Here is the simple Vegetable Biryani recipe that Kitty Aunty taught me to use. Enjoy!
For 4-5 large servings
Ingredients:
1 medium onion, chopped
½ teaspoon Shan Biryani Masala (packaged, can find at Indian stores)
½ teaspoon housemade masala
6 cloves
2 sticks cinnamon
2 Indian bay leaves (can use regular bay leaves, but Indian is better)
2 inch ginger stick, skin cut off, cut in large pieces
½ bulb garlic
5 green chilies, finely chopped
½ cup yogurt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Approx. 2 – 3 cups of day-old, separated rice (or just drier rice that can separate)
1/8 teaspoon Ajino mote (Chinese – can omit if you choose)
2 teaspoons cooking oil (Kitty Aunty used unfiltered corn oil)
1 cup fresh or frozen cut mixed vegetables (if frozen, can defrost then cook in dish still when cold, they will cook in pan)
½ teaspoon saffron
1-2 teaspoons salt
If you do polished presentation:
¼ medium onion, thinly sliced
Corn or vegetable oil
Few drops yellow food coloring
Chopped cilantro for garnish
Directions:
To make house-made masala:
-Dry heat in a pan the cloves, cinnamon, and bay leaves
-After it becomes fragrant, remove from heat
-Grind the spices in a coffee bean grinder
To make biryani mix:
-Heat oil in a large saucepan (medium heat)
-Add Shan Biryani Masala, onion, and sauté
-Add a little water after it simmers for a bit to make sure it doesn’t get too dry. Onion should become soften, so cover the pan.
-Blend ginger, green chilies, and garlic in a food processor, until very finely chopped.
-Add garlic, ginger, and green chilies to the pan, sauté and let simmer
-Add homemade masala
-Let simmer, with some light stirring, and add water if too dry. Be liberal with adding water, it will simmer away.
-Let flavors settle in together
-Add yogurt, lemon juice, vegetables, saffron, salt, and ajino mote, stir and let flavors get into each other
Quick Finish:
-Add rice and stir fry together
More Polished Presentation:
-Get serving/casserole dish, put vegetable mix at bottom of pan
-Add layer of rice
-Add layer of French fried onions (thin slices of onion cooked in vegetable/corn oil until
crisp)
-Then repeat layers
-Final step: Add a few drops of yellow food coloring to make some of rice turn yellow, and then throw chopped cilantro on top
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