Thala Ajith Biryani Recipe - Mushroom Biryani - Vegetarian Version

Hi Friends,
Today I have shared a yummy & delicious celebrity biryani recipe that belongs to our South Indian actor, The Ultimate Star Thala Ajith. I have been his fan for years and I am extremely happy to try and share his style of biryani in my blog. 

Few months back, I came across this recipe in a popular Tamil magazine (Kumudham Snehidhi). Our blogger friend Sundari Nathan shared the screen shot of the recipe page with me as per my request. So sweet of you dear. When I read the article, it is said Thala is a great cook and an expert in making biryani. He used to prepare and serve a delicious mutton biryani for his Co-stars & workers in his shooting spot. 

Director Mr.Venkat Prabhu and South Indian actress Miss. Parvathy Nair have shared the method of making Thala biryani with all the minute details. Everybody had praised the taste & Thala’s passion of cooking biryani. Having tempted by the article, I tried this recipe at home by replacing mutton with mushroom & soya chunks. I used my own measurements as the quantity of ingredients were not specified in the magazine. I have tried this recipe twice in the past 2 weeks. It’s a very simple bachelor kind of recipe without much fancy ingredients & grinding job.

To make this post more special, I served Thala Biryani in Thala Vazhai ilai with onion raita, Plain salna, Honey Chilli potato and Semiya payasam ;).We all loved its awesome aroma and taste. I have shared the screen shot of the article below for your reference in Tamil. If you wish to try Thala’s actual Non-veg biryani using mutton, it will help you. 

By the way, this biryani is my 35th post in this series.With this recipe,I am happily ending my Sunday Lunch Recipes Series. Next week I will make a detailed post on how to cook Basmati rice & jeera rice and update my old biryani recipes till this month end.

When I started this series, I had no clue of how I am going to try varieties of biryani being a pure vegetarian. But God helped me giving delicious recipes through websites, cookbooks and my friends. And now I am the proud owner of 40+ veg biryani recipes. I can confidently make veg biryani for my guests & family. 

At this time, I would like to thank all my readers & silent readers who have given me continuous support and encouragement by sharing the feedback of my biryani recipes via e-mails with tried & tasted pictures.  Even though I couldn’t post the recipes on time due to personal works, there were few readers who wait for my post and tried it instantly. Thanks for all your patience.

This series have got me so many new readers, friends and some cute sisters (Dhivya, Dharini, Kavitha, Sindhuja…). Thanks a ton buddies. But for you all, this series would not have come so far & become a hit. In the New Year 2016, I will try to come up with another interesting series. Stay tuned !!

Now lets see how to make this awesome, star special – Namma Thala Ajith style Biryani recipe in vegetarian version. Therikka Vidalamaa !!

Thala Ajith Biryani Recipe - Vegetarian Version

How to make the popular Thala Ajith Biryani Recipe using mushroom & Soya chunks- Vegetarian version

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Biryani Recipes

Serves: Serves 2-3

Prep time: 20 Minutes

Cook time: 20 Minutes

Total time: 40 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 cup = 200 ml Basmati rice - 1 cup ( I used India Gate Brand) Water - 5 cups Lemon - 1/2 no ( small size) Salt - as needed Cooking oil - few drops For Gravy Cooking oil + ghee - 2 tbsp +1 tbsp Cinnamon - 1 inch piece Cloves - 3 nos Cardamom - 2 nos Bay leaf - 1 no Black stone flower/Kalpasi - 2 nos Big onion - 1 no (Big) Ginger - 2 inch piece+Garlic cloves - 8 nos (Grind to a paste.Use fresh paste for best taste OR 1.5 tsp store bought G&G paste) Green chillies - 2 nos Mint leaves + coriander leaves - 2 tbsp Ripe Tomato - 2 nos Mushroom or Soya chunks/meal maker - 10 nos Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp Red chilli powder - 1 tsp ( Add 1.5 tsp for spicy biryani) Curd - 1 tsp Red food color - a pinch Salt & water - as needed

METHOD

Wash and soak Basmati rice for at least 30 minutes. In the mean time,wash and clean the mushrooms if using. Chop into cubes. If you use soya chunks, boil 2 cups of water and soak the chunks. It will bulge in size. Squeeze & set aside. Chop the onions into slices, tomatoes into pieces & slit the green chillies. Boil 5 cups of water. When it roll boils, add the soaked & drained rice. Add salt, a tsp of oil and squeeze half of lemon. Simmer the flame & add the soaked, drained rice. Let it boil in high flame for few minutes. Stir once or twice in between without breaking the rice. Let it cook in water till its 80% done. Now switch off the flame and strain the rice in a colander. Collect the rice cooked water in a bowl. We are going to use this hot cooked water( Kanji) for putting DUM. So don’t throw it. Now take a tbsp of rice cooked water and mix the food color. Set aside. Let the rice be in colander till the gravy gets ready. Heat a kadai adding oil + ghee. Saute cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, bay leaf & black stone flower. Now add the onion slices and saute until its transparent. Keep the flame low and Cover it with a lid. Let the onions turn crispy and golden brown. This is the key point for this biryani. Grind ginger & garlic adding required water and add it to the onion mixture. Saute until its raw smell vanishes. Do this in low flame. Cover it with a lid for sometime. Then add the mint+coriander leaves. Mix well and add tomatoes , green chillies. Saute until mushy. Cover with a lid. Once it turns mushy, add turmeric powder & red chilli powder. Mix well for few minutes and let the mixture become a paste. Add the mushroom pieces OR Squeezed soya chunks pieces. Saute well for a minute. Add 1/2 cup of water and cook the mushrooms/Soya chunks. Cover with a lid and let it boil for 2-3 minutes in high flame. Add 1 tsp of curd and cover cook for sometime. Oil will float on top. This is the sign for a perfectly cooked gravy. So wait till that point. Now gravy is ready. Let the gravy be in the kadai. Make sure there is some moisture content in the gravy so that it doesn’t get burnt. Now spread the 3/4th cooked basmati rice over the gravy and cover it. Heat a dosa tawa ( Any old non-stick or iron tawa) till its fuming point. Reduce the flame to low completely and place the kadai over the dosa tawa. Make sure kadai is closed tightly. Place the strained rice cooked hot water (Kanji) over the lid. Put under DUM for 5 minutes. Then open the lid and sprinkle food color, add a tbsp of ghee over the rice. Mix it gently with a ladle from top to bottom without breaking the rice. Again close it and keep for 10 minutes.That’s it. Delicious and yummy Thala biryani is ready to serve !! Enjoy with raita & Kurma !

Note

Adjust the quantity of spices as per your taste Add mixed vegetables in place of mushroom & soya chunks Keep in mind, you should use freshly ground ginger, garlic paste for best taste. Flame should be low when you saute sliced onions & other masala. Don’t forget to cover the kadai after you saute the masala every time. Onion should become golden brown. This point was highlighted in the recipe. If properly done, this is one of the best biryani with simple ingredients. For variations,you can add 1/2 tsp of garam masala or biryani masala powder.

I served Thala Biryani with Onion Raita , Plain salna, Honey Chilli potato and Vermicelli/Semiya payasam. We had a delectable lunch !!

Technorati Tags: Thala Ajith,Thala Ajith Biryani,Thala biryani,Thala Ajith biryani recipe,Sunday biryani,Biryani recipes,Biryani varieties,Mushroom biryani,Soya chunks biryani recipe

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Dindigul Thalappakatti Veg Biryani-Mushroom,Soya Chunks Biryani Recipe--Sunday Lunch Recipes -1

In this New year, with all your support and blessings, I have planned to start biryani series from this week. I guess most of you make ( Both vegetarian & Non-vegetarian) make biryani in weekend especially on Sunday. Even I too make biryani mostly on Sundays, make myself free and enjoy my time with my family. To me, Biryani is an easy to make yet very rich & delicious one pot meal that make everyone drool over its smell & color. I love to try varieties of biryani recipes by watching TV shows, by referring blogs or cookbooks. I thought of blogging the same here as it might be useful to vegetarians who look for varieties of biriyani recipes. So every Sunday, you can expect some yummy biryani & pulao recipes in my blog. Actually I wanted to start this series with “How to cook Basmati rice” post. But I still have some work pending to bring that post here. As I am in Salem, I couldn’t do it. So I thought of starting this series with this most popular Dindigul thalappakatti biryani recipe in which I used jeera rice. Generally vegetarians have less options for biryani varieties. So I used to refer non-veg biryani recipe too & try it  by replacing chicken or mutton with vegetables like mushroom, Gobi/cauliflower and soya chunks. You can find one such example here.  Even today I have shared Dindigul thalapakatti biryani which is the most popular mutton biryani of Dindigul district. For this recipe, I referred so many sites and read readers comments to get some idea about its color, the rice used in it etc. Finally I landed upon here & tried this biryani by making small changes in the actual recipe to achieve its brown color. I used mushroom & soya chunks/meal maker in place of mutton ;). The taste was awesome. It came out super flavourful with minimum masala. Raksha & Sendhil loved it a lot. Raksha told me to make the same biryani next day too for her lunch box . So I made a minimum quantity for her using rice cooker. Now I can confidently try this biryani for my guests too. I served this biryani with simple onion raita as a side dish. I made fruit custard for dessert & curd rice as well. So last week we had this biryani, raita, fruit custard and curd rice for our lunch. It was simple yet divine ! I have updated this recipe with a full video. Do watch it !

I will try my level best to collect the best biryani recipes, try them in my kitchen and share it here.Wish me Good Luck. Leave your feedback or share the picture if you try any biryani recipes from this series. It will motivate me to try n post more. Check out my other biryani & pulao recipes that are popular in my blog.

• Ambur veg biryani

• Kuska biryani/Plain biryani

• Spicy vegetable pulao

• Vegetable biryani

• Paneer biryani

• Tomato rice using rice cooker

• Mushroom Biryani

I have updated this recipe with a video. Please check it !

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VEG LASAGNA RECIPE WITH EASY HOME MADE PASTA SAUCE/ BECHAMEL SAUCE

Last month I was asking my sister & friends in abroad to suggest me some international recipes. They told me about this famous lasagne and I had no clue about it. To be frank , I did not even know how to pronounce & spell ( it is la-zaa-ne-aa). I asked my hubby regarding the same & he said he had tasted this in US & UK.. I searched for some good recipes.  Most of them were with beef and egg. I wanted a pure veg recipe. 

There are 2 choices for veggies. One with spinach & the other one is with veggies like carrot , aubergine & mushrooms. I finally decided to go with my Microwave oven manual recipe. By referring some videos on youtube , I got the idea of how to arrange it. I bought the lasagne sheets in Nilgiris , Brigade road.. 

Somehow I successfully prepared it yesterday. We loved it. My husband told “This tastes better than the ones served in restaurants”. I felt it had a slight bland taste. But he said it would be more bland with lots of cheese but mine was spicy, flavourful & better. Please make sure u eat it hot , atleast warm.

One sad thing is , I had no casserole or lasagne pan .I made with my baking pan .I was not able to make many layers as my pan was broader and lesser in height. Also I prepared less quantity of sauce & vegetable mixture. So I made a single layered lasagna. But I have given the quantity of ingredients to make 3 layers. Soon i’ll update the picture with many layers. Do leave your  suggestions if any changes can be made in this recipe.

About the sauce , I got béchamel sauce recipe from the manual and the pasta sauce from here .. Both are very simple and easy to make. No fancy ingredients..All are easily available in stores..I’ve tried to capture step by step recipe. If you have ready made store bought sauce , this dish can be made in jiffy. Ideal for potluck & parties. 

As I prepared the sauce @home , I felt it time consuming. But the sauces can be prepared well in advance and refrigerated. When I was preparing the sauces , my hubby sniffed , came to kitchen & asked me whether I am making any Italian recipe. It smells awesome. Try this recipe and let me know how it turned out !!

INGREDIENTS FOR PASTA SAUCE

Big ripe tomatoes – 6 nos ( blanched & pureed ) Big onion – 2 nos ( very finely chopped ) Garlic – 6 cloves (minced) Olive oil – 4 - 5 tbsp Black pepper powder – 1 tbsp Parsley ,oregano , thyme and basil mix –1 tbsp ( i used garlic bread seasoning ) OR Oregano – 1/2 tbsp & Basil – 1/2 tbsp Bay leaf – 1 no Sugar – 1 tsp Salt  & water – as needed Cheese – 2 tbsp (optional)

METHOD

In a bowl , boil the tomatoes till it cracks. After it cools down, remove the skin and grind them coarsely to make a puree. In a kadai , add oilve oil and saute the finely chopped onions & garlic cloves. Saute till turns translucent.Now add the tomato puree , salt , bay leaf & 1/4 cup of water..Allow it to boil for few minutes. Then add the seasoning ( crush it lightly with ur hands), black pepper powder & some more water.Allow it to cook uncovered for 10 - 15 mins in low flame. Finally when it turns thick ( sauce consistency) and leaves oil, Switch off the stove.. U’ll get a nice aroma..Remove the bay leaf & store in a bottle after it cools down .Refrigerate it till use. Its shelf life is around 5 days..The sauce gets a nice color if u use ripe , coloured tomatoes..No need to add canned tomato puree. I dint use. NOTE: This sauce can be used for making simple pasta & spaghetti recipes ..Ur kids would love this..

INGREDIENTS FOR BECHAMEL SAUCE / WHITE SAUCE

Milk –  1.5 cups Bay leaf – 1 no Pepper corns – 6 nos Big onion – 1 no ( cut into slices) Maida / All purpose flour – 2 tbsp White pepper powder – 1 .5 tsp ( i used black pepper powder) Nutmeg powder – 1/4 tsp Butter – 3 tbsp Salt –1/2 tsp Sugar – 1/2 tsp Water – as needed

METHOD

In a  milk pan , boil the milk along with bayleaf , onion and pepper corns.Boil it for 5 mins. Strain the milk and allow it to cool. After the milk cools down , add maida to it and mix well without lumps. Now melt the butter in a pan and add the milk mixture to the pan  with sugar & salt. ( as per the actual recipe , maida has to be roasted well in butter before adding milk , but u may get lumps while roasting. So i added the maida with milk without roasting.) . I kept the milk in a bowl . I added the melted butter to the bowl.I got this step from here.. Now allow the milk to boil till the raw smell of maida emanates. Keep in low flame. Add more milk if necessary.Finally add the pepper powder & nutmeg powder.Boil for few mins.It will thicken and reaches sauce consistency. Remove & store.Make the sauce slightly thin (ie tomato ketchup consistency)

INGREDIENTS FOR VEGETABLE LASAGNA

** Lasagna sheet – 9 nos ( Follow as per the instruction given in the box. Put the sheets in salted hot water for 10 mins , make it soft & then arrange them) Brinjal ( long green variety) – 4 nos Mushroom – 7 nos Carrot – 2 nos (finely chopped) Bell pepper – 1/2 no ((finely chopped ) Big onion – 2 nos Garlic cloves – 6 nos (minced) Salt & pepper powder – 1/2 tsp each Lasagna pan (13x9x2) – 1 no Thermal foil – 1 sheet Ricotta cheese – 1 can Grated Mozarella Cheese – 1 cup  ( I used pizza cheese alone )

METHOD

Chop the brinjal into round slices & immerse in water till use. Clean & cut the mushroom into small pieces. Finely chop the carrot & capsicum . Boil in water till it is cooked. Heat water in a big vessel , add salt & a drop of oil , allow it to boil. Add the lasagna sheet and keep it for 10 mins in fire-off. This makes the sheet soft. Remove the sheet & proceed.. Finely chop the onions & garlic cloves.In a kadai , heat the olive oil and add the onions & garlic cloves .Saute till turns transparent.Add the cooked carrot &capsicum. saute for few seconds. Then add 3/4th of the pasta sauce.Mix well. Add salt & pepper powder.Mix well and switch off the flame. Set aside. Heat olive oil in a separate pan and saute the brinjal & mushroom pieces till it shrinks in size. Add the required salt & set aside. Now take the lasagna pan or casserole..Brush with oil or butter.I kept a thermal foil at the bottom as my pan is in a bad condition but that is not necessary.. Boil the lasagne sheet in a bowl of water for a minute.Take it out and then place the lasagne sheet in the pan.. Fill the gaps by keeping small pieces of sheet..Spread the white sauce over the sheet .. Now spread the carrot mixture with pasta sauce which we kept ready. Spread a layer of sauteed brinjal, mushroom mixture.. Again spread a layer of white sauce and cover with ricotta cheese. Place another sheet above this and repeat the same procedure starting & ending with white sauce. Make 2-3 layers as per the quantity of vegetables available..Finally cover the mixture with a lasagne sheet & spread 1 cup of mozzarella cheese over it. Cover it fully without any gap. Now close the pan with a thermal foil and bake in a preheated oven at 180c in convection mode for 30-40 minutes. Mine took 35 minutes. Please keep an eye after 25 mins.If the color of the sheet turns golden brown on top & cheese melts, stop baking and give a standing time of 10 minutes. Remove and enjoy eating hot !! Note :I baked for 30 minutes with thermal foil and it dint get brown. So i uncovered it and baked for another 5 minutes.The point is the outer layer has to be slightly browned. So keep an eye !!

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