19 July 2013

Vegetable Biryani

Vegetable Biryani is a very rich and exotic rice dish prepared with variety of vegetables. This biryani will be loved by children owing to its aroma and taste and this is the best way you can incorporate lots of vegetable intake to them, which otherwise they may fuss about. This vegetable biryani is made through layering method, in which, the vegetable masala mix is prepared separately and the rice is cooked separately and then they are layered one above the other, to allow the rice to absorb the flavour of the masala and then finally the biryani is mixed for serving.

The Biryani masala can be prepared at home or bought from shops. I have used store-bought "Aachi" Biryani mix in my recipe.

The best accompaniment for this biryani is a simple raita, but if you wish, you can enjoy this with any vegetable gravy of your choice.

Ingredients:

1. Vegetable Combo:  Potato - 2 medium, Beans - 10, Carrot - 1, Cauliflower - 6 florets, cooked peas - 1/2 cup - all vegetables chopped to 1 inch size (except peas)
2. Mint leaves - 3/4th bunch, leaves plucked, washed and chopped (Split this into 2 bunches, use one in masala mix, the other in the biryani layering)
3. Biryani Masala powder - 4-5 tbsp
4. Red chilly powder - 1 tsp (optional)
5. Yoghurt - 1 cup
6. Salt - 2 tsp
7. Fried Onions - 2 onions, deep fried
8. Basmati Rice -  3 Cups
9. Water - 6 Cups
10. Mixed Nuts : Almonds - 6, Pistachio - 6, Cashews -  10 (all chopped to medium pieces)
11. Oil - 6 tsp


Pre-requisite:

Cook Rice separately adding required water (General proportion of rice to water for biryani is 1 Cup: 1.5 Cup). Ensure the rice is cooked separate and not over cooked. For this biryani preparation, I boiled the rice in excess water and cooked till it was 80% done and removed and strained all the starchy water and kept the cooked rice ready.


Method:

Preperation of vegetable masala mix:

1. In a broad pan/kadai, add oil and the nuts and fry them until they turn light brown.


2. Add the cooked vegetables in the order of their cooking time (from max time to min time)
 - first beans, then carrot, then potatoes and finally cauliflower.



3. Once all the vegetables are cooked almost 90% (they must be slightly crunchy but fully cooked and not too mushy when eaten), add the mint leaves and mix well.


4. Add the Biryani masala powder and optionally a teaspoon for Red chilly powder and mix well so the masala gets well coated on all the vegetables. Also add the required salt now.


5. Add the yoghurt and mix well and cook for 5 minutes on low flame. The gravy shouldn't be very watery, little thick is good enough for layering.


This makes the vegetable masala mix ready.

 

Preperation of Vegetable Biryani:

1. In a broad deep vessel, add 2-3 teaspoon of oil in its bottom and first take a ladle of vegetable masala mix and spread it out on the oil.


2. On top of it, add 2 ladle of cooked rice and spread it evenly.

3. On top of it, sprinkle few crushed mint leaves and fried onions.



4. Repeat the layering from 1 to 3, until the stock finishes.


5. Close the vessel with a lid and cook it on very low flame for about 5-10 minutes.


6. Remove and open and toss the biryani delicately (so the rice doesn't break) to mix the contents and serve with any raita.
 

 
Tips:

1. Mint leaves is an optional ingredient for adding flavor to your rice, this can be omitted if you wish.
2. Fried onion is also added for enhancing the flavor, you can do away with this, if you wish.
3. While tossing the biryani at the end, use the back side of your ladle/spatula (karandi), so that the rice doesn't break too much.

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