Chole Biryani
How many of you are die hard biryani fans? I am sure there are many. Folks at my home loves the Malabari style Chicken Biryani made with the small kaima rice which is also called the jeera samba rice. Neha loves vegetable biryani, mushroom biryani etc. But hubby has very strong biased opinion about biryanis. He loves the Tamilnadu style mutton and chicken
biryani as compared to the Malabari biryani (though his taste varies from time to time) and is not too fond of vegetarian biryanis:) His favourite is the Vaniyambadi biryani. But unlike him, it’s quite easy to appease Neha. So, when hubby was on an official tour, we made this chickpeas/chole biryani and I must tell you that it tasted really awesome.
When you get bored of serving the usual dal chawal and roti subzi, such biryanis offers a variety and change from the mundane routine. I have used the long grain Daawat basmati rice. Look at the long grains 🙂 You can reduce the quantity of chickpeas to three fourth cup if you feel so. Feel free to change the amount of spices used in the recipe. This biryani pairs well with a simple onion cucumber raita. Please share your feedback if you try out this recipe. You can look out for various rice recipes by clicking here.
Ingredients:
- Chole 1 cup
- Basmati rice 1 cup
- Salt to taste
- Onion 2
- Tomatoes 2
- Ginger 1 inch piece
- Garlic 5-6 cloves
- Turmeric powder 3/4 tsp
- Red chili powder 1-2 tsp
- Coriander powder 3 tsp
- Garam masala 1 tsp
- Bay leaves 1-2
- Cinnamon a small stick
- Cloves 2-3
- Green cardamom 2-3
- Refined oil 2 tbsp
- Nutmeg a pinch
- Mint leaves handful
- Coriander leaves handful
- Ghee 1-2 tbsp
- Milk 2-3 tbsp
Method:
- Wash and soak the chickpeas for around 7-8 hours or overnight.
- Boil it with as salt and water till the chickpeas are fully cooked.
- Wash and soak the basmati rice for atleast half an hour.
- Cook the rice with salt till it’s 90% cooked. It will take around 12-15 minutes.
- Slice the onion finely. Chop the tomatoes and make a smooth paste.
- Grind the garlic and ginger into a fine paste.
- Heat oil in a pan and add cinnnamon, cloves cardnamom and bay leaves.
- Add three fourth of the sliced onions and saute for two minutes.
- Add the ginger-garlic paste and stir for a while.
- Furthermore, add the tomato puree and the dry spice powders. Add curd and mix well. Throw in some mint leaves into the mixture.
- Add salt and the cooked chickpeas and cook for 5-10 minutes.
- Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.
- Fry the remaining sliced onions till they are golden and crisp.
- Take a heavy bottom thick own and grease it with some ghee.
- Add a layer of the cooked rice at the bottom of the pan.
- Sprinkle some fried onions, mint leaves and garam masala.
- Spread a layer of the cooked chole masala on top.
- Now add a layer of rice and repeat.
- Add 2-3 tbsp of milk on top and garnish with fried onions, finely chopped mint and coriander leaves.
- Cover and place the pan on a heated tava and cook in a low flame for 8-10 minutes.
- Serve it hot with a raita of your choice.
