A biryani is a layered, slow cooked, spicy, Indian rice dish that can take a bit of effort to put together. This recipe is a quicker version that can come together fairly quickly if you can work some of the steps simultaneously. As the name implies, this is a layered marinated paneer and rice dish. Since paneer is a very low sodium cheese (5mg sodium per ounce), this recipe lends itself perfectly to a low sodium diet. Bonus: This recipe is also gluten-free!
Ingredients
- Cubed paneer – a generous handful (or two!) per person
- A cup of plain, natural yogurt
- 1 tsp each ground spices – turmeric, chili powder, cumin, coriander, garam masala
- Fresh or frozen chopped bell peppers – about a cup
- 1 red onion, sliced thin for browning
- a small red onion cubed
- 1 inch fresh ginger, chopped fine
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
- two large handfuls of chopped cilantro
- Dry whole spices about 1 tsp each – cardamom, cloves, black peppercorn, cumin seeds
- 1 cup Basmati rice (no substitutes!)
- 1 tsp saffron threads
- 2 tablespoons milk
- a handful of roasted cashews
Method
Marinate The Paneer
- In a cup of yogurt, add the turmeric, chili powder, cumin, coriander and garam masala.
- Mix well and pour over the cubed paneer.
- Add the bell peppers to the mix. Set aside.
Brown The Onions
- In a cast iron skillet, add some vegetable oil over medium heat.
- Once hot, add the thinly sliced red onions.
- Cook till a nice golden brown, stirring every few minutes.
Cook The Rice
- In a large pot, boil about 4 cups of water.
- Add half the cardamom and the cloves to the water.
- Now add the washed rice and let cook in the open pot for about 6 minutes.
- The rice should be about 3/4 cooked.
- Drain through a colander and set aside.
Saffron-milk mixture
In a small bowl, warm about 2 tbsp of milk and add the saffron to it. Set aside to bloom.
Putting It All Together
Now that all the elements are ready, let’s assemble our paneer biryani! Remember, we are only layering each element, no mixing!
- In a heavy bottom stock pot, heat a couple of table spoons of oil. Add the remaining cardamom, cumin seeds and black peppercorn.
- When the spices are sizzling, add the cubed red onions and sauté for a minute. Add the ginger and garlic and sauté for another minute.
- Add the marinated paneer to the pot, including all the yogurt marinade.
- Sprinkle half the chopped cilantro over the paneer.
- Now layer all the half-cooked rice on top. Spread it out to cover all the paneer.
- Pour the saffron-milk mixture all over the white rice for color and flavor.
- Spread the brown onions over the rice in a single layer.
- Finally add the remaining chopped cilantro over the top.
- Cover and cook on low heat for about 25 minutes. You could also choose to finish this up in the oven (350F for 25 minutes).
- Take off the heat and let sit undisturbed for at least 15 minutes so the flavors all develop and the rice gets a chance to fully fluff up.
- Finally, add a handful of roasted cashews on top as a garnish. Serve with a cucumber raita on the side.
Tips:
If you like more heat in your food, feel free to add green chilies along with the final layer of cilantro. Also, you could add more chili powder to the marinade, depending on the heat level in your brand of chili powder.
If you like, you can add some salt to the yogurt marinade and also to the water till just salty, while cooking the rice. I did not add any salt to the dish so remember to salt the plate and enjoy!
Yum!!