Cooking of rice: Rinse the rice thoroughly. Take a deep bottomed pan add 3 cups of water and bring it to boil. Add all the whole spices in the boiling water. Add the salt and rice and cook it on medium to high flame. Stir intermittently to ensure that the water does not over flow from the pan. The rice has to be par boiled and the grain should have a bite to them. Be careful that the rice should not be fully cooked. Drain the rice and keep it aside.

Process: Take the warm milk, add the food colour and saffron strands, keep aside. In a frying pan take 3 tbsp oil. Fry the paneer pieces to add a slight colour to them and keep aside. Fry the onion till golden brown and take out ¾th of fried onion from the pan and keep aside. Add one more tbsp of oil to the pan and then add the marinated vegetables, cottage cheese and soya chunks. Saute on medium flame for 5 minutes. Add ½ cup water, turmeric powder, salt, Red Chilli powder, garam

Assembling the Biryani : Take a heavy and deep bottomed pan (Handi). Add half of the rice, followed by cooked Vegetables, cottage cheese, soya chunks and fried onion. Sprinkle Garam masala and fennel powder, 1/4h tsp each. Add the rest of the rice, remaining fried onion and sprinkle the garam masala and Fennel powder, 1/4th tsp each. Make a small hole with spoon in assembled rice and vegetables layer in the middle. Pour the Milk mixture with saffron and food colour through the hole

Sprinkle a little water on the top layer of rice. Then take a newspaper and cover the pan completely and put the lid covering tightly so that no heat escapes the pan. Put a weight on the lid and cook in low flame for 10-12 minutes. Your delicious hot Vegetable Biryani is ready and serve with choice of Raita.