Biryani is not just food, it is a mood, and when paired with paneer, it’s like a cherry on the top of a cake and Kids love paneer, and instead of serving them with regular paneer veggie, why not cook paneer biryani for them. It is finger-licking tasty.
This paneer biryani is light and slightly flavoured, not so spicy or hot, and not so bland.
Paneer biryani tastes super amazing with raita like an onion-tomato raita or cucumber raita or boondi raita, even tadka raita. You can also serve with sliced onion-lime salad or onion-tomato-cucumber salad with it. So lets begin the paneer biryani recipe.
Ingredients
For Fried Onions
- 2 medium-large onions, thinly sliced onions
- 4 tablespoon oil or ghee
- For Cooking Biryani Rice
- 1 cup basmati rice
- 4 cups of water
- 1 teaspoon salt or according to taste
- 1-inch cinnamon
- 1 medium tej patta
- 2 -3 cloves
- 2 -3 green cardamoms
- ¼ teaspoon caraway seeds
For Paneer Marination
- 200 to 250 grams Paneer
- 8 tablespoon Curd
- 1 teaspoon ginger paste or 1-inch ginger crushed to a paste
- 1 teaspoon garlic paste
- 2 green chilies, chopped
- 1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves
- ½ tablespoon chopped mint leaves
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ¼ teaspoon red chili powder
- Garam Masala Powder – ¼ teaspoon
- ½ teaspoon coriander powder
- ¼ teaspoon caraway seeds
- 1 teaspoon lime juice
- Salt as required
Layering Ingredients For Paneer Biryani
- 3 tablespoon milk
- 16 to 18 saffron strands
- 1 tablespoon ghee
- 1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves
- ½ tablespoon chopped mint leaves
Preparation
Cooking Rice
- First of all, rinse the basmati rice very well in water till the starch clears from the water.
- Then soak the rice in water for about 30 minutes.
- Now, bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a pot.
- Next, add all the spices cinnamon, bay leaf, cloves, green cardamoms, and caraway seeds.
- Also, add 1 tsp salt or according to your taste.
- Then, add the soaked rice and do not stir it.
- And keep the flame high and cook the rice without lowering the temperature.
- Now, drain the rice in a colander.
- And cover with a lid and keep the rice aside.
Making Fried Onions
- Slice 2 medium onions.
- Now, heat 4 tbsp oil or ghee in a small frying pan and add the sliced onions.
- Next, stir and fry the onions till they turn golden in colour.
- Then add one-two pinches of salt for quick browning of the onions.
- Once the onions turn golden, then remove them.
- And keep the fried onions aside.
Marination And Layering Ingredients For Biryani
- Warm 4 tbsp milk on the stove or in the microwave.
- Now, add 16-18 saffron strands to the milk and stir it and keep aside.
- Next, whisk 8 tbsp fresh full-fat curd in a mixing bowl till it is smooth.
- Then, add ginger paste, garlic paste, chopped green chillies, chopped coriander leaves, and chopped mint leaves and mix well.
- Now add the spices, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, garam masala powder, coriander powder, caraway seeds, lime juice, and salt as required.
- And Mix it again.
- Then add the fried onions and paneer cubes. And mix slightly.
- Cover and keep aside the marinated paneer for almost 30 minutes.
Assembling And Layering Paneer Biryani
- Add oil to a pan or pot.
- Now, add the marinated paneer and layer it neatly.
- Next, make a rice layer and add all the rice.
- Then, add the remaining fried onions, chopped coriander, and mint leaves.
- And sprinkle the saffron-flavoured and coloured milk.
- Dot it with 1 tbsp ghee and then dum cook Paneer Biryani
- Cover it with foil and place the lid tightly on the pan and place it on a Tava.
- For the first 5 minutes, cook the paneer biryani on dum, keeping it on a medium flame, and then lower the flame and cook the paneer biryani for 12-15 minutes.
Serve the paneer biryani hot with boondi raita or cucumber raita or onion tomato raita or salad and garnish with coriander and mint leaves. You can add as many veggies to the biryani as you want.