Nisha and Nishanth's Culinary Debacles

Yakhni pulav used to be one of my favorite dishes as a child. I saw the shan punjabi yakhni pulao masala and decided to try it out and it came out pretty good. I tried it with chicken instead of beef or mutton. All one needs to do is follow the instructions on the packet. Theres a video on youtube for making yakhni pulav using shan yakhni pulav masala http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_1SzVjotYY http://www.omindiaplaza.com/shan-shan-punjabi-yakhni-pulao-p-1923.html The thing i did different was not strain out the spices from the stock but in hind sight i think it is better to strain out the spices. Personally, since i love the peppercorns i would put them back in. Definitely worth trying for first timers like me wanting to replicate the taste of yakhni pulav!

One fine day my husband asks me to make him some nice food and i decided to make ghee rice. Whenever i think of ghee rice, i think of Moghul Durbar in Bangalore and the bygone days more than a decade back where as a teenager i hung out with my friends and ghee rice was definitely one of the favourites on the moghul thali. I tried this recipe out http://www.syvum.com/cgi/online/serve.cgi/recipes/srcpr11.tdf?0 It came out good although not the Moghul Durbar style.. Definitely easy to make and worth trying

I tried this out for Nishanth's birthday and it came out good. http://www.angelfire.com/country/fauziaspakistan/vegetablebiryani.html There were some things that i didnt follow such as not remove the pressure cooker after 2 whistles and the rice turned a little soft and make sure you remove the pressure cooker after 2 whistles! Also, if using cauliflower use big florets otherwise they will disappear in the biryani! It tastes good though!

This weekend we decided to be adventurous and bought the Tai Pei Chicken Fried Rice and Tai Pei Shrimp Fried Rice from Walmart. We didnt like it at all. It was barely eatable. Both these rice contain oyster sauce and perhaps that could be one reason i didnt like it. The reviews on these rice is not good either. Before, you decide to buy it, make sure you take a look at the reviews out there on the web.