Vegetable biryani

Ingredients required

A.
Basmati Rice - 1 cup
Cardamoms - 3

B.
Spices
Cinnamon stick(dalchini) - 1 inch
Cloves (Laung) - 5
Cumin(jeera) - 1 tbs
Fennel(Saunf) - 1 tbs
mace and nutmeg - a little

C.
Ginger - 1 inch
Garlic - 20 flakes

D.
Onion(Big) - 2
Oil - 4 tbs
Bay leaf - 1
Tomato(small) - 1
Green chillies - 4 (slit in middle)
Mint leaves - 1/2 cup
Red Chili powder - 1/2 tbs
turmeric powder - 1/4 tbs
Coriader Leaves - 1/2 cup(chopped)
Assorted vegetables(carrots,french beans, cauli flower, green peas, potato) diced(except peas) - 2 cups
Fresh Curd - 1 cup
salt - to taste

Procedure :-

1. Make a coarse paste of ginger and garlic and keep aside.
2. Powder the spices vide B. coarsely  and keep aside.
3. Cut 1 onion into slices. 1 onion into small pieces.
4. Cut tomato into small pieces
5. Boil rice along with crushed cardamoms, in a pressure cooker, with slightly less water.The rice should be about 90% cooked. After it is so cooked, spread it on a large plate and let the remaining water sticking to the rice evaporate. Each rice should be separate and should not stick to another.
6. Pour oil in a large thick deep bottomed kadai. After it is hot, fry the sliced onions till golden brown. strain it, remove from oil and keep aside. This shall be used to garnish later on.
7. In the same oil, add, the remaining onions, green chillies, bay leaf, fry a little, then add ginger garlic paste, the ground spices and fry till onions turn golden brown.
8. Add mint leaves and fry for 3 minutes.
9. Add tomato and fry till the tomato is completely cooked blended into the mixture.
10. Add the diced vegetables,turmeric, chili powder, salt and fry for 5 - 8 minutes, till the vegetables are half cooked.
11. Add 1/2 of the curd and stir. Put the stove in sim. Close the kadai with a lid and keep weight on the lid, so that no steam escapes. Let it be for 5 more minutes.
12. The water in the curd would have evaporated, leaving a thick gravy. Cover this gravy with half cooked rice. Top it with remaining curd. Close the Kadai and replace the weight. Leave it like that for ten minutes.Switch of the stove and let the content fo kadai cook in steam for ten more minutes.
13. Open the lid, add chopped coriader leaves, fried onions and mix the contents well.
14. Serve hot with raita.