Instant Channa Biriyani

There is a funny story behind such sort of a biriyani :) My distant relative, Shobechi sells wonderful stuffs like Kalathappam to Varkeys shop and her kalathappam were so famous. We met her during a wedding ceremony and came to know that she had participated in a cooking competition and won first prize. Well, this incident was 15 years ago :D We were anxious to know which recipe made her won. She made biriyani with Black chickpea/Kadala. The judges asked her to name her recipe. She hadn't thought about this and instantly she named it "Kuthira Biriyani". We all laughed hearing this. I have never heard anything like Kuthira biriyani.

Channa Biriyani is inspired from the above story. I tried to make with Chickpea/Kabuli Channa instead of Kadala. This is not an authentic biriyani preparation; just an instant one that can be made in the rush hours as lunch box/dinner menu.

Recipe Source: Mine

Ingredients:

Chickpea - 1/2 cup
Onions - 2 medium (finely sliced)
Green chilli - 2 nos (slit lengthwise)
Ginger paste - 3/4 tsp
Garlic paste - 1 and 1/2 tsp
Tomato - 2 nos (sliced)
Cloves - 3
Cinnamon - 2 (1 inch stick)
Cardamom - 1
Bay leaf - 1
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 and 1/2 tbsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Fennel powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tbsp
Coriander leaves - to garnish
Basmati Rice - 1 cup
Oil
Salt

Instructions:

• Soak chickpea in water overnight and pressure cook chickpea with salt till it is cooked.
• Heat oil in a pan. Add cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and bay leaf.
• Add sliced onions and sauté until translucent.
• Then add ginger and garlic paste and sauté till raw smell goes off.
• Add turmeric and coriander powder and fry for 2-3 minutes. Make sure the powders doesn't get burnt.
• Add sliced tomatoes and fry till it turns soft.
• Add cooked chickpea and fry for few minutes.
• Add fennel powder, garam masala and garnish with coriander leaves.
• Cook Basmati rice with salt separately and once the rice is bit cooled, add the chickpea mixture with cooked rice.
• Serve with raita and pickle.