Friday, January 9, 2015

Mushroom Biryani/Kalan Biriyani-One Pot Meal


Mushrooms are rich in protein and have high water content and therefore they are healthy. I absolutely love mushrooms and my love for biryani is an unsung story. So when both favorites are combined, it is a winning combo. M was not a fan of mushrooms earlier but now he has started including it for its health benefits and he likes biryani too. So I make this atleast once a week. To me mushroom biryani is a fuzz-free one pot meal that doesn’t require much of a preparation but sure to be a crowd pleaser.
I got this recipe from a caterer who does catering for all our family functions and trust me the recipe will be a keeper once you have tried and tasted it. When I tried it for the first time few years ago, I patted myself for replicating the exact taste but only later when my 15 year old neighbor cooked the biryani with the same taste I understood that the recipe was that clean and simple and my culinary skills was of the least in order in bringing out the taste and flavor… he he! Anyways I was the one to try it first. I follow the recipe to the T till date and I always get excellent biryani except for slight color changes depending on the chili powder you use. Mine as seen in the below picture is bright red due to my uber red tikha lal chili powder. But usually the caterer’s biryani will always be slight brown and thatz because they reduce the chili powder and use more green chilies and also I have used a little more chili powder as we are people with hard palettes that require a heavy punch of hotness.

Ingredients:
Jeeraga samba/Basmati Rice-1&1/2 cups
Mushrooms-300g*, washed and sliced
Ginger& Garlic paste-1 tbsp
Onion-2, finely sliced
Tomatoes-2, finely chopped
Green chilies-4, slit
Mint leaves-1/2 cup
Red chili powder-1&1/2 tsp
Curd-1/2 cup
Boiled Milk-1/2 cup
Salt-as needed
To Roast & Pound:
Cinnamon-1 inch piece
Cardamom-2 pods
Cloves-4
Star anise-1
Mace-1
Fennel seeds-1/2 tsp
Kaput buds/Marathi moggu-1
Dry roast them in a pan and pound them to a coarse powder. Remove and discard the cardamom skin.
To Temper:
Bay leaf-1
Stone flower/kal paasi-1 tbsp
Vegetable oil-2 tbsp
Ghee-2 tbsp
How It Happened:
1. Heat oil and ghee in a pan, add bay leaf, stone flower and ground spices. Fry until they start spluttering then add the onions and green chilies. Mean wash and soak the rice.
2. Sauté until the onion turns transparent. Then add ginger-garlic paste and fry until the raw smell goes off.

3. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook covered until they turn mushy and almost dissolve/melt in the mixture.
4. Add mint leaves and fry for a minute. Then add red chili powder, salt and mix well.
5. Add sliced mushrooms, mix once and cook covered in low flame for 15 minutes or until all the water left out by the mushrooms are evaporated.
6. Drain the water from the rice completely and add the rice to the mixture. Mix well and fry them for 2 minutes.
7. Add the ½ cup milk and 2 cups of water and mix well. Then add ½ cup beaten curd and check for salt.

8. Allow the mixture to boil. Once when it starts bubbling close with the lid and cook for 15 minutes in medium flame and then 5 minutes in simmer. If pressure cooking, wait for 1 whistle in medium flame, then 5 minutes in simmer and switch off the flame. Let it rest for 15 minutes.
9. Remove the lid, fluff the rice carefully with fork and serve hot with raita.
Notes:
* I like more mushrooms in my biryani but 200g will be the right quantity for this amount of rice.
* Use freshly crushed/grinded ginger garlic paste for better flavors.
* I used mortar and pestle to pound the dry roast spices as they turn out coarse and somehow more aromatic. You can use instant blitz in mixer/blender.
*Normally jeera samba rice is used for this biryani. But I used regular rice and it turned good. You can use basmati rice too.
* I usually add salt only after adding rice as only then i can judge the amount required. But you can follow any way in which you are comfortable with.
* Its generally 1:2 ratio for rice is to water. Milk and water constitutes to 2&1/2 cups and the remaining ½ cup is from curd.
* Beat/cream the curd well before adding it else it may curdle.
* Instead of milk coconut milk can also be used. They add creaminess. Also you can grind 5 cashews along with ¼ cup of coconut and add the mixture for more richness.
* Do not add milk/coconut more than ½ cup else the rice will not be fluffy and they will turn sticky.

* Coriander leaves can be used along with mint leaves.

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