Mushroom Biryani

Hope everyone is having a great week with sunny and bright days. The spring makes our life more livelier and happier, right? The green grass and the colourful flowers one sees around just boosts our energy and brings a big smile on our face. Oh ! how much I love this season... though here in UK the spring starts very late, unlike the spring I have seen in US. Which is more bright and lasts for long. What disappoints me is that, here in UK even the spring and summers are very windy :( Even in spring the kids need to wear fully covered clothes and one has keep his jacket(or atleast a cardigan) and an umbrella throughout the year with him- coz first you never know, when you start feeling cold coz of the winds and then, here you never know when or where it may start raining. Seriously ..... even if its sunny outside, it may rain for few minutes and then, you feel cold and shivering for some time and then again you may say the bright sun and YES all this in one single day :) The weather here changes every few hours.Now, when I am writing this post, I am loving the bright sun outside... but when I check the temperature outside its still 7°C , which is still cold according to me. Specially after returning from India just few weeks back, where the temperature was between 37 °C and 42°C. I know...I know...I am just complaining too much and I need to move on to today's recipe.
Coming to today's recipe...First let me tell you all that I am not a big fan of mushrooms and I have never been. But, when I bought a box full of mushrooms to cook veg hot-pot for my DH, I still had lot of mushrooms left in my refrigerator and was wondering what to cook with them. Then stumbled upon this Mushrom biryani recipe from Sanjeev kapoor's book- recipes for the Indian Kitchen and wanted to give it a try. And Voila ! the Biryani turned out sooooo yummmmy. I loved the mushrooms in this biryani and have decided to cook only MUSHROOM BIRYANI , whenever I buy Mushrooms. Or should I say I have started liking Mushrooms now :)

MUSHROOM BIRYANI

Ingredients:
15-20 fresh button mushrooms,
2 cups of Basmati rice,
2 medium Onions-finely sliced,3 tomatoes,
1 tbsp of ginger paste,
1 tbsp of garlic paste,1/4 cup of fresh coriander leaves,
1/2 cup of fresh mint leaves,
1/2 cup of yogurt,5-6 strands of saffron,
1/4 cup of milk,1 bay leaf,
4 cloves,
3 green cardamoms,
1 inch stick of cinnamon,
2 tbsp of oil,2 tsp of red chilli powder,1 tbsp of coriander powder,
1/2 tbsp of crushed peppercorns,
1/2 tsp cumin powder,
1/2 tsp turmeric powder,
1/2 tsp garam masala powder and
salt to taste.
Method:
Wash and soak the rice for half an hour.Wash and cut the mushrooms into quarters.Soak the saffron in warm milk. Heat the oil in a non vessel and add cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaf and cloves. Stir fry for few minutes and add finely sliced onion to the oil and stir fry over high heat till onions turn translucent. Meanwhile puree the tomatoes in a blender/ mixer and keep aside. When onion turn translucent, add ginger garlic paste and cook for further 4-5 minutes. Add red chilli powder, coriander powder, crushed peppercorns, cumin powder and turmeric powder. Stir-fry briefly for few minutes and add the pureed Tomatoes. Cook over medium heat for few minutes until the masala becomes thick.
Meanwhile boil 4-5 cups of water in a thick bottomed vessel, add 1 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of oil (to prevent the rice from sticking). When the water starts boiling add the rice and cook till the rice is 3/4th done. Drain in a colander and keep aside.
When the masala becomes thick, add the beaten yogurt, garam masala powder and 1/2 of the finely chopped coriander and and mint leaves. stir and cook for further 5 minutes. Now add the quartered mushrooms and some salt to taste. Stir fry over high heat for 2-3 minutes and remove from heat.
Arrange the cooked rice and the mushroom masala in alternate layers in big vessel, and sprinkle the chopped coriander leaves and mint and the milk with saffron in between. The upper most layer should be of rice. Cover with a tight lid and cook on low heat for 10-15 minutes or until the rice is done. Serve hot with some raita.


Note: Instead of adding the whole garam masala to the oil, one can even add them to the boiling water before adding the rice.
One can even layer the biryani in an oven proof dish, seal tightly with an aluminum foil and cook in a preheated oven at 160 c for 15-20 minutes

Source: Sanjeev kapoor's book- recipes for Indian Kitchen.