Beef Biryani with Substitutions

Ingredient substitutions for all the things you can't get here is par for the course in feeding your cravings for foods not available in restaurants here... I have never cooked so much in all my life! Follows is my recipe for biryani cooked in the pressure cooker:

1. Marinate a pound of sliced steak in salt and yogurt.
2. Grind together about 2 sliced hot chillis, some ginger powder (no fresh available), 2 cloves of garlic, about 1.5 T of dried mint and (as there is no fresh coriander) some coriander seeds, powder and/or other dried/fresh nicely scented green.
3. Pour about a half cup of olive oil 2-3 large chopped onions, 4-5 cardamon pods and a pinch or 2 of cinnamon in the cooker and fry until golden.
4. Add the ingredients you ground in step no.2 and 2 medium tomatoes and fry a little longer.
5. In a separate pan, fry the beef... just a little.
6. Add the beef and 2-3 cups of basmati rice (uncooked). Add just under 1.5 cups of water for every cup of rice and cover.
7. Cook for 5 minutes on high, then turn down heat and cook 5 minutes on low.
8. Let pot cool, stir and serve with a salad made of tomatoes, onions, fresh coriander (ha ha) and green chillies.

PS. This is very aromatic, but the recipe at Recipezaar with cashews and pistachios also looks good! Maybe next time.