Guest recipes with Serene Tharian

Recipes passed down through generations

Vegetable Biryani

Vegetable Biryani is a mild, lightly spiced, layered biryani made with rice, spices, mixed vegetables and dry fruits. This biryani is made all over India and has no standard recipe, except the one you learn in your home kitchen from your family. The cuisine of Kerala is known for its subtle use of spices, coconuts and seasonal vegetables grown in the region.

No dish made in a Keralite home is complete without a hint of coconut. Kerala derives its name from the word, Kera (Coconut) and Alam (Land), and is known as the land of coconuts.

This ingredient gives this cuisine a distinct flavour.

This biryani is aromatic, subtle and rings of the coastal flavours of Kerala.

 

 

Rice

Basmati Long Grain Rice – 2 cups

Rinse the rice in running water till it runs clear. Drain and keep aside

 

Almond Coconut paste

Peeled almonds – 15 to 20 kernels soaked in cold water for 30 minutes

Desiccated or fresh coconut – 2 tablespoons

Grind the desiccated coconut and almonds together to create a paste by adding a couple of tablespoons of water

 

Mixed veggies

3 cups (include to your liking cubed potatoes, cubed sweet potatoes, cauliflower florets, sliced mushrooms)

Onion – 1 large sliced thin to prepare the browned onions

Onion – 1 chopped

Ginger Garlic paste – 1 tablespoon

Mint leaves -3 tablespoons chopped

Saffron strands 10 – soaked in 10 tablespoons of warm milk

 

Method

Preparing the rice

Prepare the rice, in this method below or prepare and drain as is convenient for you. But ensure that it is not fully cooked, but has a slight bite to it.

While cooking the rice, add to the water:

1 Bay leaf

4 Cardamoms

4 Cloves

1 inch piece of cinnamon bark

1 teaspoon salt or to taste

Drain the rice when it is almost cooked

 

Preparing the dry fruits

4 Tablespoons Ghee or Butter

15 Almonds

15 Cashew nuts

15 Raisins

15 Cranberries

In a pan heat up the ghee or butter, add the fruits and roast them till slightly brown and aromatic. Remove with a slotted spoon and keep aside. Keep the remaining ghee on the fire to fry the onions

 

Preparing the fried onions

Add the sliced onions to the remaining ghee or butter and fry till dark brown and caramelised. Stir constantly so they do not burn. Remove with a slotted spoon and keep aside.

 

Preparing the vegetable curry

In the same and the remaining ghee or butter (add extra if the emollient has reduced in quantity- 3 extra tablespoons should suffice)

Add the chopped onions, and sauté till brown.

Add

3 cardamom

3 cloves

10 peppercorns

1 teaspoon chili powder (according to taste)

1 teaspoon coriander powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin powder

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 teaspoon garam masala

1 teaspoon mild curry powder

1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste

1 teaspoon salt to taste

10 curry leaves

Stir well and sauté till the raw smell of spices has disappeared

Add the vegetables and stir

Add the coconut almond paste

Add 5 tablespoons of Greek yoghurt

Add half cup water

Stir well, close the pan till the vegetables are cooked. Stir often and check if water has reduced, add a quarter cup more if needed.

 

Layering the biryani

In an ovenproof dish, add a table spoon of melted ghee or butter to cover the bottom, add a layer (half) of the vegetable curry.

Add a layer of rice(half).

Scatter half of the dry fruits, the fried onions and some of the chopped mint on the layer of rice. Sprinkle half of the saffron milk on top.

Add the remaining vegetable curry.

Layer with the remaining rice.

Add the remaining dry fruits, fried onions, chopped mint, and the saffron milk on the layer of rice.

 

Cover the dish with foil and ensure it is well sealed. Put it in a preheated oven for 25 minutes at 180C. Remove from the oven and keep it covered for 20 minutes.

Remove foil and serve with cucumber raita or any raita of your choice.

 

Serene runs amateur cooking club The Best Exotic Kerala Kitchen, where cooking lessons are held for friends and family. Tel: 99 222462