Vegetable Biryani (Oven method)

Happy Pongal everybody . After a week , I come out with our very known dish 'vegetable Biryani'.Actually after posting the non veg biryani, one of my vegetarian friend ordered me for a delicious veg. biryani.... So I am dedicating it to her:)
Vegetable biryani always gives a great alternative to sambar and daal rice during the fasting season.
Some people prepare it in a rice cooker or a kadai. But if it comes for a pot luck or dinner , I prefer to prepare the vegetable Biryani in conventional oven.
Nothing more to say , but try this and tell me how it turned out.



Vegetables: Cauli flower - 5 big florets (pieces), green beans - 10 , carrot -1 , green peas - a handful , butter beans / cranberry beans - 1 cup
Ingredients:
Basmathi rice / Jeeraga samba raw rice - 3 cups
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red onion - 2 (medium size)
Tomato - 2
cilantro- 1 handful.
mint leaf -1 handful.
Ginger paste - 2 tsp
Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Fennel - 1 tsp
bay leaves - 2
star aniseed - 1,
cinnamom stick - 2 inch
cardamom - 2
cloves - 4
curd -1 cup,
ghee - 2 tbsp
olive oil - 3 tbsp
chilli powder - 2 tsp ,
green chillis - 5 (uncut).
Lemon - 1
cashew nuts -10
raisins- 10.
salt.
saffron color- 2 drops
rose essence-2 drops
milk - 2 tbsp

Marination:
wash and clean the vegetables. peel the skin of carrot and cut into long thin slices.
Cut the green beans in to long pieces. Pluck 5 -6 florets from the cauliflower.
Defreeze the green peas. Boil and cook the cranberry beans/ butter beans separately.
Put all the vegetables in a mixing bowl .
Add 2 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp garam masal powder, 1 tsp ginger paste, 1/2 tsp garlic paste, 1 cup curd,2 tsp salt and juice from 1/2 a lemon.
Marinate the vegetables for 2 hours or overnight in refrigerator.

Biryani gravy preparation:
Heat 3 tbsp olive oil in a broad bottom vessel.
Add fennel ,star aniseed , cinnamon stick,cardamom ,cloves, bay leaf .
Then goes the chopped onion .
Fry it till golden brown and take half of it aside.
Now add the chopped tomato and cook till the oil oozes out of it.
Then add the remaining ginger garlic paste and stir well till the raw smell goes.
Fry it till the oil start oozing out. Now add the marinated vegetables and stir well.
No need to cook the vegetables (except butter beans seeds), as they will get cooked in the oven.

To cook rice:
wash the rice and soak it for 1/2 an hour.
Bring to boil some 10 cups of water.
Add the juice of half a lemon and 2 tsp salt.
Then add the soaked rice and 1/2 cook it (50% done).
Immediately drain water using a colander (sieve) and keep it aside.

For garnishing:
Roast the cashews and raisins in 1 tbsp ghee. keep aside.
Chop cilantro and mint leaves.

Arrange the layers:
Take an aluminium foil baking tray. Clean it and spread half of the rice.
Then spread the prepared vegetable gravy over it .
Cover that with another layer of rice.
spread the chopped mint leaf, cilantro, uncut green chillies, fried onions, cashews and raisins.
Mix 2 drops of rose essence , saffron food color (or real saffron) with 2 tbsp milk.
sprinkle this mixture over the top layer of rice.
sprinkle 1 tbsp ghee over that.

In oven:
Now cover the tray with an aluminium foil.
Preheat the oven to 350 deg C and cook the biryani for 1 hour (or) more, till the rice is cooked completely. My biryani got ready in one hour.
Vegetable biryani is ready.

Serving suggestions:
Serve vegetable biryani hot with onion raitha .
Serves 6 people.

Vegetable Biryani goes to Sunshine mom's FIC_ Yellow event.

Shrimp curry (South Indian coastal region kulambu)

If any non vegetarian fan (like me) is asked to rate their favorite dish , then shrimp will definitely get a top score. To my surprise hubby never likes crab or shrimp (so I get a lion's share always :) . Love my man for his taste:)
Back to the shrimp curry, there are many ways to prepare the shrimp. Mostly we cook it exactly like a chicken curry or fry it like chicken 65. But the shrimp tastes great in whatever manner being cooked. (It tastes good if not cooked for a long time). Some American restaurants serve a half cooked cocktail shrimp and I love that taste too. I had it raw along with small gooseberry as a salad in Thailand and that was very lovely.
The recipe I narrate here traces its origin to the southern coastal region of Tamil Nadu. I got this charming recipe from a fish selling person (who regularly supplies fish to my father's house) and I love it because of its simplicity.
Here goes the recipe.




Ingredients:
Shrimp - 30 numbers
shredded coconut - 2 tbsp
cumin - 1/2 tsp
turmeric- a small bit
whole black Pepper - 2 tsp
coriander powder - 2 tbsp (not the seeds)
ginger - 1 inch
green chilli - 2 (split to half)
Chopped onion - 1 cup (1 number)
chopped tomato - 1 cup (2 number)
salt- to taste
oil - 1 tsp.
curry leaf - 2 brig

Method:
1.Wash srimp. Remove the veins and shell.Keep aside.
2.Bring to boil 1 cup of water in a vessel
Then add chopped onion and tomato .
3.Grind shredded coconut , cumin ,turmeric, black pepper, coriander powder
and ginger together.Add this mixture to the boiling onion-tomato .
4.Add the cleaned shrimp and cook covered in a low heat for 15 minutes.
5.Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan.
Fry fennel seeds (sombu) to red color then add the curry leaves and green chilli .
Now pour this tempering to the cooked shrimp kulambu. Check for salt.
The consistency should be watery like sambar.

Coastal region shrimp kulambu is ready!

Serving suggestion:
Makes nearly 3 cups of shrimp kulambu.
Serve hot with plain steamed rice.