Vegetable Biryani

There are several different ways to make vegetable biryani. I liked this recipe because it's much simpler and does not require an oven, like most recipes do. My Mom's biryani is absolutely delicious. She uses Uncle Ben's rice and cooks it separately from the veggies. Then, she makes a tomato gravy using tomato paste. Finally, she mixes the cooked veggies and cooked rice into the tomato gravy. I changed her recipe a litte bit, but I am hoping the taste will be the same- DELICIOUS!

1/2 cup basmati rice
1/2 cup chopped onions
3 small tomatoes, chopped
1 cup vegetables (I used peas, carrots, and green bell pepper; you may also use green beans, celery, cauliflower, broccoli, and/or paneer if you have them on hand)
1-2 tbsp green chili-garlic-ginger paste
1 tsp red chili powder
2 cloves
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 dry red chili, broken up in bits
Pinch of garam masala (optional)
2 tbsp ghee/oil
Salt to taste

1. Cut veggies into bite size pieces.
2. Wash and soak rice for 15 minutes before cooking time.
3. First, heat ghee/oil in pan. Add the mustard seeds and allow to pop. When they start popping, add in the cumin seeds, fennel seeds and dry red chili bits and allow them to sizzle.
4. Then add in the cloves and onions. Fry onions until soft and translucent. Then add the green chilli-ginger-garlic paste and cook.
5. Next, add the tomatoes and cook with covered lid. Once the oil starts leaving the sides of the pan, it is time to add the salt, red chili powder, garam masala(optional) and chopped vegetables.
6. Mix all the veggies to evenly coat with gravy and close lid until veggies are cooked. Give it about 5 minutes.
7. Add the washed and drained rice to the vegetable gravy with twice the amount of water and let come to a boil. Close lid and reduce heat to let cook for about 15 minutes.
8. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve vegetable biryani HOT with raita and papad.

I just tasted the biryani and it turned out really good. Next time, I will try the biryani with paneer.