Vegetable Biryani (shortcut version)

Second to Italian food, is Indian food in my family. My Aunt and Uncle worked for an Indian restaurant years ago in exchange for cooking lessons. About once a week Indian is consumed in their household. And I am not talking about a frozen Indian meal from Trader Joes (although, those are quite good). I'm talking about homemade, simmered for hours, each spice added to the pan in a particular order, Indian food. Large portions of Vindaloo, Butter Chicken, and Bhindi (I could go on) are prepared, and frozen in small containers, making it an easy way to consume when desired. Indian food is similar to Italian food in that if you're going to make it, you're going to make a whole damn lot of it because it's a process.

Today I will share with you my families shortcut version of Vegetable Biryani. Vegetable Biryani is arguably one of my favorite Indian dishes. The reason it is a shortcut recipe is because we will be using a store bought biryani paste instead of creating the biryani paste ourselves. But don't you worry, there will be plenty of Indian recipes in the future that take up hours of your time.

Tools You'll Need

2 Large sauce pans

Wooden spoon

Cutting board and knife

Ingredients

2 Tsp vegetable oil

1 Cup Jasmine rice

2 Cups water

2 Tbsp fresh ginger

2 Cups fresh or frozen vegetables of your choice (I use brocoli, carrots, cauliflower, green beans, and if I'm feeling crazy, peas)

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 can(6oz)tomato paste

1/4 Cup water (more if using fresh vegetables)

2 Tbsp(heaping) biryani paste (I use this one.)

1/4 Cup golden raisins

1/8 Cup roasted cashews

First lets prepare the rice. Traditionally Jasmine rice is used. The length and cook time are perfect for this recipe. If you choose to use a different variety of rice, just adjust the cook time.

Add 2 tsp of vegetable oil to sauce pan and heat on medium/low. After a few moments add rice and stir.

Cook rice for a few minutes until it starts "popping". Stir rice regularly to prevent burning.

Once rice is light tan color add water. (Add water slowly, to prevent splashing). Increase heat, stir and bring to boil.

Once rice is boiling, decrease heat to low and cover. Cook for 15 minutes. While rice simmers lets get started on our second pan.

Peel, grate, and add the ginger to a medium/low heat pan with 1 tbsp vegetable oil. As this simmers chop vegetables.

Vegetables should be cut relatively large. You want them to give definition to the rice, instead of getting lost in it. Add vegetables to pan, stir, and cover. After a few minutes add tomato paste, biryani paste, and water. Stir. Let mixture cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender, but not well done. A good indicator is when the brocoli is a bright green color.

The amount of water needed is going to depend greatly on if you are using fresh or frozen vegetables. Fresh vegetables will require more water as the cooking time will be greater.

Take pan off heat and slowly add rice.

Add raisins and cashews. As for the cashews you can either buy roasted or roast raw ones in the oven at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes. Keep an eye on the cashews. They can burn in the drop of a dime.

Let cool and serve.

Warning: Share at your own risk. From my experience biryani is very addictive and can turn a person who is normally a "food pusher" into a selfish food hoarder.

Food Pusher: One that will not/cannot/is not satisfied until you have eaten the allotted amount of food to their likings.