Biryani

This vegetable rice is almost slightly sweet, and DELICIOUS. It was the first time I'd cooked with basmati rice -- and I have some leftover, so I'll have to find more recipes to use it in!

I'm so glad I read about rinsing it before using it on Kristie's blog -- otherwise I may not have realized I had to!

Biryani (Vegetable Rice)

(Kristie's Kitchen)

2 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter)

1 onion, cut into 1/2-inch dice (red or yellow onion)

1/2 teaspoon cumin seed (I just used cumin powder)

1 tablespoon garlic
1 tomato, diced

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup peas

1/2 cup diced carrot

1/2 cup diced potato (I omitted)

1 cube chicken bouillon

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground red chile pepper

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon garam masala

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

4 cups water

2 cups basmati rice, rinsed and drained

DIRECTIONS

- Melt ghee in a large Dutch oven over medium heat.

- Add onion, and cook until softened, about 3 minutes.

- Stir Garam Masala; cook until the spices are fragrant, and the cumin seeds begin to pop, about 3 minutes.
- Stir in garlic, tomatoes, and 1/2 cup water.

- Bring to a simmer, and cook until the water has evaporated, about 5 minutes.

- Stir in peas, carrot, and potato.

- Season with chicken bouillon, salt, red chile, black pepper, and turmeric.

- Stir well, then cover, and cook for 3 minutes.
-Pour in 4 cups water and bring to a boil over high heat.

- Once boiling, stir in basmati rice, reduce heat to medium, recover, and simmer for 10 minutes. - Reduce heat to low and continue to cook until the rice has softened, 10 to 15 minutes more.