A rich & creamy pressure cooker biryani made with the delicious paneer makhani or the paneer butter masala sauce with a mild flavor of dried fenugreek leaves.
Wash the rice and soak it in water for 20 minutes and then drain it.
Soak the cashews in lukewarm water for atleast 20 to 30 minutes. Drain the water. Then grind into a paste by adding 3 to 4 tbsps of water and set aside. Do not add the entire ¼ cup of water while grinding the cashews.
Use the remaining 1 cup of water to rinse the mixer jar and set it aside.
Soak the saffron strands in 4 tbsp of lukewarm milk for 20 minutes.
Chop the onion roughly and grind into a coarse puree — no need to add water while grinding the onion.
Steps:
Heat the pressure cooker and melt the butter.
Then add the cumin seeds, onion paste, and the ginger-garlic paste. Cook until the raw smell goes off. It took me about 8 minutes.
Next add the tomato puree, red chili powder, garam masala, tandoori masala, sugar, and salt — Cook for 3 to 4 minutes.
Then add the chopped paneer and kasoori methi. Mix well.
Now add the cashew puree and 1 cup of the reserved water used for rinsing the mixer jar.
Next add the rice, cilantro and saffron milk. Mix gently.
Close the pressure cooker lid and put the weight on.
Cook for one whistle and after one whistle, reduce the heat to low(on a number scale it is 2) and cook for 5 minutes. Then turn off the heat.
Allow the pressure to release naturally. After opening the pressure cooker lid, allow the rice to cool for 5 minutes.
Then fluff it with a fork and serve warm with raita.
Notes
You can use regular tomatoes instead of the store-bought puree. In that case, grind two medium-sized tomatoes separately.
Adjust the salt and spice according to your preference.
As the sauce is heavy and as we are adding milk and cashew puree, 1 cup of water is sufficient for this biryani. You need approx 1 ⅓ cup of water for 1 cup of rice. You can split and adjust the water&milk according to your preference.
Instead of milk, you can use heavy cream too.
You can turn off the heat after one whistle, but I allowed it to cook for five more minutes for the biryani to absorb all the heavy sauces. It acts as a DUM as well.
If you want grainy biryani, I would recommend, cooking the gravy separately and the rice separately and then mix them both gently.