Four of my last five meals have been biryani! I think I am finally a bit tired of it :-). Tejas and I made Andhra style biryani recently and had a few people over and there are so many leftovers! Biryani is an Indian rice dish where you cook the rice part way and then layer it with all kinds of sauteed goodness and then cook it either very slowly over the stove or bake it. We used a curry of onions, vegetables and eggs for the layering. After cooking, you stir everything together and serve as a one dish meal with a side gravy (often eggplant, but we didn’t make eggplant this time) and onion raita (yogurt). When we ate the leftovers last night, we also deep fried some appalam (Kerala papad). Tejas isn’t much of a recipe user, but I wanted to get a general guideline of how much yogurt, etc. to use, so I found this great recipe for Hyderbadi Biryani and Sailu’s Kitchen that helped us out. Incidentally the curry we served with the biryani was also from the same source. Delicious! This first picture is after layering the curry over the rice, before adding more rice on top.

6 cups basmati rice
4 cloves
3 cardamom
3 little pieces cinnamon stick
2 marathi moggu (optional – I was excited since it was the first time I could use the marathi moggu my mother in law brought me, but I actually am not sure what flavor it added :-))
3 bay leaves
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon salt
Water
3 tablespoons oil
5 cloves
3 little pieces cinnamon bark
3 cardamon pods
10 peppercorns
4-5 onions thinly sliced
5 garlic cloves sliced
1 inch ginger minced
10 green chilis sliced
2 carrots peeled and chopped
2 handfuls green beans chopped into inch long pieces
14 eggs
1 small bunch mint chopped
1 bunch cilantro chopped
2 teaspoons Hyderbadi biryani masala
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon rajma masala
1 teaspoon coriander powder
Salt
2 cups yogurt

1. Boil rice with the cloves, cardamom, cinnamon bark, marathi mogga, bay leaves, and salt with a lot of water until semi-cooked but still a little firm. Watch it super carefully because the rice goes from raw to cooked so fast! Drain rice and let cool.
2. Heat oil in a big saute pan and add the rest of the cloves, cinnamon bark, cardamom, and peppercorns.
3. Add onions and saute until browned, adding garlic, ginger, and green chilis half way though cooking.
4. Meanwhile boil the carrots, green beans, and potatoes with a little water until soft (I did each separately in the microwave).
5. Boil, peel and slice the eggs lengthwise.
6. Add mint and cilantro and cook until they are soft.
7. Add the ground spices/masalas and salt.
8. Add yogurt and heat a little longer.
9. Add the carrots, green beans, and potatoes.
10. Put a little oil at the bottom of a dutch oven, then add a layer of rice, then the eggs, then a layer of the curry, then a layer of rice again.
11. Baked in a 350 degree onion for 30-45 minutes.
12. Serve with onion raita and a side curry.