Vegetable Biriyani With Cucumber Mint Raita

Vegetable Biriyani Recipe

Ingredients:

500 gm (2 1/2 cups) good quality basmati Rice
2 medium sized carrots, cut into 1” pieces
1 medium sized potato, cut into 1 “ pieces
1 small cauliflower, cut into florets
100 gm, 1/2 cup peas
15 to 20 French beans, cut into 1” pieces
1/2 cup paneer cheese or soy chunks prepared by soaking in hot water (optional)
250 ml (1 cup) fresh pudina or mint leaves
125 ml (1/2 cup) fresh thick yogurt (omit for a vegan version and replace with 1/2 cup
water)
750 ml (3 cups) hot water
8 cloves
2 bay leaves
3 green cardamom
3 black cardamom
2 star anise
1” piece cinnamon
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tbsp coriander seed powder (dhaniya powder)
1 tsp asafetida
4 tsp salt
8 tbsp ghee or vegetable oil
To be ground into a paste:
1 big tomato, cut into 4 big pieces with juice
250 ml (1 cup) packed fresh coriander leaves
15 ml (1 tbsp) chopped fresh ginger
2 green chillies

Method:

Wash the rice in a colander under a running stream of water and soak the rice in a pot with enough water to cover the rice for anywhere between 1/2 hour to 1 hour. After an hour drain all the water with the help of a strainer.
In a food processor or blender, assemble the tomato, coriander, ginger and green chillies and grind to a fine paste. There is no need to add water since the tomato has enough juice in it to get a good consistency paste.
Cut the vegetables and keep aside.
In a wok or kadhai or a degchi (shallow vessel used for cooking rice) or a big dutch oven, heat the oil over a medium flame and add in the whole spices, cloves, bay leaves, green and black cardamom, star anise and cinnamon. When the cloves puff up and the other spices release their aroma into the oil, put in the asafetida, turmeric, red chilli and coriander seed powder and stir for a few seconds. Mix in the ground paste and cook until the oil separates. Put in the cut vegetables and whole mint leaves and mix well.  Stir in the yogurt, rice, water and salt.
You can transfer this entire mixture to an electric rice cooker and cook till done or cook covered in the degchi or dutch oven for about 30 to 40 minutes on a very low flame.

Cucumber Mint Raita

Ingredients:

500 ml (2 cups) thick fresh yogurt
2 medium sized cucumber, chopped fine
2 tbsp mint leaves
1/2 tsp black salt or kala namak
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp roasted cumin powder
1 green chlli
1/2 tsp ginger, chopped

Method:

In a mortar and pestle or a blender or food processor, grind the mint leaves, ginger and green chilli to a fine paste and keep aside.
In a bowl, using a wire whisk whip the yogurt until smooth and creamy.
Mix in the ground mint paste, cumin powder, salt and the finely chopped cucumber.