Makhani Paneer Biryani
Makhani Paneer biryani is layered indian rice dish of paneer in a creamy makhani sauce, basmati rice, biryani masala, fried onions, fresh herbs & butter.
Ingredients
For Making Paneer Makhani
- 2 tablespoon oil I use the oil in which I fry the onions
- 1 medium onion ~ 150g
- 4 medium tomatoes 200-220g
- 5 garlic cloves roughly chopped
- 1 inch ginger roughly chopped
- 3-4 dried kashmiri red chillies
- 12-14 raw cashewnut
- 8-10 black peppercorns
- 4 tablespoon butter
- 4 green cardamom
- 2 teaspoon kashmiri red chilli powder
- ¾ teaspoon red chilli powder hot, adjust to taste
- 2 tablespoon yogurt ~60g
- 1.5 teaspoon salt adjust to taste
- 3 tablespoon tomato sauce or tomato puree
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 teaspoon kasuri methi
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 500 g paneer cubed, cut in 1.5 inch pieces
For Boiling The Rice
- 2 cup sela basmati rice or use extra long grain basamati rice
- 3.5 liter water for boiling the rice
- 1 inch cinnamom stick
- 6 green cardamom
- 4 cloves
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon salt adjust to taste
For Layering The Makhani Paneer Dum Biryani
- ½ cup fried onions birista
- 1 tablespoon fresh mint chopped
- 2 tablespoon fresh cilantro chopped
- 1.5 tablespoon biryani masala homemade biryani masala or store bought
- 1 inch ginger julienned
- 1 teaspoon shah jeera caraway seeds
- 4 tablespoon ghee melted
- 1 teaspoon kewda water optional, adjust to taste
Instructions
MAKE MAKHANI PANEER
- Add 2 tablespoons of the oil in which you fried the onions to a cooking pot. Let warm up a bit.
- To the hot oil, add the roughly chopped onions, tomatoes, garlic, ginger, raw cashews, black peppercorn and dried whole chillies
- Fry for 2-3 minutes, cover and then cook this mixture for 10-12 minutes on low medium heat or until the tomatoes are soft and mushy.
- Switch off the stove, let cool down a little and then, add to a blender jar and blend the onion tomato mixture to smooth.
- To the same cooking pot, add the butter. Keep the heat on low and while butter is still melting, add the green cardamom pods, kashmiri red chilli powder and red chilli powder.Fry on low heat for 10-15 seconds, taking care that nothing burns.
- Introduce the blended onion and tomatoes. Along with it, add the yogurt. Immediately stir and mix the yogurt well. Let fry for 1-2 minutes with continual strirring so that yogurt dosent curdle.
- Next, add the tomato puree or canned tomato sauce, sugar, salt, garam masala, kasuri methi and heavy cream.Mix well.
- Add the paneer cubes to the makhani sauce. Mix very well. Now, cover the pot and let everything cook on low medium heat for 10-12 minutes until the paneer is softened and the sauce is thickened. Your makhani paneer is ready! Tip - Do not add any water to the makhani sauce. The liquid from tomatoes and yogurt is all we need while cooking it down with paneer. If the makhani sauce is runny, your biryani will turn out wet. It should be thickish.
PAR BOIL THE RICE
- Wash the rice 3-5 times under running water until the water is clear. Soak the sela basmati rice for 20-25 minutes in excess water.
- Before you start boiling the rice, make sure that all the components liked fried onions, chopped herbs and ginger julinnes are ready for layering the biryani. We are going to cook the rice and immediately layer the biryani while rice is still warm
- Place a large pot of water (one that can hold 6-8 cups of water) on the stove. Add salt, ghee, lemon juice and whole spices to the water. Over high heat, bring it to a boil.
- Once the rice is boiling, add the drained soaked sela rice to the hot water. Stir gently 2-3 times only to prevent the rice from sticking at the bottom.
- On medium heat, let the rice cook until its 90% cooked. Since paneer doesn't need a lot of cooking time, we are cooking the rice accordingly. Avoid stirring the rice again and again while its cooking since it would break the rice grains.
- How To Check the doneness of RiceFirst method is to take a few grains of rice and press it between your thumb and index finger. The rice would be soft and slightly firm. Second way is to check visually. This method of cooking rice in excess water is quite similar to cooking pasta. When the rice is ready, the grains will start floating to the top.
- Drain the rice fully using a colander and immediately start layering the biryani.
ASSEMBLE THE BIRYANI LAYERS
- There is no right or wrong way to layer a biryani except that you should finish with rice layer is at the top. Also, try to make even layers. Here's how I do it.
- Preheat oven to 200F for dum cooking the biryani. Or you could dum cook on stove or slow cooker too (writing both the methods below).
- Choose a heavy bottom & oven safe pot (I use my dutch oven), large enough to hold all the layers. Add some ghee or melted butter at the bottom of the pot.
- Place half of the drained, cooked rice and spread it in an even layer to cover the bottom of the pot.
- Sprinkle a generous amount of biryani masala ( 1 tablespoon) on top of the rice. This will immensely flavor the rice while cooking.
- Spoon over all the makhani paneer that we made earlier. Add half of the fried onions on top of the paneer.
- Add half of chopped herbs next.
- Spread the remaining rice on top . Try to make an even layer. This is the top layer of our biryani.
- Sprinkle some more biryani powder over the rice. Add the remaining fresh chopped herbs, ginger julinnes, and remaining fried onion.You could also add few green chillies. Drizzle liberal amout of ghee or melted butter. Also, add a few drops of kewda water right now.
DUM COOK THE BIRYANI (Oven Method)
- Traditionally, a layer of dough is placed on the edges of the cooking pot and then the lid is securely placed to seal the pot fully for dum cooking. I do the same. However you, may skip the dough part and use a tight-fitting lid to trap the steam and flavors.
- Using a roti dough, line the edge of the cooking pot and then place the lid on top to make sure that no steam escapes.
- Place the cooking pot in the pre heated oven and let dum cook for an 1 hour and 15 minutes. Alternatively, heat up a cast iron griddle on the stove until hot. Place the sealed cooking pot over it and reduce the flame to low. Let the biryani slow cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
- Once dum cooking is over, don't open the cook pot immediately. Wait for 15-20 minutes for flavors to settle down.
- Using a sharp knife, cut through the dough lining and open the lid of the pot.
- Using a saucer plate, a soft spatula or a rice spoon, from the side of the pot, very gently fluff and mix the biryani. Serve with sides.
DUM COOKING BIRYANI IN SLOW COOKER
- Once you are ready to layer the biryani, liberally spray the slowcooker with oil or butter. Layer the rice, makhani paneer and other ingredients as mentioned above. Cover the lid and cook on high for 1 hour and then on low for 2.5 to 3 hours.
Notes
- Rice - I cannot recommend using sela basmati rice enough. It eliminates the problem of grain breakage and cooks to fluffy every single time, hence making the biryani look super eye pleasing.
- Garnishes - Before serving, add some pomegranate arils, fresh chopped herbs and more fried onions on top.
- Nuts & Raisins - Some people love nuts in their biryani, you could add fried whole cashews and raisins while layering.
- Salt Level- If the salt quantity is not right, your biryani may taste very flat. Make sure to taste and adjust the salt in makhani paneer sauce as well as while boiling the rice, salt the water to season the rice.
- Fried Onions can be made a day or two ahead and stored in a dry container to retain their crispiness.
- Makhani Sauce can also be made a day ahead and keep refrigerated. Warm it up and add paneer and heavy cream and use it for layering.
- Use plant based oil or vegan butter.
- Instead of paneer, use extra firm tofu.
- Skip the yogurt or use cashew yogurt.
- Skip the heavy cream or use cashew cream.
- Skip the cashews or use sunflower seeds instead.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!