Simple VEG Biryani

This Veg Biryani is an authentic Indian vegetarian recipe packed full of your favorite rice, veggies, and spices. Made with patience and lots of love, this delicious veg dum biryani requires both care and attention to detail. The savory flavors in your first bite are well worth the time and effort spent in the kitchen.

In simple words Biryani is a rice and curry casserole. The curry can be meat based or vegetable based. Nothing like a good plate of aromatic biryani! this vegetable biryani hits all the right spot with its wonderful aroma and exotic flavors!

Loaded with veggies, crunchy cashews, warm spices like saffron, herbs like cilantro and mint, this biryani is a delight to the taste buds in every bite!

There are hundreds of different variations for making a veg biryani recipe, each having their own unique tastes, ingredients, and flavors – but my tried and true recipe is loosely inspired from my mom’s version and a Jigg Kalra’s book that I had purchased decades back. Over the years, I have experimented with this veg biryani recipe with different ratios of ingredients. And finally I came to the perfect recipe that is insanely delicious and keeps you asking for more.

I have forgotten the number of times I have made this veg dum biryani recipe for family, friends and get-togethers. It has always been a much loved dish on the dining table.

Ingredients

Rice:

I prefer to use aged basmati rice, but regular basmati rice is also appropriate.

Water:

For soaking rice and for cooking the vegetable gravy and rice. You will also need kewra water (pandanus extract) or rose water for layering the dish.

Veggies:

Veg biryani can actually be made with just one vegetable or several different kinds of of veggies. I like to add a variety of vegetables when making this vegetarian dish. In this recipe, I have added a mix of cauliflower, onions, potatoes, carrots, french beans, bell pepper (capsicum), button mushrooms and green peas. You can even add aubergines, cabbage, broccoli, spinach and kale in your veg dum biryani.

Dairy:

Ghee or clarified butter, Curd (yogurt) and milk.

Nuts:

Cashews and almonds.

Seasonings:

Cardamoms, cloves, cinnamon, tej patta (Indian bay leaf), mace and saffron strands, salt, turmeric powder, red chili powder or cayenne pepper or paprika

Other Ingredients:

Shah jeera (caraway seeds), raisins (without seeds), ginger, garlic, chilies, coriander leaves or cilantro, mint leaves.

Step by Steps

Step 1:

For Rice:

First, rinse 1.5 cups of basmati rice (300 grams) in clean water until the water runs clear of starch. You can use a bowl or colander to rinse the rice. Make sure you soak the rice grains in water for 30 minutes after rinsing them. Once the rice has been able to soak for 30 minutes, drain all the water and set aside.

Step 2:

While the basmati rice is soaking, use that time to prep the other ingredients. First, you will want to rinse, peel and chop all of the veggies. This will make the process of cooking go by much quicker.

Step 3:

3 cups mixed veggies including green peas. You can use your choice of mixed vegetables for your veg dum biryani.

Step 4:

For Onions:

Slice 1 large onion thinly (about 1 heaped cup thinly sliced onion).

For Ginger:

Finely chop or crush 10 grams ginger (2 pieces of 2 inch ginger or 1.5 tablespoons finely chopped ginger). You should get 1 tablespoon of ginger paste.

For Garlic:

Finely chop or crush 5 grams garlic (10 to 12 medium garlic cloves or 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic). You will need ½ tablespoon garlic paste.

Chilies:

Slit 3 to 4 green chilies.

Cilantro:

Chop coriander leaves (cilantro) and mint leaves. You should get ⅓ cup each of chopped coriander leaves and mint leaves.

Step 5:

After you have organized and chopped all of your vegetables, it is time to cook the basmati rice. You can use any method to cook your rice – microwave, pressure cooking, instant pot or cooking in a pot. If cooking your rice in a pot, use a deep bottomed pan and add 5 cups water.

Step 6:

5 Add Spices to Boiling Water

When the water is hot, add all the spices and 1 teaspoon salt. Here’s what you want to include for your veg dum biryani in this step:

• 1 tej patta
• 3 green cardamoms
• 3 cloves
• 1 black cardamom
• 1 inch true cinnamon or 1 inch cassia cinnamon
• 2 single strands of mace

After adding the ingredients, bring the water to a boil on a high heat.

Step 7:

Now it is time to add the rice for your veg biryani to the spice mixture in the pot. Gently stir with a spoon or fork after you add the soaked basmati rice. Check the taste of water and ensure it is slightly salty.

Tips

If the water is not tasting slightly salty, then add some more salt. & Do not reduce the heat and continue to cook the rice grains.

Step 8:

The rice should not be fully cooked, but a bit undercooked or about 75% or ¾ of the way cooked. Drain the semi-cooked rice in a colander. You can also rinse them gently with water so that the grains stop cooking.

Tips:

Taste the rice! The grains should still have a slight bite to them.

Step 9:

Make Vegetable Gravy

In a 2-litre pressure cooker or a pan, heat 3 tablespoons of ghee, then add the following spices. Sauté the whole spices until they crackle. You can make the vegetable gravy in a pan as well.

• 1 teaspoon shah jeera (caraway seeds)
• 1 tej patta
• 3 green cardamoms
• 3 cloves
• 1 black cardamom
• 1 inch cinnamon

Next, add the sliced onions.

Step 10:

Stir and sauté the onions on a low to medium heat. Onions can take a long time to cook, so add a pinch of salt to quicken the cooking process. Stirring often sauté the onions, so that they cook evenly.

Sauté the onions until they become golden brown or caramelize. Try not to burn them.

Step 11:

Add the ginger-garlic paste and sliced green chilies. You can also finely chop the ginger-garlic and add if desired. Sauté the mixture for some seconds until the raw aroma of ginger-garlic goes away. Add the ½ teaspoon turmeric powder and 1 teaspoon red chili powder or cayenne. Stir and mix well.

Step 12:

Next add the chopped veggies. Mix thoroughly and sauté veggies for 1 to 2 minutes. Lower the heat and add the beaten yogurt or curd. Stir as soon as you add the curd. Then add ½ cup of water in the pressure cooker. If you decide to cook the veggies in a pot, add ¾ cup water.

Step 13:

Pressure cook for 1 whistle or 3 to 4 minutes on medium heat. If cooking in a pot, then cook until the veggies are done. Don’t overcook the vegetables. When the pressure settles down on its own, remove the lid and check the gravy.

Step 14:

If the vegetables are not cooked well, then keep the pressure cooker on the stove top and simmer the vegetable biryani gravy without the lid, till the vegetables are tender.

If there is too much water or stock in the gravy, then simmer till some water dries up. The vegetable gravy should have a medium or slightly thick consistency and should not be watery. Mix, stir, and set aside.

Step 15:

Then layer half of the semi cooked rice. Sprinkle half of the chopped coriander (cilantro), mint leaves and saffron infused milk. Layer the remaining gravy.

Step 16:

Layer the remainder of the rice, and sprinkle the remaining coriander leaves (cilantro), mint leaves, saffron milk on the top. You can also sprinkle 2 teaspoon of rose water or kewra water (pandanus extract) at this point.

TIP:

If you’d like, you can even add ⅓ to ½ cup of golden fried onions (birista) if you have these. You can make 2 layers or 4 layers like I have done. But do remember that rice should be the top layer and the vegetable gravy should be the bottom layer.

Step 17:

Take a tawa (griddle/skillet) and heat it on medium heat. You can begin to preheat the tava when you start assembling the veg biryani. Lower the heat when the skillet becomes hot, and keep the sealed veg biryani pan on the tawa. Keep the flame to the lowest and cook for 30 to 35 minutes.

TIP:

You can also dum cook veg biryani for the first 15 minutes on direct low flame and then for the last 10 minutes, place the pan on the hot tawa or skillet and cook on a low flame.

Step 18:

After 30 to 25 minutes, switch off the flame, and use a fork or spoon check the bottom layer of the biryani. There should be no liquids at the bottom. If there are liquids, then continue to dum cook. After dum cooking, give a resting time of 5 to 7 minutes and later serve hyderabadi veg biryani. While serving the veg dum biryani, make sure you equally serve the vegetables as well as rice layers.

TIPs

Rice:

To make a biryani firstly you need good quality basmati rice – preferably aged basmati rice. Biryani is not mushy and the rice grains remain perfectly separate in the dish. For this recipe I included aged basmati rice.

Sella Basmati Rice:

I also make biryani with parboiled basmati rice (known as sella basmati rice in Hindi and converted basmati rice outside India) and it works wonderfully and much better than aged basmati rice.

Cooking of rice:

The rice grains are boiled until they are ¾ cooked. They will have a slight bite to them and will be slightly undercooked. Do not cook the rice 100% as then they will become mushy by the time the biryani is dum cooked.

Spices:

The lovely fragrance and aroma in a biryani comes from using whole spices. Thus the spices need to be fresh and in good condition.

Curd (Yogurt):

The vegetable curry is made with yogurt and so it is important that the yogurt must be fresh and not sour. The curd or yogurt should also be made from whole milk. Do not use fat free yogurt or curd made from toned milk as it will split while cooking.

Biryani gravy:

The curry or gravy for the veg biryani should have a medium to medium-thick consistency. It should not be watery like a stock or broth as this will lead to the rice becoming mushy or very soft after dum cooking.

Vegan variation:

Use almond milk yogurt or cashew milk yogurt. Replace ghee (clarified butter) with oil. You could use any vegetable oil or neutral tasting oil.