Course: Sauce based Veg – Mains
Preparation time: 15 minutes Cooking time: 35 time Time: 50 minutes
Serves: 6 to 8 servings
Ingredients:
2 mugs (app 4 ml in total) of basmati rice
¼ medium broccoli broken in small florets
¼ medium cauliflower broken into small florets
1 red pepper cut into one inch pieces
100 gram cashew nuts (kaju)
250 gram paneer, cut into small cubes
3 and ½ mug of water
Masala/Tadka
3 tbsp ghee (sunflower oil can also be used to make vegan). I prefer ghee
4 pieces of cloves
2 pieces of brown cardamom
3 pieces of bay leaves
1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp of black mustard seeds
½ tsp asafoetida (hing powder)
1 tbsp dry fenugreek (methi)
1 large onion, 4 cloves of garlic, 1 ½ inch ginger chopped in a food processor or cut into small pieces
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp fine rock salt, more can be added as per taste
½ a can of 250 g of chopped tomato or 3 medium size fresh tomatoes, added into boiling water, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 green chill, cut into small pieces or ⅓ tsp red flaked chili powder (optional)
1/3 tsp garam masala, finely ground
1 small bunch of coriander cut roughly into small pieces. Add ½ while cooking and ½ to be kept aside for decoration
Method:
- Take a large heavy based pan and keep on medium heat. Add ghee to and as soon as it gets a little hot, add cloves, cardamom and bay leaves along with cumin and mustard seeds. As soon as it starts bubbling ( these should not be burnt) add methi leaves and soon after add chopped mixture of onion, ginger and garlic.
- When the mixture changes its color into light pink, it may take 5 to 7 minutes, add turmeric and salt. After 2 to 3 minutes, add chopped tomato and tomato puree and mix nicely. At this point, reduce the heat to low and cover the pan so that the tomatoes are combined properly and it turns into a smooth paste. This may take another 5 to 7 minutes. Check occasionally so that it is not burnt.
- Add paneer and kaju pieces and mix these nicely with the paste and leave this on the heat for a further 2 to 3 minutes. Add all the cut vegetables, half coriander and lemon juice and combine these. Reduce the heat to low/medium and leave it on the heat for a further7 to 8 minutes stirring occasionally. Add washed rice (rice should be washed only a few minutes before it is required and drained in a colander) and combine everything nicely.
- When everything seems to be properly mixed, add water and turn the heat to high. As soon as it starts boiling, reduce the heat to the lowest temperature and cover the pan.
- In general, the rice is not stirred while cooking but as biryani has paneer and vegetables, there is a possibility that it can stick to the base of the pan. To avoid this it is important that this should be stirred properly, turning from top to bottom after 7 to 8 minutes of bringing it to a lower heat.
- Normally when rice is cooked, we can see holes on the top but in Biryani, the holes are not visible. After a few minutes, take out some grains of rice and press with fingers to see if these are soft enough to eat. If these are soft, it means the dish is ready. Sprinkle half a spoon of garam masala on top of the rice and leave it covered for a few minutes to allow the aroma to remain inside the biryani. For decoration, coriander should be sprinkled on the top before serving.
Biryani is normally eaten with plain yogurt or raita.
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