Vegetable Biryani with Step by Step Recipe | Indian Lunch Box Recipes

When you pack your lunch box for work, you are always on the lookout for quick one pot meal or something easy. Even with so many Vegetable Biryanis that I have posted, another one was never a problem. Today's cooking from back pack features Vegetable Biryani, got from the back of a basmati rice packet. This cover has been with me for so many years. It must have been at that point when I stopped cutting it down and saved it as such. Guess by now you know how much of a mess my collection must be with so many loose covers and papers.

Though I have enjoyed all my BM themes all these months, I must confess this is the best of all. It is actually making me clean my collection. I can now dispose the papers and not worry about writing it down as it's already recorded on the blog. Surprising all the 4 recipes that I have tried it turned out well. Of course, there has been fair amount of customization done to the recipe. As I have said I can never follow a recipe to the exact notes, plus to make sure the dish gets eaten up.

Like for this vegetable biryani, there is no mention of green chilis or red chili powder. I can't imagine hubby dear even touching it with a stick, let alone eat it with raitha.

By the time I reached the end of the cooking process, I could feel the wonderful aroma spreading through the house. Once it was done, I was sure it's going to be very good. I served with just onion raitha and it went very well.

Step by Step pictures to cook Vegetable Biriyani

Ingredients Needed:

Basmati Rice - 2 cups
Vegetables - 2 cups (Beans, Carrot, Peas and Potato)
Oil - 2 -3 tsp
Bay leaf - 1
Mint Leaves / Pudina - 15 leaves
Ginger garlic paste
Lemon juice - 1 tps
Salt to taste

Spices to be added

Ginger garlic paste - 3/4 tsp
Fennel powder- 3/4 tsp
Roasted Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Cinnamon, Cloves, Cardamoms - 1/2 tps

Green chilies - 2 medium (not asked in the original recipe)

How to make Vegetable Biryani in pressure cooker:

Wash and soak basmati rice in water for 15 mins.

Heat oil in a pressure cooker, add the bayleaf. Then add onions, saute till brown.

Add the chopped vegetables, simmer for 3- 4 mins with lid covered.

Then add all the spices, saute well and again cook in simmer for 3 mins

Measure 3 & 1/2 cups of water, add to the vegetables, add salt and lemon juice along with mint leaves.

When the water starts boiling, add the strained basmati rice.

Cover with pan with lid and cook for 2 whistles.

Serve with curry and raitha

Notes:

The back pack recipe called for all spices to be ground as whole spice. Since I had all the spices powders, I added them as such. You can grind them as whole, it will be different.
The recipe didn't call for chilies, since biryani will end up not being spicy, I added green chilies. Also I simply served with raitha as it was spicy on its own.
When you want to cook this in a regular pan, increase the water measure to 1/2 cup and cover with a heavy lid and cook in low flame.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#7

Vegetable Biryani Recipe

One pot meal always comes handy be it when you want to pack for office or when you want to travel. Especially when you plan for a picnic, I am sure you will want to pack something that is not messy and easy to pack. But at the same time, full of balanced nutrition in your box.

On a regular basis, I plan for one pot meals twice a week. Makes a great way to include all the vegetable in one meal. Finding another recipe that turns out well is a real boon. Enjoy this wonderful blend of spices with vegetables in a rice.

What's even better is you can make this dish with left over rice too.

Vegetable Biryani Recipe

Rice - 2 cups
Onion - 1 medium
Vegetables - 1 cup (Beans, Carrot, Potatoes, peas)
Salt to taste
Oil - 2 tsp

Masala to be ground.

Cinnamon - 1" 4 pieces
cloves - 2
Cardomon - 1
Coriander Seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1/4 tsp
Garlic - 2-3
Ginger - 1"
Onion  1 small
coriander leaves - handful
Green chili - 3-4 (as per taste)
Coconut, grated - 4-6 tbsps
Tomatoes - 2 medium

Method to prepare:

To make the masala:

Add water and grind all the masala to a smooth paste.

Wash and finely chop all the vegetables. Microwave all the vegetables for 10 mins.

Wash and soak rice for 15 mins. Then pressure cook or pan cook the rice with 4 cups water. check to make sure the grains are seperate.

To make the biryani:

In a non stick pan, add oil, saute onion julinnes. When it turns colour add the ground masala and fry till the raw smell goes.

then add the cooked vegetables and mix well. Finally add the cooked rice and combine everything. Close with a tight lid to make sure the flavours mix well.

Serve with Raita

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#6

Macroni in Tomato Sauce, Indian Style

Macroni often kindles memories of childhood Sunday Breakfasts at parents home. Amma pretty much had a list that went around through the weeks. And one Sunday was dedicated to macroni. That tangy Indian style Macroni in Tomato Sauce is not something that I can forget ever.

We used to make two types, one Vegetarian and the other mostly with Eggs for Dad and Brother. While we vegetarian would feast with either garlic flavoured or topped with cheese. Either ways, it used to be one enjoyable feast. As somebody said, tastes change with changing times, or rather new things replace old, this was somehow forgotten for a while.

When my daughter started going to school, I again remembered how well a macroni dish leads itself. And I devised a simple quick dish with tomato sauce for her. She used to love that. Though that is not the dish I am going to talk about. This Macroni in Tomato Sauce is made in Indian Style. With the spice level increased, one would never guess that it was supposed to be bland.

This makes a perfect meal when you quickly want to make something for yourself for lunch. Though I normally don't make this for my lunch, I send this often for my daughter. I recently found that my boys love this too. So it became quite easy that I have one dish that I can actually send all three of them!

Macroni in Tomato Sauce, Indian Style

Preparation Time : 20 mins
Serves :2


Ingredients Needed:


Macroni - 1 cup
Onion - 1 big
Tomato Sauce - 2 -3 tbsp / Tomatoes - 2 medium
Ginger Garlic paste - 1/2 tsp
Red Chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Black Pepper powder - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil - 1 tsp
Cheese - 1 tsp
Coriander leaves for garnish


Method to prepare:

1. Boil a large pan of water and add the macroni to it. When it starts boiling, add few drops of oil to prevent the macroni from sticking together. Cook on high, it takes about 7 - 10 mins to get soft macronis. Drain the water and keep aside. You can again add few drops of oil.
2. Heat a pan with oil, add finely chopped onions, sauté till its done. If you are adding Tomato Sauce, add and allow it to cook till it kind of dries. Else with tomatoes chunks, ensure you mush them really.
3. At this stage add the salt and chili powder. Cook well. Add the cooked pasta. Combine everything well. Add the pepper powder and mix.
4. Finally garnish with grated cheese and coriander. The cheese normally melts due to the heat, else micro it for a minute.

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Notes:

• If you are using Tomatoes, add a pinch of sugar. That will give a sweetish taste.
• Add pepper just before switching it off.
• Since we are adding both chili powder and pepper powder, use as per taste.

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Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 3 BM#4 along with me  
Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma  
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)  
Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh  
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Jayasree, Pavani
Seven Days of Cakes:  Priya Vasu  
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali  
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli

Coriander Rice | Kothamalli Sadam | Step By Step Recipe | Cooking for 100

Yes you read it right! Couple of months back when we had a visitor from our US office, I was requested to cook for the entire staff along with our guest who is a Mexican. She prepared a Mexican rice dish and a delicious salad. I once made Channa Pulao and that lead to cooking an entire meal for the staff. We are about 100 of us and planning an entire meal was really tough, not to mention scary for me. 

But with a supportive team, we got it right. This time round since it was going to be for evening, plus being just one dish, I thought I could easily manage myself. I had the cook to assist me of course. It was utterly fun. And the Mexican dishes turned out superb too. Will be sharing those two recipes soon.

Since the cooking had to be done in one shot, I had to choose something that can be cooked and simply mixed. I was planning to make Karuvapillai Sadam / Curry Leaves Rice. But it was a period even getting a twig of Curry leaves was proving to be toughest task for us. So there was no question any vendor sparing us 14 kg of those leaves.I got it confirmed with Amma on the amount of leaves I will have to use. Even if I can measure the quantity, I feel happy confirming with her. It always feels like we are planning a grand extravaganza!

I finally settled on Kothamalli Sadam, hoping we will be able to source this in bulk from the main market. I requested for those herbs to be bought ahead, fearing their unavailability. We were supposed to serve at 5 but I ended up starting the process only at about 3 pm or later. Since we had those other two dishes being prepared, time simply flew. Plus the distraction of others dropping in to check what's happening, made sure we crossed the decided time. 

Well I am talking about cooking 7 kilos of rice, that used nearly 15 huge bunches of Coriander leaves. Anyway when you cook for 4, this hardly takes time and very quick to get done.

 Coriander Rice ~ Kothamalli Sadam

 Coriander Rice, Mexican Rice and a salad - complete meal

Please excuse the pictures as the lighting was bad in our office pantry and I was trying to manage clicking pictures with a messy hand, while stirring the pot literally!

For 100 people, I used about 7 kilo of rice, 15 Bunches of Coriander leaves, 2 bunches of Mint leaves, 500 gms of Green chilies, 250 gms of Whole Coriander Seeds, 100 gms of Whole peppercorns. I actually ended up using only 5 kgs of rice, and shared some of the coriander leaves with my colleague for her dish.

Serving for 4 you can use this measurement.


Coriander Rice

Ingredients Needed

Rice - 2 cups
Coriander leaves - 2 big bunches
Mint leaves - 1 cup tightly packed
Green chillies - 4 -5 medium
Whole Coriander seeds - - 2-3 tbsp
Whole Peppercorns- 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Roasted Cashew nuts for garnishing.

Method to prepare:

Trim and wash the leaves, let it drain aside.

Wash and soak the rice for 15 mins. Once done pan cook the rice with 4 cups of water and keep it aside.

Roast both the coriander seeds and peppercorn separately and powder to a fine texture.

Grind the leaves with using very minimal water. Since you will have to get a thick paste you should not use lot of water. Sieve to ensure you don't get the fiber. Grind Green chilies separately.

Heat a pan with 3 tsp of oil, add the paste, major amount of the chili paste. Cover it with a lid and continue cooking. It takes about 10 mins, you will have to keep stirring in middle so that the bottom doesn't get burnt.

Increase the spice if you require too. Once the paste comes out real thick, remove from flame.

Mix this paste directly to the cooked rice, add the ground coriander and pepper powder. Adjust the taste with salt.

Add some cashews to the rice and mix well. Finally garnish with roasted nuts on the top.

Serve with papad.

Notes:
Grinding the Green chilies separately is best as you can always add more if required.
Same goes for the coriander and peppercorn powder.
Rice has to be cooked as grains and mushy.


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Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 3 BM#4 along with me

Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma  
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)
Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh  
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Jayasree, Pavani  
Seven Days of Cakes:  Priya Vasu
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali  
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli

Cauliflower Peas Pulao Recipe

Time surely has no sense of time! Well the way the days have rolled into weeks, left me amazed that I am doing the 3rd group of the Blogging Marathon. And two weeks have just gone so quickly. Though I never thought I will do the rest of the weeks, somehow didn't feel good letting the group do the hard work without pinching in. 

I wanted to make things little easy for myself and decided to do 30 minutes meal for the next 7 days. Most days this is what happens at home. With me cooking the breakfast and lunch at the same go and managing it well within time for everybody to leave on time. My usual menu revolves around dals, sambars and pulaos in a week. When I make Dal or Sambar, it is the usual Rice, Vegetable side dish, Rasam and Curd Rice. When it is Pulao, if the rice is mild a vegetable curry is made, else a simple onion raitha.

Making an Indian Meal within 30 mins is surely possible when you have certain things done ahead. Also I start my cooking with the pan on the flame and then get my things ready as I cook along. There is really no time nor need to get all the ingredients ready on the table for you to start cooking. Of course that helps for a novice or if you are attempting a new recipe.

For Pulaos to get ready quickly, here are the addons that that you can consider getting done ahead.

Ginger Garlic paste
Coconut Paste
Green Chili Paste

These can be made ahead and usually stays good as mentioned in the post on their shelf life. 

Cauliflower Peas Pulao 

Ingredients Needed

Basmati Rice - 1 Cup
Fresh Peas - 1/2 Cup
Cauliflower, florets - 1/2 Cup
Onion - 1 medium
Ginger Garlic paste - 3/4 tsp
Green Chilli - 2 tsp / 3 medium slit vertically
Coconut paste - 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil - 2 tsp
Water - 1 & 1/2
Coriander leaves,finely chopped - 2 tsp

Whole spices

Cloves - 2
Cardamoms - 2
Cinnamon - 1 stick
Bay leaf - 1
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp

Method to prepare:

Wash and soak the basmati rice for 10 - 15 mins.

Clean the cauliflower and soak in salted hot water for 5 mins. Shell peas if you haven't already done ahead.

Put the pressure cooker on low flame, while you chop the onions. Add oil to the pan, drop in all the whole spices.

If you are using green chili paste, add it now else, the slit pieces along with ginger garlic paste. Saute well for couple of mins.

Then add the onions, saute till it turns colour, then add the cauliflower florets and peas. Continue cooking in low flame for 2 more mins for the vegetables to get thoroughly mixed with the oil and spices.

Get the flame to high flame, saute well. Then add drained rice and saute again. Measure out 1 & 1/2 cup of water, add coconut paste, salt and cover with lid.

Pressure cook for 2 -3 whistles depending on your cooker.

Serve with Onion Raitha for a complete meal.

Note:

When you make this pulao with whole green chilies, it tends to be mild. So you may increase the spice or serve with a curry as side dish.
Else if you want to serve this spicy, add the green chili paste and make it fiery.


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Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 3 BM#4 along with me  

Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma  
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)
Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Jayasree, Pavani
Seven Days of Cakes:  Priya Vasu  
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali 
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli