I am a French teacher for a private school, and a food blogger.  I met an amazing smart math teacher from India at our school. On a special occasion, all the teachers brought a special recipe from their own countries, and Deepthi made Rice Biryani with vegetables and coconut milk.  She was kind enough to share her recipe “Biryani with rice”.

 Rice Biryani

Ingredients:

Vegetables:

• Potatoes
• Carrots
• Green beans

Flavored whole spices:

( 1 or 2 of each depending on quantity of rice)

• Bay leaf
• Cardamom
• Cinnamon
• Star anise
• Mace
• Shahjeera (½ tsp)
• Jeera
• Cloves
• Black peppercorns
• Coriander powder
• Garam masala
  or biryani  masala (optional)

Other ingredients:

• Basmati rice
• Onions and Chillies
• Yogurt
• Oil
• Coconut milk
• Mint and Coriander
• Salt
• Ginger and garlic (make a paste)
• Cashew nuts

Preparation:

1. Soak basmati rice in water for 15 min
2. Meanwhile, add few drops of oil and saute tofu (or paneer) until they change color or turn brown. Now add some salt and mix well. Keep it aside.
3. Add oil in a vessel and add all the flavored spices, mint and coriander leaves, add the basmati rice and some water (1 cup rice to 1 cup water). Add some salt, mix well and boil the rice until it is 75% cooked. Drain all the water and put the rice aside.
4. In another pan, add oil and once it’s hot, add jeera, cloves, cashew nuts and peppercorns. Add onions, chillies and let the onions turn brown.
5. Add potatoes, carrots and once they are soft add green beans, mint and coriander leaves. After mixing for few minutes, add ginger garlic paste, coriander powder, masalas if needed. Mix them well for 2 min and add salt as per taste. Now add tofu and few spoons of yogurt. Close the lid for 5 min.

1. Mix it well and add some coconut milk. Nicely layer all the rice on the top of this vegetable gravy until everything is covered and add the rest of the coconut milk (1 cup rice to 1/2 cup coconut milk or more if needed). Cover it with tight lid. Put the stove on low and let it slow-cook until all the rice is cooked.
2. Serve it hot, please enjoy your meal (kripyā bhojan kā ānnaṅd lijīyai)