Vegetable Hydrabadi Biryani

This recipe is a combination of a few recipes I found on Internet. None of them suited my liking, so I combined them together to create this fabulous dish.

Ingredients:

Basmati rice: 3 Cups.
Potatoes, Carrots, Onions, cauliflower, Broccoli, Mushrooms ,Green peas(you can increase/decrease vegetables as per your liking)

Green chillies, Ginger, Garlic

Cashew-nuts, Almonds, Raisins

Bay leaves 2, Cinnamon powder 1 tsp, Cloves 4, Black pepper 8

Turmeric powder
Red chili powder
Curd 1 cup
Saffron 1 tsp
Milk 2 tbsp
Mint (Pudina leaves ) 1/3 cup
Coriander leaves 1/3 cup
Ghee 4tsp
Salt To taste

Direction:
1. Wash and soak the rice for 30 minutes. Drain and pass fresh water. Add salt to taste and 2 cloves and 4 black pepper seeds to this washed rice.

2. Bring the rice to boil and cook until the rice is done. You can cook it either in microwave or on the hob.

3. Peel, wash and dice the potatoes and carrots. Make small thin pieces of cauliflower, beans and broccoli. Cook all the vegetables together in a microwave or over the hob for a few minutes till they become tender. Peel, wash and slice the onions and green chillies.

4. Scrape the ginger and peel the garlic and chop into very small pieces (I prefer to grind them in a Mixer). Clean, wash and chop the coriander and mint leaves.

5. Soak the almonds in water, peel and keep aside.

6. Beat the curd in a bowl and divide into two equal portions.

7. Dissolve saffron in warm milk. Add it to one portion of the beaten curd.

8. Heat ghee in a kadhai, add the remaining cloves, pepper seeds, bay leaves and sauté over medium heat until it begins to crackle.

9. Add onions(leave some for later) , sauté until golden brown, add green chillies, ginger, garlic and sauté for a minute.

10. Then add cinnamon powder, turmeric and chili powder, stir, add the chopped vegetables and stir for a minute.

11. Add the portion of plain curd, stir, add 2/3 cup water, and bring to a boil, then simmer until the vegetables are cooked.

12. Once the vegetables are done add the dry fruits and nuts. Keep half the portion of Cashew nuts aside.

13. In the baking dish, spread half portion of this cooked vegetable mixture at the bottom. Spread 1/3^rd cooked rice over this layer. Spread half the saffron curd over the rice thoroughly. Then sprinkle chopped mint and coriander on this.

14. Again spread the layers of cooked vegetables, rice, saffron curd and mint-coriander. Top it with the remaining rice.

15. Place a moist cloth or a baking foil on top.
16. Put the sealed baking dish in a pre-heated oven for 15-20 minutes.

17. Fry the remaining Cashew-nuts and thinly chopped onion pieces and spread on the top of the rice after taking it out from the oven.