Vegetable Briyani

Vegetable Briyani is a special kind of variety rice recipe with rice and mixed vegetables.There are different variations for this recipe. In most of the recipes rice is cooked separately and added to the vegetable gravy. But I always prefer cooking rice with the vegetables as it gives a delicious taste. I generally use only chilly powder and whole spices, but this time I wanted to try a variation by preparing a masala and it came out very tasty. We enjoyed this Briyani with raita and home made vadaam.


Ingredients:
1. Rice - 1 1/2 cups
2. Mixed vegetables - 1 cup
3. Curd - 1/2 cup
4. Onion - 1
5. Green Chillies - 3 vertically split
6. Bay leave - 3
7. Ginger/Garlic paste - 1/2 tablespoon
8. Salt - to taste
9. Oil - 3 tablespoon
10. Ghee - 2 tablespoon
11. Coriander leaves - for garnish
For Masala:
1. Onion - 1 medium sized
2. Cloves - 3
3. Cinnamon - 1 small stick
4. Fennel Seeds - 1/2 tablespoon
5. Ginger/garlic paste - 1/2 tablespoon
6. Cashew nuts - 10-15
7. Red Chilly powder - 1 tablespoon
8. Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon

Preparation:
1. Soak rice in water for 10 minutes and drain the water and keep it aside.
2. Grind the items given for masala into a fine paste with little water.
3. Finely chop the onions and dice the vegetables. You can use any vegetables - potato, beans, carrot, cauliflower, peas.
3. Heat oil in a pressure cooker and when hot, add the bay leaves, onions and green chillies and saute well.
4. Add 1/2 tablespoon of ginger garlic paste and fry well.
5. Add the chopped vegetables and required salt and mix well..
6. Add the curd and cook for next 2 minutes.
7. Now add the rice and 2 cups of water and close the cooker and cook for 2 whistles.
8. After the pressure releases, add 2 tablespoons of ghee and mix it without breaking the rice and garish with coriander leaves.
Hot and tasty Vegetable briyani is ready. You can serve it with Raita/Appalam.

Tips:
1. If you use Basmathi rice, it is enough if you use 1 cup of water. Otherwise, there is chance of rice getting overcooked.
2. You can fry few pieces of bread in ghee and it to the rice to give an additional flavor.
3.You can also use microwave oven/rice cooker for this preparation.