Much has been said about using food colors in ones cooking and i wont go into all that. I can only talk for myself, i try to use as little food coloring as possible when i can. This meat biryani has been made in a jiffy and  its a real simple, uncomplicated recipe with simple ingredients which you can find at home always. One can always enrichen it with nuts, and almond paste etc. I do not tend to eat such rich food so i will give you my simple recipe.
INGREDIENTS FOR 2:
For the meat
350 grams of meat of your choice with bones, cut into cubes
2 onions chopped, one sliced and deep fried and the other sliced and kept raw
1 tablespoon of ginger garlic paste
1 tablespoon of green chilli paste, if you like it hot
1 tablespoon of Nitu Didi garam masala powder (you can see my youtube recipe or buy it from me)
1 cup of sour yogurt
4 tablespoons of home made restaurant style tomato paste (please see my recipe)
1 teaspoon of salt or to taste
4 tablespoons of butter or ghee
For the rice
1 cup of basmati rice, washed, and soaked for 30 minutes
4 cups of water
5  green cardamoms, 5 cloves, 1 inch piece of cinnamon, 6 peppercorns, 2 bay leaves
salt to taste
a pinch of Nitu Didi pure spanish saffron to give the rice some color and aroma
METHOD STEP ONE:
In a blender ( i used my magic bullet) add the yogurt, salt, ginger garlic paste, green chilli paste and the sliced onions and make into a paste. Marinate the meat overnight or for 6-8 hours in this paste.
Step two:
Make the rice : Bring the water to a boil with the whole spices for about five minutes till the water is lovely and fragrant. With a strainer remove all the spices once the water is fragrant and add the saffron and boil for five minutes till the water has a lovely colorthe rice and cook til the rice is 75% done. Once done , strain the rice and keep it in a tray so it doesnt get over cooked and the grains remain separate. You can grind the spices and keep for further use in your dishes , please do not throw. Waste not want not!!
Step three:
Heat the ghee in a pan and add the sliced onions and cook till transparent. Add the marinated meat and cook till the meat is dry . Add the garam masala and the tomato paste and cook. If the meat is not tender ( depends on what meat you are using) Add some water and boil till the meat is tender. If you have a pressure cooker you can make the meat in it,saves time and energy. Once the meat is cooked time to layer your biryani.
Last step:
In an oven proof dish apply some butter or ghee on the bottom. Add a layer of rice and then meat with the gravy and so on ending with a layer of rice. Now you can “personalise” your biryani by adding fried nuts, decorating it with chopped coriander and mint leaves, adding kewra essence, some saffron soaked milk….etc…rose petals…
Cover it with aluminium foil and put in a hot oven for about 20 minutes till the rice is heated through,
NITU DIDI TIP:
You can increase the amount of onions and tomato paste in the gravy and add boiled eggs, and potato cubes to it.
If you want to add colors please do…separate the rice and add the colors you want.
The spices you used to boil the rice can be ground and added to the meat also for more flavor.
If you want to enrichen it with almond paste add it when your cooking the meat.
You can use this recipe for chicken and vegetables too, you can use tofu, paneer etc
Do make this and share the picture of your biryani with me…Id love to see it 🙂
Happy cooking and even happier eating
If you want to buy the amazing bullet please email me on nitudidi@outlook.com