Easy and Quick Vegetable Biryani | Pressure Cooker Biryani

           If you want to eat biryani, but feeling lazy  on a weekend or busy weekdays, then try this quick biryani recipe in a pressure cooker. As name suggest, this biryani is very easy to make and is loaded with lots of healthy vegetables and aromatic spices. This is one of my favorite one pot meal which is rich in taste  yet simple to make because of the addition of ghee( clarified butter)and milk. You can also make this biryani with an alternate flavor profile by adding coconut milk, but in this prepartion I added cows milk. 

           Making biryani in pressure cooker is very easy ... just temper the spices in ghee , throw some onion, tomatoes, green chillies, all the colorful veggies and salt, saute for few mins, finally add required water and rice and cook until done( pressure cookers might vary ) . Hot flavorful vegetable biryani is ready in minutes. It goes well with spicy gravies like aloo palak,korma, cucumber raita or potato chips.

    Ingredients

           1 Cup of Basmati Rice

           2 Carrots, Finely Chopped
           15 Beans, Finely Chopped
           1 Medium Size Potato, Cubed
           1/4 Cup of Green Peas (Frozen)
           1 Big Red Onion, Finely Chopped or 2 Mediumsize Red Onion
           4 Garlic Cloves, Big
           1 Inch of Ginger
           4 Green Chillies
           2 Tomatoes, Finely Chopped
           1 Tbsp of Curd(Yogurt)
           7 Mint Leaves
           Handful of Coriander Leaves, Finely Chopped
           1 Tbsp of Lemon Juice
           Salt to taste
           2 Cups of Milk

    To Temper

           1.5 Tbsp of Ghee

           2 Cloves
           1 Cinnamon, Medium Size
           1 Cardamom
           1 Bay Leaf
         

    Method         

• Soak basmathi rice in water for 30 mins, drain and wash the rice in tap water for 2 times. Keep aside.
• Wash and  finely chop the vegetables, onion and tomatoes. Slit the green chilies. In a blender, add ginger and garlic and make a ginger garlic paste.
• Take a pressure cooker, heat ghee, when it is hot, add cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, fry for a min. Add chopped red onion, slited green chillies and salt, fry for 2 mins, until onion turns golden brown. Add ginger garlic paste, fry for few mins until raw smell vanishes.
• Add chopped tomato, mint leaves and coriander leaves, saute until tomatoes turns soft and mushy.
• Add carrots, beans, potato and peas, saute this for few mins. Add curd and rice, saute this for few secs.
• Add milk, check the salt. Close the lid and pressure cook it for 2 whistles. Turn off the flame.
• Open the cooker, add lemon juice, mix gently with fork.
• Serve hot with any spicy gravies like aloo palak, korma or cucumber raita and potato chips.

   Tips

• You can use small onions instead of large onions.
• Use coconut milk in place of cows milk to get a rich taste.
• If you don't have whole spices, just add 1 tsp of garam masala.
• Don't break the rice while mixing.
• If you are weight conscious, add oil in place of ghee.
• If you feel lazy to grind ginger garlic paste, finely chop the ginger and garlic, add it to the oil, saute well until raw smell vanishes.
• Don't have pressure cooker, then try biryani in stove top. For that you need a heavy bottomed pan with perfect fitting lid then follow the above recipe and cook in a low flame.
• You can also use nuts to garnish.

    Health Benefits of Vegetables and spices
  

• Vegetables are home for antioxidants.
• Vegetables are packed with soluble and insoluble fibers.
• They are rich in vitamins and minerals.
• Spices like cinnamom has anti microbial property and controls sugar levels.
• Cardamom good for heart burn and increases blood circulation.
• Cloves good for teeth pain, boosts metabolism and immune system.