Reinvent, Reuse, Recycle.......

I am so proud of myself. I had made Chicken stew for dinner on Saturday(refer post) which I served with Garlic bread roundels and some chicken salad. I had saved some stew for later( cooking with leftovers, part of the job already done).

With half of the leftover stew I made a Chicken Pulao for our Sunday lunch. Served it with a plain cucumber, tomato and onion raita.

Chicken Pulao

Ingredients

Basmati Rice: 2 cups, soak for at least an hour

Onions: 2/3 finely chopped. Sis has got me this amazing chopper. You peel the onion, halve it and place it on the chopper. One hard press and some finely, evenly chopped onion pieces. So, no more tears.

Potatoes: 3/4 halved

Roopak Biryani Masala(use any other Biryani masala or coarsely grind some whole garam masala): 1 tsp. This masala lends a nice flavor to the Biryani. In fact you can smell the Biryani long before you have opened the cooker.

Salt to taste

Chicken stew: 2 cups

Oil/Ghee: 1 tsp

Method

Heat the ghee in a pressure cooker. Once the ghee heats up add the finely chopped onion. Saute till the onion turns glassy. Add the potatoes, cover for a little while. Add the rice and fry for a few minutes. Add the Chicken stew, 1 cup of hot water, Biryani masala, salt. Close the cooker, cook on high and let it give out one whistle, then cook on low flame for another 5/7 minutes. Switch off the cooker and let it cool on its own.

Serve hot with raita.

A no fuss, quick cook pulao. The leftover stew reduces the cooking time without you having to compromise on taste. The Roopak Biryani masala would also work well with a basic Jeera Pulao recipe, would make it more flavorsome.

With the rest of the Chicken stew I made some Chinese konji today. Konji if you recall was my first post( Yan can cook). That was making Konji from scratch. The recipe below is when you are making it with Chicken stew.

Chinese Konji made with leftover Chicken Stew

Ingredients

Basmati: 1/2 cup

Chicken stew: 1 cup

Egg: 1

Method

Pressure cook the Basmati rice with the chicken stew and 2 cups of water. Open the cooker once it has cooled down, the konji would have a gruel like consistency. Put the cooker back on the stove. Beat one egg and add to the dish stirring continuously.

Serve hot, topped with some soya sauce. My son also adds a dash of chilli sauce to it.

Feels lovely to have this dish on a cold winter night, it does make you feel all warm and nice.

And cooking with leftovers made me feel " so clever", :-) Loads of appreciation with half, NO one third the effort. The woman is smarter, that's right!

Bon Apetit and Happy Cooking!