POTATO BIRYANI

The once veggie hater girl is loving vegetarian dishes these days too much. Perhaps too much of non-veg diet is the reason. I remember, my father did not like having non-veg while on tours. He felt it is not safe to have fish /meat in hotels considering the hygiene part. That was a kind of punishment for me. Even the obedient me refused and used to say that I cannot go veg for so many days. I clearly visualise the teen sitting beside the Dal Lake and demanding for fish..... the poor father walks down from here to there and gets fish fry for his daughter. Back to present, the heart pains for the old man....living thousand miles apart....the lady feels sorry.

In pursuit of having an all vegetarian complete meal, I prepared this Potato Biryani and served with a yogurt eggplant curry and salad. This is one way of satisfying myself and keeping my religiously non-veg men in track. You see I have used khoya in the preparation as told by the person who gave me the recipe. Back in my hometown, there are a number of biryani outlets in my neighbourhood, learnt about this use of khoya in biryani from a cook who happens to live in the locality. Let us do it.

INGREDIENTS :[for instant khoya]

Milk Powder : 1small cup
Ghee[clarified butter] : 2tsp
Whole milk : 1/2 cup

INGREDIENTS : [for the rice]

Basmati Rice : 1cup
Green Cardamom : 3-4
Cinnamon : 1inch stick one
Cloves : 3-4
Bay Leaf : 2-3
Salt : As required
Water : As required

INGREDIENTS :[for cooking the potato]

Potatoes : 4big
Plain Yogurt : 3tbsp
Whole Spices :[ 2mace, 7-8 black peppercorns, 2 one-inch cinnamon stick, 3-4 cloves, 1 black cardamom or 3-4 green cardamom.... dry roasted and ground]
Salt : As required
Ginger Paste : 1tsp
Garlic Paste : 2tsp
Onion Paste : 2tbsp
Oil : 2tbsp
Ghee : 1tsp

INGREDIENTS : [final round]
Ghee : 1/4 small cup
Khoya : 1/2 small cup
Saffron :[7-8 strands soaked in 1/2 cup warm milk or yellow food colour]
Kewra Water : 4-5 drops

METHOD :

Lets prepare the khoya first. Mix together the milk powder, whole milk and ghee in a bowl and microwave at high for 3 minutes stirring every 30 seconds.

Boil enough water in a vessel to prepare the rice. Add salt to the water. Take a clean cloth, add green cardamom, cinnamon stick, cloves and bay leafs to it, tie and put into the boiling water. The rice has to be washed and soaked for 1/2 an hour. Add it to the boiling water and cook till 60% done. Drain the water and discard the whole spices.

Peel and wash the potatoes. Marinate with beaten yogurt, salt, ginger-garlic paste, ground masala for 1 hour. Heat oil and ghee together in a wok. Add the onion paste and fry till brown. Add the potatoes with the marinade and cook till they are 75% done.

Now the dum part. Add the khoya and ghee to the rice and mix lightly. This way we need less ghee.
In a deep bottomed pan arrange the rice first. Then few potatoes with gravy. Pour some saffron milk or sprinkle little yellow colour. Make three such layers. Topmost should be rice. Add few drops of kewra water.

Place a frying pan on top of gas. Place the vessel on it. Cook at low heat for 45 minutes, shaking 2-3 times in between.

Its done, serve hot with salad. I served the Potato Biryani with some salad and eggplant cooked in yogurt & mustard seeds paste.