Chettinadu Biriyani | Vegetarian

When I heard of colorful dishes the first recipe that came to my mind is biriyani. That is colorful as well as all time kids favourite at my place. But I have already posted Biriyani recipes.
Egg biriyani
Khushka biriyani
Malabar chicken biriyani

But then I have never posted a vegetable biriyani. Yeah its a rare occurance in my home. That is when I came across this chettinadu biriyani recipe in Srivalli's space. Tamilnadu - an Indian state has very varied types of cuisine wherein the chettinad cuisine is very famous for its spicyness and tanginess. I am also an avid fan of Chettinad recipes - that too non-veg recipes.

In chettinadu biriyani recipe the spice ingredients that bring out a difference is marathi moggu, and star anise. I just got these spices from the store but as Srivalli says I am not sure if the marathi moggu I got is the actual marathi moggu.

If you don't get this marathi moggu, the same can be replaced with extra cloves. It might not give the exact taste. Also, in chettinad recipes the Jeeraga samba rice is used instead of the basmati rice. The jeeraga samba rice is available in the name of Jeera rice in some of the stores. I always use Jeera rice for making Biriyanis and fried rice since somehow we both don't like basmati rice... Another speciality in chettinadu cuisine is using shallots (small onions) instead of the bigger ones.

Ingredients:

Jeeraga Samba Rice - 3 cups
Mixed Vegetables - 2 cups
Small onions / Shallots- 3/4 cup
Tomatoes, finely chopped - 2 nos
Green Chillies - 4 nos
Ginger Garlic paste- 2 tbsp
Red Chilli powder- 2 tsp
Coriander powder- 2 tsp
Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
Pudina / Mint leaves- handful
Coriander leaves- handful bunch
Spring onions - few
Cashew Nuts- 20 nos
Ghee- 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Water- 4 and 1/2 cups

Spices:

Bay leaves- 2 nos
Cinnamon stick 1" piece- 2 nos
Cardamom- 4 nos
Cloves- 6 nos
Marati moggu- 1 no
Annachi poo / Star Anise- 1
Javitri / Mace - 1 no
Oil- 1/4 cup

Method:

• Wash the rice and soak for 30 minutes.
• Wash and dice the vegetables like potato, carrot into medium cubes, cauliflower into medium florets, slice green beans into 1" lengthwise and some green peas.
• Peel and chop the shallots. Chop the tomatoes. Fry the cashewnuts in ghee until golden brown. Clean and chop both pudina and coriander leaves. Slit the green chillies into half.
• Heat oil in a pressure cooker, add the whole spices to the hot oil and saute for 1 minute.
• Next add the shallots, green chillies to the pan, saute until onion turns pale. Add the ginger garlic paste and saute until raw smell leaves. Add the mixed vegetables to the pan and fry for 3 minutes. Add chopped pudina and coriander leaves (reserve some to garnish) to the pan and saute for 1 minute.
• At this stage add chopped tomatoes, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder to the vegetables and mix well until tomatoes are tender. Add water to the pan, slightly cover with lid and bring vegetable mixture to boil.
• When the water reaches rolling boil stage, add drained rice along with required salt to the pan. Stir well to combine everything and cover with lid, Pressure cook for 1 whistle then lower the flame and cook for 2 minutes.
• Once the pressure falls, remove the lid, garnish with fired cashews, coriander leaves and spring onions.

Serve with onion Raitha

Note:

• I served this with raita and boiled eggs.
• In chettinadu, this is usually served with pickle, raita.
• If jeera rice is not available, use short basmati rice
• I added spring onions since it was growing in my kitchen garden. This is not part of chettinadu cuisine.

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