Vegetable Dum Biryani - An Ultimate Weekend Indulgence!!!

Hi guys!!!

What a month I had!!!! It was a great feeling to spend time with family after one long year. But the whole month flew away in no time. Although I returned last week, I came with a flu and found it really hard to get back to my normal routine. Stepping into the kitchen after this break made me feel like I was going to kindergarten all over again!!! Anyway, I had great native dishes without having to move a thing for the last one month. All-in-all it was a wonderful vacation and I can't help but already think about the next one...

Having had endless feast-like meals mostly comprising of non-vegetarian dishes during the vacation, we decided to have only vegetarian dishes ever since we returned. We succeeded in doing that for a week too!! I am making it sound like an achievement 'coz I am hardcore non-vegetarian :-) Anyway, my husband wanted me to prepare vegetable dum biryani on Sunday. I usually prepare vegetable biryani as an one-pot meal but preparing it in the dum method is every minute worth the effort.

Now lets see the recipe.

Ingredients:

For the rice:
Basmati rice - 2 cups
Bay leaves - 2
Cinnamon - 1" stick
Cloves - 5
Cardamom - 3
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Water - 3 cups

For the gravy:
Onion - 1 big
Green chillies - 2
Ginger - 1"
Garlic - 3 big cloves
Corriander & Mint leaves - a bunch
Chopped veggies - 1 cup
(I used beans, carrots, potatoes, cauliflower)
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Corriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Fennel powder - 1/4 tsp
Garam masala / Biryani masala - 1/2 tsp
Curd - 1/4 cup
Salt - as per taste
Oil - 2 tbsp

Food colour - a pinch dissolved in warm water (optional)

Procedure:

1. Heat the ghee in a pressure cooker or in a vessel and add the whole spices listed under "For the rice" and saute till they sizzle.
2. Now add the rice and saute till you get a nice aroma. Now add the salt and 3 cups of water and cook under pressure for exactly 10 minutes. If you can successfully drain the rice from the starch you can cook it in a vessel instead of cooker too. The motive is to have rice that is 3/4th cooked.
3. Now to start preparing the gravy, first grind the ginger, garlic, green chillies and just a portion of the corriander and mint leaves together into a coarse paste.
4. Now heat the oil in a wide kadai and add the chopped onion and saute till it turns pink and soft. Now add the ground paste and saute till the raw smell leaves.
5. Now add all the masala powders, salt and curd. Mix well and add the chopped vegetables. Add some water and close the lid and cook till the vegetables turn soft. Turn off heat when the vegetables are cooked.
6. Preheat the oven to 200C. Assemble the gravy and rice alternatively in an oven safe dish. The rice has to be the top-most layer. Finally sprinkle the water with the food colour if using and place the dish tightly covered with foil in the oven.
7. Cook for 20-25 minutes and turn off heat. Leave the dish in the oven for 5 minutes after switching off heat and then serve.

Serve hot with raita and papad or an omelette is good too!!!!