New Year Eve with Vegetable Biryani

May there be moments of joy...
Love of family and friends...
Rays of sucess...
To brighten your days of the New Year....
                                                             Happy New Year to all.
There cannot be a happier moment when you spend the last day of the year bidding good bye to 2011 and  welcoming  the dawn of the New year with your near and dear.  We had one such memorable day, of course with the gala food preparation. The year 2011 was a remarkable year for me, both as a blogger and a mother cooking variety of dishes and sharing it with my fellow bloggers and  staying with my family members and  making them happy with tasty food which I tried following the blogs.

Salad, Pulkas, Panchrathan Dal

Mini Samosas

Panchrathan Dal

Steamed corn, Vegetable Biryani  and Fruit salad for Desert (hidden behind )

The items in the menu for the dinner were all tried and tasted several times. Only one recipe for the main course was tried for the first time by me after viewing it in a local TV channel. I am happy to share it here.
It is the popular Vegetable biryani, a Hyderabad special.
Two weeks of this new year has passed with  devine Margazhi month chanting Thirupavai in the early hours and there after  pongal celebrations.  I am sure this recipe will be interesting to try though most of you would have prepared in different method.  Thanks to Aks-e rasoi programme.

INGREDIENTS

Basmathi rice	2 cups
Salt	3 tsp
Bay leaf	1 no
Cinnamon	1” piece
Pepper	4 nos
Cardamom	2 nos
Lavang/cloves	2 nos
Lime juice	½ tsp
Water	7 cups

For Kurma

Cooked vegetables- carrot, green peas, beans and cauliflower florets	2 ½ cups
Onion	2 nos
Ghee	1 tsp
Star anise	1
Cinnamon	1” piece
Green cardamom	2 nos
Black cardamom	1 no
Cloves	3 nos
Pepper	6 nos
Cumin	½ tsp
Mace	little
Ginger	1 tsp
Garlic	1 tsp
Cumin powder	½ tsp
Red chilli powder	½ tsp
Turmeric powder	¼ tsp
Biryani Masala	¼ tsp
Water	¼ cup + ½ cup
Tomato puree	2 tblsp
Curd	¼ cup
Grated coconut	1 tblsp
Cashew nuts powder	1 tblsp
Milk	¼ cup
Mint leaves	few
Coriander leaves	1 tblsp
Fried onion or badam slices	½ cup
Orange food color	pinch

METHOD

Cooking basmathi rice in a right texture is important in the preparation of biryani . To acheive each grain cooked separate, lime juice is used. Care should be taken to cook the rice 80 to 90% done, as the final process requires baking the rice in oven or the process of DUM to be followed on stove top. 

Assemble the ingredients given in the first table to cook rice. Cut the vegetables and cook and keep ready. Finely chop onion and keep. Keep all the other ingredients ready to prepare the kurma. When all the ingredients are kept ready ( as the list is long) half the work is done. You can process cooking rice in one stove and make kurma in another burner. 

Heat 7 cups of water in a big heavy bottomed vessel. Add salt, bay leaf, cinnamon, pepper, cardamom, cloves and bring to boil.Add lime juice. Add rinsed and drained basmathi rice and cook. When 80% is done remove and drain. Cool it in a wide plate.

While the rice is cooking the kurma can be done. In a pan melt ghee and add the whole masala one after the other in the order given. First star anise, then cinnamon, cardamom green and black, cloves, pepper, cumin, mace and fry. Add finely chopped onion and fry till light brown. Grate the ginger piece  and garlic directly into the pan. Add salt, cumin powder, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and biryani masala and mix adding 1/4 cup water. Add tomato pureee and mix.  Now add the cooked vegetables. In a bowl take curd and beat well. Add grated coconut, cashew powder and mix well. Pour this on vegetables and mix well. add 1/2 cup of water and mix well. Put off stove.

Now the rice and kurma should be combined. Grease a bowl with ghee first. Spread a layer of rice then vegetable kurma. Sprinkle orange food color and fried onion. Repeat the process of spreading rice and kurma. Spread mint and chopped coriander leaves and pour the milk evenly all around the bowl . Sprinkle fried almond slices and cover with aluminium foil and bake for 20 minutes in a pre heated oven.

The biryani is ready to serve. Spoon the biryani vertically with a spatula, with the layers of rice and kurma in tact . It tastes superb with raita as a side dish.