Coconut Milk Peas Biriyani | Easy Lunch Recipes

I made a guest post in Ambika's a while back and here is post.Ever since I started making pulaos and biriyanis I find it easier than our regular meals menu and we enjoy it more. This time I made use of the ready coconut milk powder - Thanks to the sis who introduced me to it and sent packs of it!

Saw this biriyani recipe in a magazine, I adjusted it a bit and made it few days back and we totally loved the flavour of the biriyani. With peas added it gives a nice crunch to it.

Coconut Milk Peas Biriyani Recipe - Ingredients

Serves 2

• Basmati Rice - 1 cup
• Peas - 1/2 cup
• Onion - 1 medium sized chopped lengthwise
• Thick Coconut milk - 1 cup
• Water - 1/2 cup
• Salt - to taste

To grind to a paste:

• Mint leaves(Pudina) - 1/2 cup tightly packed
• Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp
• Green Chillies - 3
• Red Chillies - 2
• Coconut(grated) -  3 tbsp
• Ginger - 1/2 inch piece
• Garlic - 4 pearls

To temper:

• Ghee - 1 tbsp
• Oil - 1 tsp
• Bayleaf - a small piece
• Cinnamon - 1/4 inch piece
• Cloves - 2
• Cardamom - 1

Method:

1.Grind the ingredients under 'to grind' with little water to a semi fine paste.Set aside. In a pressure cooker heat oil + ghee and add the ingredients under 'to temper' and saute for a minute.Presoak basmati rice for 15mins and set aside

2.Add onions and fry till golden brown. Then add the paste and fry till oil seperates and raw smell leaves.

3.. Then add peas, required salt and basmati rice(drain water and then add). Add coconut milk and give a stir.

4.Add water and once it starts to boil, close and pressure cook for 3 whistles. Once pressure releases, fluff it with a fork and give a quick stir without breaking the rice.

This biriyani is flavourful and easy to put it together for parties too. With the ease of getting coconut milk powder, now even making coconut milk is a breeze :)

My Notes:

• You can make it plain coconut milk biriyani too skipping peas. Or use the same recipe for making vegetable biriyani.
• The orginal recipe called for 3 red chillies and 4 green chillies I reduced it adjusting to our spice level. You can + or - as per your preferred spice level.
• I usually use the ratio of rice : water as 1:1.5 cups but you can use 2 cups too if you want your rice to be slightly moist.
• You can also add sweet corn which pairs well with peas.
• As I've mentioned I used coconut milk powder, you can even use fresh thick(first) coconut milk.

Labels: Biryani Recipes, Lunchbox Recipes, Lunchbox Recipes - Tiffin Items, peas recipes, Rice Varieties