Biryani Rice

My roommate's girlfriend is a vegetarian and has exposed me to a completely different idea of cooking. She has great recipes and let me tweak her recipe for her Biryani rice. She says that you can use any type of nut and dried fruit to go with this dish, use whatever you have, it makes it quite delicious. *You can also use leftover takeout rice to make this dish as well.

Biryani Rice:
1 cup of brown basmati rice
1/2 raisins

Cook the brown rice to instructions, about 45 minutes. When the rice is about 40 mins into cooking, throw the raisins in to let them plump up for the last 5 minutes.

1 tbsp peanut oil or any light oil
1 medium onion, sliced into inch slices
1 cup of shredded carrots
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp graded ginger
2 tbsp curry powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp coriander
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground clove
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp powdered ginger
1 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp. ground saffron
S + P
1 tbsp soy sauce
Juice of 1/2 orange
1/4 cup of water or so
3/4 cup of toasted cashews
2 scallions, chopped
1 cup of cubed tofu (optional)

Saute carrots and onion in the oil over medium heat till the onions are translucent (about 5 minutes). Add the garlic and ginger and stir to combine. Add all of the spices, including the S + P and toast the spices. Add the rice, raisins, soy and orange juice. Saute and make sure all is combined and mixed well. If the mixture is try, add some water and let cook on low for about 10 minutes or so. At the very last minute, add the cashews and scallions and serve with yogurt sauce on the side, below. You can also add cubed tofu into this dish to add some protein.

Yogurt Sauce:
1/4 cup of non-fat greek style yogurt
juice of 1/2 meyer lemon + some zest
4 mint leaves, thinly sliced
1/4 tsp garlic powder
S + P