Vegetable Biryani

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups basmati rice
1 onion chopped into strips
1 onions quartered
1 cup diced mixed vegetables (potatoes, French beans, carrots, cauliflower, etc.)
1 tsp. ginger grated(optional)
1 tsp. garlic grated(optional)
2 cloves
1" cinnamon stick
2 cardamoms
4-5 whole black peppers
2 red chillies
1 tsp cumin seeds
Salt to taste
3 tsp grated dry coconut
3 tsp poppy seeds
1 tbsp. lemon juice
10-15 cashews
10-12 almonds sliced to flakes (optional)
4-5 tbsp. ghee/oil

Method

1. Roast the poppy seeds and grated coconut. Fry the cumin seeds, red chillies, cinnamon, black peppers, cardamoms and cloves in a little oil.
2. Grind the ingredients in step 1 with one quartered onion, ginger and garlic into a smooth paste.
3. Pressure cook the rice and the diced mixed vegetables.
4. Fry the paste in ghee/oil till it gets cooked.
5. Mix the cooked rice cum vegetables along with the fried paste, salt and lemon juice.
6. Garnish with sliced onion pieces, cashews and almonds fried separately
Serve hot.

Another recipe- Brinjal curry

Here’s another recipe, this time I took a photograph of the curry without forgetting!
It takes a good one hour to prepare, but it’s worth the effort.

Ingredients:

Brinjals-9 (the small variety)
Tamarind juice-3 tsps
Jaggery – 2 tsps
Coriander seeds-2 tsps
Mustard seeds-1tsp
Peanuts-2tsps
Cumin seeds –1 tsp
Raw coconut-quarter cup
Onion – 1 (finely chopped)
Coriander power – 1 tsp
Chilli powder – ½ tsp
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Salt – as required
Oil

Method:

Fry the coriander seeds, mustard seeds, peanuts and cumin seeds in a little oil and grind them to a fine paste along with the raw coconut.
Remove the stems of the brinjals and make two perpendicular slits to each of them. Fry the brinjals till they are tender and keep them aside.
Fry onions and add turmeric, chilli and coriander powders. Now, add the above paste, the tamarind juice and jaggery and add some water if required. Add the fried brinjals and cook for two minutes. Voila! The curry is ready!

Recipe - Aloo Bonda

Cooking is one of my hobbies and whatever I cook is edible for sure (in fact they're yummy 90% of the time)

Today I made Aloo bondas as an evening snack. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

(for making 12 bondas)

Potatoes-3
Carrot-1
Peas-quarter cup
Gram flour (Besan)- Half cup
Corn flour- 2tsps
Turmeric Powder
Chilli Powder
Salt
Oil- For deep fry

For the seasoning:

Oil-1 tsp
Mustard seeds- half spoon
Urad dal- half spoon
Curry leaves – a few


Method:

Peel and chop the potatoes and carrot. Add the required amount of salt and turmeric powder and boil till they are soft . Boil peas too.
Mash the boiled potatoes and carrot and add the peas.
Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan and add the ingredients for seasoning and fry. Now add the seasoning to the above mixture, mix them well and roll them into medium-sized balls.
Now, add corn flour, salt and chilli powder to the gram flour and mix with water.
Dip each ball into the gram flour paste, so that it is evenly coated and deep fry till golden brown. Serve hot with tomato sauce.




The aloo bondas came out very well. Actually I should’ve taken pictures of them while cooking and after they were ready to be served. While cooking, my hands were all grubby with all the ingredients on my hands. After they were done, they looked so tempting that I immediately served them. I realized that I wanted to take pictures of the bondas only after everyone polished them off the plates. What do I do? I don’t know when I’ll make them again. So, I took this picture :D