Mughalai Biryani

Ingredients:

Rice (Normal/Basmathi) - 1 cup

Carrot (medium) - 1

Capsicum (medium) - 1

Beans - 1/2 cup

Potato (medium) - 1

Tomato (large) - 1

Cauliflower - 10-12 florets

Green peas - 1/4 cup

Onion (medium) - 2

Fresh coriander leaves - handful

Salt - as per taste

Lemon juice - 1tbsp

Oil - sufficient

For masala preparation:Ginger - 1/2 inch piece

Garlic - 2-3 cloves

Cinnamon - 1/2 inch stick

Cloves - 4

Cardamom - 2

Bay leaf - half

Poppy seeds (Gasagasalu) - 1 sp

Grated fresh coconut - 2 tbsp

Cashews - 5-6

Coriander powder - 1sp

Cumin powder - 1sp

Garam masala - 1tbsp

Red chilly powder - 1 tbsp

Yogurt (Curd) - 1/4 cup 

Procedure:

1. Wash, clean and finely chop all the vegetables. Take water in a vessel. When water is boiling, add all chopped vegetables, let them boil for 2-3 minutes and drain all the water from veggies and set aside.

2. Grind cashews, poppy seeds and grated coconut together to make a fine paste.

3. Similarly prepare ginger-garlic paste, tomato puree separately and grate onions and keep it aside.

4. Take a large pan, add oil and fry grated onions until they are turned to golden brown.

5. Now add all the spices like cinnamon, cloves, cardamoms, bay leaf and fry them for 1 min. Add ginger garlic paste and fry for one more minute.

6. Then add cahew mixture prepared with poppy seeds and grated coconut. Stir for 2 minutes.

7. Add tomato puree and saute it for few more minutes.

8. Now add turmeric, coriander powder, cumin powder, garam masala, red chilly powder, salt and mix well.

9. Switch off the flame, add 1/4 cup yogurt and mix well(sometimes high temperature may crumble the curd).

10. Now switch on the flame and when the mixture is boiling, add all the vegetables and let them be cooked for 10 minutes.

11. Then boil rice along with 1sp butter, salt and lemon juice (butter makes the rice non-sticky and lemon juice gives shining texture to rice).

12. Now layer the biryani by adding vegetable mix and rice alternately in electric cooker bowl and let it be heated by placing the bowl in electric cooker in warm mode or you can saute it under low flame for 10 min on a stove.

13. Finally garnish the biryani with fresh coriander leaves and cashew nuts. 

TIP: Non-vegetarians can use chicken in place of vegetables to prepare this biryani. Similarly, you can use basmati rice to improve the flavor of the dish. Be sure that the all the vegetables are half-boiled and not over cooked at the beginning of the recipe, so that the crunchiness of the dish is retained.