Umm…. Biriyani

Since my introduction to what N terms “real” Biriyani, the one made from a poultry base, I have come to realise that the veggie Biriyani makers have a tough job. For making a meat biriyani is way easier and tastier any day. The-Best-Friend shared her chicken dum biriyani recipe with me over a year ago. I have gotten better at it and you can find the elaborate recipe here. If you think that is extensive, wait till you read the rest of this post detailing a veggie biriyani procedure, that I have figured after many trials to  closely compete with  the meat counterpart. So here goes -

Feeds 4 ravenous adults

For masala -

• 1 Tsp coriander seeds
• 1 star anise
• 1 nutmeg skin
• 3 green Cardamom
• 1 black Cardamom
• 2 inch cinnamon stick
• 3 Pepper corns

Dry roast the above ingredients and beat them into a powder; I prefer the mortar pestle way so that the masala is slightly coarse.

 

For the veggie marinade -

• Garlic pods – 4
• Ginger – 2 inch cube
• Mint – 3 sprigs
• Cilantro  – handful
• Star anise – 1
• Cardamom – 2

Make a paste of the above ingredients. Add salt. Keep aside.

Remaining Ingredients -

• Basmati rice – 3 cups
• Pudina – a bunch
• The veggie set – Beans, cauliflower, peas, carrots ; Potatoes can be added as fillers, but I usually opt it out for it makes the dish very heavy and takes longer to cook.
• Thick yogurt – 2 cups
• Coconut milk – 1 cup
• Onions – 1 and 1/2 finely chopped. 1/2 cut length-wise
• Tomato – 1 medium chopped

Procedure -

• Soak the Basmati rice in water for atleast 1 hour. 2 to 3 hours is ideal.
• Toss the cut veggies except onions and tomatoes in the marinade and keep aside for around 30 minutes.

Preparing Rice -

• In a flat vessel, add ghee and let 2 cardamoms and a nutmeg skin splutter.
• To this add mint leaves and toss them for a minute or two.
• Now add the drained rice and let is fry till it gathers enough ghee grease.
• When the rice is devoid of all moisture and attains a slight brownish tinge, remove from the burner and prepare to cook.
• Add a water + coconut milk mixture to the rice in 1:1 ratio. This will make sure the rice is only 3/4th cooked. Add salt.

While the rice cooks -

• Start by frying finely cut onions in ghee or a ghee and oil medley along with spluttered cloves and shah-jeera ( caraway seeds )
• Follow this with the veggie marinade and tomatoes. Keep it closed and let cook.
• As the vegetable mix starts to ooze water, bring it to a mild simmer on low flame. Cook for 5 to 8 minutes.
• Now add the thick yogurt and continue to cook on low flame to prevent yogurt from breaking into curdles.
• As the yogurt gravy starts to pop, add the ground masala and let it blend in slowly.
• The veggies take from 20 to 40 minutes to reach the almost cooked state.  Cooking it on a low flame also ensures the gravy does not dry up completely.

When the veggie gravy is almost done -

• In an oven safe vessel with a lid (preferably a soup-pot or wok like shaped one) grease the bottom with little oil or ghee.
• Add a layer of the 3/4th cooked rice followed by the veggie layer, another layer of rice, veggie again, finishing off with a layer of rice.

While this cooks in the oven at 360F to 380F for about 25 to 35 minutes-

• In the pan you made the veggie gravy, fry the onions you cut lengthwise until deep brown.
• Also toss in some cashew nuts and before turning the burner off, sprinkle the cilantro as well.
• Before the oven cooking comes to an end, add the garnish thus ready to the top of the biriyani.
• Remove from oven, mix the layers gently.

If you have a heavy bottom vessel, like the cast iron ones, you may use that for the layering and cooking on stove top instead of using the oven.

Serve hot with a spicy curry and raita. Our curry today was N’s special preparation ( no points for guessing, it came from the poultry )

Enjoy!!!

Sambhar Chaadam

When amma visited last august, she had landed with a few new recipes in her jholla, ones she had picked up in the retirement time without a picky nasty daughter to keep her busy. One was sambhar chaadam/sadam a close cousin to the kannadiga besiBela-bath. I hadn’t tried the recipe since and today when I needed to play docile wife ( which I seem to be doing all the time now, surprise surprise! ) sambhar rice seemed like an apt quick recipe and this is how it came undone -

Ingredients ( Feeds two ravenous adults )

• Rice – Regular cooking rice – 1 cup
• Toor dal – 1/2 cup
• Tamarind – gooseberry size, soaked in hot water
• 1 inch Cinnamon stick and 2 cardamoms – crushed and powdered, preferably by a mortar and pestle.
• Sambhar podi – 2 generous heaped Tsps
• Chilly powder – enough based on spice level
• Onion – 1 large chopped.
• Tomato – 1 medium cut
• Safe Veggies to choose from – Carrots, Radish, Potato, Beans, Peas, cucumber, parsnips, cucumber
• Other veggie types usually add their own flavor, so try it if you have no other choices!

Procedure -

• Add a tsp of ghee or mixture of ghee and oil to the pressure cooker.
• Fry the onions in it until golden brown.
• Add the veggies and let fry.
• Now add the rice and toor dal and let it blend on a medium flame.
• Throw in the masala and sambhar podi.
• Add 6 cups of water, including the soaked tamarind juice.
• Add salt and allow it to go for 2 whistles, followed by letting it simmer on a low flame for 15 to 20 minutes.
• The simmering lets it cook slowly into a well blended mash. So dont skip it.

Tada… Done.

Serve it with a dribbling of ghee roasted cashews and cut cilantro.

For the side, cucumber raita works good, with some pappadams for crunch.