Posts by OCS | Saute Fry N Bake

Rose pudding

Preparation time : 20 minutes
Cooking time : 10 minutes + 6 to 8 hours of setting in the refrigerator.
Serves : 6 members

Description

My stress booster is sure cooking and having fun. Times when I feel really frustrated with things around. I just walk strait to the kitchen and start cooking some thing depending on my mood on that particular day. Every one knows this habit of mine and they just let be alone with out disturbing. On one such day, I walk into the kitchen to find just milk alone. I pair it with sugar, rose water, gulkand and china grass. It looks to cliche with no glamour at all. I peep out of my window to see a few roses bloomed in the garden. I add the petals to bring in a eye popping colour. Pour it into silicon moulds and place in the refrigerator to set. De – moulded the rose pudding and wolla… there was my new stress booster invention pudding that was made to cheer my soul. Cook yourself happy is my magic mantra . In fact, my kids make fun of me asking ” mom, when will you get stressed so that we can have some good food.”

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Milk	1/2 litter
Saffron	1 pinch
Gulkand	2 tablespoons
Sugar	4 tablespoons or to taste
Rose petals	1 tablespoon chopped + few to garnish
Honey	2 tablespoons
Rose water	1 teaspoon
China grass / agar agar	10 grams
Oil	1 teaspoon to grease
Almond flakes	few to garnish

Method

Soak the china grass with 1 cup water for ten minutes.
Boil milk with sugar. Remove from heat and add soaked china grass. Mix well over heat, until the China grass dissolves. Add gulkand, honey and saffron into the milk and mix well.
Top with chopped rose petals and rose water. Mix well. Pour into greased pudding bowls. Place in the refrigerator for eight hour or more to set.
Transfer the set pudding into a plate by tilting it over a plate. Sprinkle rose petals and almond flakes. serve chilled.

Heart pizza

Preparation time : 1 hour
Cooking time : 15 minutes
Serves : 4 members

Description

My obsession with hearts goes way back to when I was a kid. I remember hair bands were so much in fashion in the early eighty’s. We used to get it with flowers, beads, in all materials and colours too. My senior in school masume from Iran had a hair band in metal which had tiny hearts engraved in them. Her class boy’s forcefully took it from her and counted how many hearts were there in the hair band and nick named her 56 hearts there after. That was when I got to know what a heart shape was and why and how it refers to love. No idea where masume is now or her 56 hearts metal hair band but the story remains fresh with in me. As I was making these heart shaped pizza’s, this story was running in my mind with me smiling. My help at home asks me ” amma enna thaniya sirikireengga ” which means, why are you laughing on our own. I didn’t want to let her know this story as I know she will think.. I am the silliest soul on earth to have such things in mind decades later too. This pizza was an instant hit at home like masume’s 56 heart’s metal hair band and her nick name.

Ingredients for the dough

Ingredients	Quantity
Yeast	1 tablespoon ( good quality must for good results )
Oil	1/4 cup
Maida	1 1/2 cup
Warm water	1 tablespoon
Salt	1/2 teaspoon
Egg	1
Sugar	30 grams
Milk	1/4 cup

Method

Dissolve yeast in warm water with 1/4 teaspoon sugar and 1/4 teaspoon maida. Keep covered with a wet cloth for 10 minutes to ferment.
Beat egg, oil, sugar and salt together in a bowl. Pour milk at boiling point to the bowl (of egg, oil, sugar and salt ) and mix well with a wooden spoon till sugar dissolves.
Seive maida. Add maida in small quantities to the milk egg mixture along with fermented yeast mix and knead to a smooth dough.
Don’t have to add all the maida, when the dough is soft, stop adding maida. Knead well. Place the dough in an oiled bowl. Cover with a wet cloth and set aside for proving for 30 -40 minutes.
Divide the dough into equal apple size portions. Shape each piece into a heart shape about 1/2 inch thick.
Keep aside for another 5 minutes and then bake till light brown at 200 degree Celsius. Take out. Cool to room temperature.
Spread the filling and bake for another 5 – 10 minutes until cheese melts.

Sauce and Filling Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Tomato	1/2 kg ( blanched , peeled and blended )
Capsicum	2 chopped , ( green 1, red 1 )
Onion	2 chopped
Egg	1
Celery	2 stalks chopped
Spring onion	2 chopped
Baby corn	1/4 cup cut into thin circles
Olives	1 tablespoon sliced
Garlic	8 flakes ground
Ginger	1 inch piece ground
Chilli powder	1 teaspoon
Sugar	1 teaspoon
Oregano	2 teaspoons
Cheese grated	100 grams
Butter	1 teaspoon
Tomato sauce	1 tablespoon
Sausage , chicken , mutton or paneer	1 cup shredded ( optional )
Tomato purée	1/4 cup
Chilli flakes	to taste
Egg white	1 seasoned with salt and pepper to taste and beaten
Olive oil	2 tablespoon

Method

Heat olive oil add onion and fry for a minute, top with ginger and garlic paste. Once crisp add capsicum, celery, spring onion, salt, oregano and baby corn and sauté for a minute. Remove from flame and set aside.
Heat the blended tomato , chilli powder, sugar, salt and tomato purée together to get a thick sauce. Add tomato sauce and cool down completely to to room temperature. Add a beaten egg and mix well. Taste and adjust. Spread this sauce over the heart pizza base.
Sprinkle with 3/4 of the cheese, spread the onion, capsicum mixture over. Top with sliced olives and sausages, mutton, chicken or paneer of your choice.
Sprinkle remaining cheese over. Dot with butter and brush with egg white and bake in a preheated oven for 5 – 6 minutes. When cheese melts, remove, cut into wedges and serve hot garnished with oregano and chilli flakes.

Crab fried rice

Preparation time : 30 minutes
Cooking time : 30 minutes
Serves : 3 members

Description

Fried rice in any form is my all time favourite. This version, I had when on a holiday in Bangkok. Every road, every street, every place in Bangkok is filled with food wanders. The best part, the food is so tasty no matter where it is made. I had this at a road side street food stall. I wanted a prawn fried rice ( for religious reasons of wanting to eat halal ) but as it got over just then, had to opt for crab fried rice being the only option left. The dish was made right in front of my eyes in a hot wide wok. I was saving the recipe in my mind as it was done. I had to ask for one ingredient alone which was fish sauce as she used it from a bowl. The fried rice was perfectly done with the crunch of vegetables, mildly flavoured with sauces and the bite of crab flesh lends a sweet element to the dish. Back home tried it out on a day with nothing to do. My mind travels back to the Bangkok holiday and this crab fried rice pops up first. I gear up and give a try and the taste is bang on except for missing the busy buzzing streets of Bangkok and the large hot wide wok. I realised, the best gifts in the world are not in material objects one can buy but in the memories we make through food, culture and people.

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Basmati rice	1 cup
Onion	1
Spring onion	1 bunch
Oil	100 ml
Carrot	100 gm chopped
French beans	50 gm chopped
Celery	2 stalks chopped
Lime	1
Capsicum ( red , green and yellow)	1/4 piece of each chopped
Sweet corn kernels	1 table spoon
Garlic	1/2 table spoon minced
Light soya sauce	1 tea spoon
Fish sauce	1/4 teaspoon ( optional )
ajinomoto	1/2 tea spoon
white pepper	to taste
salt	to taste
egg	2
Cooked crab flesh	1 cup ( pressure cook with white pepper and salt to taste and remove flesh)

Method

Wash and soak rice for 10 minutes. Cook in plenty of boiling water adding salt to taste and 1/2 teaspoon lime juice. Stir and cook through without breaking the rice. Strain. Keep aside for 5 minutes. Then spread onto a flat tray.
Heat 1/2 of oil and vegetables and stir fry on high flame for 3 minutes. Remove when vegetables are 1/2 cooked. Keep aside.
Heat the remaining oil add garlic and fry to light brown. Top with the crab flesh and fry for a minute. Then add the rice. Mix gently adding the vegetables, salt to taste, white pepper to taste, ajinomoto, fish sauce and soya sauce.
Gently stir making sure not to break the rice. Mix in scrambled eggs. Mix well. Taste and adjust. Serve hot with any Vinegar and green chillies chopped.

Dolma

Preparation time : 25 minutes
Cooking time : 40 minutes
Serves : 4 members

Description

Any thing stuffed and filled always excites me. I got to know about this recipe from the Australian television show food safari where the host Maeve o meara goes umm and aah over getting to eat international dishes made by experts. I scribbled the recipe as I was watching the show in my hand written recipe notebook. After that it was a forgotten story totally. When I had to make a lunch spread at home guests, I was in search of a different curry to make. The dolma popped up, I immediately grabbed the opportunity and made the dish. All my guests were blown away with dolma when served with ghee rice. We all need a change from the regular at times to bring a spark of raised eye brows at the table. So let me pass this effect of raised eye brows to your tables too :-)).

Ingredients for the filling

Ingredients	Quantity
Mutton mince	250 grams
Onion	1 chopped
Basmati rice	2 tablespoons soaked in water for ten minutes
Egg	1
Red chilli powder	1/4 teaspoon
Turmeric powder	2 teaspoons
Curry masala powder	1/2 teaspoon
Salt	to taste

Ingredients for the curry

Ingredients	Quantity
Onion	1 chopped
Curry masala powder	1/2 teaspoon ( for the curry masala powder mix together- Cinnamon powder + cumin powder + coriander seed powder + pepper powder + turmeric powder + red chilly powder - 1/4 teaspoon of each )
Salt	to taste
Olive oil	3 tablespoons
Red + green + yellow capsicums	1 each
Potato	3
Hot water	little
Boiled white chick peas	1 cup

Method for the filling

Cut the capsicum’s 1/4 inch with its stem to get a lid and hollow bottom. Remove the seeds from the hollow bottom and clean the dent.
Peel the potatoes. Cut the top part of the potato just 1/4 inch. Then scoop out the inner fleas of the potato to get a hollow dent. Reserve the scooped out potato flesh.
Fill the hollow dents of the capsicum and potatoes with the mutton mince filling. Keep aside.
Heat oil in a large vessel. Reduce heat and add all the spice powders. Sauté for ten seconds then add little water and salt to taste.
Add scooped out potato flesh and bring to boil. Then place the stuffed potatoes and cook covered for fifteen minutes in low heat.
Place the stuffed capsicum’s along with the cooking stuffed potatoes. Top with the cooked white chick peas. Add water up to 3/4 full to the capsicum’s. Cover and cook further for another fifteen minutes.
Reduce the curry to gravy consistency. Check seasoning. While serving, place the stuffed vegetables in a serving plate. Pour the gravy over. Serve hot with rice or pulao.

Banana stem soup

Preparation time : 20 minutes
Cooking time : 10 minutes
Serves : 3 members

Description

In the recent I feel most of us are more keen in buying, cooking and eating vegetables and ingredients that are not native to our region. I fall into that slot as well. So, now I have made it a point to use our native local produce more with putting it to use in many new ways too. This soup was also one such try. I made the soup minus the red capsicum but the color of the soup looked awful so just for an eye popping appeal, the red capsicum had to be added. The taste was so good that all at home wanted more. My cheats way of making my son eat his vegetable was done in a mind blowing clever way. To much more cheating through food, let’s enjoy and celebrate our local produce to the maximum.

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Banana stem	250 grams chopped
Red capsicum	100 grams chopped
Tomato	100 grams chopped
Cumin seeds	1 teaspoon
Curry leaves	few
Asafoetida	a pinch
Coriander leaves	few chopped
Water	2 cups
Lime juice	2 teaspoons
Gingely oil ( sesame seed oil)	1 teaspoon
Salt + pepper	to taste

Method

Pressure cook banana stem, red capsicum, tomato and water together for one whistle.
Cool completely. Grind to a smooth paste and strain.
Heat oil, crackle cumin seeds and curry leaves. Pour the strained soup.
Add salt, pepper and more water if needed to the required consistency of the soup and bring to boil. Remove from heat.
Add lime juice. Mix well and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
Serve hot with a good sprinkle of freshly ground coarse pepper powder.

Chocolate cookies

Preparation time : 30 minutes
Cooking time : 15-20 minutes
Serves : 4 members

Description

I have a very formal relationship with my neighbors here at my home town. Though we all live near by, we get to meet only once in a while at social gatherings or when we bump into them some where. My neighbor Vijay’s children have grown in front of me. Now both her kids are teenager’s. Her son Dharshan is doing hotel management 2 nd year at Mangalore. His first project was to set a menu card for a new restaurant. He took note of recipes from sauté, fry n bake and prepared a menu. Guess what, his project was the winning one too. The day he shared this news with me, I was so happy. From then on he does share most of his culinary experiences with me along with sharing a few recipes to. This chocolate cookie recipe was also shared by him . I saved it but got to try it only now. This no fail recipe is for sure keeps. It’s so easy and yum to. Thank you so much Darshan for the recipe share which has given me an opportunity to try it out and share with one and all here too. To me recipes are very important but only to a certain point. What’s more important is how we think about food and a recipe should open up a new way of doing just that.

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Flour / maida	100 grams
Icing Sugar	65 Grams
Butter	75 Grams
Baking powder	2 Grams
Cocoa powder	15 Grams
Milk powder	a pinch
Corn flour	a pinch
Chocolate Essence	A drop
Egg	1⁄2 an egg beaten
Walnut	30 grams chopped

Method

Sieve the flour with cocoa powder, baking powder, corn flour and milk powder.
Cream the butter and icing sugar together.
Add the beaten egg and chocolate essence.
Then add the flour and make soft dough by rubbing method.
Add the chopped Walnut and Keep it in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.
Roll it in to small balls or sheet it into 1⁄2 inch thickness and cut it into required shape.
Arrange them in a greased tray.
Bake it at 160*C in a preheated oven for 15 to 25 minutes and serve when cooled.

Masala tea

Preparation time : 5 minutes
Cooking time : 3- 5 minutes
Serves : 3 members

Description

Growing up to see my grand mother drink tea from soup bowls. I can still hear her shout out loud “kottarala chaya kondu va ” which means bring tea in the bowl. On my last visit to my brothers home at London. Early morning I come down to make some tea. I see my little nephew Aniq drinking tea from a bowl just like how my grand mother used to. Our generation’s of love for tea, seriously is something. My eyes welled with happy tears, I just hugged him tight. He had a surprised look not knowing why he got the hug for. He’s not seen my grand mother but he’s got her habit in him, god does has his way of reminding us about our long lost loved ones. Well family is a connection to life, a tie to the past and a road to the future. I realised this with this mighty tea. My mind works perfect only through food .

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Milk	3 cups
Water	1/4 cup
Ginger	1 inch piece crushed
Cardamom	1 crushed
Tea dust	2 teaspoons
Sugar	3 teaspoons

Method

Boil milk, water, ginger crushed and cardamom crushed together for four minutes.
Add tea dust and boil further for another two minutes in low heat.
Add sugar and dissolve. Strain and serve hot.

Tricolour pulao

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Preparation time : 40 minutes

Cooking time :50 minutes

Serves : 4 members

Description

I get to hear about a cooking competition in our local radio where we had to make a dish using the rice cooker. Me wanting to try a tricolour pulao rice just popped up in my mind. Called the radio station and placed my recipe for the contest. After that it was a forgotten story to me. I get a mobile call saying unknown number on my mobile display. should I attend this call or not? Was the question in my mind. I just attended the call and to my surprise it was from the radio station congratulating me on winning the rice cooker cooking competition. Mam we need your home address so that we can come and taste the dish and give you the prize to was their next information. I asked them to come the next day. The first thing I did was to revise the recipe and prep for the cook off. Next day morning as I started to cook, was a bit nervous with wanting the pulao to look and taste good. The radio team arrived by time and I had the pulao ready too. The minute they saw the pulao, I could see all their faces bloom with a smile. They took pictures of the pulao and gifted me with a new rice cooker. I made sure the radio team tasted the pulao. They all liked it a lot. Now I had a big relief and ease at heart. Lunch table, I made sure to keep the rice cooker on the table thinking hubby dear would take note and ask me what it was making it easy for me to boast about myself. But my assumption was wrong as hubby dear was busy relishing the pulao. I shamelessly had to tell him about this victory and he gave me a naive smile with a grin as always. Getting a whole hearted compliment from hubby dear is not an easy deal. But I know at heart he is super proud of me .

Ingredients for the rice

Ingredients	Quantity
Basmati rice	2 cups
Cinnamon	1 inch piece
Cardamom	3
Cloves	3
Coconut oil	3 tablespoons
Onions	2 sliced
Ginger	1/4 inch piece crushed
Coconut milk	4 cups

Ingredients for the green layer

Ingredients	Quantity
Green peas	1/4 cup boiled
Mint leaves	2 teaspoons
Coriander leaves	4 teaspoons
4 teaspoons	2
Garlic pod	1
Tamarind	goose burry size
Salt	to taste

Ingredients for the orange layer

Ingredients	Quantity
Carrot	1 big chopped and cooked
Onion	1 sliced and cooked
Dry red chillies	2
Garlic flake	1
Salt	to taste
Saffron	few strands
Warm Milk	1/8 cup

Method for the rice

Wash and soak the rice in water.Heat coconut oil in a pressure cooker.
Add cinnamon, cardamom and cloves. Once they crackle, top with onions and sauté to translucent.
Add crushed ginger. Sauté for thirty seconds and pour the coconut milk adding salt to taste.
Bring to boil. Drain the soaked rice and add to the boiling coconut milk. Mix gently. Pressure cook for one whistle.
Remove from heat and set aside for the whistle sound to subside.

Method for the green layer

Grind all the ingredients together adding very little water mentioned under the green layer ingredients to a smooth paste.
Taste and adjust seasoning and keep aside.

Method for the orange layer

Soak the saffron strands in warm milk.
Grind all the remaining ingredients together adding very little water mentioned under the orange layer ingredients to a smooth paste. Taste and adjust seasoning and keep aside.

How to proceed

Divide the cooked rice into three equal portions.keep aside one portion as it is.
Mix the green ground paste to one one portion of rice and mix well making sure the rice does not break down. Taste and adjust seasoning. Keep aside.
Add the soaked saffron milk toons portion of rice. Mix the orange ground paste to the rice and mix well making sure the rice does not break down. Taste and adjust seasoning. Keep aside.
Grease a round bowl flat with one teaspoon of coconut oil. Add the orange layer rice to the bottom and flatten to get an even layer. Top with the white rice layer on top. Press down and flatten the top to get an even layer. Finally add the green layer and flatten the top to get an even layer.
Place a plate over the colour rice filled bowl. Tilt the bowl over and remove the bowl carefully to get a plate with the three layers of coloured rice. Serve hot with onion raitha and potato chips.

Cheese fatayer

Preparation time : 1 hour
Cooking time : 15 minutes
Serves : 4 members

Description

On a holiday in Dubai with the entire family. My NRI nephews, fed up eating Indian and continental food wanted to dine with some middle eastern food. We end up in a restaurant. I am left to place the order as every one else found the menu card to be typed in Greek. I took up the job and did the honours. We were served with a huge platter of raw fresh vegetables, herbs and olives with dips. We started and hubby dear was like no wasting food, as we kept eating and finishing them, they were replaced with more and more. Only after a few replacements we did get to know they were for free. We all laughed our gut’s out as the food ordered had to come there after. Hubby dear was like, no wasting the ordered food now. All of us with stomach full of raw vegetables, herbs and olive were like you eat, you eat, you eat. The bread platter was served and I was blown away with the various types of breads in the basket. But out of the lot, the eye shaped fatayer’s stole my heart. It was stuffed with cheese and herbs. Tasted yum and can be had as it is with no dips or sides. The table and our stomachs were lined with many other new dishes. Every time a dish is being served, hubby dear would give us glares warning us time and again about no left overs . Looking at the table, I was like ” I am going to get bombarded by hubby dear for all the left overs “. When with family on a holiday, I don’t know how on earth our appetites have this always hungry to eat, to hog, to gobble up mode. Believe me, with no left overs the table has clean empty bowls. Hubby dear was like .. gosh all I earned will go by feeding you people. … when I gave my first try at home serving these cheese fatayers.. hubby dear immediately recollected this incident and we had a good laugh .

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Flour / maida	1 and 1/2 cup
Warm water	1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons
Curd	2 tablespoons
Instant yeast	1/4 teaspoon
Olive oil	2 tablespoons
Coriander leaves	few chopped
Grated cheese	1 and 1/2 cup
Sugar + salt	1/2 teaspoon each
Oil	1 teaspoon

Method

Mix grated cheese with chopped coriander leaves and keep aside. Mix flour, curd, warm water, olive oil, sugar, salt and yeast together. Knead well for five minutes.
Cover the dough and set aside to double for forty minutes. Grease a baking tray with oil. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
Punch down the doubled dough and knead well again for a minute. Make lemon size equal balls out of the dough. Roll each ball into a oval shape.
Place 2 tablespoons of the cheese filling in the centre of each oval shaped dough. Fold both the side’s and pinch together the edges of the opposite corners together to get an eye shaped bread with cheese filling inside.
Press the cheese filling in the centre to get a levelled surface. Place over greased baking tray.
Bake for fifteen minutes until the edges start to brown. Remove and cool for five minutes and serve.

Notes

You can add spinach, mutton mince or chicken mince to the filling and do the same.

Afghanistan mutton pulao

Preparation time : 40 minutes
Cooking time : 1 hour
Serves : 3 members

Description

Those days of having just one huge television set at home which was kept in the living room. we could watch the Telly only in the evening’s as doordarshan was the only channel that telecasted programs. We had no choice , you like it or not, you had to watch what they telecasted. In between all this as a kid, I had the last choice to raise my voice if I wanted to desperately watch something on the Telly. I remember getting to see sanjana karpoor ( daughter of actor sashi kapoor) do a program about Afghanistan show casing their culture, arts and food. The food part alone just stuck into me. It’s so fresh in mind how she relished the kebabs from the streets and showed big round rotis made and sold. This was in the mid 1980’s. After that, Afghanistan was a long story in my mind and culinary try list. Years later when I got to be a part of many foodie groups. I come across this Afghanistan pulao recipe that looks colorful with carrots and nuts. I hate rice with nuts so it didn’t interest me at all. I am asked to share recipes for a monthly regional food magazine where they wanted milad un nabi recipes from all around the world. I grabbed the opportunity and made sure to try this Afghanistan mutton pulao recipe. As I was making it, the subtle flavor’s evoked my taste buds. My eagerness to know the final product got more and more. The aroma was of making a biriyani and not a pulao. I tasted my first spoon full and my, my the flavor of the meat was all over the rice. The meat just melted away with the carrot bits and nuts giving a slight sweetness and bite to the pulao. In total it was a dish with all textures and flavor’s. I have added this recipe to my regulars at home to entertain as I am bored with serving the always biriyani and ghee rice as mains. Every time I entertain with this pulao recipe, I have raised eyebrows in the dining table. What more do you need.

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Basmathi rice	1 cup
Mutton	1 kg
Onions	2 sliced
Garlic	3 flakes chopped
Cinnamon	1 inch piece
Cardamom	10
Cumin seeds	2 teaspoons
Cloves	6
Water	3 cups
Carrots	3 medium sized cut into Juliennes
Sugar	1/4 cup
Raisins	1/2 cup soaked in water for ten minutes
Cardamom powder	1 teaspoon
Almonds	1/2 cup soaked in water peeled and sliced
Garam masala powder	2 teaspoons
Oil	1/2 cup + 1 teaspoon
Salt + pepper	to taste

Method

Wash and soak the rice for two hours. Heat a heavy bottomed vessel with 1/4 cup of oil. Sauté the mutton to brown by dividing them into four equal batches. We do this so that the flavour of the mutton gets into the oil.
Remove the mutton and set aside. Add onions to the mutton sautéed oil and fry for five minutes. Then add garlic, cumin seeds, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon and sauté for one minute.
Top with sautéed mutton, cardamom powder, salt, pepper and water. Cover and cook until the mutton is 3/4 cooked. Strain the mutton and spices, retaining the mutton cooked water.
Heat 1/4 cup of oil in another vessel over medium heat. Add the carrot Juliennes and sauté for two minutes. Top with sugar and caramelise to golden in colour. Remove from heat and add 1/4 cup of mutton cooked water, salt and soaked Raisins. Set aside.
Boil 3 cups of water with salt in a vessel. Add soaked rice and boil to 3/4 th cooked for five minutes. Strain and keep aside.
Grease an aluminium vessel with one teaspoon of oil. Mix the rice with remaining mutton cooked water. Now fill 1/2 of the rice at the bottom of the greased vessel. Place the cooked mutton pieces above. Top with carrot + raisins mix. Cover with remaining half of rice on top.
Poke five holes all around the layered pulao with a wooden spatula making sure the spatula reaches the bottom of the vessel. Cover the lid of the vessel with a cloth and cover the pulao tightly. Cook further over very medium flame for five minutes and very low heat for 20 minutes.
Remove from heat. After ten minutes, serve the pulao from the bottom to top over a tray. Sprinkle garam masala powder, almonds and sautéed carrots and raisins over. Serve hot.

Notes
Mutton can be replace with chicken and done following the same recipe
1.You can use apricots instead of raisins.
2.You can add pistachios along with almonds.