September Mega Marathon has begun and after posting for two days we got Sunday as a break . Our theme this time is Protein Rich , I am sure you must have read Day 1 and Day 2 posts on Kebabs, where I have posted Masoor ke Kebab and Soya Kebab with Ulte Tawe ke Parathe.We begin with a new week and a new theme . This week I shall be featuring Protein Rich Biryanis.

Biryani , is a complete meal with rice and vegetables or rice and meat . Normally long grained rice is used to make a Biryani , where the rice is boiled separately and each grain should be separate . It is layered with a meat based or a vegetable based curry and then cooked on slow fire or dum as we call it .My family is very fond of these Biryanis and even I love them since it is a one pot meal. One just needs a bowl of curd or raita .

For today I have made a Biryani Cake . Do you guys remember me telling about the rice cake that my Mil used to make ? I had promised to share her recipe . Well since this is a protein rich theme , I have changed the recipe a little but followed the same concept .The Biryani cake is dedicated to my dad , yes it’s his Birthday today and I make it a point to post a cake every year . This time it’s a savoury cake !
Happy Birthday Dad ! We love you and pray for peace and happiness always ! We miss you , and cherish your memories . The memories which make me smile , and give me a tear … but be happy wherever you are . Bless you !

Every time I write about dad , my vision gets blurred , but let us remember him and pray and smile . Life has to move on . Right ?

Some cakes that I have posted for Dad’s Birthday

Coffee Orange Cake
Danish Apple Cake
Cassata Cake with Chocolate Ice cream
Smörgåstårta , The Swedish Sandwich Cake

Moving on let me tell you about this cake . It has dad’s favorite paalak paneer, mixed veggies and most of all long grained rice . He never never liked any other rice .It was always Basmati rice.The rice is cooked in milk , the spinach layer has cottage cheese and fresh green peas . The other layer has tomatoes and mixed veggies like broccoli , beans and carrots . The Biryani is garnished with nuts and seeds . Now doesn’t it have a protein punch ,where we have milk, cottage cheese, spinach, beans, peas , nuts and seed to give us that protein punch and of course it is served with curd , yet another protein.
So let’s see how this cake is made.

Vegetable Biryani Cake

Rice

Ingredients

2 cups long grain Basmati rice

2 tbsp oil

3-4 cloves

1 stick cinnamon

2 star anise

1 big cardamom

4 small cardamom

3-4 bay leaves

3 cups water

1 cup milk

Salt to taste

Spinach layer

Ingredients

500 gms spinach, washed and blanched
2 tsp ginger garlic chilly paste
1 onion , finely chopped
1 tsp kitchen king masala
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup cottage cheese, cut into bite sized cubes
1/2 cup green peas, boiled

Tomato layer

Ingredients

1 onion

1/2 capsicum, finely chopped

1 tsp ginger garlic paste

2 large tomatoes , finely chopped

1 cup tomato purée

1/2 carrot , cut into bite sized cubes

1/2 cup French beans , chopped finely

1/2 tsp red chilly powder

1/2 tsp Biryani masala

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

Salt to taste

Other ingredients

Fried onions

Cherry tomatoes

Boiled broccoli

Roasted almonds

Roasted cashews

Roasted mix seeds

Rice

Wash and soak the rice for 15 minutes .
Drain all the water.
Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan.
Add all Whole spices , sauté for a few seconds .
Add the drained rice and roast till there’s no moisture . Be careful not to break the rice .
Add milk, water and salt .
Let the rice cook on full flame till 80% rice is cooked.
At this point there should be some water too.
Simmer the gas , cover the rice and keep some heavy object on the lid . I normally keep my brass mortar and pestle.
Once the rice is done keep covered.

Spinach Layer

Heat 1 tbsp oil and sauté the onions till pink.
Add ginger garlic paste. Sauté again.
Add blanched, puréed spinach.
Add all spices and sauté for 2 minutes.
Add milk to get it to pasty consistency.
Add boiled peas and cubed paneer.
Add more milk and cook for another 2 minutes.

Tomato Layer

Heat oil.

Add onion and capsicum and sauté for a minute.

Add ginger garlic paste.

Toss for a minute and add chopped tomatoes , cook till mushy.

Add red chilly powder , turmeric powder , biryani masala and salt.

Mix well and add the tomato purée .

Add the chopped boiled carrot and boiled French beans.

Mix well and keep aside.

Assembling the cake

Take a round steel container .
Grease it well on sides and bottom.
Arrange cherry tomatoes and boiled broccoli flowers in a decorative pattern .
Spread a layer of rice.
Press this layer with the help of either a greased steel bowl or a lid .
Sprinkle some fried onions.
Spread the prepared spinach layer.
Now spread another layer of rice , pressing with a bowl in a similar manner.
Next layer the rice with tomato layer.
Again sprinkle fried onions.
The last layer is of rice .
Press the rice again .Since the rice is hot pressing will compress them and they will stick .
After this close the lid of the container .
After a while invert the container upside down on your serving plate.
Garnish with roasted seeds, nuts , beans and cherry tomatoes.
Enjoy the Biryani with curd.

( unfortunately my cake did not come out as clean as I wanted)

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