Vegetable Biryani

Enough baby steps, let's get into it shall we?

Biryani is an Indian dish, but it actually originated in Persia... so does that count for traditional? Maybe, maybe not. Honestly, are you really that concerned?

What it is? It's an all-in-one kind of dish with rice, vegetables, and sweet notes from the cinnamon and dried fruits. It's kind of similar to a casserole, but with waaaaay more flavor!

Vegetable Biryani : (serves 4, adapted from The Global Gourmet)

• 1c uncooked basmati rice
• 3-4c water
• 1/2c dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, ect)
• 1T Earth Balance, or oil
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1 green chili, chopped (I used an anaheim pepper)
• 1c mixed vegetables (bell peppers, carrot, cauliflower)
• 1c peas
• 1t ground ginger
• 1/2t red pepper flakes
• 1t cinnamon
• 1t caraway seeds
• 1/4t mustard seeds
• 1/4t cloves
• 1T garam masala
• 1/2 black pepper
• 2T plain soy yogurt
• 1T fresh squeezed lime juice
• 1/2c roasted cashew pieces
• 1/4c fresh chopped cilantro

To start place your dry basmati rice in a pot and rinse and drain several times until the water runs clear. Fill the pot with enough cold water to cover the rice and allow to soak at least 15 minutes. Drain the rice once more and fill the pot with 3 or 4 cups of water and bring to a boil, reduce, cover and simmer 30 - 45 minutes or until all the liquid is gone and rice is tender. When the rice is done mix in dried fruit and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350.

Heat Earth Balance in a heavy bottom pan over medium-low heat, add onion, garlic, tomato, and chili. Saute 6 minutes until the tomato starts to breaks down. Increase the heat to medium and add vegetables, and peas saute an additional 5 minutes. Add spices, yogurt and lime and saute 2 minutes longer.

Remove vegetable from heat and mix in cashews and cilantro.

In a casserole dish layer bottom with 1/3 of the rice, 1/2 of the stew, 1/2 of the remaining rice, the rest of the stew and top with remaining rice. And bake 15 to 20 minutes. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

P.s. I may be making a second version of this dish, because in doing some more research I learned that there is a way to cook Biryani called dum (pronounced "them"... I'm not 100% on that one so correct me if I'm wrong) which refers to slow cooking a dish in a pot in which the cover is sealed with dough. It sounds fun and definitely worth a shot!