2 mins. Then add the remaining onions and half of the mint and coriander leaves, saute till the onions becomes translucent, then add the tomatoes.Saute till the tomatoes are mushy and then add the curd, mix it well and add the chicken pieces, saute the chicken pieces in the masala for 5 mins.Next add the salt and squeeze the lemon juice into it. In a separate pan, bring the water into boil.Add the boiling water in to pressure cooker, drain the soaked water from the rice and add into the pressure cooker.Add the remaining mint and coriander leaves, give a good mix and cover the pressure with lid and put on weight. Cook it for 3 whistle.Tada, Super Ambur Chicken Biryani is ready.Serve it with your favorite curry and raita. We had it with Chicken curry and Onion Raita.

Notes:

• The ratio of rice to water is 1:2, make sure the rice is soaked for 30 mins.
• For extra flavor, you can add 1 tsp of ghee when you open the pressure cooker and mix it gently.
• Use good quality of ghee & jeeraga samba rice,that yields great flavor to the rice.
• Make sure that the chili paste is smooth not coarse. 
• Saute the ginger & garlic paste in the oil & mixture gives good flavor to the biryani.
  

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Roundup for Regional Cuisine from India

This is the second time that i'm doing roundup for the BM theme. As usual, this month BM also has some interesting themes and one among them is "Regional Cuisine from India". Two months before also, i had joined the same theme and posted three recipes from various parts of India, but this time i want to show case some of the regional famous cuisine from our city, Tirunelveli,Tamilnadu,so i picked this theme. Along with me, my fellow food blogger friends also shared some of the unique regional dishes from various parts of India. Here is the compilation of all the dishes that we have shared under the theme "Regional cuisine from India" for this month.

Here are mine - Regional cuisine from Tamilnadu

Idi Sambar	Tomato Chutney	Rava Kothu

Sowmya's regional cuisine, different types of dal

Snakegourd Kootu	Palak Dal	Dal Makhni

Harini's regional cuisine from Tamilnadu,Andra and North India

Idli Upma	Mirchi Ka Salan	Khoya Makhana Subji

Srivalli's regional cuisine from Andhra

Andhra Style Jaggery Pongal	Drumstick Curry	Andhra Chicken Fry

Mir's regional cuisine from Maharastra and North india

Dashmi Roti	Green Coconut Chutney	Medhi Pudhina Poha

Varadha's regional cuisine from North India

Kobi Wadi	Cucumber raita	Basic Kadhi

Farah's regional cuisine

Pistachios and Almond Kulfi	Coconut Chutney	Pineapple Kesari

Priya's regional cuisine from Punjab, chettinad and Gujarat.

Punjabi Egg Curry	Chettinad Prawn thokku	Gujarat Dal Vada

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Idi Sambar | Nellai Idi Sambar | Sambar recipe

Idi Sambar / Nellai Idi Sambar, a unique sambar recipe from the city Tirunelveli of Tamilnadu. Idi Sambar(இடி சாம்பார் ) has got its name because all the spices are freshly pounded using mortar & pestle and added into the sambar. 

"Idi" in tamil means various things depends on the context, here it means "Pounding spices" and don't confuse this sambar with Idli sambar(இட்லி சாம்பார்) which is mostly used as tiffin sambar. 

In our home, we use to make this sambar at least once in a month and we all love it so much because of its intense flavor and taste. Since this sambar is mostly made with a lot of vegetables, many people don't even prefer any side veggies for this sambar.  Appalam, vathal and/or vadagam would be enough for this sambar. 

Related: How to make Idli/Tiffin Sambar 

As the spices are freshly pounded and add into the sambar, it stays good for hours even on hot days. Therefore, this sambar is usually made for a day trip to a temple in our family because many people don't prefer variety rice in our family, so this sambar with rice and some vadagam would be the travel food for our summer holiday temple visits.  

 In those days, the spices are pounded in ural & ulakkai(a traditional kitchen gadgets used for pound spices), but here in the recipe i have used mixie only for easiness and  make sure that the spices are coarsely grounded to get that authentic texture and flavor of the sambar.

For this week of BM, i have chosen the theme as "Regional Cuisine", so for the next three days, i'm gonna post the regional famous dishes from "Tamilnadu". A month before also, i had chosen the same theme and really loved to make and share the less popular regional dishes, so i had picked the same theme for this month also :-). Stay tuned for more regional famous dishes and now let's see how to make this authentic nellai idi sambar.

Related: How to make Aviyal 

Idi Sambar | Nellai Idi Sambar

Preparation Time : 20 mins | Cooking Time : 30 mins | Serves : 4 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Idi Sambar,Sambar with freshly made spice powder,Tirunelveli Sambar, Mix Vegetable Sambar, Nellai Sambar, Nellai Idi Sambar,authentic tamil sambar, Sambar with coconut,Tirunelveli Sambar Idi Sambar / Nellai Idi Sambar, one of the signature sambar recipe from Tirunelveli area with freshly made spices.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Toor dal - 1/3 cup
Tomato -1
Asafoetida powder - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Tamarind - a goose berry size
Mixed vegetables - 1 cup
Salt - to taste
To dry roast & grind
Red chili - 4 to 5
Coriander seed - 2 tsp
Chana dal - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Cumin seed - 1/2 tsp
Coconut - 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp
Garlic - 3 
Pearl onion - 3 or Onion - 1/4
Curry leaves - few
To Temper
Curry leaves - few
Oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard & urad dal -1/2 tsp

Procedure

First all the veggies into medium size pieces. Add toor dal and the veggies(which takes long time to cook like potato) into the pressure cooker along with enough water and asafoetida powder. Pressure cook them for 3 whistles or until the dal is mushy.

Take all the ingredients for dry roast, first add all the spices (expect coconut,garlic and onions) in a kadai with 1/4 tsp of oil and roast till it becomes aromatic and slightly changes its color, remove from the plate and keep it aside.

In the same kadai, add the coconut,garlic and onions, roast till the coconut becomes golden in color, remove from the flame and let them cool completely. Soak the tamarind in the water for 15-20 mins.

Once the spices are cooled, put it into the blender jar and grind them into coarse powder.

In a kadai, add the extracted tamarind juice from the soaked tamarind and then add the veggies like brinjal and drumstick . Let the veggies cook. In the mean time, open the pressure cooker & mash the dal and keep it ready.

Once the veggies are cooked, add the dal and turmeric powder. Give a good mix, then add the grounded spices and salt. Mix it well.

Add more or less of water as per your liking and bring into boil, then keep the flame in low and let it boil for 5 more minutes. Finally temper the ingredients listed under "To Temper" and add into sambar along with chopped coriander leaves. Switch off the flame.

Tasty and flavorful Nellai Idi Sambar is ready. Serve it with rice and your favorite veggies. We had it with rice, aviyal, vendakkai pachadi & mysore rasam.

Related: How to make Idi Puli Kuzhambu  

Notes:

• Here i have used potato,broad beans,carrot, beans, drumstick and brinjal.
• Instead of adding all the veggies,you can make this sambar with any one  or two  veggies also. 
• As brinjal & drumstick are cooked really fast,I didn't pressure cook them.
• If the tanginess is more in the curry, add a piece of jaggery to balance.
   

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