Vegetarian
Biryani
Ingredients:
3 cups basmati rice
¼ pound green beans
3 carrots
3 potatoes
2 tomatoes
1/3 cup peas
1 onion
(any other vegetables according to taste)
½ cup oil
1 cup yogurt
2 tablespoons fresh ginger & garlic purée
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or according to taste
¼ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon Hyderabadi garam masala (cinnamon, cardamom, black cumin, black
pepper, cloves ground together)
½ teaspoon salt, or according to taste
fresh cilantro
3 small green chilis
2 cinnamon sticks
5 green cardamom pods
5 cloves
3 pinches black cumin
2 pinches saffron soaked in 1/3 cup milk
2 tablespoons ghee
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
Directions:
Soak the rice. Quarter the potatoes
and tomatoes. Halve the green beans. Cut the carrots into 3-inch pieces.
Chop the onion.
Heat the oil in a pan on slightly more than medium heat. Sauté the
potatoes and remove from the oil. Then sauté the green beans slightly
and take them out. Then sauté the carrots and take them out. Then
sauté the peas slightly and take them out. Then fry the chopped onion
until brownish. Take out less than ¼ of the onion and leave the rest
in. Add the ginger-garlic purée, yogurt, turmeric, cayenne, and garam
masala. Stir while sautéing until little bit yogurt smell goes away,
then add the vegetables and cook until the potatoes are beginning to be tender.
Add the sliced green chilis and cilantro. Remove the vegetables from the
stove.
Meanwhile, set 10 cups of water to boil. Before it begins to boil, add the
salt, cinnamon sticks, green cardamom pods, cloves, and black cumin. When
the water boils, drain the soaked rice and put in the boiling water. Boil
the rice until partly cooked (about 5-10 minutes). Drain the rice in a colander.
Spread half the rice in a baking pan, put the vegetables on the rice, and
then put the rest of the rice on top, followed by the remainder of the fried
onions. Sprinkle the ghee, saffron milk, and lemon juice over it. Cover with
foil and bake at 350° for 30-45 minutes.