Ultimate Vegetable Biryani

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Aromatic, flavourful and spicy, vegetable biryani is a vegetarian's paradise. I know, I know. Non-vegetarians are gonna come at me and say that if it doesn't have meat, it isn't biryani. But trust me, this vegetable biryani is as good as any other biryani. And you will LOVE it.

My memory of a biryani(veg and non-veg) goes back to my childhood when I was a lover of spicy food and rice(I STILL AM). I won't brag about my mother making the "best biryani in the world", but she was pretty good at it. I remember the smell of caramelized onions wafting from the kitchen and I would run to my mother and beg her for some of the onion and gulkand she put aside for garnishing. I would steal a few cubes of cooked paneer on my way out, making sure mum never knew. But she knew.

And when the biryani was finaalyy served( the moment I wait for since waking up), everything about it seemed heavenly. The aroma, the taste, it was so surreal. And before I knew it, my first serving was over. Just like that. I always remember being too full to even get up from the dining table the day my mother made biryani. God writing all this made me so hungry!

Like most biryanis, this one too has a variety of spices, so make sure your spice box is loaded before you take up this recipe. Again, there are several variations of this so feel free to customize yours with your favourite ingredients!

Some of the spices used will be whole and some in powder form, so keep that in mind. Don't worry, I'll mention which spices are supposed to be used in which manner. Here I will be sharing 2 recipes-one elaborate one which you can make to impress your mother-in-law or those new neighbours and an easy one you can make when you don't feel like standing in the kitchen for too long. Feel free to choose.
So I should stop talking now and let's get cooking!

Ingredients:

For 4 servings
basic ingredients-
2 cups of long grain basmati rice
3 tablespoons of ghee or butter or oil
1 large onion, sliced thinly
1.5 cups of mixed veggies(peas,carrots, potatoes,beans,capsicum,etc)
1 teaspoon salt, or as per taste
3.5 cups of water
1-inch piece grated ginger
1 clove of finely chopped garlic
2 medium-sized chillies, slit in between
1 teaspoon gulkand
1/2 teaspoon turmeric or haldi powder
1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon red chilli powder
3/4 teaspoon coriander powder
2 teaspoon garam masala or biryani masala powder
2 tablespoon curd


Spices-
5-6 black peppercorns(kali Mirch)
1 bay leaf(tej patta)
1 star anise(chakr phool)
1 strand mace
3/4 teaspoon cumin (jeera)
1-1.5 pinch cinnamon
1 small piece nutmeg
3 green cardamom
6-8 cloves
some mint leaves(pudina) for garnish

Instructions:

1. The first step here is to soak your rice in water after you wash it. It leads to the rice cooking better and easier in the cooker.
2. Take a small kadhai or pan and roast some chopped almonds and cashews(Kaju) in it. Set it aside.
3. Put a pressure cooker on the stove and heat it. add the ghee/whatever fat you are using. Once it has heated up, add all your whole spices(bay leaf, black peppercorns, star anise, strand mace, cumin, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves) and saute for a few minutes.
4. Once the spices become a little fragrant(in 1-2 mins), add the onions and fry them till they caramelize or turn golden brown.
5. Add your grated ginger and crushed garlic(or ginger garlic paste) and fry on high flame until the raw smell goes off.
6. Then add all your chopped veggies along with the green chillis and fry them for 3-4 mins.
7. This is your time to shine! Add in your customizations like paneer, soybeans or whatever you feel like!
8. Now its spice time! Add the turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder and garam masala and mix thoroughly till everything looks evenly coloured.
9. Now add the curd and mix well. Fry all of them on high flame for 2-3 minutes.
10. Then add your rice(drain the water) to the cooker. spread it in an even layer. do not mix it up too much as you may break the long grain rice.
11. Measure your water and add it to the cooker. Now that the water is added, there is room for the rice to move around freely, now put your ladle in and stir it smoothly. 
12. When all the ingredients have been mixed, add 2 tablespoons of ghee for that extra oomph factor and a few pudina leaves. Let the ingredients get to know each other (basically put the lid on the cooker and put it on high flame for 1 whistle). Then switch off the gas and let the steam escape by itself. This will take about 10 minutes.
13. In that time, you can either anticipate your biryani or you could chop up some onions and deep fry them to top the biryani.
14. Once the whistle has been let out, you can open the cooker and use a fork to loosen the rice up a little bit and mix things up. Then sprinkle your fried onions and gulkand on top with a few kajus and almonds and serve!
15. Finally, all the hard work pays off!
16. Sit at your table, close your eyes and take a DEEP breath out of that cooker. aah. perfecto.

Now for the quick version: (I am going to even write the recipe in short in case you REALLY don't have time to even read this)
soak your rice for 10 mins
heat your cooker, add ghee/oil, then add bay leaves, black peppercorns and cloves(you can skip the other spices) and your onions.
let the onions caramelize or turn golden brown and then add your vegetables.
fry those for 4-5 minutes and then add your soaked rice
Then add turmeric powder, red chilli powder and garam masala or biryani powder(I use Everest)
Add the water to the party and get mixing!
shut off the lid and follow step 12 onwards from the above recipe.

Now you have earned this so Enjoy it!!

Tag @meghana_makes on Instagram to let me know how it turned out!

~Meghana