Wash and soak basmati rice in some water for approximately 20 minutes. Do not soak it longer time as the rice will turn very mushy after cooking
For the paste, Dry roast cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, star anise and peppercorns until you get a nice aroma. Make sure not to burn it. Keep the flame in medium.
Grind it along with the other ingredients under the "For paste" heading. Keep it aside
In a pressure cooker, pour the ghee. When it is hot, add bay leaf and sliced onions.
Once the onion is slightly cooked, add the paste (Step - 2). Fry it for 2 minutes or until the raw smell of the spices disappear.
Add all the veggies and mix well. Add salt, turmeric powder, Coriander powder and garam masala
Drain out water from the rice and add it to the pressure cooker. Give it a good mix. Make sure not to mix it vigorously as doing so might break your rice.Fry it for a minute. Pour in the curd and water.
Check for salt at this stage and adjust it.
Close the pressure cooker and cook it just for 1 whistle. Do not over cook.
Once the pressure is released, open the lid and garnish with coriander leaves and fried onions.
Your vegetable biriyani is now ready. You can serve it with any raitha.
Notes
If you are using dry green peas, soak it over night or for 6 hours in water, Pressure cook it and then add it to biriyani,
Do not over mix the biriyani when it is hot, as it will spoil the consistency. Just fluff it with a fork.
Adding coconut is completely optional. It will give a nice sweet taste if you add.
Fried onions is also not a must. If you like the taste, you can add it.
You can skip the turmeric powder if you dont like yellow colour biriyani.
It was really good... I tried it :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Megha :)
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