Healthy and Tasty Vegetable Biriyani

Whenever there is a get-together among family members or friends, the dish people ask me to make is BIRIYANI. On popular requests I have decided to put this recipe in this blog. The ingredients added in making the biriyani not only gives the rich culinary taste to it, but also proves to be relatively healthy to the body. I avoid using butter/ghee in the preparation. The ingredients added also cover the six tastes that needs to be in every meal as mentioned in "Essential Spices for Healthy Cooking" post. The steps may look elaborate, but once you have the ingredients ready it becomes much easier. So let's start the recipe....

Preparation time:20 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Serving size: 5 people

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups of basmati ric
• 2 medium sized onions chopped in long slices
• 2 medium tomatoes chopped in long slices
• 2 index finger sized ginger pieces
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 bunch of fresh mint leaves (separate the leaves from the stem, wash and set aside)
• 1/2 bunch of fresh coriander leaves (just cut each stem into 3 piece, don't finely chop it)
• 1 cup of freshly cut vegetables(beans, carrots and peas, I prefer cutting vegetables into long slices)
• 1/2 piece of medium size lemon
• 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
• Saffron - 5 pieces soaked in about 2 tsp of water
• Biriyani masala - 1/2 tsp fennel seeds, 1 or 2 elaichi, 2 inch sized stems of cinnamon - 3 count , 4 green chillies slit in the middle, 2 bay leaves, 8 cloves (You get these masalas in a packet. 2 packets of these will suffice.)
• Oil - 10 tsp

Preparation

1. Wash rice and set aside such that it is moist. This is very important to do at first when you start cooking because it helps in getting the rice separated out after cooked.
2. Grind the ginger and garlic into a paste and set aside(Although I don't recommend, you can use  ginger-garlic paste sold in stores, but they don't give the taste like the freshly ground ginger-garlic paste).
3. Chop the onions into long slices and set aside.
4. Separate the mint leaves from stalk, and set aside.
5. Cut coriander leaves(don't chop it very finely)
6. Cut the tomatoes into longer slices and set aside.
7. Chop the vegetables into longer slices as shown.

Cooking

1. Add oil to a pressure cooker that can hold 2 1/2 cups of rice and bring the stove to medium heat.
2. Add the biriyani masala and the green chillies. When you start getting the aroma of the masala being roasted, add the chopped onions and fry it.
3. When the onion is light golden in color add the ginger-garlic paste and fry it until the raw smell of the ginger-garlic goes off. Take care to see that the ginger-garlic paste does not get burnt.
4. Now add the coriander leaves and fry until you get the nice smell of the coriander leaves.
5. Add the mint leaves and fry until you get the smell of the mint leaves. (Note: I try adding mint leaves liberally, because this gives nice smell to the biriyani and its healthy too.)
6. Add the chopped tomato and fry for 30 sec.
7. Add turmeric powder and mix it with the masala. Optionally you can add 1/2 tsp of  biriyani masala.
8. Add the cut vegetables, fry it until it gets mixed with the masala.
9. Now add the rice and mix it thoroughly with the masala and the vegetables.
10. Add water in the ratio 1:1 1/2. For one cup of rice add 1 1/2 cups of water. Since we have 2 1/2 cups of rice. Add 3 3/4 cups of water. The water quantity is also important to get the cooked rice coming out separate. 
11. Add salt according to your taste.
12. Close the pressure cooker lid with the whistle weight and bring stove to medium heat.
13. Remove the cooker from stove as soon as you get one whistle.
14. After  3 minutes release the steam pressure in the cooker and open it. Transfer the biriyani to a larger, broader vessel and add the lemon juice. Add the saffron water for the orange color and mix. Take care not to over mix. I try using a thin stick or the backside of the spatula to do this so that it does not break the rice.
15. Garnish it with some finely chopped coriander leaves and serve the hot biriyani with cucumber-onion raita(pachadi).

Note: If using rice cooker follow the cooking until cooking step 11 in a separate cooking vessel and then transfer the contents to the rice cooker. Check after 15 minutes or when the setting goes to "warm" and the biriyani should be ready.
          If cooking in a normal vessel, follow until step 11 and bring the stove to low heat. Cook covered for 15 minutes.

Nutrients
For most of the spices added as part of the biriyani masala refer to "Essential Spices for Healthy Cooking" post about the nutrition value. Bay leaf has vitamins good for digestion. Onion  and tomato help in boosting the immune system and onion in special helps to detoxify the body. Cilantro helps in reducing LDL and increasing HDL cholesterol. Mint also helps in detoxifying the body. Lemon with its vitamin C provides immunity, as well as aids digestion. Beans and peas are good source of protein and iron and carrot has good dietary fiber. Above all basmati rice has low glycemic index and so its safe for people with diabetics if eaten in moderate quantity.

Try this recipe and I am sure you will like it. But it will take 2 or 3 tries to get to the perfection. Let me know your comments and feedback.......

You may also be interested in these recipes:

Garbanzo-Spinach Patties

Chana Dal Curry Or Vada Curry

Masala Chai (Spiced Tea)