"Peshawari" Vegetable Biryani

Not sure if this is authentic Peshawari, as I am not Pakistani but I used this "Landi Kortal biryani" recipe by Shireen Anwar from http://www.khanapakana.com , with a little adaptation due to what was available in my kitchen. I must say I truly enjoyed and loved it to bits.

"Landi Kortal" is a location within the Khyber pass at the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. And the Landi Kortal Biryani is a kind of Biryani cooked by the tribes there...lol..food really takes me places, learned things which I never dreamt of. Shireen used chicken and chickpeas in her recipe. But I used mushrooms and brocoli instead.
I am not a vegetarian but I just felt that simple flavours from vegetables allows more room for me to enjoy the subtle fragrance of the rice.

 I tweaked the recipe a little as I had ran out of coriander powder and used cardamom powder instead. I also added tomato puree and yoghurt for a mild tang.
I like the Peshawari style biryani because the spices, spring onions and herbs makes it aromatic without overpoweringly spicy.

Ingredients for the Rice layer:
1 1/2 cups Basmati Rice (soaked, rinsed and drained)
2 strands Pandan/screwpine leaves (tie into a knot)
1 Cinammon stick
3 Cardamom pods
2 Cloves
Small bunch of mint & coriander leaves
1 tsp salt
4-5 cups Water

Ingredients for the Vegatable layer:
1 tbsp ghee
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 cup spring onions chopped
1-2 green chillis chopped
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp cardamom powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 cup Mushroom sliced
1 cup brocoli or vegetable of choice chopped
1 tsp tomato puree and some cherry tomatoes
1-2 tsp plain yoghurt
1/2 cup mint leaves
1/2 cup coriander leaves
Salt & pepper to taste

Method:
For the rice, add all the ingredients for the rice (except the rice) to the water and boil till your kitchen smells heavenly...lol. The reason for boiling is to really flavour the water so the aromatic water will flavour the rice. (Cooking is chemistry, physics and art all in one.) I suppose you can use kewra or rose water to flavour too. I saw some at the supermarket but they were not from a natural source so I have doubts about using them.

Add the drained rice and half-cooked or three-quarter cooked them. Do not fully cooked. Drained and put aside. For the vegetable, heat the ghee and throw in the cumin seeds till it splutter. Add the onions and ginger garlic paste. Add the green chillis, turmeric, cardamom powder, spring onions, mint and coriander leaves. Mix them well and add the tomato and yoghurt. Salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the vegetables, mix well but do not fully cooked to maintain the crunch of the brocoli especially. Turn off the gas and do the layering of vegetable mixture and rice. Cover tightly and cook it on low for about half an hour or until done to your liking. Fluff them gently, turn off heat and let rest for 10 minutes before serving with raita.