EGG BRIYANI

This is my hubby’s favorite briyani, so I make this very often in the weekends. Some of my blogger buddies gave me the idea of cooking the briyani in the oven, I should really thank the one who came up with such an awesome idea. The flavors are concentrated when cooking in the oven and the briyani tastes so good. Again this my mother-in-law basic recipe for briyani. You can add cooked meat or vegetables instead of eggs. Most of the recipes featured in my blog are either from my grandma and my mother-in-law. My mom is a working mom (she still has a couple of years to go before retirement), so she is not that much into cooking., though these days she is trying out different dishes from all the blogs. I know my mom is going to get mad reading this post :)…that’s the idea! For the first time, hubby dear pitched in to take the photographs of the dish, so the photos will be a little bit different than my usual but I like it this way.

INGREDIENTS:

1. Basmati rice, good quality one, 1 cup.

2. Boiled eggs, 2.

3. Onions, medium-size, 3.

4. Tomatoes 2.

5. Green chilies, 1-2.

6. Ginger-garlic paste, 1 tablespoon.

7. Chili powder, 1 teaspoon.

8. Chopped mint leaves, ½ cup.

9. Curry leaves and cilantro for garnishing.

10. Cinnamon, 1 small stick.

11. Bay leaf, large, 1.

12. Cloves, 2.

13. Star anise, 1.

14. Cardamom, 2 pods.

15. Fennel seeds, 1 teaspoon.

16. Salt as per taste.

17. Chopped cashews, 1 tablespoon.

PREPARATION:

Wash the rice well and soak it for one hour. To fry the eggs, heat a small pan with 1 tablespoon of oil and ¼ cup of water. Add 1/2 teaspoon of chili powder and a pinch of salt. Let it cook for a few minutes and when the mixture is thick, cut the eggs and place them gently on the pan. Turn the eggs once or twice until all the sides are well coated with the oil and each side gets brown. Set the eggs aside. Dice the onions and tomatoes finely. Heat a thick bottomed pan, preferably a pressure pan or pressure cooker with 2 tablespoons of oil. When the oil turns hot, add all the spices and cashews and let them fry for a minute. Then add the chopped onions and curry leaves and sauté them for a few minutes until the onions turn brown. Now add the chopped tomatoes, slit green chilies, ginger-garlic paste and keep sautéing until everything is blended. Add the chili powder and salt and let it cook for a few more minutes. Drain the water from the rice and add the rice to the onion and tomato mixture. Let the rice get fried for 5 minutes along with the spices. Add 2 cups of water and mix everything well just once. Close the pan and increase the heat to high. Once everything starts boiling, slow down the flame to medium-low and let it cook for 10 minutes. At this stage the rice will be almost done.

For the usual briyani method, you can let the rice continue cooking and add the fried eggs, chopped mint and cilantro leaves in the end, let it sit for 30 minutes and serve with raita. For the oven method, add the fried eggs to a baking dish and pour over the briyani on the top of the eggs along with chopped mint leaves and cilantro and mix everything. Close the baking dish with aluminum foil as tightly as possible. Put the dish into a preheated oven and cook for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Serve hot briyani with raita and enjoy.

Note: A tablespoon of ghee can be added in the end before serving.