Biryani is my absolute favorite meal. And every time I cook it, it feels like I am getting slightly better at it.
It is a time-consuming process and not a meal you can cook in an hour. It took me close to 2 hours to cook the biryani. But the flavors and aroma is amazing.
The next time I cook Biryani, I will brown the onions a day in advance, so it doesn't feel like a long process on the day of cooking it.
Let’s start.
Ingredients
Onions – 4 large – sliced
Tomato – 2 large – roughly chopped
Green chillies – 5 chopped fine. (I am using a medium spicy chili)
Prawns – 300 grams
Carrot – 1 – Roughly chopped (I have cut them lengthwise today)
Beans – ½ cup
Mint leaves – 15 – 20 leaves – finely chopped
Coriander leaves – one fistful – finely chopped
Garlic – 2 tablespoons - crushed
Ginger – 2 tablespoons – crushed
Rice – 2 ½ cup
Yougurt – 4 tablespoons
Oil for frying onions – (I have used about 7 tablespoon).
Biryani Masala – 4 tablespoons
Salt
Cumin seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Ghee - 1 teaspoon
Method
Heat oil in a pan and fry the onions until they turn dark brown. Once they turn brown, strain the oil and put it on a paper towel, so it can absorb any excess oil.
In a large pot, add tomatoes and cook till it gets soft. It should take a couple of minutes.
When the tomatoes get soft, add green chili, crushed ginger and garlic, half the coriander, half the mint leaves and biryani masala and let it cook until it becomes very soft.
Now, add half the browned onions, and cook until it all comes together.
While the onions and tomato are cooking together, in a separate pan, add bring about 6 cups of water to a boil, add 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon ghee and cumin seeds and then add the washed rice. Cover and cook for 8 minutes. Now drain the water, and keep the rice. At this stage, the rice is about 3/4 done.
Once the onions and tomatoes have cooked very well together, add the prawns, carrot and beans. (you can add any vegetable of your choice here).
When the prawns become slightly cooked, add yogurt and salt, and cook well until the prawns are cooked and the vegetables are still just about tender.
Now turn off the flame. and remove half the prawns and veggie masala and keep it aside. Add half the rice in a layer. Now layer the prawns and veggies masala and half the remaining browned onion on top of the rice, and finally, add the other half of rice. Add the remaining coriander and mint leaves and the remaining browned onions on top.
Cover the pot with a tight lid so no steam escapes. If the pan does not have a tight lid, you can cover with aluminum foil and then place the lid.
Now, keep a thick bottom pan on low flame, and keep the pot on the thick bottomed pan. (The pot is not directly on fire). Allow it to cook for 20 - 25 minutes.
(I go on to cover the pot with aluminum foil and lid)
This is what the Biryani looks like after 25 minutes.
Mix with a very light hand, and your biryani is ready to be devoured.
And that’s it.
Thank you for reading.
I cook every day. Well, almost every day. And there are days where I cook multiple recipes. Having said that, I am not an authentic or professional chef. Many of my recipes are experiments as I try to adapt and use the ingredients I already have.
My mantra is you should cook food just the way you like it. I don’t mean any disrespect to traditional methods of cooking or any cultures where the cuisine originates from. But I merely try to cook it with what I have and what is available to me and sometimes, I add ingredients that I want to use up.
All photos are my own.
All photos are shot on a mobile phone.
