Vegetable Biriyani

Vegetable Biriyani is a rice dish with spicy vegetables & lots of exotic spices. This is one of the vegetarian delicacies that me & my daughter simply love. The aroma of vegetables infused with all the spices makes this dish very inviting.

Speaking of Veg Biriyani, it brings back nostalgic memories of my childhood days. My mom makes very tasty & spicy veg biriyani. She usually prepares it in the evening time i.e., by the time we come back from school. And, I can smell veg biriyani with its aroma anywhere from our doorstep to couple of houses down the road - such is the aroma. Now, the history repeats itself :) My daughter can smell veg biriyani as soon as she steps into our hallway. I see a "mini-me" when my daughter shouts "Yayyyyy!!! Veg Biriyani".

Ingredients

Dry Masala

• Cardamom pods - 4 nos
• Cloves - 8 pieces
• Pepper corn - 1 tsp (Usually, I grind Cardamom pods, pepper corns, cloves into coarse powder. VJ hates to bite on whole pepper corns)
• Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
• Poppy seeds - 1 tsp
• Cinnamon sticks - 1-2 long ones
• Green chillies - 2 nos

Other items

• Vegetables cut into short pieces of same size (I use potatoes, carrots, peas & beans)
• Oil
• Ghee - couple of teaspoons
• Chilli powder - per spice requirement (If you want your biriyani with mild taste skip this one)
• Salt to taste
• Basmati rice - 2 cups (Soak in 1.5 parts of water to 1 part of rice for atleast 30 mins)

Method

In a heavy bottomed pan (I use my pressure cooker), add oil generously and grease the entire surface of the pan/cooker. Add all of the masala items and saute for 2-3 mins until the raw smell is gone. Add all of the vegetables, chilli powder & salt and saute them for few minutes.

Now, add rice & water to the vegetables along with ghee and pressure cook for 1-2 whistles. Usually I switch off for the first whistle and leave it on the stove for biriyani to be light & fluffy.

Serve hot with onion raitha.

Events:

Linking this to "CWS - Peas" by Priya of Priya's Easy and Tasty recipes.