Quick Vegetable Biryani

Fall is finally here, you can feel the nip in the early morning air and for me it's the beginning of food season to follow .....

It also reminds me of the childhood years in India, as this time of the year we had variety of fresh fruits and vegetables flooded in the market (summer's being the worst for produce) and we used to look forward to weekend meals/get-together as they were perfect for warm and delicious meals with family n friends.

My recent visit to the local produce store and seeing such abundance of fresh veggies, made me extremely nostalgic about those fun childhood days, playing with friends over the weekend and sharing vegetarian biryani made by my mother - extremely delicious and many years later mom told me - it was a perfect way to feed all of us kids vegetables - Mothers what all they do to make us eat the greens_XoXo  :)

So here I'm many years later, trying to re-create the same recipe and Guess What - The tables are turned and she's the one doing tasting this time !!!

This is going to be the weekend recipe I wanted to share with you all. You can substitute vegetables as per your choice and play around with spices and other ingredients.
I've added ghee/clarified butter on the top layer as it intensifies and gives it a delicious taste and aromatic flavor. Also adding pomegranate seeds adds to it's flavor and looks great too.

~ Make, Share n Enjoy ~

Quick Vegetable Biryani

Quick Vegetable Biryani
Serves: 4 People
Serving Suggestion: Serve Hot along with yogurt / gravy or can be eaten as is.
Storage: Can be stored in fridge in an air-tight container for upto 2days.

Tools:
Large Non-Stick Pan - To sautee the vegetables
Large Pot / Pressure Cooker / Rice Cooker - To cook rice
1 Large Serving Dish - To layer the biryani and serve

Ingredients:
2 Cups Uncooked Rice - Rinsed 
1/4 Cup Plain Yogurt - (If Vegan, use homemade or store bought vegan yogurt)
5 Cups Water - To cook rice
1 Small Piece Ginger - Thinly Grated
3 Large Onions - Thinly Sliced
3 Large Boiled Potato - Cut into bite size pieces
1 Small Cauliflower - Cut into bite size pieces
2-3 Green Chilies - Thinly Chopped
1/4 Cup Olive Oil –  For Cooking Onions - You may use any flavorless oil of choice
3 Tbsp Olive Oil –  For Cooking Vegetables- You may use any flavorless oil of choice
2 Tbsp Ghee / Clarified Butter - For Drizzling on Biryani - OPTIONAL
1/2 Cup Fresh Pomogranate Seeds- For Taste & Decoration
1 Cup Mixed Dry Fruits - Sauteed or dry roasted - OPTIONAL


Spices Required:

Whole Spices:
1 Bay Leaf
1/4 Tsp Crushed Cinnamon Stick (Dalchini)
1/4 Tsp Whole Black Pepper - OPTIONAL
2 Black Cardamom (Badi Elaichi) - Crushed
4 Green Cardamom (Choti Elaichi) - Crushed along with shell
4 Cloves (Laung)

Powdered Spices:
2 Tsp Coriander Powder
1/2 Tsp Cumin Powder
1 Tsp Indian All Spice Powder (Garam Masala)
2 Tsp Red Chili Powder - Optional
2 Tsp Salt (As per your taste)

Method:

NOTE:  This is a very simple and easy recipe and I've divided it into Four parts for further convenience.

Part 1: Cooking the rice.
Part 2: Frying the Onions
Part 3: Making the vegetables
Part 4: Assembling everything together 

Part 1: Cooking the Rice:
In a large pot, add rice, water and put on medium heat. Stir after 10mins and after the first boil, reduce the heat to low and let it simmer till rice is cooked (Takes about 20min - If using rice cooker OR pressure cooker, please cook as per instructed timings on manual)
Once the rice is cooked (it should be slight hard to touch), switch off the heat, sieve the hot water and keep the rice aside.

Part 2: Frying the Onions
In a large non-stick pan, heat 1/4 cup olive oil on high for 2min and then add the thinly sliced onions. Saute the onions for 1min and reduce the heat to medium. Now keep stirring the onions carefully till they turn golden brown (Takes about 10min). Strain the onions and keep aside.


Part 3: Making the vegetables

Heat 3Tbsp oil in a non-stick pan on high heat, add the whole spices, give it a quick stir and reduce to low heat.
Now add ginger, cauliflower, stir everything together and close the lid. Let this cook for 3-4mins
After 4mins, remove the lid and the cauliflowers would begin to tender, now add yogurt, boiled potatoes and mix once again (Stir everything very carefully - not to mush the vegetables & boiled potato)
Now add the powdered spices along with 1/4 cup of fried onions and all this cook for another 3-4mins.
Once the veggies are cooked, switch off the heat.

Part 4: Assembling everything together 
a.) In a Large serving dish (That can accomodate 4cups of rice), layer 1/4 cup of cooked rice.
b.) Sprinkle some fried onions evenly over the layered rice.
c.) Now add 3-4 Tbsp of cooked veggies and Dry fruits over this.
Repeat a, b & c till the bowl is almost full.
Now keep the top-most layer of rice and sprinkle with rest of the fried onions, dry-fuit, green chillies and pomogrante seeds.
Drizzle ghee all over this layer and keep aside for 10min (Let everything settle and all the flavors get absorbed)
Before serving: Heat in microwave for 10mins or in oven.
Serve Hot