Hyderabadi Biryani

Its offcourse vegetarian and is loved by all of us and all my friends when I make it for dinners or parties. I learnt this from my SIL who learnt it from a family friend who owned a restaurant and made a mean Biryani. They made nonveg in their restaurant but he taught the vegetarian version to my SIL and I tried to recollect how she made it once in India and have now been making it for years myself and this is one thing that I can make very confidentaly knowing that it will be liked by one and all.

Ingredients:

2-3 cups basmati rice

5- onions (big)

3-4 green chillies ( slit length wise)

3 tbsp ginger garlic paste

2 tomatoes

3 tbsp yogurt

2 tsp - red chilli pdr

approx 3-400 gms beans slit lengthwise and then chopped in half ( I used the ready made frozen ones)

approx - 200gm peas

a few florets of cauli

3 carrots - slit lengthwise and cut into long thin pieces.

5-6 black pepper ( whole)

4 inch cinnamon stick

1 big black cardomom

4-5 small green cardomoms

2 tsp jeera

1 tsp garam masala pdr

a few strands of saffron soaked in about 1/4 cup of warm milk
2cups(tightly packed) - fresh chopped coriander leaves

1cup(tight packed) - fresh chopped mint leaves

1cup- halved cashews

Method:

Soak rice for 15 min in lot of water. Put 3-4 tbsp of cooking oil and some salt and put it on the stove on high heat. Bring it to a boil and lower the heat. Let it cook till it is almost done but not completely done. When you press it between your finger and thumb, it should be slightly firm but not very soft. Drain the excess water and spread it out on a big plate to let it cool.

In a pan, take about 6-7 tbsp cooking oil and heat it on medium heat. slice the onion thinly ( horizontal circles) and fry in the oil till they are golden brown like this and then drain it on a paper towel.

Now add jeera to the same oil, when it splutters, add the whole garam masala ( cinnamom, cardomom, pepper etc) and then add the cashews. once the cashews start turning pink, add the ginger garlic paste, chilli pdr, coriander pdr, garam masala pdr and stir till oil floats.

Add green chillies, chopped tomatoes and once they are softened, add yogurt and cook till the oil seperates. Now add all the veges, mix it properly, cover with a lid and let it cook till the veges are done.

now take a large bowl or an oven safe dish/container. Spread a layer of rice first. then put a layer of the cooked veges, then the fried and drained onions and then chopped mint and coriander leaves. Put another layer of rice and the same layers of veges, onions and chopped greens. I normally put one half of rice in the bottom layer and then half of veges and again the rest of the rice and the rest of the veges. but you can make as many layers as you want. It looks like this from above and the other pic shows how the layers look from side.

Now, sprinkle the saffron milk on it. With a serving spoon, take 4-5 big chunks of thick yogurt and put on top of the biryani. Cover it properly with foil and push it in the oven for 'dum' on low heat for 15-20 min or half hour depeding on the oven. I normally leave it there untill the guest arrive. Take it out at serving time and mix it very lightly and serve with 'mirchi ka salan' ( recipe coming up soon) and raita.

Tips

My jiju who turned vegetarian recently gave me a tip to add soya chunks after soaking them in warm water, along with the veges and once the biryani is done, it tastes exactly like mutton. I have never tasted mutton but my non-veg friends were really surprised when I first added that and now I am asked to add them all the time. Its good for us vegetarians too as the soya is a rich source of protien for vegetarians.

I also added Paneer once along with the veges to make it richer, and it was loved too !!