make | one-pot wonder: paneer biryani

This recipe is great for using up whatever vegetables you have left in the fridge.  Everything else is store cupboard, so the only thing you're likely to have to buy is the paneer (which isn't too expensive).  

Our Mum is a curry genius.  We've too often seen those ones you can buy with about four inches of oil floating on the top.  Let us tell you now - curry is easy, tasty, and cheap to cook yourself!  You never have to suffer the grease again! Mum makes a tasty biryani, but it can be a bit too involved for your average midweek meal.  So we came up with this one-pot variety.  It's ready in less than half an hour too! 

Paneer is great - it's a vegetarian cheese that doesn't melt when you heat it.  It's got a very mild milky taste, which means it takes on the flavour of the rest of the dish.  

We served our biryani with mango chutney.  If you like your curry cooled down a little bit, it'd be nice with some natural yoghurt too, but we like the spice! 

Enjoy today!!

- rosinaviolets    x

Paneer Biryani 

For four people: 

200g paneer, chopped into 1 - 2cm chunks

2 tbsp curry powder 

1 onion, diced finely 

1 red pepper, de-seeded and chopped into similar sized chunks to the paneer

300g basmati rice (very important to use basmati - no other rice is as tasty for this dish!) 

600ml good quality vegetable stock

2 courgettes, chopped into similar sized chunks to the paneer 

1 tsp garam masala 

1 tsp turmeric (a powerful anti-carcinogen and gives great colour)

a few coriander leaves 

• Toss the paneer with one tablespoon of the curry powder and a little pinch of salt.  Heat a smidge of olive oil in the bottom of a deep, non-stick frying pan.  When it's nice and hot, cook the paneer for a few minutes, stirring.  Transfer it to a plate.  

• In the same pan, soften the onion and red pepper for about five minutes.  Add the teaspoon of turmeric.  It's fat soluable, so it will dissolve into the remaining olive oil and make the whole thing go a nice golden colour.  

• Tip: turmeric is really very good for you, and doesn't have that strong of a flavour.  In Ayurveda, it's been used for centuries, and is great to put in a cup of warm milk before you go to bed.  It takes a while to get used to the slightly curried flavour, but if you add cinnamon too it tastes like spiced milk, and is really quite delicious on a cold winter's night.  It's anti-carcinogen power makes it doubly worthwhile! 

• Stir in the rice and the remaining curry powder.  Stir fry the whole thing for one minute, before adding the stock and then seasoning with a little freshly ground black pepper.  Add the courgette, and then the paneer.  Bring to the boil, and then cover and simmer for ten minutes, or until the stock has absorbed.  

• Finally, stir in your garam masala, scatter over the coriander leaves, and serve with mango chutney and natural yoghurt.