Paneer Biryani in Pressure Cooker : One Pot Recipe

Hello, people!

I made this delicious paneer biryani for dinner tonight and I am thrilled that it turned out to be one of my successful recipes! I got it perfectly right at the first trial and I thought I should share it with you!

This recipe is surely fail safe, quick to make and simple! You can never go wrong with this biryani if you follow the exact steps/same ratio of ingredients. Do you believe that it took less than 30 minutes for me to prepare this?!

No marinating, no frying, no complicated steps. Nothing! It's PURELY an one pot recipe but still with no compromise in the taste. It tasted wonderful with thick onion raita!

If you're making biryani for the first time, I highly suggest you to try this at least once! This recipe will also be a hit among working women, bachelors and others who have less time to cook! I'm planning to include it on my weekly menu.

Ingredients:

• Rice, 2 cups
• Paneer, 1 cup
• Sliced onion, 1 cup
• Chopped tomato, 1 cup
• Green chilli, 2-3
• Chopped coriander leaves, 1/2 cup
• Carrot, 1/2 cup (optional)
• Kashmiri chilly power, 1 tsp
• Garam masala, 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder, 1/2 tsp
• Curd, 2 tablespoons
• Lemon, 1/2
• Rock salt, 2 tablespoons
• Sesame oil, 2 tablespoons
• Ghee, 1 tablespoon

Steps

Step 1 : I washed two cups of basmati rice until the water ran clear (twice-thrice) and drained the excess water completely. I then added four cups of water (1:2) to the cleaned rice and allowed it to soak meanwhile I chopped the veggies and the paneer.

Tip : Soaking, though not mandatory, you should always use the same cup (the cup that you used to measure the rice) to measure the water to get the biryani right! If you use a larger cup to measure the water, the biryani might turn mushy. If you use a smaller cup, it can end up half-cooked. So the most important thing while making pressure-cooker biryani is the rice-water ratio! Keep in mind - 1:2!

Add 4 cups of water to 2 cups of rice!

Step 2 : I took a 5 litre pressure cooker and added all the ingredients to it. No joke! I simply added everything to the cooker. No tempering, no frying, no step-by-step process! Since this is an one pot recipe, I'm going to turn on the flame only after adding most of the the ingredients to the cooker. I do not want to complicate this recipe by adding a lot of steps since I dedicate this to people who are just learning to cook/bachelors.

So yes, I've added the ingredients in this order - oil & ghee, onions, green chillies, paneer, carrot, coriander, tomato and finally - the spice powders, curd and the salt. I used one heaped teaspoon of kashmiri red chilly powder, (any chilli powder will do but I highly recommend kashmiri for its lovely red hue!) 1 teaspoon of homemade garam masala, 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder and two table spoons of crystal salt.

Tip : Layer the ingredients in the given order only. Do not mix them before you light the stove! I've added required salt for the whole recipe so you need not add salt separately while adding the rice. Do not forget; if not the biryani might turn out salty. 

One more thing, I've used rock salt here - two tablespoons. (Is it called that way or as crystal salt?) My mom calls it kall uppu in Tamil. I'm used to it so I'm comfortable with it more than the powdered salt. If you will be using powdered salt, I guess two teaspoons will do! NOT tablespoons. That will be too much!

Adding the oil and the ghee!

Adding onions, green chillies, paneer, carrot, coriander,and tomatoes!

Goes in the spice mixure!

Added all the spices - chilly powder, garam masala, turmeric powder & salt.

Finally, adding the curd.. All ready to go on the stove!

Step 3 : Once I finished layering the ingredients, I lit the stove and gave the ingredients a good mix after which I cooked the masala for 10 minutes in high-medium flame. After 7-10 minutes, I could see the oil separating from the paneer masala!

Tip : You can raise the flame to high to fast-cook the masala so that the tomatoes will get mashed soon to form a lovely gravy. BUT, if you're unsure about the flame, always keep it in medium! The paneer masala should NEVER get burnt! That will ruin the entire flavor of the biryani.

Cooking the paneer masala for 10 minutes on high-medium flame!

Step 4 : At this stage, when everything is well cooked and when the oil separates, carefully drain the water from the rice into to the pressure cooker (no rice; only water) and let it boil. I squeezed half a lemon as soon as I poured in the water. Once the water boils well, add in the rice, make the flame high and close the cooker lid with no further delay.

Once the steam arises, lower the flame (simmer!) and put on the cooker weight. Allow the biryani it to cook for 7 to 8 minutes in your pressure cooker. Maximum, 8 minutes. No less, no more. And then turn of the stove!

Tip : Somehow, the whistle count doesn't work for me. I always leave the biryani (rice) to cook for 8 minutes in the lowest flame possible, and it turns out perfect every time!

Make sure you don't add the rice and the water together. It might turn the biryani mushy. Always add the rice after you see the gravy boiling!

Adding water and lemon juice to the biryani masala; putting on the weight as steam arises.

Step 5 : Open the pressure cooker lid only after the steam releases all by itself. Do not release the steam early. It took 10 minutes for me to open the pressure cooker lid after turning off the stove! I gently mixed the biryani without breaking the rice, to distribute the fats and the spices evenly.

Eye-treat, ain't it?

Garnish the Paneer biryani with fresh coriander leaves and serve it hot with onion raita! You can also include Paneer fry/tikka to make it a complete meal.

Cooked for 8 minutes in the pressure cooker! (simmer). All ready to serve!

Spicy paneer biryani - made in 30 minutes! My dinner tonight! :)

I'll be sharing a few more one pot biryani recipes in coming days. Do try this Paneer biryani and let me know your feedback on the comment section below! If you've any recipe-requests, you can share them as well. I'd love to hear from you!