Hello friends!!! Here I am with my first experience of cooking veg dum biryani recipe. But before this I would like to share with you about the origination of biryani dish. Biryani sometimes spelt Biriyani or Biriani, is a mixed rice dish from the Indian Subcontinent. The origin of biryani is uncertain. In North India, it is traditionally associated with the Mughlai cuisine of Delhi and the Awadhi cuisine of Lucknow; in South India, it is traditionally associated with the Hyderabadi cuisine.It is made with spices, rice and meat or vegetables. Sometimes people mix biryani with pulao but there is a difference between the both. Pulao, as it is known in the South Asia, is another mixed rice dish popular in Indian cuisine. The main distinction is that a biryani comprises two layers of rice with a layer of meat (or vegetables) in the middle whereas the pulao is not layered. Also the biryani has a stronger taste of curried rice due to a higher amount of spices. You must have got a wider view of biryani, so now let’s start up with the cooking.

Ingredients:
• Cooking rice – 2 ½ cups basmati rice
• Ginger garlic paste – 2 tsp
• Biryani masala powder – 2 tsp (You can make it at home, recipe of which is described at the end otherwise it is available in market also).
• Red chili powder – ½ tsp
• Coriander powder – 2 tsp
• Garam masala – 1 tsp
• Turmeric – ¼ tsp
• Jeera – 1 tsp
• Salt according to taste
• Yogyurt (neither very thick nor very thin) – 400 ml
• Ghee or oil
• Few saffron strands
• Hot milk – 30 ml
• Nuts,raisins,cashews
• Fried onions – 2 onions thinly sliced
• Mint leaves – 2 tsp (minced)
• Fresh tomato puree (optional)

Veggies:
• Cauliflower – 12 to 15 florets
• Potato – 1 large boiled and cubed (peel the skin and boil till 3/4th done)
• Carrot – 2 (chopped)
• Green peas – 500 gms
• Coriander – 2tsp (chopped)
• Green chillies – 5 to 6
• Beans – 15 to 20 (cut into 1 inch pieces)

Dry spices:
• Cinnamon stick (dal chini) – 2 inch
• Green cardamons – 4
• Black cardamom – 1
• Mace (javitri) – 2 big strands
• Star anise – 1
• Nutmeg (jaifal) – 2 pinch
• Cloves (laung) – 9
• Bay leaf(tej patta)- 2
• Rose water (optional)

Steps of preparation:
1. Boil rice in 6 cups of salted boiling water with 2 green cardamoms, 1 black cardamom, 5 cloves & 1 inch stick of cinnamon until 3/4th done. Drain excess water and set aside.

2. Thinly slice onions and fry them in oil to make the fried onions and set aside.

3. Heat oil in a pan and add the remaining dry spices as mentioned in the ingredients list.

4. Saute on the low flame till you get an aroma of the spices. It will take around a minute (do not burn).

5. Now add jeera and saute till they crackle. Now add ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell goes off. Add the veggies. Sprinkle salt, cover and cook on medium heat for 2-3 minutes.

6. Add turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder, garam masala, biryani masala powder and cook.

7. Pour 200 ml yoghurt in it. Set aside rest. Mix well. Now add tomato puree (optional).

8. Cook covered till the veggies are cooked al dente, just cooked. Do not overcook it.

9. Add 1 tsp of minced mint. Mix well, fry for a minute and set aside.

10. Now take 2 small bowls. In 1 small bowl whisk yoghurt with rose water (optional) and in second bowl mix saffron in warm milk. Set aside both the bowls.

11. Now take dum biryani pot or pressure pan or 1 big and heavy utensil. Add 1 tsp of oil/ghee in it and layer half of the boiled rice in it and set it with the back of the spoon.

12. Now layer half of the veggies prepared at step 9 over the rice and sprinkle half of the total nuts, cashews, raisins, chopped mint and coriander leaves. Add little fried onions also.

13. Pour half of the rose water yoghurt and saffron milk prepared at step 10 over it.

14. Now again layer with the remaining rice and veggies as done above. Sprinkle the remaining nuts, cashews, raisins, chopped mint and coriander leaves. Add remaining fried onions also.

15. Pour the remaining rose water yoghurt and saffron milk over it.

16. Meanwhile begin to heat an old heavy bottom tawa & proceed with the next step.

17. Cover the dum biryani pot with 2 thick moist kitchen towels. Place the lid and a heavy object on it.
OR
18. You can make dough of wheat flour. Moisten the rim of the pot. Place this dough uniformly around the rim and place the lid over it as I have done.

19. Press the lid tightly so that the lid sticks to the dough tightly and no steam vents out.

20. Move this pot to the hot tawa, cook on medium flame for 5 minutes and then set the flame to low. Cook this way for 5 minutes more.

21. In this method of cooking the aroma of spices, taste of rose water & color of saffron gets mixed well with each other which give this dish a special appearance and taste.

22. After 10 min turn off the flame and remove the pot from the tawa.

23. Let it cool for a while and then with the help of knife cut the half cooked dough vertically to remove the lid.

24. Place the biryani in a rice plate and garnish with the mint leaves.

25. Serve it hot with mint and coriander curd or mint chutney.

BIRYANI MASALA POWDER RECIPE

Ingredients:
Bay leaf(tej patta) – 1
Saunf – 1 ½ tsp
Star anise – 2
Green cardamons – 6
Black cardamons – 2
Pepper corn – 1tsp
Cinnamon stick (dal chini) – 2 inch
Cloves – 1 tsp
Coriander seeds – 4 tsp
Jeera – 2 tsp
Mace flower or strands – 1
Grated nutmeg – ½ tsp
Stone flower/dagad phool/ kalpassi – 3 medium sized
Dry red chili/ chili powder – 4 to 5/ 1 tsp

Steps to prepare:
1. Clean up the spices properly so that unwanted particles can be discarded.
2. Now take a non stick pan dry roast the spices each separately on a low flame and let it cool for some time.
3. After sometime grind it to a fine powder. Sieve and store in an airtight glass jar
4. Use as needed while making vegetable biryani.
Important: Left over coarse powder after sieving can be used for curries or for making masala tea. Do not use coarse masala for making biryani as it will totally spoil your dish.