This is a lovely special-occasion centrepiece – perfect with the raita alongside, but it also works really well with the dal makhani on page 180 of The Green Cookbook, which you can make the day before. There’s some alchemy when the spiced vegetables and rice cook in layers in the oven, and I finish the dish with a crisp sheet of puff pastry, as a nod to the traditional dough-paste used to seal a biryani pot. Who doesn’t love double carbs? Just be sure to use the nicest saffron you can find – Belazu is my favourite supermarket brand.