Vegetable Broken Wheat Biriyani

These days I find myself substituting rice with whole wheat, surrendering to the pre occupied notion that wheat is healthier than starchy polished rice! Be them, idlies or upma I find comfortable enough with the variety of easily available broken whole wheat grains in the market.
The vegetable broken wheat biriyani made here is a one pot meal after my hit recipe easy tomato biriyani :)
The recipe and method for this one is entirely different and a bit elaborate but you can always preserve the masala coated veggies which stays well in your chiller even for a week, until you can mix up and heat it with rice of broken wheat to make the meal!
Flavourful and loaded with vegetables, healthy too...

Vegetable Broken Wheat Biriyani
  Serves 2

 You need :

Broken Wheat- samba godhumai kurunai / chamba godhambu udachathu- A heaped cup
Diced vegetables- 1 1/2 cups (a combination of carrot, beans, cauliflower, potato and peas)
Tomato- 1 medium sized
Oil- 1 1/2 - 2 tbsps ( yes a bit more only, but you need to sauté the onions and the masalas. They need to be well lubricated ;))
Big onion- one- sliced thin and long
salt- as needed

To grind to a fine paste;

Ginger- a 1/2 inch pc
Garlic- 4 cloves
(or 2 tsps ginger garlic paste)
Grated coconut- 1-2 tbsps
Green chillies- 2 nos
Dhania / coriander powder- 1 tsp
Red chilly powder- 1 tsp
Garam masala- 1/2 tsp
Curry powder- 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

 Fresh coriander leaves- to garnish

Method:

Cook vegetables in a little water and salt until they are half cooked but firm. Take care not to cook them mushy.
Grind the ingredients mentioned above to a smooth paste adding minimum water. Keep aside.
Heat oil in a non-stick kadai and sauté onions till golden brown. Throw in the diced tomatoes and sauté until cooked. Stir in the masala and sauté till the raw flavour disappears. Drizzle few more drops of oil if it seems too dry coz the masala needs a bit of extra oil to get sautéed. Turn the flame to minimum when you are done with this part and stir in the vegetables gently so as to coat the masala. Add salt and turn gently to combine further. Switch off.

To cook broken wheat,

       you can steam cook in your rice cooker adding 2 parts of water ( 1 cup of broken wheat- 2 cups (scant - to be precise)
           or
       you can pressure cook adding the same amount of water( slightly lesser than 2 parts) until 3 whistles.
Whichever way you opt, see to it the grains are firm and cooked right...not overly done/mushy.

Combine the cooled cooked broken wheat grains with the masala in the pan stirring gently to combine. Check salt. Heat up the whole meal in low fire stirring gently for a couple of minutes before you serve.

Enjoy the warm meal with onion or cucumber raitha.

Author's note-

 I make Vegetable biriyani this way with basmati. The broken wheat is just a substituion to rice as mentioned earlier. You can mix the gravy with rice as well and heat up to make the instant veg biriyani!

As said above, you can always preserve the masala coated veggies which stays well in your chiller even for a week, until you can mix up and heat it with rice of broken wheat to make the meal!
Lazy to chop the vegetables? Use fresh or frozen peas instead ..but don't compromise on the onions :)

 Since broken wheat is blander in taste and flavour when compared to basmati, I add 1/4 tsp of pepper powder and a tsp of sweet red chilly sauce towards the end while finishing the vegetables in the pan, for a the extra zing.

Again, garnishing with a variety of herbs like mint and spring onion greens make the meal flavourful, as I had used in this one!

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