Many a times when you have no special ingredients in your pantry to cook that awesome meal, that's when you seek the humble eggs, they are super handy and you can make anything with it from desserts to main courses and it has been a savior at times in my kitchen. And when you are in a mood to make some biryani andhaven'tgot chicken or mutton at hand choose eggs, you willnever regret. It tastes so yum even without any meat in it and you don't need any special side-dish to accompany the biryani, it makes a very good one pot meal and so a simple raita will be good enough as sides. The recipe that I've shared today is not difficult to make and does not involve any layering or dum part but still tastes rich and awesome with brilliant flavors. I served it with cauliflower fry, raita, tomato salna (tomato curry) and tender coconut lemonade, it was sucha complete satisfying & wholesome platter.So here's an eggstastic egg biryani recipe for those meat-less days and for all the egg lovers out there.
INGREDIENTS
Serves 4 people
Total Preparation Time - 45 to 60 minutes
- Basmati rice - 300 grams
- Eggs - 5 or 6
- Big Onions - 3 (sliced)
- Mint leaves - A handful
- Coriander leaves - a handful
- Green chillies - 1 (slit into halves)
- Red chilli powder - 2 tablespoons
- Coriander powder - 1 tablespoon
- Curd - 2 to 3 tablespoons
- Lemon - 1
- Bay leaf - 3
- Cinnamon stick - 3 pieces (about 2 inches long)
- Cardamom pods - 8
- Cloves - 2
- Star anise - 1
- Fennel seeds - 2 teaspoons
- Salt - As needed
- Ghee - 3 tablespoons
- Oil - 50 ml
To Grind
- Mint leaves - 1 handful
- Coriander leaves - 1 handful
- Green chilli - 1
- Ginger - 30 grams
- Garlic pods - 10
PREPARATION METHOD
- Wash basmati rice twice and soak in water for about 10 minutes.
- Place a saucepan on flame and pour enough water to cover the eggs. Wait until the water boils well, then gently drop the eggs into it and boil for 5 to 7 minutes on a medium flame. Switch off the flame and remove the eggs from boiling water and drop them into cold water. Set aside for a few minutes and remove the shell once they cool down well. Make few slits on the eggs using a knife and set them aside.
- Add all the ingredients mentioned below "To Grind" (mint leaves, coriander leaves, green chillies, garlic pods and ginger) into a blender and grind coarsely, then add some water and grind it into a smooth paste.
- Place a heavy bottomed pan on flame, or use a cooker and pour oil & ghee into it. After it heats up (see that its not too hot else your spices will burn and ruin the recipe) add the whole spices such as, fennel seeds, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, cloves, star anise and saute on a low flame for a few seconds.
- Then add sliced onions, slit green chilli, mint leaves, coriander leaves and saute for a few minutes until the leaves shrink well.Now add the ground leaves paste and saute for a minute or so.
- Add curd and stir well. (See that the curd you use is slightly sour to give a better taste, if it is too sour then do not use lemon in the recipe)
- Then add the dry powders such as red chilli powder, coriander powder, salt and saute well until the masala gets well cooked and oil peeps out.
- Now water into the pan and stir well. Drop the boiled eggs into it and stir gently. (measure rice in a cup and pour water twice the quantity of rice. i.e. 2 cups of water for one cup of rice, if you want it very grainy add 1.5 cups of water that will be enough)
- Squeeze lemon juice and stir.
- Now add the soaked basmati rice (discard the water used for soaking rice) and stir cautiously not to break the eggs or the rice grains. Don't stir vigorously here.
- Now check for salt and add if needed.
- Sprinkle a few mint leaves and cover with the lid. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes on a medium flame. I used a cooker so I just placed the cooker lid upside down, you don't have to pressure cook here, just cover with a lid.
- After the aforementioned time open the lid to see if the water content has reduced and see if the rice grains have got cooked well. Then remove from flame and set aside for a few minutes.
- Serve hot with raita, potato chips or chicken fry and enjoy.
TIP 1: You can completely skip ghee and replace with some extra oil. It will still taste good.
TIP 2: Reduce red chilli powder to make it less spicy. The amount I used was moderately hot, alter the amount according to your heat tolerance.
TIP 3: You can add some plain chicken or meat stock in place of water to enhance the taste of biryani.
TIP 4: Do not chop the eggs into half as the yolks will get mixed up with the biryani and will not look appetizing. Add them whole or prick them all over with a fort or make small slits on them and then add them.
For Sprouts Biryani Recipe click here
For Capsicum biryani recipe click here
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