my take on the traditional vegetarian breyani (v)

a good breyani is like the crowning of a queen - momentus. and today i made my first one! i have to admit, i was quite nervous (not as nervous as my first mutton curry but nervous nonetheless) but my mum had faith in me and that gave me courage (lol). it's a soya breyani made with vegeteen chunks from woolworths (since it's monday). i figured that most people my age don't make breyanis - it's the type of dish left to the mums, grans, aunts of the family but it's necessary we learn to make it because one day the day will come when they are no longer around and we will need our kids to experience the wonder of a delicious, traditional breyani.

everyone makes a breyani differently and if you ask your mom or grandma, she'll tell you her way to make it. in my opinion, it's all in the hand, the love you make it with and doing it the way you want. so i did it, and here's my recipe:

(ps: it's not uber traditional, but easy for us young ones to follow. it's also a little healthier with minimal use of oil but still as flavoursome)

INGREDIENTS:

• one packet vegeteen chunks from woolworths
• 2 onions
• chillis
• 2 stems curry leaf
• breyani mix (1 stick cinammon, 2 cloves, cumin seeds, cardomom pods etc) - this can be bought everywhere.
• masala of your choice
• tumeric powder
• ginger and garlic
• yellow food colouring
• any mixed vegetables you'd like to use - i used carrots, peas, mushrooms.
• salt
• 1 cup basmati rice

METHOD:

• first you will need to rehydrate the chunks by covering them in boiling water and leaving it to soak for 5-10 minutes. when that is done, drain and squeeze out the excess water and marinate with some breyani mix (crush it in your pestel and mottar) and masala. this needs to be done because the vegeteen chunks don't really have a distinctive flavour.
• put your rice on to boil, this should take 15-20 minutes. put a teaspoon of tumeric in the water to give in a yellow colour. when the rice is cooked, drain and drop in a teaspoon of food colouring and this will give the rice a really marbled yellow colour that adds character to the dish.
• in a pot saute one of your onions in oil with your breyani spices until golden with a touch of tumeric. throw in some stem of curry leaf at this point. take your time - this is going to add serious depth of flavour to the dish. add in your ginger and garlic and cook off the rawness before adding in your marinated chunks.

• add in about a tablespoon of masala and a teaspoon of salt and mix well. turn to a low heat, add in some water at this point to merge the flavours and soften the chunks even more. leave this to simmer  for a good 15 minutes. when it's done remove from the heat.

• saute your vegetables in oil with cumin, star anise and cinammon and remove from the heat.

• fry the remaining onion in oil with a touch of tumeric and the remaining curry leaf stem.
• fry some potatoes until golden (tip: i microwave cook my potatoes and then fry them)
• layer the rice and vegeteen chunks in a pot with the vegetables. place your fried potatoes and onions on top and cover with foil and place in the oven for 20 minutes at 180 degrees.
• garnish with dhania (coriander) and serve immediately.

so that's my take on the tradional breyani, eek so proud of myself :)

peace and love friends :)

xo