Chole Biryani

For biryani:
2 cups basmati rice
1 tb sp oil
salt sufficient for rice
6/7 bay leaves
6/7 cloves
3 star anise
6/7 cardamom pods, skinned
biryani phool, if available

For Chole:

2 cups garbanzo beans, soaked overnight and boiled. (I've never tried the ready to eat ones you get in cans, not sure if that gives the same flavor as the soaked and boiled ones).
1 big onion, finely chopped
4 medium/small tomatoes, finely chopped
4 pods garlic, minced
1 small slice ginger, minced
2 tsp oil for tadka
1 tsp garam masala (optional)
salt to taste
cilantro for garnishing

For masala:
2 tb spoon dhania (corriander seeds)
1 tb spoon jeera (cumin)
1 teaspoon shahjeera
1 star anise
2 tsp poppy seeds
4 cloves
1 cinnamon piece
5 cardamom pods, skinned

1. Roast all masala ingredients, grind after the spices cool down.
2. heat a pan and add oil. Once oil reaches smoking point, add ginger garlic paste and saute.
3. Next, add onions and saute till onions turn brown.
4. Add tomatoes and saute for 5 min.
5. Now add masala powder and cook everything together in medium, stirring once in a while. Cook till oil separates.
6. Add salt sufficient for chole, and then add the boiled garbanzo beans and cook for 5 more min.

In parallel:
1. Take a pan, add 4 cups water, and once it starts boiling, add oil and spices and simmer for 15 min.
2. Remove extra spices from the water (the aroma should've seeped into the water by now, anything extra will only decrease the taste). You can save it to reuse it for some other dish.
3. Wash rice well and add to the boiling water and keep stirring.
4. When rice is 90 % cooked, remove rice from stove top and run cold water through the rice in the pot.
5. Drain water from the pot, leaving a little for the rice to get completely cooked. Each rice grain should be separate by now.

Combining chole and rice:
1. Preheat oven to 300 F.
2. In an oven resistant container, place a layer or rice. Can be about 1.5 to 2 inches thick.
3. Add a layer of chole on top of the rice layer.
4. Continue this till you get atleast 2 sets of rice + chole layer.
5. Cover with foil (to make sure rice cooks well. leaving it open will dry the rice on the topmost layer) and bake for 30 min.
6. Serve with raita and mirch ka salan (recipe coming soon).

Alternates : Milk combined with saffron can be added to the rice + chole mix before baking in the oven to get a richer taste. Make sure that water is COMPLETELY drained from the semi cooked rice though, else it'll get really soggy.