"When in doubt take the next small step".Have you ever heard this quote before?Well i could relate myself quite a lot with it.It has been sometime that i have kept myself away from blogging.Family,work and health are the main culprits for me not being able to update my blog.Sometimes little breaks are good for you i believe.They let you look at life from a whole new perspective.Before updating this post i really had to whack my brains out regarding what kind of recipe should i make.Well if you ask why such drama? i'll say i have a tiny reason for it.And the reason is...............**drum rolls** my blog has turned 50 recipes old.Yaye!With this update i shall complete writing 50 recipes on my blog which gives me immense happiness and satisfaction.
I know making a Biriyani for the completion of 50th recipe does not seem something grand or special.But keeping it simple sometimes is the key to happiness which i actually feel right now.This Chole Biriyani is a result of desperation of a home cook to cook something and the ingredients left in her pantry.It is a simple Biriyani made with a little patience and a lot of flavor.A veggie twist to the Biriyani.Though this dum Biriyani is not an authentic one where everything is cooked together on dum.But this cheats version of dum Biriyani is as delicious as the authentic one,too.To keep things less complicated i have divided the whole process into three parts like i did while making my Egg Dum Biriyani-Cooking the rice,Making the Chole gravy and assembling the Biriyani.
Cooking the rice
Ingredients
- 200 grams of fine Basmati rice
- Potli masala (6 peppercorns,3 cloves,1/2 tsp cumin,3 green cardamom pods,1 black cardamom,1 strand of mace,tiny piece of nutmeg,2 bay leaf.Everything wrapped in a muslin cloth)
- Salt to taste
- Wash and soak the Basmati rice for 30 minutes.Once done drain the excess water and add the rice in a vessel with sufficient water.Drop in the potli consisting the above said spices into the rice.Let it cook till it's 95% done.Mke sure you don't over cook the rice.Once done drain the excess water and keep it aside.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup of overnight soaked and pressure cooked chickpeas or chole
- Puree of 1 medium sized tomato and 1 green chilly
- 2 medium sized onion finely chopped
- 1 tsp of ginger garlic paste
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 1/2 tsp of coriander powder
- 1/4th tsp of turmeric powder
- 1/2 tsp of red chilly powder
- 1 tsp of chole masala
- 2 tsp of yogurt
- 1 tsp of Clarified butter/Ghee
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 tsp of garam masala powder
- Handful of chopped coriander and mint leaves
- 3 tbsp of oil (use the oil in which the onions are fried)
- Heat up a kadhai and add oil in it.Once it's hot add in the cumin seeds and bay leaf.Let it crackle.
- Add in the ginger garlic paste and chopped onions.
- Once the onions turn slight brown pour in the tomato and chilly puree.Cook the gravy for a while.
- Sprinkle coriander powder,turmeric powder,red chilly powder and Chole masala powder.Add in the yogurt.Cook the spices properly without burning them.Pour some water if required.
- Toss in the boiled chickpeas and salt to taste.Mix it with the gravy.Cook for a minute.
- Pour 3/4th cup of water and cook the chickpeas covering the kadhai with a lid.
- Once the liquid dries out add in the ghee,garam masala powder and chopped mint and coriander leaves.Stir and switch off the flame.The Chickpea gravy is ready.
Ingredients
- 1 and half large onion thinly sliced and fried till crisp and golden
- Cooked Basmati rice
- Chickpea/Chole gravy
- Yellow food color dissolved in milk or water
- Clarified butter/Ghee as required
- Chopped coriander and mint leaves
- Wheat flour dough
- 2-3 drops of rose water
- 2 drops of kewra essence
- Take a deep vessel.Add in a layer of Chickpea gravy and cover it with a layer of Basmati rice.Sprinkle some red food color mixed in water or milk randomly on top of the rice.Pour some clarified butter/ghee on top.Sprinkle some chopped mint and coriander leaves.Repeat this process again to make another layer.Pour in the rose water and kewra essence on top.
- Surround the edge of the vessel with the dough.Cover the vessel with a tight fitting lid.Make sure the dough tightly secures the lid and does not let any steam escape out of the vessel.
- Place the vessel on a low flame and cook it for 20-25 minutes or till the rice gets cooked.Once done rest it for 5 minutes before opening the lid.
- Your yummy Cole Biriyani is ready to be served.Serve it with some chilled cucumber raita,a bottle of chaas and Eat it up! :)
- At times while cooking the biriyani there remains slight chances of burning the biriyani.Hence take a pan and pour water into the pan.Place the vessel in the pan filled with water.It is more like a double boiler method where the biriyani does not get the direct heat of the flame.
- While boiling the chickpeas in a cooker make sure to add salt as per taste.
