Lima Beans Biryani - Butter Beans Biryani in an Instant Pot

I tend to make biryani a lot. It is quick, tasty and flavorful. Be it mixed vegetables, eggplant or fresh shelled Lima or kidney beans they all end up tasting good. While none of these will compare to chicken or mutton biryani, this Lima beans biryani is nothing to snicker at.

Ever since I switched to cooking biryani in an Instant Pot, I cook the spices, add the rice and set the Instant Pot on timer for some piping hot meal at lunch time. Normally I cook in the evenings but the past year I switched to cooking in the mornings. I wake up early because I go to bed early :) It is much faster to get cooking out of the way in the mornings then to do it through the day or later in the day.

You can put the Instant Pot in saute mode and do the sauteing of the spices directly in it. I do it in the stove pot because it is much faster.

The recipe I use biryanis is pretty much same for both non veg and veg. I cannot do biryani without coriander leaves and mint leaves. I normally have frozen mint leaves pretty much always. I used freshly shelled Lima Beans for this recipe. These pretty beans are called Christmas Lima Beans.

Recipe in pictures,

Heat oil, add the spices, saute onions, green chilies, ginger garlic, coriander and mint leaves, tomatoes and when the tomatoes are nice and mushy add in the lima beans.
Mix the beans into the masala mixture and add the rice.
Add water and transfer contents to the Instant Pot.
Cook for 6 minutes in the Instant Pot.

Unplug the Instant Pot once the cooking is complete.

Lima Beans Biryani
Preparation Time:20 minutes
Cooking Time:25 minutes
Ingredients

1. 3-4 cups of freshly sheled Lima Beans (if using dry soak it overnight)
2. 1 1/2 cups of Basmati Rice
3. 1 cup of thinly sliced onions
4. 2 tbsp grated ginger and garlic
5. 6-8 green chilies
6. handful of chopped mint + handful of chopped coriander leaves
7. 2 tsp turmeric powder
8. 2 tsp of red chili powder (or to taste)
9. 1/2 cup of chopped tomatoes
10. 1/4 tbsp of curd(yogurt) whisked (skip for vegan)
11. Seasonings: curry leaves, cinnamon sticks 2 small pieces, few cloves, 1 small star anise
12. Salt to taste
13. 1/2 tbsp oil

Method

1. In a wide mouthed pan, heat oil and add the whole spices - cinnamon and cloves followed by the curry leaves, saute for a minute.
2. Add the thinly sliced onions and green chilies and saute till the onions start to turn slightly brown.
3. Add in the grated ginger and garlic and saute for a minute stirring to avoid burning.
4. Add in the mint leaves and coriander leaves and saute till the leaves are fully wilted.
5. Add in the chopped tomatoes and salt and let cook till the tomatoes become mushy. Takes approximately 4-5 minutes.
6. Add in the shelled lima beans red chili powder and turmeric powder and saute for 3-4 minutes.
7. Add the whisked yogurt, mix and add in the washed rice and mix it well into the masala.
8. Now add in the required amount of water for the rice, check for salt and heat. (For unsoaked Basmati Rice 1: 1.5 cups of rice : water)
9. Transfer the contents to the Instant Pot and put it in manual mode for 6 minutes and delay of a minimmum 30 minutes.
10. Once the cooking is done unplug and when the steam subsides naturally and fluff up the rice.

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Radish Masala Rice - Radish Fried Rice

Wishing you all a Very Happy New Year! A year of mindful eating and growing your own food :)

If there is one vegetable that you would want to grow in early spring that should be radish. With the shortest growing time of any vegetable, about 6 weeks and you get fresh crunchy radish to enjoy. Fresh radish does not smell and a lot of people told me that they were surprised by the lack of the tell tale signs of radish we know so well.

Radish grows well in cool weather so this is the first spring vegetables that we are lucky to enjoy. When you have an abundance of a good thing you try to come with up ways to use it and thus was born this Radish Masala Rice. I was pleasantly surprised by how good it tasted.

Pretty easy to make, I added ingredients to make the rice flavorful and also keeping in mind that radish is known for its smell I added few of the powdererd whole spices.

Peel the skin and grate the radish using a grater.
Prepare onions, ginger and green chilies. In a wide mouthed pan, heat oil and add mustard seeds and cumin.
Saute the onions and green chilies. Cook rice, fluff and set aside.
Take the whole spices in a coffee grinder and make a powder.
Add grated ginger and saute it and add the turmeric and spice powder. Add in the grated radish.
once the radish is cooked, squeeze in the lime. Add the cooked rice..
Mix the rice into the radish masala well

The masala rice can be served with some potato chips or roasted potatoes.

Radish Masala Rice
Preparation Time:20 minutes
Cooking Time:25 minutes
Ingredients

1. 1 1/2 cups of Basmati or any White grained Rice
2. 1/2 cup chopped shallots or red onions
3. 4-5 green chilies slit (I usually remove the seeds)
4. 1 inch piece of ginger grated
5. 10-12 small radishes (enough to get 2 cups of grated radish)
6. 1 small lime
7. Whole Spices - small piece of cinnamon, few cloves, 1/2 tsp of fennel seeds
8. seasonings : mustard seeds, cumin seeds
9. 1 tsp of turmeric powder
10. 2 tsp oil + 1 tsp
11. salt to taste

Method

1. Cook the rice with some salt and a tsp of oil. Once cooked, cool and fluff it up.
2. While the rice is cooking, peel the radishes and grate it.
3. Using a blender or a coffee grinder blend to a fairly smooth powder. Do not overpower with a strong smell of the garam masala or whole spices.
4. In a wide mouthed pan, heat oil and add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When the mustard seeds pop, add the onions and green chilies.
5. When the onions starts to brown a bit, add the grated ginger and saute for a minute.
6. Add in the turmeric powder and mix it into the onions.
7. Add the grated radish and cook till the radish is completely cooked. Add salt.
8. Now add in the powdered whole spices. Mix it in well.
9. Squeeze in the lime juice and cook for half a minute more.
10. Now add the cooked fluffed up rice and mix it so the rice is well coated.

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Coimbatore to Srinagar - Seventh Stop - Jaipur - Rajathani Layered Veg Biryani - Jodhpuri Kabuli Recipe

The next stop on the virtual journey was in the beautiful city of Jaipur. Rajasthan - the culture, the foods, the architecture, the harsh conditions in which people live all make the place utterly fascinating. I am so glad that DH set out on this journey. The Indian culinary portfolio is so vast that is almost impossible to cover everything in one life time.

While I have barely scratched the surface of Kongu Foods and Tamilnadu foods so it is absolutely impossible to travel around India and even begin to master the recipes from the rest of India. But I think we are fortunate to have this array of delicacies - from the rustic to the sophisticated to enjoy from various parts of India.

The ingredients are all familiar but the manner in which they are combined and cooked is what makes them specialities of a region. Take this recipe for example, all familiar ingredients but the way it is put together is very different making it familiar but yet different tasting.

DH cooked the dish from this blog VegeCravings here. The recipe consists of cooking the rice, shallow frying the vegetables followed by cooking them in a yogurt based gravy and then layering and cooking it. Makes it a meal fit for the maharajahs :)

Recipe in pictures,

Vegetables that are used in the recipe.
Spices and shallow frying the vegetables.
Steam the rice and complete the shallow frying of the vegetables.
Steam the rice and complete the shallow frying of the vegetables.
Prepare the gravy for the vegetables and start layering.
Finish the layering.

There are several different steps to making this recipe, some of these can be done side by side. Although the ingredient list looks very elaborate, it is fairly straight forward.

Rajasthani Layered Veg Biryani
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients

1. 2 cups of rice
2. 1 cup of yogurt
3. 1 cup of sliced onions
4. 1/2 cup of tomatoes
5. 4 garlic cloves
6. 2 inch piece of ginger
7. 2-3 green chilies
8. salt to taste
9. 2-3 tbsp of oil
10. 2 tbsp ghee
11. 2 potatoes
12. 2-3 carrots
13. 1/2 medium cauliflower
14. 1/2 cup of peas
15. 2 slices of bread - diced into cubes
16. 1/4 cup of cashews
17. seasonings: bay leaves and 1 tsp cumin seeds
Whole Spices
18. 1 tsp pepper corns
19. 2-3 cardamoms
20. 3-4 cloves
21. a small 1 inch piece of cinnamon
Spice Powders
22. 1 tsp of turmeric powder
23. 2 tsp coriander powder
24. 2 tsp red chili powder

Method

1. Wash and cook the rice till it is almost cooked, fluff it up and set it aside.
2. Cut and prepare the vegetables, slice the potatoes into rounds, dice the carrots and chop the cauliflower.
3. Slice the onions, peel and mince the ginger, garlic and green chilies.
4. Coarsely grind the whole spices and set aside.
5. Heat a pan with the ghee and roast the cashews and set aside.
6. Add a bit of oil to the ghee, roast the potatoes till it starts to turn brown and set aside. (control the instinct to eat all the roasted potatoes)
7. Add the diced carrots and roast them and set aside, followed by the cauliflower, roast it and set aside.
8. Add the diced bread and roast it and set aside.
9. In the same pan add the bay leaves, cumin seeds and when browned add the onions and saute till they are browned.
10. Add the minced ginger, garlic and green chilies and saute them for 2-3 minutes.
11. Add the spice powders,salt and the coarsely ground spices and mix it well.
12. Add the whisked yogurt and add it to the spices and mix it well.
13. Add the roasted vegetables and mix it into the yogurt sauce. Cook for 2-3 minutes and set aside.
14. Now on to layering the dish,
15. Add a layer of cooked rice to a baked dish, followed by a layer of the yogurt gravy with vegetables.
16. Add another layer of rice and gravy. Now top the gravy with coriander leaves, choppe onions, tomatoes and cashews.
17. Preheat the oven to 325F, and bake for about 10 minutes till heated through.
Mix and serve.

A fantasitc dish if you ask me. Serve with some raita. Like what you are reading? Subscribe!