Okay, this is a culmination of experiments and recipes.
Ingredients; for about 4 people
- 2 cups of long grain rice
- 250 gms of paneer
- 250 gms of potatoes
- 1 large onion
- 1 cup birista (dry fried onions)
- 1 large tomato
- 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro
- 1 cup of chopped mint
- 1 cup yogurt
- 2 table spoons of ghee
- 2 star anise
- 8 peppercorns
- 2 sticks of cardamom
- 8 cloves
- 4 bay leaves
- 1 tea spoon chilli powder
- 2 tea spoons of turmeric
- 2 tea spoons of coriander powder
- 2 tea spoons kasuri methi
- 1 cup milk
- 1 tea spoon rose water
- 1 tea spoon kewra water
- Cashew nuts
- 4 green chillis
Process:
The rice: You want to wash well and soak a good long grain rice for at least 1-2 hours in cold water. Then in a nice pot, heat up some ghee and temper it with cardamom, cloves, bay leaves, star anise, and peppercorn and toast the rice in the ghee till every grain of rice is nicely coated. Once done, you want to add about 3/4 of the usual amount of water and then cook the rice till the water is all evaporated. Turn it off and keep aside.
The paneer: First, let's marinate the paneer. In a bowl mix in 1/2 of the yogurt, 1/2 of the chopped birista, 1/3rd of the chopped coriander leaves, salt, honey, kasuri methi, black pepper, chopped mint, red chilli powder, turmeric, and crushed cloves. Keep aside till needed.
The potatoes: Peel and cut the potatoes into nice large pieces, maybe quarters. In a microwave safe bowl, add a bit of water and salt and cover with wrap and microwave for 4 minutes or so. Set aside.
Okay, now everything happens in one pot - preferably something you can "seal".
The masala: In a pot, I used a Dutch oven, heat up some ghee, with a little bit of oil (to prevent the ghee from burning). Once hot, add cumin seeds, bay leaves, peppercorns, star anise, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon stick. Once you start getting a nice aroma, add in sliced or diced onions and fry till they are turning golden. Then add the ginger-garlic paste. Once the raw smell of ginger-garlic is gone, add in chopped tomatoes. Now add salt to get the tomatoes to soften up. Then add turmeric powder, crushed black pepper, coriander powder, garam masala, kasuri methi, green chilies, and 1/3rd of the chopped cilantro and mint leaves. Add the rest of the yogurt and a dash of water to stop the masala from burning and stir and mix well till you get a nice, pulpy paste.
Putting it all together: Drop in the potatoes to the masala. Add about half the rice to the masala - just layer it on top. Add half the milk. Then layer on the marinated paneer. Then layer the rest of the rice. For the finish, the rest of the chopped cilantro and mint leaves, some cashew nuts, the rest of the birista, a nice helping of ghee, 1/2 the kewra and rose water, and then mix the saffron into the rest of the milk and pour it on top.
Now seal the pot, I just used foil, and cook for about 20 minutes on low heat. Then let it sit, covered for another 20 minutes. This process is called "dum".
Before serving add the rest of the rose water and kewra water.
