Hyderabadi Vegetable Biryani

Ingredients :

For the vegetable :

1/2 cup............cauliflower florets
1/2 cup............cubed carrots
1/2cup.............chopped beans
1/2 cup............. green peas ( I used fresh corn)
1/2 cup............capsicum pieces
1 tsp................turmeric pd
2 tsp ..............garam masala
2 tbsp............ginger chilli garlic paste
1 cup............curd
1/2 cup ...........chopped coriander
1/2 cup ...........chopped mint

For the rice :

2 cups .............rice
3 to 4..............cloves
1 inch.............. dalchini
1/2 tsp..............pepper corns

For the garnish :

10-12 ...............cashewnuts
1 tbsp ..............raisins
1/4 tsp.............saffron
2 tbsp................milk
1 ...................onion sliced
ghee
salt

Method :

In a kadhai  heat the ghee and fry cashews and raisins .
Keep them aside for garnishing.
In the same ghee fry the sliced onion till crisp and golden brown and keep aside.

Excepts capsicum marinate all the cut vegetables with ginger chilly garlic paste,
turmeric pd, salt, garam masala and curd for at least 1/2 an hour.
In the ghee add these vegetables and stir fry till water in the curd evaporates and masala is well coated.
In the end add capsicum and fry for 2 minutes.
Remove the vegetables in a separate bowl.

Then add cloves, dalchini ,pepper corns and 2 cups washed ,drained rice.

Stir fry for 5 to 10 minutes .

Add the stir fried vegetables add 4 cups water and cook.
When half cooked add chopped coriander and mint leaves and cook till just done.

1/2 an hour before serving top with fried onion, cashews and raisins on top.
Sprinkle the rice with saffron dissolved in milk.
Cover the lid and heat the vessel by keeping it on tawa.

Note :

Normally for biryanis the vegetables and the rice is cooked separately and then they are arranged in layers.
As I did not have much time to do all this I just added vegetbles and rice together and cooked like a pulav.
But the resulting dish was just as tastier.

Sending this to Sangita's  spicy-treats at Vardhini's  show-me-your-hits-rice-event