Sunday, March 29, 2015

Kushka ( Plain Biriyani)



Prep time :
Cook time :
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A easy and quick vegetarian biryani recipe without vegetables and can be made in a pressure cooker

Ingredients (240 ml cup used)
  • 1 cup aged basmati rice or any fragrant rice
  • 1 medium onion thinly sliced
  • ¼ cup of chopped tomatoes
  • 1 green chili slit
  • 1 tbsp. ginger garlic paste
  • Fistful of mint and coriander leaves chopped finely
  • ¼ tsp. red chili powder
  • Generous pinch of turmeric powder
  • 1 ¾ cups Vegetable stock (optional but adds great taste)
  • 2 tbsps. Oil or as needed
  • Dry spices
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 “cinnamon stick
  • 4 to 6 cloves
  • 3 to 4 green cardamoms
  • 1 star anise
  • ½ tsp shahi jeera
Instructions
  1. Wash and soak rice for 5 to 10 minutes.if you have time you could soak for 20 minutes
  2. Heat a pressure cooker or a heavy bottom pan with oil, add spices and fry till they turn fragrant
  3. Add onions, chili and fry till onions turn golden
  4. Add ginger garlic paste and fry till it gets fragrant. Do not burn
  5. Add tomatoes, salt and turmeric. fry till tomatoes turn mushy, soft and pulpy
  6. Add red chili powder, fry for a min
  7. Add mint and coriander leaves, saute for a min
  8. Pour 1 ¾ cups of vegetable broth or water and bring water to a boil. adjust the salt (you could vary the amount of water based on your rice)
  9. Add rice and cook till very little water is left. refer the pic
  10. cover the pressure cooker with the lid, cook on a low flame for 3 mins. Do not let the cooker whistle. if cooking in a pan or casserole, just cover tightly and cook till the rice is fully done. it could take around 5 mins
  11. let the pressure go off, then fluff up the rice.
Notes
You can replace veg broth with chicken stock mentioned in the recipe