Vegetable Biriyani - An unsual one!

So let me be open here, the plan was not to make biriyani at all, just the ingredients are put together and finally thought why not biriyani.

There is a reason behind this biriyani though. Very lately I have seen many people say there is nothing called Veg biriyani, it should be always meat, and height of it was not even Chicken is considered to be the right partner of Biriyani, it is Mutton..Ahh...a person with red meat allergy will understand the pain behind it.

I have made chicken biriyani in many different flavors in past, so I didn't want to prove about that recipe. Being a food blogger I am responsible to help Veg biriyani here getting such a ashame :P

All these are reason for this not so usual veg biriyani.

I wanted to make it a special, not the usual boring vegetable biriyani types and hence there are a lot of process I has to follow. Just like meat is marinated and shallow fried before putting in the biriyani, I used the same process for my veggies Eggplant and potato. The marinade is interesting too, you will think oh god there is a lot to remember in this huge list. But i would say, vegetarians can indulge in this special biriyani just like the meat counterparts of it, and the effort is worth it.

Ingredients:

Rice - 1 cup

Cumin - 1 tsp

Fennel - 1 tsp

Spices - Cardamom, Cinnamon, Cloves, Black cardamom, Bay leaves

Coriander seeds - 1 tsp

Red chilly - 2

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Oinion - 1 sliced

Carrots and beans - 1 cup

Basil leaves, chopped - 1/2 cup

Garam Masala - 1 tsp

Vegetable Oil for sauteing vegetables

Vegatable oil for frying eggplant and potatoes

Ghee - 2 tbsp

Paste:

Onion - 1/2

Green chillies -10

Ginger - 1 inch piece

Garlic - 10

Veggie stalk:

Spinach stems

Onion - 1/4

Garlic

Ginger

Basil leaves

Water - 3 cups

Marinade:

Jowar flour - 2 tbsp

Cumin powder - 1 tsp

Gram powder (or gun powder) - 2 tbsp

Baking soda a pinch

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Paste (above)- 1 tbsp

Curd - 1 tbsp

Salt as required

Method :

Soak rice for 20 minutes.

Add ingredients for stalk in a pan and cook until the stalk is reduced to 1 1/2 cups.

Grind together ingredients under paste.

Cut eggplant and potato in cubes. Mix ingredients for marinade in a bowl and add the potato and eggplant to the marinade. Keep it marinated for sometime.

In a pan pour oil for frying. When the oil is hot enough, add the pieces and fry until crisp and done. Keep aside.

In another pan pour oil for sauteing and add cumin, coriander seeds, red chillies, spices and fennel seeds. Add sliced onion and cook for sometime. Add carrots and beans and saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Add all powders and saute for a min. Add soaked rice and give a stir in the oil until everything is well combined. Now add veggie stalk and cook the rice covering the pan with the lid. in between make sure to stir so that it wont stick to the pan. Now add basil leaves, raisins and nuts and ghee as well. Mix until well combined. Add salt if needed and also garam masala.

While serving add the fried potato and eggplant as well. This is to maintain crispiness, otherwise it would go soggy.

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