Delicious Mushroom Biryani

Ingredients:

1. Basmati Rice – 2 cups
2. Mushrooms (kaalon) – 8 oz (225 gm spprox) [You can use any edible variety. I used white mushrooms]
3. Red pearl onions (chinna vengaayam/small onions/shallots) – 10 to 15 pieces (75 gm approx) [or substitute with 1 cup of finely chopped big onions]
4. Big onion – Finely chopped – 1/2 (30 gm approx)
5. Green Chili – 10
6. Mint leaves (pudhina) – handful, loosely packed
7. Fresh Coriander leaves – (malli chedi/kothamalli) – handful
8. Ginger – 1″ piece (5 gm approx)
9. Garlic cloves (vellapoondu pallu) – 8
10. Curd/Yogurt – 3 tbsp.
11. Lime or Lemon – 1/2
12. Red chili powder (paprika) – 1/4 tsp.
13. Water – 3 cups
14. Salt – To taste [ I used 4-5 tsp.]
15. Oil – 1/4 cup
16. Ghee (Clarified butter) – 1/8 cup (or substitute with 1/8 cup of cooking oil)
17. *** Whole Spices ***
18. Cinnamon (pattai) – 2 one inch pieces
19. Cardamom (elakkai/elachi) – 1
20. Clove (krambu/lavangam) – 2
21. Bay Leaf (birinji ilai) – 1
22. Star Anise (annasi poo) -1
23. Fennel seeds (Sombu) – 1/4 tsp. [Optional]

Preparation

• Rinse basmati rice two times. Soak the rice in 5 cups of water for half-an-hour. By then we’ll cut the vegetables and set the spices ready to make the mushroom briyani.
• Peel and wash 10 to 15 shallot onions. Peel and wash 8 garlic cloves. Wash and remove the stalk from 10 green chilies  Peel, wash and finely chop half  of one big onion. Wash and peel the skin of ginger (1 inch ginger piece). Wash mint leaves (no need stalk, just the leaves – a handful – loosely packed). Wash and cut one lemon/lime (half-a lemon/lime, remove the seeds)
• When it comes to washing mushrooms do not over do. Mushrooms can drink in more water just while rinsing them. I clean them with a wet kitchen paper or dip them briefly (very very briefly) in water and pat them dry using a kitchen towel or tissue paper. Cut them roughly. You can have them cut into big chunks, anyway they’ll get cooked soon.
• In a mixer (food processor) add 1 inch cinnamon and 10 black peppercorns. Grind them for 4 seconds and then add the small onions together. Grind them just until the onions are crushed. Transfer the onion paste to a small bowl.
• In the same mixer jar, add the green chilies  Add 2 tsp. of water. Grind them to a paste. Transfer it to a bowl. Add the garlic cloves and the ginger in the same jar and grind them without adding water just until they’re crushed. Transfer the garlic paste into a bowl. [You can use 1½ tbsp. of store-bought ginger-garlic paste if you do not have fresh garlic cloves or time]
• Keep the ground onions, chili and ginger-garlic paste aside. Set the whole spices ready. Right-side picture, from top, clock-wise. Bay leaf, star anise, cloves, cardamom, fennel seeds and cinnamon.
• Heat a dry wok in Medium heat. When the wok/kadai is hot pour oil. Add ghee (clarified butter)
• Add all the whole spices (bay leaf, cinnamon, star anise,  cloves, cardamom, fennel seeds. Leave them in the oil for 10 seconds.
• Add the onion paste and the chopped onions. Saute until the raw smell of the onions disappear (say, 7 minutes) Add the green chilly paste. 
• Saute the chilly paste for 2 minutes. Add the mint leaves. Saute the mint leaves (pudhina) for 2 minutes.
• Add the ginger-garlic paste. Saute them for 2 minutes. Ginger garlic paste tend to stick to the wok, so take care.
• Add the cut mushrooms.Mix them well.
• Saute the mushrooms exactly 5 minutes stirring twice in between. 
• By now, the mushrooms will shrink leaving out some of their water content. Add chopped fresh coriander leaves and 1/4 tsp. red chili powder. Mix well and saute for a minute.
• Turn flame to Medium-Low. Add the curd (yogurt). Mix.
• Drain out the water from the soaked basmati rice. Add the rice.
• Gently stir the rice for 2 minutes. Stir along the sides of the wok, this prevents the rice from breaking
• Add water (3 cups – i.e. 1 ½ cups of water for every 1 cup of soaked basmati rice.) Add salt. Stir and check the salt.
• Bring it to boil (Continue the flame in Medium-Low). Takes about 8-10 minutes.
• Once the water level is about to equal the level of rice in the wok, reduce flame to LOW. Stir the rice once more before leaving them undisturbed. Cover the wok with a lid. [Now we need to Cook Bloom the basmati in LOW flame… kinda giving a spa bath to the basmati rice.]
• IMPORTANT: Leave the rice covered and undisturbed for 10 minutes. Please DO NOT open the lid during this time. After 10 minutes of cooking by covering the pan SWITCH OFF the stove. Leave them that way (i.e leave them closed) for 10-15 more minutes. I consider this to be the crucial time, since any uncooked rice will also get bloomed with the available steam circling inside the closed wok
• After this 10 minutes (or 15 minutes) waiting period, open the wok and squeeze half-a lemon or lime. If you’re using curd/yogurt which are very sour, squeeze only 1/4
• Give a good stir by running a flat ladle along the sides of the wok (bottom-up stirring technic). You see how the rice grains are beautifully separated? You will achieve even more better results of cooking biryani if you use a little more of ghee or oil. An aromatic one-pot meal is ready! Serve the Mushroom Biryani with your favorite raita or pachadi.