Health for life

Every first of the month, my followers know very well that ill post the challenge of the month suggested by the Northern team under the event South vs North Challenge an event owned by Divya Pramil. This month its a celebration time and its been a year this event is going around successfully.Since its a celebration month,Divya suggested to cook and post the challenges which we didnt able to do during this year. But i have already finished my all challenges challenged by the Northern team, i chosed to cook from the challenges suggested by the Southern team.

I always want to cook the veritable vegetable Hyderabadi dum briyani and i chosed to cook it, this challenge was suggested by Swasthi of Swasthis Indian Food Blog, this dum briyani was our todays Sunday lunch. Trust me this dum briyani is definitely everybodys favourite at home. As Swasthi told, even i was bit scared for the only reason that mostly the bottom part of this kind of layered biryani gets burnt and it will affect the taste of the entire dish. Swasthi did an incredible work by taking step by step pics and shared many notes to make this biryani easier, loved all her efforts. Seriously i enjoyed thoroughly making this pectly cooked,flavourful famous Hyderabadi vegetable biryani.

Hyderabadi dum briyani are very famous among South Indians, i had a chance to taste the original dum briyani when i travelled last time to India and my chithi makes a wonderful dum briyani and my family is a great fan of hers dum briyani. I couldnt stop myself drooling here when i was typing about this biryani, yes i still remember the taste of the flavourful biryani i tasted in Hyderabad. If you have a get together, dont forget to make this fantastic biryani and am sure you will get many appreciations from your guest.


For cooking rice:
2cup Basmati rice (soaked for half an hour)
1/2tsp Shah jeera
1tsp Oil

For Biryani:
3cup Mixed cubed veggies (i used carrot,potatoes,french beans, green peas,green bellpepper)
2nos Green chillies (slit opened)
1tbsp Ginger garlic paste
1tsp Biryani masala powder
1/2tsp Red chilly powder
1/4tsp Turmeric powder
1cup Yogurt
1/4cup Oil
Few Saffron strands
1/4cup Warm milk
1/4cup Mint leaves (chopped finely)
Few coriander sprigs (chopped)
4nos Green cardamoms
1no Black cardamom
1inch Cinnamon stick
5nos Cloves
2nos Bay leaves
1/2tsp Shah jeera
1no Star anise

Fried Onions:
2nos Onions (sliced thinly)
1tsp Corn flour
Oil for frying


Frying the onions:
Heat oil for frying the fried onions, mix the corn flour to the thinly sliced onions, fry in oil until they turns golden brown.

Drain the excess of oil and keep aside.

Cooking rice:
Heat enough water and add the shah jeera,oil and salt.

Once the water starts boiling, drain the soaked water from the rice and add it to the hot water.

Cook until the rice gets half cooked.

Drain the rice and keep aside.

For Biryani:
Heat the oil for cooking the spices.

Add in the bay leave, star anise,cinnamon stick,green & black cardamoms,cloves and fry until a nice aroma comes from.

Now add the shah jeera and fry for few seconds.

Add in the ginger garlic paste, cook for few minutes.

Add in all the vegetables except the cubed green bellpeppers and cook for few minutes.

Now add the green bellpepper, chilly powder,briyani powder,salt, turmeric powder, fry for few minutes.

Pour half cup of yogurt and cook for few minutes.


Cook the veggies until the yogurt evaportes, add half of the chopped mint leaves, slit opened green chillies,mix well and cook again for few minutes.

Soak the saffron strands to the warm milk.

For the layers:
Take a large vessel or pressure cooker.

Put half of the vegetable mixture onto the vessel top it with fried onions, pour the remaining yogurt now,mix well and check for salt.

Put the flame in simmer, now layer half of the rice.

Layer again the remaining veggies, add in the fried onions, layer again with rice, top it with chopped mint and coriander leaves.

Heat a tawa, keep the biryani layered vessel over it and keep it in low flame.

Pour in the saffron milk, cover the vessel with damp kitchen towel,keep a heavy object on the lid and cook it in low flame until the rice gets well cooked.

Serve hot with raitas or chicken masala.

Notes:
Swasthi used nuts and raisins, i skipped it coz my kids dont like raisins in briyani, but still you can add it.

You can prepare this briyani through oven, instead of going for slow cooking in vessel.

For a detailed post, dont forget to check Swasthis Hyderabadi Dum Biryani..

Ambur is a town which is in Vellore district of Tamil Nadu, this town is very famous for few dishes especially their briyani, and some sweets coz this region was reigned by Nawabs of Arcot.This place is famous for its spicy non vegetarian cuisine made with chicken,mutton or eggs in the form of gravy or kebabs. Ambur biryani is one of the famous South Indian dish which is emerged during the Nawabss regime. This is prepared just to serve the army during the Nawabs regime as it was difficult to prepare rotis or parathas to feed the need of lakhs of soldiers. Today this dish is served in many occasions especially in Arcot muslims weedings along with some regional foods.

A plate of biryani with a brinjal curry and onion raitha makes a fabulous feast, i tried my hands in preparing this wonderful famous Arcot briyani at home and they came out extremely delicious. You can serve this food for any occasions, if you are a vegetarian,just add any veggies instead of meat and make them.If you are biryani lover like me, seriously you have to give a try to this dish.This recipe is from a paper cut of Hindu news paper.Its 4th sunday of the month and since i belong to a group of friends who blogs on sunday for the event Lets Brunch On Sundays am posting this incredible delicious Ambur biryani today.


For marination:
1kg Mutton (cut as medium sized pieces)
2tbsp Ginger garlic paste
1/4cup Yogurt
1/2tsp Turmeric powder
1tsp Salt
1tsp Red chilly powder

Wash and marinate the mutton pieces with ginger garlic paste,yogurt,turmeric powder,salt and red chilly powder and keep aside for an hour or overnite.

For quick cooking, cook the marinated mutton pieces in pressure cooker upto 3whistles with the marination and enough water.

For Briyani:
3cups Rice
1tbsp Ginger paste
1tbsp Garlic paste
1tsp Red chilly powder
2nos Onion (sliced lengthwise)
3nos Tomatoes (chopped finely)
1cup Curd or yogurt
1cup Chopped mint and coriander leaves
1no Bay leaves
2nos Cloves
2nos Cinnamon stick
2nos Green cardamoms
1no Lemon
Salt
Oil as per need

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan, add the bay leaves,cloves,cinnamon stick,green cardamoms, fry until the spices turns brown.

Add in the curd, ginger paste, garlic paste, saute for few minutes.

Now add the sliced onions,chopped tomatoes,cook until the tomatoes turns mushy.

Add the cooked mutton pieces now without the cooked water.

Now add the chopped coriander leaves and mint leaves, now add the cooked mutton water and salt.

Bring everything to boil and cook until the masala water evaporates a bit.

Meanwhile cook the rice with enough water, until they get half cooked, drain the water,keep the rice aside.

For Layering:
In a large vessel, add a spoon of oil, spread a layer of mutton masala with gravy, top it with half portion of cooked rice.

Again spread a layer of mutton masala and cooked rice. Sprinkle some mint leaves, cover the vessel with the lid.

You can seal the lid with a dough for dum cooking,but i didnt.

Cook on low heat for 35-40minutes.

Give a gentle mix, dont overmix.

Serve hot with raita and boiled egg.