Vegetable Biryani Fusion

This weekend I was thinking what can I make for my weekdays lunch. I look at my fridge and I have few vegetables that could be used for. Then, an easy vegetable biryani is one of the choices. I never made it. I search in www.indianhealthyrecipes.com - It is one of my favorite website to learn different kind of Indian food.

Biryani actually comes from Persian. It is the art of cooking rice with frying or roasting. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biryani It gives another different taste of the Basmati rice with the mixture of vegetables, spices, nuts and raisins.

Here I created my own variety of vegetable Biryani. I used aubergines and cabbages in my vegetable Biryani. For the rice, you may use leftover rice or overnight rice.

Main ingredients:

1 cup basmati rice

1½ cup water

1 tomato medium size

2-3 pcs green chili

25 gr chopped onions

5 gr grated ginger

1 pcs bay leaf

1 pcs cinnamon stick small piece

1 pcs green cardamom

½ tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp turmeric powder

½ tsp coriander powder

½ tsp garam masala powder (optional)

½ tsp chili powder (optional)

¼ tsp pepper powder

1-2 tsp salt

3-4 pcs cabbage leaves – small sliced

1 pcs aubergine – sliced and steamed/half cooked

3 tbsp oil

1 tbsp peanuts/cashew nuts - garnish

1 tbsp raisins - garnish

Method:

1. Soak the basmati rice for 30 minutes and drain it.
2. In a pot, cook the basmati rice with 1½ cup water. Let it boil for 10 minutes and switch off the heat, let it steam for another 10 minutes. Keep it aside and cool down for 20 minutes. 
3. While waiting for the rice, prepare the vegetables and spices.
4. Steam the aubergine in a pot, half cooked will be fine. We will cook it again later (Skip this step if you do not use aubergines) Nb. I steamed the aubergine (cut into half) on top of my rice, and then I sliced it into small pieces.
5. In a non-stick pot/pan, heat 3 tbsp oil. Add the bay leaf, green cardamom, cinnamon stick, and cumin seeds. Stir it for 1-2 minutes to get the aroma out
6. Add the chopped onion, stir fry it for 1-2 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes, green chili and ginger. Stir fry it for 5 minutes until tomatoes turn soft and mushy.  
7. Add the chili powder, turmeric powder, garam masala powder, coriander powder. Stir fry it until it is evenly. 
8. Add the sliced cabbage and cooked eggplants. Mix them well with tomatoes mixture. Cook it for 3 – 4 minutes. Cabbage will turn clear. 
9. Season with salt and pepper
10. In this stage, place in the cooked rice and slowly mix the rice with the vegetable mixture. Make a taste. Add some salt if it is needed. 
11. Add the raisin and roasted peanuts/cashew nuts.
12. Enjoy your vegetable biryani