Chettinad Vegetable Briyani

A couple of days back, Srivalli and myself were discussing some recipes for the Indian Cooking Challenge and amongst other cuisines and dishes, I remembered a briyani and gravy from the Chettinad cuisine of Tamil Nadu. Srivalli decided to go with the Briyani and it was really a good choice!

One of the cuisines that fascinate me next to the Kongunad cuisine is the famous Chettinad cuisine. When I visit the stores, I usually pick up a couple of new spices and once I picked up Maratti Mokku and Kalpasi. These two spices are extensively used in the Chettinad cuisine and I wanted to try them out in some dishes.

Somehow that never got done until it was time to make a dish for ICC.The chosen dish was the vegetable briyani and I was so glad to find that it used the Maratti Mokku.

I never thought this dish would be received so well at home!I had this for lunch and Lil Angel tasted a bit after she came back from school and later wanted a plateful.What was left,which was quite a fair portion, was served to hubby for dinner and he was so disappointed that he could not have more!


I will be making this again and that time will be sure to double the recipe!

I used:
Adapted from –Chettinad Recipes

Rice – 1 cup
Mixed vegetables – 1 carrot, 5 beans, a handful of peas,1 potato
Tomato-1
Pearl onions-15
Cashews-10
Green chilies-2,slit
Mint leaves- a handful
Corinader leaves- a handful
Ginger garlic paste-1 teaspoon
Red chili powder- 1 teaspoon
Coriander powder- 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder- a pinch
Salt to taste
Oil-1 tablespoon

Whole spices

Bay leaf-1
Cloves-2
Cinnamon-1 piece,broken
Cardamom-1
Mace- a small piece
Maratti mokku-1

Coriander leaves to garnish

Wash and soak rice for 15 minutes.Prepare the vegetables by cutting the carrot ,beans into 1/2 inch pieces,peel and cube potatoes, peel pearl onions,slit chilies, chop tomato,remove stem from mint and coriander leaves.Keep the spices ready[In the pic- clockwise – Bay leaf, cardamom, maratti mokku,mace, cloves, cinnamon pieces]

Heat oil in a pressure cooker and fry cashews till golden brown.Drain and keep aside.

In the same cooker, add the whole spices,onion, ginger garlic paste and saute for a few minutes.Add mint and coriander leaves and saute for a minute.Put in the veggies and tomato.

Add the chili powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and mix well. Keep the flame on low and cook for a minute,Add 2 cups of water [or the quantity the quantity that you normally use for 1 cup rice] and give a nice stir.Cover and bring to boil.[Do not put on the stopper/ weight]. It will take just a minute to come to a boil.

Add the drained rice and salt.Mix, cover and pressure cook for 10 minutes / 2 hisses / till done.Take care that the rice doesn’t get mushy.Remove to a serving dish, serve garnished with coriander leaves, fried cashews.

We had this Chettinad Briyani with onion raita and stuffed brinjal curry.

Note:

• Jeeraga Samba rice is used in this recipe. I did not have it at the time I made this dish hence I used Basmati rice.
• As soon as the rice comes off the cooker, a tablespoon of ghee is added to enhance the flavor.
• I have downplayed the spiciness quotient. Increase the chili powder if you prefer a spicy meal.

Bon Appetit…