Hyderabadi Egg Biriyani

As you all know Hyderabad is famous for its Biriyani's.The Authentic Hyderabad Biriyani is the king of all biriyani recipes.Many would know about Hyderabadi chicken biriyani,so thought of sharing the recipe of Hyderabadi egg biriyani,which is yet another mouth watering delicious recipe.Lets get started with the recipe.

Ingredients :

Basmathi Rice - 4 cups
Hard boiled Eggs - 6 nos
Yogurt or Curd - 1/2 cup

Ginger-Garlic paste- 1tablespoon
Onions - 2 medium sized
Green Chillies - 6 nos
Mint leaves - 20-30
Coriander leaves -1/2 bunch
Red Chilli powder -1 tea spoon
Turmeric -1/2 tea spoon
Salt  to taste
Oil for frying
Ghee 1 table spoon
Whole Garam Masala -1/2 table spoon
Garam Masala powder -1/2 tea spoon
Lemon Juice - 1 table spoon

Saffron diluted in  milk

Method :

To a large bowl of boiling water add the basmati rice along with green chillies,few whole garam masala,salt and sprinkle little oil.Drain the water once the rice is half cooked and keep it aside.

 Next step is to deep fry the onion .Make a vertical slit to the egg and marinate with yogurt or curd,green chillies,redchilli powder,turmeric powder,salt,ginger-garlic paste,half of fried onions,garammasala powder,mint leaves,coriander leaves,and lemon.Let it marinate for at least half an hour.

 In a thick bottomed vessel,add  ghee and then add the marinated mixture and layer it with the half cooked rice again layer it with remaining fried onions,few mint leaves and coriander leaves.Sprinkle some oil or ghee.Then sprinkle the saffron milk and close the lid.Let it stay on the stove for 25- 30 minutes in a low flame.

Wow!!!Egg Biriyani is ready to serve.

Mutual Fund Basics

As a individual investor we have multiple investment options to invest .  Even though many options with different risks/return ratios exist, fixed deposit and real estate remain the most popular among most of the individuals.  I would cover about all the investment options and their advantages/disadvantages  in another post.  I would like to first cover a very good investment option which is gaining popularity in India.

As retail investors (low networth investors) we cannot buy big government bonds or stocks that are expensive.  For example if you want to invest say Rs.500 you cannot invest that in a government bond or cannot buy good and stable stocks even if you have the knowledge.   There are many investors who have the money but either do not have the time or understanding of how these bonds or stocks work.  This is where the mutual fund steps in.   The concept of mutual fund is simple.  All retail investors provide their money to a AMC (Asset Management Company) like HDFC, ICICI, SBI, Reliance etc.  The entire fund collected is then invested into the investment by a professional investment manager who understands these investments and its market.  It almost as if all the investors have hired their shared investment manager. 

Mutual funds provide the following advantages to the investors

• Professional Money Management 
• Diversification  (money invested in large number of investments)
• Return potential 
• Lower cost compared to individual portfolio management charges
• High liquidity  (Ability to buy or sell quickly)
• Transparency  (You get statement of all investments mades)
• Tax benefits  (AMC pays the taxes when profits are booked.  Individual book tax only on selling their mutual fund units)
• Well regulated  (Regulated by SEBI - Securities and Exchange Board of India)

You can invest into money market, bonds, shares, debentures etc. through mutual funds.  Let us look into various types of mutual funds that exist in India.  They can be classifed into various types.  I will try to give a brief explanation of each of them

By Structure

• Open Ended Scheme   - You can buy and sell anytime
• Close Ended Scheme   - You can redeem only on the close date determined when the scheme is closed.
• Interval Scheme  -  This is a hybrid between open ended and close ended mutual funds.  You have the choice to sell back at predetermined dates before the closure of the fund

By Investment Objective

• Growth Scheme  - Investment is only into equities or stocks.  Best alternative to direct stock investment, if you do not understand stock market or do not have the time.
• Income Schemes - Investment only into government and corporate bonds.
• Balanced Scheme  -  Investment into both Stocks and bonds.  The allocation % for stock and bond varies
• Money Market Scheme  -  Mostly called as liquid or cash funds.  Invest mainly into money markets and short term debt instruments.

Other Schemes

• Tax Schemes - Investment into stocks but at the same time provide tax benefits.  They are popularly known as ELSS
• Special schemes
• Index funds -  Invest into various index like Sensex, Nifty, BSE 100 etc.
• Sector Funds - Invest only into specific industry stocks like Bank, Pharma, IT etc.

In my next post, I will cover about the risk/return profile of all these types of mutual funds.