Favorite Vegetable Biriyani Recipes

Steps:

• Melt ghee in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in cumin seed, cinnamon stick, and peppercorns; cook until the spices are fragrant, and the cumin seeds begin to pop, about 3 minutes.
• Stir in ginger garlic paste, tomatoes, and 1/2 cup water. Bring to a simmer, and cook until the water has evaporated, about 5 minutes. Stir in peas, carrot, and potato. Season with chicken bouillon, salt, red chile, black pepper, garam masala, and turmeric. Stir well, then cover, and cook for 3 minutes.
• Pour in 4 cups water and bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, stir in basmati rice, reduce heat to medium, recover, and simmer for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to low and continue to cook until the rice has softened, 10 to 15 minutes more.

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Mix in the yogurt and vinegar. Place the onion in the skillet, and cook until tender. Mix in the garlic, ginger paste, green chile peppers, and tomatoes. Cook and stir until tomatoes are tender. Season with garam masala, mint, salt, and pepper, and mix in the cilantro.
• Place the chicken in the skillet. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and continue cooking 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until chicken juices run clear.
• Bring the water and rice to a boil in a large pot. Mix in the bay leaf, green cardamom, black cardamom, and cinnamon. Season with salt to taste. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 20 minutes.
• In a separate pot, alternate the rice and chicken mixture in layers, topping with rice. Sprinkle with the food coloring, and mix to serve.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine saffron and milk in a small bowl; set aside. Place rice in a medium saucepan with 1 1/2 cups cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat, stir once, then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer until rice has absorbed all the water, about 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add onions; cook, stirring, until golden brown and slightly crisp, about 10 minutes. Remove half the onions from pan, and reserve. Add remaining tablespoon oil along with the spices, ginger, garlic, and tomatoes. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
• Pour 1 cup water into pan; bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Add green beans, cauliflower, carrots, chickpeas, and salt; reduce heat to a simmer, and cover pan. Cook until vegetables are crisp-tender, about 10 minutes. Add peas, and cook until bright green, about 2 minutes. Remove pan from heat.
• Place one-third of the rice in a 3 1/2-quart heavy-bottom casserole or baking dish with a tight-fitting lid. Drizzle half the saffron milk over rice. Using a slotted spoon, transfer half the vegetable mixture to the casserole, leaving liquid behind. Place another one-third of rice on top; drizzle with remaining saffron milk. Repeat with remaining vegetables and rice. Spread reserved onions over the top; sprinkle with cashews.
• Cover, and bake until casserole is heated through and aromatic, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven; let cool slightly before serving.

Steps:

• TO MAKE THE YELLOW RICE: In a large dutch oven (or other large pot) with a thick bottom put the 2 teaspoons of oil and the 3 cups rice.
• Over medium heat stir the oil and rice together until all of the grains of rice are coated with the oil. Add the salt and turmeric and again mix until the turmeric is evenly distributed.
• Increase the heat to high and add 5 3/4 cup water. Stir. Bring the water to a strong boil, cover, reduce heat to very low and cook for 20 minutes until the rice is tender and all of the water has been absorbed. Remove the cover and fluff the rice. Let the rice cool.
• TO MAKE THE ONION GARNISH: Meanswhile, while the rice is cooking, in a large nonstick frying pan put the 4 Tablespoons of oil. Peel the 2 onions and cut into half rounds. Stir-fry the onions over medium heat until dark brown, stirring frequently. Do not have the heat too high or the onions may burn. It should take about 20 minutes for the onions to be fully cooked and well browned. Put the onions on paper towels to absorb all of the oil.
• TO MAKE THE VEGETABLE FILLING: Put the carrot pieces into a small bowl. Add water to generously cover the carrots and a little salt. Put into the microwave for 6-8 minutes until just tender. It may take longer or less time, depending on your microwave. Drain the carrots and put into a medium-size mixing bowl. Next, cook the green beans (or you can use lima beans) in the same way, draining them and adding them to the mixing bowl. The potatoes are cooked next. Add the frozen peas directly to the mixing bowl. The peas do not need to be cooked, they can be added frozen to the mixing bowl.
• In the same frying pan that the onions were fried in put 3 Tablespoons oil, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fennel seeds (optional), cardamom pods, and the whole cloves, and the small dried chili (halved).
• Heat over high heat, tilting the pan back and forth frequently for even cooking, until the mustard seeds start popping and pop for about 15 seconds. Turn heat to very low and add the cooked vegetables (from the microwave), 1 Tablespoon ground coriander, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne and 1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt.
• Mix the vegetables and spices together until well blended, turn off the heat, and then return the vegetable mixture to the medium-size mixing bowl. You can add more salt if needed.
• TO MAKE THE SEASONING PASTE: In a food processor put the diced onion, serrano chilies, garlic, ginger, unsweetened coconut, water, ground cumin and cinnamon. Puree.
• In the same frying pan that the onions were fried in, add 4 Tablespoons oil, the pureed seasoning paste, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Heat over medium heat and cook, stirring nonstop (I usually use a spatula) for about 12 minutes, until well cooked.
• At this point I usually stir the seasoning paste into the vegetables in the mixing bowl, or you can, when layering the biriyani, put the seasoning paste down on top of the vegetables in a layer of its own.
• TO ASSEMBLE THE BIRIYANI: In a lightly oiled one-layer cake pan (9" x 13") , lay down half of the yellow rice. Next put down the seasoned vegetables. The layer of seasoning paste can be put on top of the vegetables as its own layer (unless you already stirred the seasoning paste into the vegetables). Top with the rest of the rice.
• GARNISHES: Sprinkle the dark brown onions on top of the biriyani. Next, sprinkle the roasted cashew nuts (I often stir-fry the cashew nuts in ghee (also known as clarified butter) to give them a richer flavor.
• Wrap foil securely over the top of the pan and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove foil and add the minced cilantro for the rest of the garnish.
• NOTES: I like to serve this with a large bowl of seasoned yogurt or raita. If just using a seasoned yogurt, add a little water to the yogurt to thin it, and then add salt, ground cumin and a little cilantro (optional).
• After making this recipe for a number of years, I began adding at least 1 1/2 cups cauliflower florets also to the vegetable mixture. This does then mean that I add a little more of the spices to season the vegetables. I like a higher percent of vegetables in this biriyani recipe.
• Cooking time is just the time that it takes to heat the assembled biriyani in the oven.

Steps:

• Rinse the rice, cover with cold water in a bowl and soak for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, heat ghee in a large pot over medium until it melts, 30 to 45 seconds. Add bay leaf, star anise, cloves, cardamom and green chiles and fry until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add onion and fry, stirring often, until they start turning golden brown, about 5 minutes.
• Add ginger and garlic and continue frying and stirring until the raw smell dissipates, about 1 minute. Add turmeric and red chile powder and stir for 30 seconds to toast (don't let them burn). Add tomato and 2 tablespoons water. Add half of cilantro and mint. Continue stirring until the tomato starts to break down, about 5 minutes.
• Add the carrot, potato, cauliflower, green peas, green beans, yogurt and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes until the ingredients are incorporated.
• Drain the rice and add to the pot, along with the lemon juice and garam masala. Stir until everything is evenly mixed. Add the vegetable stock and stir. Cover and cook on medium for 5 minutes.
• Uncover and stir. Add the rest of the cilantro and mint and the lemon slices. Cover and cook on low for 20 minutes. Turn off the stove and let the pot stand for 15 minutes. Fluff the rice and garnish with fresh pomegranate seeds and cashews if you like.