I have professed my love for Biryani time and again, haven’t I? I love the aroma from the whole spices, the creaminess from the tomato and curd gravy and so on. It needs patience and love to make Biryani but the result is extraordinary. Trust me.  Here are some of my top Biryani recipes – Awadhi Biryani, Mix veg Biryani. Today’s recipe is Kathal Biryani or Jackfruit Biryani Pilaf.

Jackfruit is a versatile fruit with a lot of fibre and texture which resembles meat in a lot of ways. People joke and call this as a vegetarian’s meat. I absolutely look forward to having Jackfruit in summers and make a delicious Kathal/Jackfruit ki sabzi. But this time, I bought it and decided to make Kathal Biryani. I had eaten this at a restaurant long back and loved it. So decided to give this a try and loved it too.

Hope you give this a try and love it too.

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes
COOKING TIME: 45 minutes
SERVINGS: 2-3
DIFFICULTY SCALE: Medium

INGREDIENTS: 

For the Kathal/Jackfruit Sabzi –
  1. Jackfruit pieces – 1 cup
  2. Onion – 2, large
  3. Tomatoes – 4, large
  4. Ginger – 1 small piece
  5. Garlic – 4 cloves
  6. Green Chillies – 2
  7. Curd – ½ cup
  8. Cumin Seeds – 1 teaspoon
  9. Bay Leaf – 1
  10. Cinnamon Stick – 1
  11. Star Anise- 1
  12. Black Cardamom – 1
  13. Red chilli powder – ½ teaspoon
  14. Coriander Powder – 1 tablespoon
  15. Vegetable oil – 2 tablespoons
  16. Salt – to taste
For the Rice –
  1. Rice – 1 cup
  2. Bay Leaf – 1
  3. Black Cardamom – 1
  4. Green Cardamom – 1
  5. Cloves – 2
  6. Black peppercorns – 2-3
  7. Ghee – 2 tablespoons
  8. Salt – to taste
For Assembling the Biryani –
  1. Saffron – a few strands
  2. Warm Milk – 3-4 tablespoons
  3. Rose Water – 2-3 tablespoons
  4. Ghee – 2 tablespoons
  5. Mint Leaves – a few
  6. Coriander Leaves – a few

UTENSILS/EQUIPMENT:

  1. Pressure Cooker
  2. Non Stick Pan
  3. Non Stick Kadhai
  4. Mixer Grinder

RECIPE:

For Kathal ki Sabzi –
  1. Thoroughly wash the jackfruit pieces.
  2. Take ½ cup water in a pan and add some salt and oil in it.
  3. Cover the lid and let this simmer on low heat for 15 minutes until the pieces cook properly and get tender.
Cooked Jackfruit Pieces
Cooked Jackfruit Pieces

4. Add 2 tablespoons of oil in a non-stick kadhai and add 2 onion cut into long thin slices.

Cook the onion slices
Cook the onion slices

5. Cook the onions until they turn brown. Remove half the onions and keep them aside.
6. Now add some cumin seeds into the pan, once they crackle add 1 bay leaf, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 star anise and 1 black cardamom.
7. Grind ginger piece, garlic and green chillies into a smooth paste. Add it to the kadhai and cook for 1-2 minutes until raw smell goes away.

Add the ginger-garlic-chilli paste
Add the ginger-garlic-chilli paste

8. Puree 4 tomatoes and add it to the kadhai. Cook them to for 5-7 minutes until oil starts separating from the masala.
9. Now add red chilli powder, coriander powder and salt. Now add in ½ cup of curd.

Add thick yogurt
Add thick yogurt

10. Add in the cooked jackfruit pieces and add ½ cup of water and add cover this with a lid and let them cook for 10 minutes or so to soak up all the masala.

For Cooking the rice –
  1. Wash and soak 1 cup long grain Basmati rice for 15 minutes.
  2. Take a pressure cooker add 1-2 tablespoon of ghee to it.
  3. Use whole spices to flavor the rice. I added bay leaf, black and green cardamom, star anise, cloves and black peppercorns.
Add the whole spices to the cooker
Add the whole spices to the cooker

14. Next add in cumin seeds and soaked rice and same quantity of water.
15. Sprinkle some salt and pressure cook for one whistle.

Cooked Rice
Cooked Rice
For the Layering the Biryani –
  1. Dip some saffron strands in warm milk.
  2. Remove half of the jackfruit sabzi and keep it in a bowl.
  3. Add one layer of the cooked rice and sprinkle some rose water, saffron milk and add some fried onion pieces in it.
  4. Again add in the remaining jackfruit sabzi and another layer of rice.
  5. Sprinkle some more rose water, saffron milk and some fried onion pieces. Drizzle some ghee on it.
Assembled Biryani
Assembled Biryani

21. Cover the biryani and cook on low heat for 15 minutes.

Kathal Biryani
Kathal Biryani

Garnish the Kathal Biryani with some coriander and mint leaves. Serve hot with cucumber and onion raita.