Serves - 6

Prep Time - 20 minutes | Cook Time - 20 minutes

A vegetarian version of a dish that's usually cooked with meat. Biryani is often served only at celebrations or for special occasions. It's a dish you eat with community, family, and friends. And so, often in Tamil Nadu, biryani is endearingly referred to as not just a meal but an emotion...

We made a one-pot veggie biryani in our village pot two and enjoyed it with a cucumber raita...

Ingredients

Dry Whole Spices

Star Anise - 1 

Cinnamon - half a quill

Bay Leaf - 1

Cloves - 4 

Cardamom pods - 4 or 5 

Fennel seeds - 1 tbsp 

Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp 

Wet spice

Freshly pounded ginger garlic paste - 2 tbsp 

Other ingredients

Basmati Rice - 2 cups (washed and soaked for 2 hours)

Ghee - 2 tbsp

Coconut oil - 2 tbsp

Red onions - 2 (sliced like half moons)

Tomato - 4 (diced) 

Yoghurt - 3 tbsp

Mint leaves- 1 handful

Coriander leaves- 1 handful

Carrots - 3/4 cup (diced)

Peas - 3/4 cup (diced)

Potatoes - 3/4 cup (diced)

French beans - 3/4 cup (1 cm length) 

Water - 4 cups

Garam Masala - 2 tbsp

Salt - to taste

Method

Have all your ingredients chopped, prepared and organised for ease of cooking.

Heat your clay pot gently over 10 minutes, starting on low and increasing the heat to medium. When the pot is hot, add the ghee and coconut oil. Once heated, add in all your dry whole spices. Sauté for a minute to awaken their aroma. Add in the chopped onions and sauté until soft. You can add a pinch of salt to let the onion release its juices. Then goes in the ginger garlic paste and sauté this until the raw smell dissipates.

Next goes in the tomatoes and cook until they turn mushy. Throw in the handful of coriander and mint leaves and sauté for a minute. Stir in the yogurt and cook until it starts bubbling.

Add in the veggies and sauté along with this mixture, and add the garam masala and salt. Let the veggies simmer for 2 minutes. Pour in 4 cups of water and place the lid to allow it to come to a roaring boil. Check the water for salt content; you want it to be on the saltier side, as rice and potatoes usually absorb a lot of salt. 

Drain the rice and add it to the boiling pot. Give it a gentle stir and place the lid on. It usually takes 8 to 10 minutes to cook through, open the lid, and check if the water has been absorbed and if the rice is cooked.

Turn off the stove, leave it with the lid on for 10 minutes. The clay pot retains heat well and helps the rice infuse with the flavours. After 10 minutes, open the lid, stir gently with the bottom of a wooden spoon. Serve hot.

It tastes divine with a simple cucumber raita. While your biryani is infusing its flavours for 10 minutes, you can make the raita - which is a cup of yoghurt mixed with grated cucumber, salt, and a teaspoon of cumin powder. You can also add some coriander leaves to it.

The creamy, cooling raita complements the warm, spice-filled biryani beautifully.

Enjoy your bowl of emotion aka biryani