Wish you All a very Happy & Prosperous New Year 2013!!
I don’t usually make any resolutions, I believe that if something needs to be changed, it has to be changed right away and there’s no need to wait for a new year. But I do have couple of resolutions for this year, to eat as healthy as possible and waste as little as possible. One more resolution for the blog is to try and post as many new recipes as possible.
My theme for the first week of BM# 24 is “Cooking with Kitchen Electric Appliance”. I thought this is the best time to use my slow cooker that has been collecting dust for almost a year now. The crock used in the slow cooker is perfect to create ‘dum’ effect for biryanis.
I partially cooked the rice in the microwave and cooked the vegetable masala on the stove top. Then layered them both in the slow cooker and cooked on high for an 1 hour to get the classic dum taste for this delicious biryani.
- 2 cups Basmati Rice water - washed, rinsed and soaked in cold for at least 30 minutes
- 2 Bay leaves
- 4 Cloves
- 1 Cinnamon " stick
- 4 cups Mixed Vegetables (I used frozen mixed veggies with cauliflower, broccoli, carrots & zucchini)
- 8 oz Paneer - . (about 2 cups when diced)
- 1 Onion - large, finely chopped
- 1 tsp Ginger garlic + paste
- 2 tbsp Tomato paste
- 1/4 cup Tomato puree
- 2 tsp masala Biryani
- 2 tsp Methi Kasoori
- 3 tbsps Cilantro - finely chopped
- 3 tbsps Mint - finely chopped
- garam masala Whole (1 bay leaf, 1" cinnamon stick, 3 cloves, 3 cardamom pods)
- to taste Salt
- 2 tbsps Cashews
- 1 tbsp Almonds
- 2 tbsps Raisins
- 1 Onion - large, thinly sliced
- 1 big pinch Saffron milk - soaked in 2tbsp of warm
- Basmati rice needs to be par boiled until 60-70% cooked. This can be done either by boiling in lots of water for 6-7 minutes and draining or cooking the rice in the microwave. To cook rice in the microwave, add 2 cups of water to 2 cups of rice along with the whole garam masala (bay leaf, cinnamon stick, cloves) and cook for 7-8 minutes or until the water is completely absorbed. I found microwaving the rice with 1:1 rice:water is much easier than boiling copious amounts of water where if the timing is not right, rice might be overcooked.
- Heat 1tbsp oil in a large saute pan and cook the thinly sliced onions until golden brown, this takes about 12-15 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- In the same pan, fry the cashews, almonds and raisins in 2tsp oil until golden. Remove and set aside.
- Heat 2tbsp oil in the same pan, add the whole garam masala and cook until fragrant about 1-2 minutes. Next add the onions and cook until lightly browned around the edges.
- Add the mixed vegetables and cook covered until tender, about 12-15 minutes.
- In the meantime sauté the paneer pieces until golden and set aside.
- Next add the tomato paste and puree along with fried paneer, cilantro, mint, biryani masala and kasoori methi. Cook the mixture for 5 minutes or until the flavors mingle.
- Coat the inside of the slow cooker crock with a cooking spray. Layer the crock with: 1/3 of Rice; 1/2 of fried onions; 1/2 of the dry fruits; 1/2 of the vegetable mixture; 1/3 of rice; 1/2 of the vegetable mixture; 1/3 of the rice, remaining dry fruits and fried onions and finally drizzle the top with the saffron milk. Cook as per instructions on High for 1hour or Low for 2hours. Top of the crock can be covered with aluminum foil before putting the lid, not sure if this really helps to get the "dum ka" effect, but I did it anyway.
After 1 hour, you will be rewarded with the most flavorful biryani that tastes delicious as is or with a simple gravy and onion raita. This is definitely a time consuming dish, so be prepared to spend good 2-3 hours on it, even though most of it is waiting time.
Appetizing click dear!! Looks delicious and tasty..Saras Dish In 30 minutes ~ Breakfast Recipes with Giveaway
Veg Biryani is my fav. Somehow I am not used to Slow cooker much, but my mom cooks in it and whenever she makes Biryani or Pulav in it the whole house is filled with its aroma.
Absolutely love the color of that biryani. Stunning
love the detailed post!!!! it is so nicely written.. felt very nice reading it!!!! and the biriyani looks delicious!!!SowmyaOngoing Event – SYF&HWS – Ginger
That looks really awesome Pavani, I am looking forward to reading on slow cooking method..
Delicious Biryani 🙂 I’m just back from Hyderabad, the land of biryanis and this one is tempting me too much now 🙂
Oooooooooo! what a yum Biryani.Bookmarking it
Wow!What an awesome recipe.Clicks are stunning as usual Pavani…
Flavourful one pot meal. Never had a chance to taste foods cooked with slow cooker.
Looks very tempting and i made a similar resolution too:-)
Looks super delicious, am a big fan of slow cooking
my slow cooker has also been collecting dust in the back of my pantry which I why I am doing this theme next week – biryani looks great
my slow cooker has also been collecting dust in the back of my pantry which I why I am doing this theme next week – biryani looks great
Biryani looks lovely.
awesome biryani
biryani looks lovely. I do make pulao in slow cooker but I have yet to try biryani in slow cooker though.