We took a sneak peak into pretty girl Preetika Rao's kitchen today, to see what she can cook! And she definitely can whip up a mouth watering Lucknowi Veg Biryani using Soya in it! Want to make it too? Well here goes the recipe then...
Preetika's Mouth Watering Lucknowi Veg Biryani:
Ingredients:
Jeera rice/Basmati Rice- 1 cup
Big onions - 2
Tomato - 1
Soya chunks - 30 pieces
Red chilli paste - 1 tbsp ( use 5-6 chillies & make a paste)
Garlic paste - 1.5 tbsp ( grind 20 cloves)
Ginger paste -1.5 tbsp ( Grind thumb finger size piece)
Mint & coriander leaves (Pudina and Kothmir) - a handful
Salt - as needed
Water - 1.5 cups
Curd - 3 tbsp
Lemon juice - as needed
To temper:
Cooking oil - 3 tbsp
Cinnamon - 1 big piece
Cloves - 2
Cardamom - 2
Tip for a different flavor for the Soya Chunks:
Half an hour before you start making the Biryani, marinate the Soya chunks in a bit of Curd with spices like Cloves, Cinnamon, Badi and Choti Elaichi & half a cup of Sauf.
Method-
Pinch & soak 6 chillies in little hot water and grind into a smooth paste.Use Crushed variety chilli(Byadige) to get this color.Grind ginger to smooth paste adding required water. Similarly grind garlic and make the paste.Keep all the paste separately.
Boil water in a pan.Once it starts to roll boil,add the soya chunks and switch off the flame.Let the chunks soak and get doubled in size.
Chop onions,tomato,mint & coriander leaves and keep it ready.
In a cooker base,heat oil.Sprinkle a tsp of curd to check whether the oil is heated.
Now add cinnamon,cloves,cardamom.
Saute for a second and add the garlic paste.Saute for a minute till raw goes off.Now add ginger paste.Saute well for a minute.Mix well.Then add chilli paste & mix to coat the soya chunks well.
Now add onions & saute till transparent.Then add tomato pieces.Saute till it turns mushy.Squeeze and add soya chunks.Mix well. Lastly add mint & coriander leaves & salt.Toss well.
Add the curd & mentioned quantity of water,lemon juice.Let it boil nicely.Wash the jeera rice and add it to the boiling water.Close the cooker with the lid.Pressure cook in low flame for one whistle(approx 10 mins).
After the steam is released,check whether rice is cooked well. Prepare this rice 30 minutes in advance because all the masala will infuse well & tastes good.
Serve hot with Raita and Papad!
Enjoyy
Rhea Parekh.