Vegetable Biryani

During our chit-chats before wedding,a topic that I carefully avoided was about my cooking skills.Even though in between my hubby(then Fiance) used to pop up questions like..”what did you cook today?” or “which is your masterpiece dish?”etc etc.The few things I cooked before were some of the North Indian fare like pulao,paneer,gobi and the likes and some Indo-Chinese ones like fried rice,noodles etc.I made sure I let him know that I did know how to cook all this stuff and he sounded quite happy,at least I wouldn’t starve him..;-)

But the real acid-test was after coming to Chennai,when I was left with no option but to cook for hubby and me.It was then that hubby realized why I avoided such dicey topics before..anyway,to cut a long story short,I admitted that I was a novice but willing to learn..and I did.I have definitely come a long way from the barely-out-of-teens newly married to what I am today,though I still regard myself as a beginner in kitchen.One of the dishes I showed off then was biryani.After my disastrous tea and similar expeditions,hubby was quite impressed with it.Though I have made a few additions to the recipe,it still comes out great and a perfect recipe for a beginner who wants to show off her cooking prowess in kitchen!!

Recipe Marathon - Day 7

Vegetable Biryani

Ingredients

Basmati rice(or Long grained rice) – 1 cup
Cut vegetables of choice –
Cauliflower – 5-6 florets,chopped
Carrots – 1-2 ,chopped
Onions -5-6 peeled and chopped(I used small onions)
Beans – 3-5,chopped
(chopping the vegetables is of personal choice,I like to bite into huge chunks of carrots and cauliflowers.You can chop them up as you like).

For the masala

Coriander – 1 tsp
Jeera – 1 tbsp
Peppercorns – 1 tsp
Clove – 2-3
Cinnamon – 1’ piece
Ginger – 1’ piece
Garlic – 5-6 cloves
Grated coconut – 2 tbsp
Haldi – 1 tsp
Coriander leaves(with stems)-a handful,chopped

Ghee as required
Salt to taste
Water – 2 cups

Method

Grind to a smooth paste the ingredients for the masala.
In a kadai,add 1 tbsp ghee and roast the washed rice for a few minutes.Keep aside.
In a pressure cooker,add 2 tbsp ghee and fry the chopped veggies.
Add the ground masala and mix everything till the masala coats the veggies.
Add rice,water and salt to taste and mix well.
Cook for 2-3 whistles(depending on your pressure cooker) and let it cool.
Do not mix immediately after opening the lid as this will make the Biryani mushy.
Serve with Raitha,pickle and papad.

Sending this to Srivalli’s Rice mela

Do check out what my fellow marathoners have been cooking..!!

1) DK
2) Siri
3) Srivalli
4) Ranji
5)PJ
6)Curry Leaf
7)Medha
8)Priya
9)Bhawna
10)Raaji
11)Ruchii
12)Anu
13)Kamala
14)Roopa
15)Rekha
16)Divya M
17)Lakshmi
18)Raaga
19)Lakshmi Venkatesh
20)Sripriya
21)Viji
22)Kamalika
23)Pavani