Yumm biriyani

This is the Hyderabadi biriyani dish I made from Archana's kitchen. I made slight changes to her sequence, but the spirit remains the same. I have christened it to 'yumm biriyani'. Dont let the long list of ingredients scare you. Its not as difficult as it looks, and worth every minute of the effort.

Ingredients

• beans sliced to long pieces
• carrots sliced to long pieces
• potatoes sliced to long pieces
• cauliflower florets
• peas
• capsicum sliced to long pieces

Wet Ingredients

• 2 - 3 tablespoons of garlic + ginger + green chilli paste
• 1 cup sliced onions

Dry Ingredients

• 1 cloves
• 1/2 inch stick of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 2 whole cardamoms
• 1 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
• 2 teaspoons of red chilli powder (or 3-4 whole red chillies)

Other Ingredients

• 2 cups of good quality basmati rice
• 1 cup of freshly chopped tomatoes
• 1 cup yogurt beaten well
• ½ cup freshly chopped mint leaves
• 1 pinch of saffron
• 1/2 cup of sliced and caramelized onions
• Salt to taste
• 1-2 tablespoon of Sunflower Oil/Vegetable oil

Method

• Cook the rice with 3 cups of water. The water added is less than is required, we don't want to rice to get fully cooked, as it will get cooked again with the biriyani masala, whose process follows below.

• Steam the vegetables until done and not over cooked.

• Heat oil in a big sauce pan; add the clove, cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaf, fennel seeds, jeera. Once done add the onions and saute. Add the grren chilli-garlic-ginger paste sauté on low/medium heat until it releases a nice aroma and also has changed color to a slight golden brown.

• Now add the chopped tomato, turmeric powder, chilli powder and saute until it has turned soft and almost like a paste.

• Add the yogurt, salt, saffron and mint leaves and the vegetables. Bring it to one boil.

• With this masala being at the bottom of the pan, add the almost cooked rice on top of this masala, don't mix it as yet. Now cover the pan with a lid and let it sit for 15 more minutes on low heat. Turn off heat and let the biriyani sit for another 15-20 minutes, covered.

• Finally add the add the caremelized onions and gently stir in the masala from the bottom into the rice. The flavors released are simply aromatic. Do not mix too thoroughly.

Note: Cooking Time and Water for each rice might vary. So at the end of the cooking process if you feel the rice is still a little hard, then add a little more water and cook on the lowest heat for a few more minutes.