Paneer makhani biryani
Abhipriya Raghav
A fusion recipe bringing two of our favorites together - paneer makhani and biryani!
Prep Time 30 minutes mins
Cook Time 1 hour hr
Total Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins
Course Main Course
Cuisine Indian
To cook the rice
- 1 cup long-grain basmati rice
- 5 cups cups water
- 2 green chilies, slit
- 2 inch cinnamon stick
- 2 star anise
- 3 bay leaves
- 3-4 whole black pepper
- 6-7 cloves
- a strand of mace
- 3 green cardamom
- 1 black cardamom
- salt, as per taste
- ½ tsp lemon juice
To make the barista
- ½ cup oil
- 1 large onion, thinly sliced
To prepare paneer makhani gravy
- 2+2 tbsp butter
- 1+1 tsp oil
- 8-10 cashews
- 3 red chili
- 2 green chili
- 6-7 cloves garlic
- 1 inch piece of ginger, roughly chopped
- 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
- 2 medium tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 1 green cardamom
- salt, as per taste
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder
- ¾ tsp kashmiri chili powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- ½ tsp cumin powder
- ½ tsp garam masala
- ¼ tsp sugar
- 1 tsp crushed kasuri methi
- 200 grams paneer, cut into pieces
- 2+2 tbsp fresh cream
For the biryani
- handful of chopped mint leaves
- handful of chopped coriander leaves
- 2 tbsp warm milk
- a few strands of saffron
Pre-preparations for the biryani
To cook the rice
In a kadai, add 5 cups of water and the whole spices listed under 'To cook the rice' and bring it to a boil.
Drain the water from the soaked rice and add it to the kadai. Cook the rice until 85% done.
Strain the rice using a strainer and let it sit for 5 minutes. Later spread the rice in a plate and set aside.
To prepare the barista
Add 1/2 cup oil to a wide pan and let it heat. Add the thinly sliced onions when the oil is hot and fry them on a low-medium flame till it turns golden brown in color.
Drain all the oil from the fried onions using a strainer. Reserve this oil for future use.
To prepare paneer makhani gravy
Add 2 tbsp butter and 1 tsp oil to a kadai on medium heat.
Add green chilies, red chilies and cashews to the kadai.
Add garlic and ginger and saute for a few seconds.
Saute onions until it turns translucent.
Add the chopped tomatoes along with some salt and saute for a few seconds.
Add the spice powders and the salt. Mix it well with the other ingredients. Add some water, cover the kadai with a lid and cook till the tomatoes turn soft.
Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool down. Once cool, transfer it to a mixer grinder along with 1/4-1/2 cup water and grind it to a smooth paste. To a kadai on medium heat, add the rest of the oil with 1 tbsp butter.
Add the ground mixture to the kadai along with ¼ cup water and let it come to a boil. Add the crushed kasuri methi and cream to it. Mix well and add the paneer pieces. Let it cook for a minute or two. Turn off the heat.
Layering the biryani
In a heavy-bottomed vessel, add half the gravy along with some paneer pieces, fried onions and some chopped mint and coriander leaves. Add 1 tsp of fresh cream too.
Add half of the par-boiled rice and spread gently over the gravy.
Add the other half of the gravy along with the paneer pieces, some fried onions, coriander and mint leaves. Top it with a tsp of fresh cream.
Layer it with rest of the par-boiled rice. Top it off with rest of the fried onions, coriander and mint leaves.
Splash the saffron milk and some oil that we reserved from frying the onions (barista). Meanwhile heat a tawa on medium flame. Cover the biryani vessel with an aluminium foil and then the lid. When the tawa is hot, lower the flame and keep the vessel over the tawa for the dum process.
Let it dum cook for 10 minutes. Turn off the flame, remove from heat and let it rest for 10 more minutes. Serve hot with some raita on the side.
- Do not cook the rice through. Cook just until 85% done.
- While par-boiling the rice, use green chilies according to taste.
- Use the oil used to fry the onions in the biryani. This oil is infused with flavors and tastes great.
- While layering the biryani, you can also add rose water or kewra water for some extra flavors.
- Let the makhani gravy be semi-thick and not too thin.
- For a silky smooth gravy, you can even strain it after pureeing it.
- You can omit the onions while making the base makhani gravy. But the onions add so much body and flavor to this biryani.
Keyword biryani, dum biryani, indian, paneer, paneer makhani, paneer makhani biryani, rice