• Wash and soak 1 cup basmati rice in enough water to completely cover it for 30 minutes
• In the meantime, chop your vegetables and onion, powder the spice masala and then the ginger-garlic-onion paste in the same grinder
• Soak a pinch of saffron in 3 tbsp warm milk and set aside
• Heat 1/4 cup ghee in a heavy-bottomed pan with a tight-fitting lid. This is the same pan we will use to cook the dum biryani
• Add the sliced onions and keep flame at medium-low. Stir frequently to ensure even frying.
• While the onions are frying, keep water in a large pot for cooking the rice
• Bring the water to a rolling boil and add 1 tsp caraway seeds (shahjeera), 2 bay leaves, 1 tsp oil, and some salt
• Add the soaked rice to this and cook on medium-high heat until the rice is 3/4 cooked. When you take out one grain and bite into it, it shouldn't be soft and cooked fully
• While the rice is cooking, keep an eye on the onions and drain when they are fully dark brown
• In the same ghee, fry the cashew nuts, drain and then fry the raisins and drain
• The rice should now be done. It took me about 10 minutes to get to the right stage. Drain the rice in a colander and fluff it with a fork
• Now, in the same pan used for frying the onions, top up the remaining 1/4 cup ghee (see notes)
• Add the ginger-garlic-chilli paste and fry for a minute until fragrant
• Then add the coriander powder, chilli powder, turmeric, and cumin powder
• Fry for another 30 seconds taking care not to burn the masala powders
• Now add the freshly ground whole spices spices or biryani masala. I added about 2 tbsp of it
• Fry for 30 seconds
• Lower heat to a simmer and add the curd
• Mix well and immediately add the cut vegetables
• Mix again to combine
• Add 1 tbsp each of chopped coriander leaves and mint leaves on top
• Mix again and cook covered on low flame. There's no need to add any water but you can if you feel the vegetables are burning. If you keep flame low and cook covered, the vegetables will let out enough water to cook itself in
• Once the vegetables are almost cooked (took me about 5-7 mins), turn off the heat

Layering the biryani

• Now we can start layering the different parts of the biryani now
• Remove half of the cooked vegetable mixture to a plate
• Layer half the cooked rice over this and top up with some fried onion, cashew nuts, raisins, coriander leaves, and mint leaves
• Add the second layer of vegetables and repeat the rice, fried onion, cashew nuts, raisins, and coriander plus mint leaves

Preparing for dum cooking

• There are different methods to ensure we provide a dum cooking environment for the biryani
• I used aluminium foil and closely covered the cooking pan, taking care of the handle area first
• Then, close the pan tightly with its lid
• Keep the heat to lowest possible and cook for about 15-20 minutes
• Alternate methods - you can use a clean, damp kitchen towel to cover the cooking pan
• You can also layer the ingredients in a baking dish, cover with aluminium foil, and bake at 320F / 160C for 15 minutes
• Once done, uncover and gently combine the layers so that the spices get mixed with the rice
• Serve vegetable dum biryani with raita and mirchi ka salan