I truly believe in the adage –“Your body is a temple, but only if you treat it as one.” ~Astrid Alauda. I’ve always struggled with my weight from my early teens. I’ve tried diets upon diets just to see if there is a magic cure that’ll transform me into a preconceived body with minimal to no effort. Once I even asked my doctor why do I find it so hard to lose weight and his response was very simple — (amount of calories you eat – amount of calories you burn = calories lost/gained). This made me research about healthy eating and helped me make an education decision in what I eat. I’m also a gym rat and I do exercise as much as humanly possible and I’m at a happy healthy weight range. Being a vegetarian most of my gym buddies and personal trainers always advise to watch my protein intake and I consciously try to incorporate as much protein in different forms in my cooking. Today’s recipe is once such effort and I’ve been wanting to try soya chunks in biryani for a very long time.

This biryani was very flavorful and was quite filling in just a bowl. The entire meal was ready well within an hour and being an one-pot meal made it easier without any need for any other accompaniment other than a simple raita. Enjoy!!!

Step-by-Step Pictures:

In a large bowl soak basmati rice in warm water for at least 30 minutes. In a medium pot boil water and 1/4 tsp salt then add soya chunks. Let it cook for 10 minutes.

Switch off flame, drain water. Wash and rinse the chunks in cold water. Squeeze excess water from the chunks and keep aside. If some chunks are bigger, cut them into half so that each of them are in bite size.

In a pressure cooker, heat ghee/oil add bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and jeera. Let it fry for a minute for the flavor to infuse. Add sliced onions and fry till they turn translucent. Add soya chunks, ginger-garlic paste and fry in medium flame for about 2 minutes.

Add chopped tomatoes, salt, red chilli powder, green chillies, and turmeric powder. Continue frying till the tomatoes turn mushy. Add curd, mint leaves (reserve few leaves for adding to cooked rice), and fry for couple of minutes. When the mixture thickens add 1/4 cup of water and bring it to boil.

Boil about 5 cups of water in a wide pan. Add soaked rice and let it boil for 5 minutes or until the rice is 90% done. Drain excess water if any and add reserved mint leaves, little salt, and tsp of ghee.
Add this rice to the tomato-soya mixture in the pressure cooker.

Mix completely using the back of the ladle flatten the mixed rice. Cover the cooker with the pressure valve on. Turn down the burner flame knob to its lowest setting and cook for about 12 minutes. Let it stand for 5 minutes. Fluff the rice with a fork and garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Serve hot with your choice of raita. Enjoy!!!

Soya Chunks Biryani

Ingredients

- Basmati rice — 1 1/2 cups
- Soya chunks — 30
- Onion — 1
- Tomato — 1 small one
- Thick Curds — 3 Tbsp
- Turmeric powder — 1/4 tsp
- Red chilli powder — 1 & 1/2 tsp
- Green chillies — 3
- Mint leaves — 1/4 cup
- Coriander leaves — 3 Tbsp finely chopped
- Ginger-garlic paste — 1 1/2 tsp
- Ghee — 1 tsp
- Salt to taste

To temper

Ghee or oil — 3 Tblsp
Cinnamon stick — 1 inch piece
Bay leaf — 1
Cloves — 1
Cardamom –1
Jeera/ cumin seeds — 1 tsp

Instructions

In a large bowl soak basmati rice in warm water for at least 30 minutes. In a medium pot boil water and 1/4 tsp salt then add soya chunks. Let it cook for 10 minutes. Switch off flame, drain water. Wash and rinse the chunks in cold water. Squeeze excess water from the chunks and keep aside. If some chunks are bigger, cut them into half so that each of them are in bite size.
In a pressure cooker, heat ghee/oil add bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and jeera. Let it fry for a minute for the flavor to infuse. Add sliced onions and fry till they turn translucent. Add soya chunks, ginger-garlic paste and fry in medium flame for about 2 minutes.
Add chopped tomatoes, salt, red chilli powder, green chillies, and turmeric powder. Continue frying till the tomatoes turn mushy.
Add curd, mint leaves (reserve few leaves for adding to cooked rice), and fry for couple of minutes. When the mixture thickens add 1/4 cup of water and bring it to boil.
Boil about 5 cups of water in a wide pan. Add soaked rice and let it boil for 5 minutes or until the rice is 90% done. Drain excess water if any and add reserved mint leaves, little salt, and tsp of ghee.
Add this rice to the tomato-soya mixture in the pressure cooker. Mix completely using the back of the ladle flatten the mixed rice. Cover the cooker with the pressure valve on. Turn down the burner flame knob to its lowest setting and cook for about 12 minutes. Let it stand for 5 minutes. Fluff the rice with a fork and garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Serve hot with your choice of raita. Enjoy!!!