What To Cook Tonight: One-Pot Chickpea Biryani

By Jennifer McShane
24th Oct 2016

One-pot meals are where it’s at. Fast, easy,?and best of all: minimal dishes. Especially?if you eat straight out of the pot you cooked everything in like a goddamn genius.

One-Pot Chickpea Biryani

Cook Time: 35 Minutes

Makes enough?for 4?to 6 people

Veggies
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 large yellow onion, halved
2 cups chopped cauliflower
1 cup chopped green beans
1 carrot, chopped
1 – cups cooked chickpeas
1 teaspoon garam masala*
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger

Rice
1 tablespoon coconut oil
2 cups basmati rice
1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon garam masala*
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
4 cups vegetable broth
? teaspoon ground turmeric** mixed with
1 tablespoon water
? cup chopped cashews or almonds
? cup golden raisins
Chopped cilantro,?for topping

Method:

Cook the veggies: In a large soup pot, warm up 1 tablespoon of the coconut oil over medium heat. Add the onions and saut? until they start to brown all over, about 7 minutes. Remove them from the pot and set those bastards aside.
In that same pot, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat. Toss in the cauliflower, green beans, and carrot and saut? that shit around until they start to soften up and get browned in a few spots, about 5 minutes. Fold in the chickpeas, garam masala, garlic, and ginger and cook for another minute to get the spices all mixed up. Remove from the heat, remove all the veggies from the pot, and set them off by the onions.
Make the rice: In that same damn pot, warm up the coconut oil over medium heat. Add the rice, cinnamon, bay leaf, garam masala, ginger, and garlic and saut? that shit until the spices start to smell all delicious, about 1 minute. Add the veggie broth and bring it all to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook until the rice is tender and the liquid has evaporated, 15 to 20 minutes. Sprinkle the turmeric mixture over about half of the cooked rice and let it sit with the heat off for a minute to absorb.
To serve, fluff the rice with a fork, fold in the veggies, three-quarters of the onions, the nuts, and raisins. Top with some cilantro and the rest of the onions and serve that shit up right away.

* You can find Garam Masala with the spices at any well-stocked grocery store, on the internet, or at any grocer in your area. Totally worth the buy.
** We used the turmeric to give the rice its signature occasional yellow grains of rice without spending the extra cash on the traditional saffron. If you don’t already have turmeric though, don’t bother with this sh*t. It’s just for looks.