Cooking web notes

    I have tried vermicelli biryani from the outer wrapper of the vermicelli pack. It dint come out that good for first two times and I thought its a lame recipe. Then once we went to dinner to my hubby’s friend’s place. She had made this vermicelli biryani along with raita,poori,kurma and payasam . The meal was hearty and we loved it… I was amazed by the taste of biryani and dint recognise that it was made with vermicelli for first few mouths. I wanted to note down the recipe,but dint … I knew she had added coconut milk and mint leaves… so I tried my own way and the result was just awesome… This is perfect when you host someone for meals,you can club this along with some other dishes to make a delightful spread!

INGREDIENTS

Vermicelli/semiya(roasted)	1 & 1/2 cup
mixed vegetables,chopped	3/4 – 1 cup
Onion	1
Tomato(optional),small	1
Mint leaves	10 leaves
Chopped coriander leaves	2 tblsp
Coconut milk,thin	1 & 1/4 cup
Salt	As needed

To grind to a smooth paste:

Elachi	1
Cinnamon	A small piece
Cloves	1
Star anise	a small portion
Fennel/soambu	1 tsp
Ginger	1 inch piece
Green chillies	4
garlic	5 flakes

To temper:

Oil+ghee	3-4 tblsp
Jeera/cumin seeds	1 tsp
Bay leaf	1

 

Method:

1. Roast the vermicelli with a tsp of ghee in medium flame,evenly with out changing its colour(if it not raosted vermicelli),you can also skip this part too.
2. Grind the items given under ‘to grind’ table to a smooth paste with very less water.
3. Heat a heavy bottomed pan(I used pot shaped cooker) with oil and temper with the items given under ‘to temper’ table.
4. Add sliced onion fry till onion turns just transparent and add the ground paste. Fry in medium flame for 2-3 minutes,taking care to not to burn it.
5. Add the chopped veggies along with tomato(if desired) and the mint and coriander leaves and fry in medium flame for 3 minutes. Add the coconut milk and bring to boil,add required salt.
6. Then add the vermicelli.Let it boil till it absorbs all the coconut milk and then keep the flame in lowest possible and cook covered for 4-5 minutes.
7. Garnish with cashews fried in ghee if you want,or just simply with chopped coriander leaves… serve hot with raita of your choice!

Notes:

If you make the biryani with proper care/just like we make our rice biryani, you will get an equally yummy,delightful biryani. Vegetables I used are-carrot,beans,green peas and cauliflower. Don't cook for long time than mentioned as it will make the vermicelli sticky. Also increasing the water/coconut milk will make it sticky and gooey. Using less water ratio and cooking in low flame is the key to get it nice! You can grind the mint leaves along with the grinding items. You can use ginger garlic paste and add the whole masalas while tempering and avoid the grinding part,if you are lazy to do grinding!

THAYIR SEMIYA/CURD SEMIYA
     This one,I recently had in one of my hubby’s friends house,she is a wonderful cook and expert in making biryani(Hyderabadi origin) and this time too she had made vegetable biryani along with raita,rasam and ladies finger curry and the ‘Thayir semiya’. I had this curd vermicelli for first time and asked her the recipe,I was like,why I haven't tried this before?? It was totally yummy and broke the assumption I had before tasting this,so if you are also like me,go and try it immediately!

Ingredients: ( makes two bowls as shown above)

Vermicelli/semiya	1/2 cup
Water	1&1/2 cup
milk	1/4cup
Curd	1/2 cup
Butter or sour cream (optional)	1 tsp
Salt	As needed

 

Method:

1. Boil water in a pan with salt and add the vermicelli,cook till soft and before it starts sticking to the pan,put off the fire.(add butter if desired at this stage)
2. Cool down and add milk and curd and mix well. Add water or curd or milk to get desired loose consistency.
3. Temper with the usual items you do same as for the curd rice,I just tempered with oil,mustard,green chilli,asafoetida and curry leaves.

I had this creamy,yummy and soft curd semiya with tomato thokku…

Note:

You can add chopped ginger,coriander leaves,carrots,grapes as you do for curd rice to make it more special and rich!