Enthaligai: VEGETABLE BIRYANI - WITH STEP BY STEP PICTURES

One of a long pending post from my draft. Staying away from home on a business assignment and feeling bored and lonely on a breezy evening, hence thought to dive into this blogging to clear out some posts and to pen down some random thoughts.

Last two weeks I am out of country and many unfortunate things are happenings around my small world . First one was the sudden demise of a great leader of my state, my Chief Minister. I have never been politically inclined but have always been an admirer of her as an individual person for her boldness. The society where I belong to does not much encourage woman to be a leader and to be on forefront on any position but she is one in million kind of a woman who picked up every stone thrown towards her and built an empire. It is a loss to nation and it is a loss to women's society.

Before I could digest her demise, we had another threat in the form of cyclone. As a vivid follower of a famous TN weatherman blog, I advised, requested, and instructed my family not to move out of home. As told by him, it had devastated the entire city. When I saw the clippings on social media, I am almost at the verge of cry because the whole nature is spoilt. During this period, I had gone through lot of mental stress as I could not reach out family members due to out of network. There was no power at home and mobile network was not working anywhere. It was one of a very difficult day in life. It is a sad feeling to realize that when I return back to my city, I would not be seeing the same old Chennai and I would be missing many part of it.

I have read many times somewhere on social media that in the blink of an eye everything changes, so please love the people who belong to you. Yeah, that is true, this is a take away truth from the above two happenings.

Moving on to the post, when I chit chat with my son the other day on Whatsapp, I asked him what he needs from here, he replied about his favorite toys and adding to that he replied as soon as I come back home, he requested me to prepare my specialty dish, Vegetable Biryani. I am proud to say that every family member and friends of mine have always loved the version of my biryani. The mild aroma of the spices blends to the mixed vegetables and the unique flavor from basmati rice gives a rich and addictive taste to the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

Mixed Vegetables (Beans, Carrot, Cauliflower, Potato) – 1 large bowl

Mint and coriander leaves – 1 cup

Onion – 1 big size

Tomato – 2 medium size

Soya chunks/Meal maker – half cup

Chilly powder – 1 teaspoon

Basmati Rice – 1 cup

Water – 1.5 cups

Oil - 4 tsp

To grind:

Ginger - 1/2 inch piece

Garlic pods - 5

Green chillies – 2

Tempering items:

Ghee – 2-3 tablespoons or as desired

Bay leaf - 1

Cardamom – 1

Cinnamon – 1 inch

Cloves – 3-4

Oil – 4 teaspoons

Preparation:

1. Wash and soak basmati rice for 10 minutes.

2. Boil water in a vessel with little salt for 5 minutes and soak the soya chunks in it. Squeeze the water from soya chunks and fry it in little oil.

3. Wash and cut the vegetables of your choice and keep it ready. Soak the cauliflower in boiled salt water. The salt in the water would help kill the insects and it would leave from the flower. Remove the cauliflower florets carefully later. Wash the mint and coriander leaves and keep it separately. The coriander leaves needs to be chopped roughly.

4. Grind the items given in "To grind" section to smooth paste.

5. Heat oil/ghee in pressure cooker and add bay leaf, cinnamon stick, clove and cardamom. Add onions , tomatoes, coriander leaves and saute for few minutes. When the tomatoes turn mushy, add the mixed vegetables and required salt and mix well and allow to cook for 3-4 minutes. Later, add the chilly powder and mix well. Add 1.5 cups of water and let it come to boiling stage, add the fried soya chunks, cauliflower, and soaked basmati rice filtering the water. Cover and pressure cook for 1 whistle. Open the cooker , fluff the rice and serve.