Vegetable Biryani ~ My Style!

Ingredients:

Basmati rice - 200g (washed, drained and kept aside)
Carrots - 2 (thinly sliced)
Potato - 2 big cut into medium sized cubes
Green Beans - about 10 ends chipped off and cut into long pieces (PS: I did not have green beans at home, so cooked without them this time!)
Onion - 1 big sliced
Ginger paste - 2 table spoons (freshly made)
Green chilly - 4 (freshly made into a paste)
Yogurt - 1/2 cup
Cashew nuts - handful

Seasoning:

Cumin seeds - 1 table spoon
Cloves - 4 or 5
Cardamom - 3 or 4 crushed
Coconut powder - 3 table spoons
Fenugreek powder - 3/4 table spoon
Cinnamon powder - 1/4 table spoon
Coriander powder - 1 table spoon
Salt - per your taste
Vegetable Oil - 1/2 cup to fry all the vegetables well!

Method:

1. Heat oil in a shallow pan, add cloves, cumin seeds, cardamom and cashew. Fry until cashews turn golden brown.

2. Add cut onion, and ginger - chilli paste, stir and cook for few mins.

3. As onions start turning light brown, add carrots and potatoes.

4. Add cinnamon powder, fenugreek powder, coriander powder, salt and stir well.

5. Add yogurt and mix well so that the vegetables are coated uniformly.

6. Lavishly spread the coconut powder on top, simmer and cook for few minutes.

7. Now, add the washed basmati rice to the vegetables and stir.

8. Transfer the contents into a rice cooker and cook.

(PS: No need to add extra water for the vegetables as the yogurt is moist to cook them all! I usually add 1.5 cups of water for 1 cup of basmati rice.)

Serve the Biryani with Raita - a splendid combo! Happy eating!

Will share my Raita recipe soon :)

Bitter Gourd Curry Sweet (Kakarakaya Pulusu Koora)

Ingredients: bitter gourd / kakarakaya / karela - 2 cut into rounds
onion - 1 small
green chilly - 3 small
turmeric - 1 pinch
tamarind pulp - 1/4 cup
jaggery syrup - 1/4 cup or per your taste
dry red chilly - 2

cumin seeds - 1/2 tb spoon

mustard seeds - 1/4 tb spoon

fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tb spoon

minapappu or urad dal - 1 tb spoons

salt - per your taste
red chilly powder - 1 tb spoon

Method:

Fry the chopped onion until golden brown. Add green chilli, salt and the seasoning to the onions. Cook the bitter gourd for about 5 minutes in microwave (this makes them tender and the curry does not consume much oil). Add the bitter gourd to the onion fry for couple of minutes. Add the jaggery syrup, tamarind pulp and red chilli powder. Mix well and cook for 5 to 10 minutes.

Stuffed Potato

Ingredients: 

potatoes - 4 (preferably big and long)

onion - 1

tomato - 1

green chilli - 4

red chilli - 4

ginger paste - 2 spoons

cashew - handful

raisins - per your taste (only if you prefer)

cumin seeds - 1 spoon

green peas - 1/2 cup

Method:

Cut the big and long potatoes into two halves. Individually scoop out the inners of each part to make a potato shell. Save the scooped potato do not throw it away. Deep fry the potato shells for few minutes and keep them aside. 

Fry the cumin seeds, onions, green chilli, red chilli and ginger paste, add salt, scooped potato and deep fry. Add tomato in the end along with salt, garam masala and coriander powder. Let the mixture cool, then blend the mixture into a fine paste.  

Stuff the gravy into the potato shells and bring to boil the potatoes in the remaining gravy mix.

You can add some grated dry coconut and green peas to the gravy.