After so many one pot meal pulao recipes, here I am with an elaborate biryani from the state of Kerala. Thalassery is a town of northern Kerala and its cuisine is really famous. The cuisine is a combination of Arabian, Persian, Indian and European styles of cooking. This biryani is supposed to be influenced b the Mughal cuisine. And for this recipe, jeeragasala/ kaima (also known as jeeragasamba in Tamilnadu) rice is used. They don’t use Basmati, but as I had only basmati in my pantry, I used it. If you can get jeeragasala rice, then use it to make this amazing biryani full of flavours. Jeeragasamba has an unique flavour and it differs so much from Basmati. Next time I am trying this biryani with jeeragasamba for the authentic flavour.
The original recipe uses chicken as the main ingredient. But as I was making it for Sruti, I opted for paneer instead. I kept the procedure the same. If using chicken, it would take some time to cook, but with paneer, it is faster. Rice is cooked separately and the paneer is made into a gravy. Then the rice and gravy are both layered along with fried onions, nuts and raisins. And the layered biryani is slow cooked or dum cooked until all the flavours mingle together. I was so happy with the feedback from Sruti. She loved it so much and she came and hugged me after finishing her portion. These type of layered biryanis are quite special. They make you work longer but it is worth the effort. If you are having guests over, do try this and I am sure you will be certainly glad.
While mom made biryani, she used to dum cook it. For that she had hot coals ready. And she also had a plate for the coals. The biryani is kept on a low flame and the plate with coals are placed on top so that the heat from both the top and bottom would cook the biryani. This is how they do when they cook for a huge crowd. But while making single or double servings, it is tough to do this. And I really don’t want to heat coals. You can cover the pan with an aluminium foil and keep it on low flame or you can place the whole set up in a 180°C oven and bake it for 30 minutes. All these methods give you similar results, so choose any one which you are comfortable with.
Ingredients:
For The Rice Layer:
Basmati Rice – 1 cup
Coconut Oil – 1 tbs
Clove – 1
Cinnamon – 1
Bay leaf – 1
Star Anise – 1
Fennel Seeds – 1/2 tsp
Onion – 1
Salt – to taste
Water – 1 cup
For The Paneer Marination:
Paneer – 200 gm
Turmeric Powder – 1/4 tsp
Red Chilly Powder – 1 tsp
Yogurt – 2 tbs
For The Gravy:
Ghee – 2 tbs
Onion – 1
Tomato – 1
Ginger Garlic Paste – 1 tbs
Coriander Mint Paste – 2 tbs
Yogurt – 1/4 cup
Red Chilly Powder – 1 tsp
Coriander Powder – 1/2 tsp
Cumin Powder – 1/4 tsp
Garam Masala Powder – 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Ground Coconut Paste – 2 tbs
For The Topping:
Onion – 1
Cashew Nuts – A Handful
Raisins – a handful
Oil To Deep Fry
Procedure:
Wash, rinse and soak rice for 20 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Heat oil in a pan and add the spices.
Add onions and saute until golden.
Finally add rice and fry for a minute or two.
Add water and salt, cover and cook until there is no water left.
Remove from flame and set aside to cool.
Heat oil and fry cashew nuts and rasins until golden. Set them aside.
Add finely chopped onion and fry until crisp. Remove from oil and set aside.
Mix together the marination ingredients, and add cubed paneer to it.
Let it sit for 1 hour.
Shallow fry the paneer pieces until crisp.
Remove and set aside.
In a heavy bottomed pan, add ghee and add onions.
When they are golden, add tomatoes.
Add the ginger garlic paste and coriander mint paste.
Saute until everything is mushy and lets out oil.
Mix together yogurt and spices and add it to the pan.
Add the paneer and cover and cook for five minutes on low flame.
Now divide the gravy into two.
Take half the gravy in the same pan and top with half of rice.
Top them with half of the fried onions, cashew and raisins.
Now add the remaining gravy, and repeat the layers.
Cover with foil and cook on low flame for 10 minutes.
Remove from flame and set aside for 10 minutes.
Remove the foil, garnish with coriander and mint leaves and serve hot with raitha and curry.
Recipes so far in this festival
Kaju Pulao from Andhra Pradesh
Kharzi Pulao from Arunachal Pradesh
Aloo Chutney Pulao from Haryana
Meetha Chawal from Himachal Pradesh
Modur Pulao from Jammu and Kashmir
Mangalore Veg Biryani from Karnataka
Thalassery Biryani / Kerala Dum Biryani Recipe
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#99
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Layered biryanis are worth the effort and your version thalassery biryani sounds very delicious with paneer, fried onion, cashew and raisin layers.
Authentic Thalassery biriyani doesn’t have coriander and chilly powder in the Masala..we use green chilly and only biriyani Masala and lots of mint andcoriander leaves are sprinkled between layers before “Dum”..we also add lime juice
oh, is it? Thanks for the clarification Ruby. Will note this down.
Second Paneer Biryani in a row ! And absolutely delicious and fantastic . Biryani is definitely a lot of work , but worth the smiles and hugs of the family . Great that Shruti liked the Biryani so much – naturally who wouldn’t !
Yum Yum, we loved the chicken version of this Biryani, Paneer Version sounds delicious too.
So fantastic to know that Sruti loved this, I am sure I will love it to. Infact I had the chicken thalassery biryani for this series. Somehow completely forgot about it. I must make it sometime…that bowl looks so inviting Gayathri!
Wow! Fantastic flavors in there. I am sure Sruthi is enjoying such treats every single day
I love layered biryanis and you made such a elaborate Thalaserry biryani. With paneer it looks great. Guess what, I have mine coming up as well but not so elaborate.