It was one of my friend from Bareilly who taught me to make Biryani. I have heard Biryani making is an art. I totally agree since when I started making biryani by myself sometimes the water was left at the bottom, sometimes the meat was over cooked or sometimes the rice would get mushy. We would still eat it happily. It was after many attempts that I was able to make near to perfect biryani. In my home, Chicken Biryani is most liked. I make vegetable biryani when I have vegetarian friends come over. Few days back I was going through the blog Benares ka khana and there I saw Methi ki Biryani. It was something new but I liked the idea. Since my daughter loves methi So I decided to make it the way I make my other biryani dishes.
HYDERABADI VEGETABLE BIRYANI WITH FRESH METHI
Ingredients: 1 &1/2 cup basmati rice, 2 black cardamom broken with shell, 1bay leaf, 1/2 tbsp salt.
Method to make rice for Biryani: Wash and soak rice for half an hour. Heat 4 cups of water and let it boil. Add soaked rice along with salt, bay leaf and cardamoms. Lower the heat to medium. Let it boil until rice is 3/4 cooked, rest of it will be cooked when we layer the vegetables and rice by sealing it. Drain water from rice and keep it aside open so that it cools down. Throw away the bay leaf and shells of cardamoms.
Ingredients for vegetable: 1 carrot(3/4 cup diced in any shape),1 can (1 1/2 cup) of jack fruit evenly cut, 1cup fresh methi (fenugreek) leaves roughly chopped, 1diced tomato, 3/4 cup cut french beans, 1/4 cup cashews, 1/4 cup raisins, 6 chopped Thai green chillies, 1cup sliced onion, 1 tbsp thinly chopped ginger, 1/2 cup beaten yogurt, 1/4 cup milk for soaking a pinch of saffron,1tsp salt, 3/4 tbsp biryani masala, 3-4 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
Ingredients for Khara masala:1 tsp cumin seeds, 1/2 tsp black cardamom seeds, 4 cloves, 4 half inch pieces of cinnamon, 1/2 tsp roughly crushed black pepper, 2 green cardamom roughly crushed (not in the picture).
Method:
Dissolve saffron in warm milk as I have shown in the picture with the vegetables. Cut the vegetables decoratively as you prefer. Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pot. Add Kara masala one after the other in the order given. It will soon start to crackle. Add sliced onions. Saute until golden brown. Add green chillies and ginger. Trust me, If you love eating Biryani you need the kick from 6 Thai chillies. Saute for a minute. Add the vegetables (carrot, french beans and jack fruit). Cook until half tender. Add diced tomato. Stir for a minute or two. Now add chopped methi leaves, biryani masala, beaten yogurt and salt. Add cashews and raisins. Cook the vegetables al dente.
At this time a nice aroma will start to wander around your kitchen and will reach your neighbor's house.
Remove pot from the gas stove and put it aside. Heat a flat iron griddle (tawa) on gas stove.While it is heating take out half the vegetables in a bowl. Now spread half of the rice over vegetables. Put the remaining vegetables on top.
Cover the vegetables with the left over rice. Top it with saffron milk.
Cover with lid.* Put the pot on the preheated 'tawa' on low heat for 7-10 minutes( depending how moist your vegetables were). Let it sit untouched for 30 minutes and then gently mix the rice layer and vegetables from the bottom of the pot.
Enjoy the biryani with plain yogurt or Raita.
*Some people seal the lid by chapatti dough or cover it with a foil before placing the lid. If you have a tight fitting lid on your pot there is no need to do any of this. The point of doing all this is to prevent the steam from escaping.
BIRYANI MASALA
You can grind your own Biryani masala or get it from store.
Ingredients: 8 cloves, 10 green cardamoms, 4 black cardamoms, 4 (pieces) mace,10 black pepper corns, 4 cinnamon sticks, 4 bay leaves, 1 tsp. dried pomegranate seeds, 1/2 tsp. black cumin seeds, 1 tsp. fenugreek leaves, 1/2 tsp, red chili powder, 2 tbsp. ground coriander, 1 tbsp. ground cumin, 1/4 tsp. turmeric
Method: Roast the first 10 ingredients very lightly.Grind in coffee grinder. Add the last four ingredients. Cool it for a while and then store in a container. Grind the masala in small amounts to keep the freshness when ever you make biryani. The above amount is good for 3-4 times.
My blogger friend Deeksha sent me the invitation to participate in Condiment Mela. I am sending my Biryani recipe which has the flavour of all the best condiments.
HYDERABADI VEGETABLE BIRYANI WITH FRESH METHI
Ingredients: 1 &1/2 cup basmati rice, 2 black cardamom broken with shell, 1bay leaf, 1/2 tbsp salt.
Method to make rice for Biryani: Wash and soak rice for half an hour. Heat 4 cups of water and let it boil. Add soaked rice along with salt, bay leaf and cardamoms. Lower the heat to medium. Let it boil until rice is 3/4 cooked, rest of it will be cooked when we layer the vegetables and rice by sealing it. Drain water from rice and keep it aside open so that it cools down. Throw away the bay leaf and shells of cardamoms.
Ingredients for vegetable: 1 carrot(3/4 cup diced in any shape),1 can (1 1/2 cup) of jack fruit evenly cut, 1cup fresh methi (fenugreek) leaves roughly chopped, 1diced tomato, 3/4 cup cut french beans, 1/4 cup cashews, 1/4 cup raisins, 6 chopped Thai green chillies, 1cup sliced onion, 1 tbsp thinly chopped ginger, 1/2 cup beaten yogurt, 1/4 cup milk for soaking a pinch of saffron,1tsp salt, 3/4 tbsp biryani masala, 3-4 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
Ingredients for Khara masala:1 tsp cumin seeds, 1/2 tsp black cardamom seeds, 4 cloves, 4 half inch pieces of cinnamon, 1/2 tsp roughly crushed black pepper, 2 green cardamom roughly crushed (not in the picture).
Method:
Dissolve saffron in warm milk as I have shown in the picture with the vegetables. Cut the vegetables decoratively as you prefer. Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pot. Add Kara masala one after the other in the order given. It will soon start to crackle. Add sliced onions. Saute until golden brown. Add green chillies and ginger. Trust me, If you love eating Biryani you need the kick from 6 Thai chillies. Saute for a minute. Add the vegetables (carrot, french beans and jack fruit). Cook until half tender. Add diced tomato. Stir for a minute or two. Now add chopped methi leaves, biryani masala, beaten yogurt and salt. Add cashews and raisins. Cook the vegetables al dente.
At this time a nice aroma will start to wander around your kitchen and will reach your neighbor's house.
Remove pot from the gas stove and put it aside. Heat a flat iron griddle (tawa) on gas stove.While it is heating take out half the vegetables in a bowl. Now spread half of the rice over vegetables. Put the remaining vegetables on top.
Cover the vegetables with the left over rice. Top it with saffron milk.
Cover with lid.* Put the pot on the preheated 'tawa' on low heat for 7-10 minutes( depending how moist your vegetables were). Let it sit untouched for 30 minutes and then gently mix the rice layer and vegetables from the bottom of the pot.
Enjoy the biryani with plain yogurt or Raita.
*Some people seal the lid by chapatti dough or cover it with a foil before placing the lid. If you have a tight fitting lid on your pot there is no need to do any of this. The point of doing all this is to prevent the steam from escaping.
BIRYANI MASALA
You can grind your own Biryani masala or get it from store.
Ingredients: 8 cloves, 10 green cardamoms, 4 black cardamoms, 4 (pieces) mace,10 black pepper corns, 4 cinnamon sticks, 4 bay leaves, 1 tsp. dried pomegranate seeds, 1/2 tsp. black cumin seeds, 1 tsp. fenugreek leaves, 1/2 tsp, red chili powder, 2 tbsp. ground coriander, 1 tbsp. ground cumin, 1/4 tsp. turmeric
Method: Roast the first 10 ingredients very lightly.Grind in coffee grinder. Add the last four ingredients. Cool it for a while and then store in a container. Grind the masala in small amounts to keep the freshness when ever you make biryani. The above amount is good for 3-4 times.
My blogger friend Deeksha sent me the invitation to participate in Condiment Mela. I am sending my Biryani recipe which has the flavour of all the best condiments.
beautiful presentation of biryani and easy to follow receipe, great work. I need to follow some of your baking receipe.
ReplyDeleteVery nicely explained.
ReplyDelete