EGG BIRYANI

Biryanis are the easiest dishes to make, either for a quick one dish meal on a cold winter day or for an elaborate sit down dinner.I love all kinds of biryanis, vegetable , egg or chicken.In our house, Sundays are usually biryani days ! Just team up the biryani with cucumber raita or even just plain cool yogurt making it a delicious combination of hot and spicy with the cool !

Ingredients

• 5 eggs boiled and peeled and cut into quarters( preferably lengthwise)Sprinkle with salt and red chilly powder
• 2 medium sized onions finely sliced and browned
• 3 tbsp. of raisins, 8-10 almonds roughly chopped, 3 tbsp. cashews . Saute raisns till they plump up and almonds and raisins until golden brown and keep aside.
• 3 medium sized tomatoes finely chopped
• 1 big onion finely chopped
• Ginger garlic paste
• Coarse paste of corriander and mint leaves.(1:1)
• 2 cups basmati or any long grained rice
• 1 tsp. Cumin seeds
• 2 tsp. red chilly powder
• few saffron strands dissolved 1/3 cup warm milk
• MDH Biryani masala (optional) I used abt 2 tsp.
• 2 potatoes sliced in roundlets
• Salt to taste
• Oil

Method

• Parboil the rice with 2 Bayleaves, 3-4 peppercorns, 2-3 green cardamoms, 1/2 inch cinamon and drain thoroughly. Gently fluff with a fork. You want the grains to remain umbroken.

Curry

• Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds and saute for 1 min. Add ginger garlic paste and fry until the raw smell goes and you get a flavorful aroma.
• Add chopped onions and fry until slightly brown. Add chopped tomatoes and fry until tomatoes are cooked and you get a mushy consistency of the whole mixture.
• Add corriander mint paste and cook until rawness of the paste dissappears.
• Add red chilly powder, biryani masala and saute for 2 mins . or until you get a good aroma of a mixture well sauted.
• Add salt to taste. Add a little more since the rice does not have any salt.

Layering

• In a heavy bottommed pan/pot/vessel add a little oil and evenly palce potato roundlets to cover the bottom. This will prevent the bottom layer of rice from drying out.
• Layer rice,curry, fried onion, fried nuts and raisins, egg in this order. Sprinkle the saffron milk mixture along the side and the top.Repeat until everything is used up.
• Your last layer should be that of rice.

Close the lid and cook on low medium to medium heat for approx. 20 mins. Slow cooked biryani gives off a wonderful aroma. Enjoy with a side of cold whipped yogurt or raita !