In a saucepan, boil lot of water. Add the potatoes, carrots and bean and boil till the vegetables

are 50% done.

Add the frozen green peas and cook further till they are cooked up to 80%, ie. When you bite in, there would be a slight rawness. Drain the vegetables and set aside.

In a large saucepan, heat ghee. Fry the whole masalas for a couple of minutes.

Add in the onion and green chillies and sauté till it becomes soft.

Add the ginger-garlic paste and cook till the raw smell is gone. Add the tomatoes and cook till the tomatoes get totally mashed up.

Add in the masala powders and sauté till it gets a nice dark color.

Add in the cooked vegetables and yogurt and mix well till incorporated.

Add in the salt and cook for a couple of minutes. Switch off.

Meanwhile, wash the basmati rice several times till clean. Boil water in a large pan with a pinch of turmeric and salt.

Add the rice and cook for around 10 minutes or till the rice is 80% cooked –when you bite a grain, there would be a little grainy taste. Immediately drain the rice and wash in cold water. Set aside.

Let us do the dum ingredients. Heat ghee in a fry pan and fry the onions till crisp. Drain and set aside.

Fry the cashew nuts and puff up the raisins. Drain and keep along with the fried onion.

Heat a tawa for doing the dum.

On top of the prepared vegetable masala, sprinkle in half of the fried items, along with half the coriander and mint leaves, as well as the garam masala. Put the rice on top of the masala. Sprinkle in the rest of the remaining dum ingredients.

Drizzle the ghee used to fry the onion, along with the rose water and pineapple essence, if using. Cover the saucepan tightly and close the lid.

Keep on dum for 15-20 minutes on medium-low flame. Switch off and leave undisturbed for another 15 minutes. Take off the foil cover and give in a nice mix with a spatula, ensuring that the rice doesn’t break and the vegetables are intact.

Serve hot with some pickle, chammanthi and raita.