Classic Veg Biryani recipe

Veg Biryani recipe | veg dum biryani

 Briyani is everyone's favourite. It is a  traditional recipe of Indian culture with many versions and types.

Veg biryani is a versatile, yummy and extremely easy to make. If you have been looking for the best veg Biryani recipe, you have come to the right place. Here I bring you the step by step guide on how to make vegetable Biryani recipe at home using dum technique and restaurant style.

Veg biryani serving for veg(vegetable) biryani recipe

What is biryani ?

Biryani is a dish of long grains rice flavoured with exotic spices and layered with  meat, egg or vegetables and a thick spice gravy. The main ingredients are rice, spices, herbs, vegetables or non vegetarian products. They are layered alternatively in a pot and the whole pot is cooked with a sealed lid on top of it.

Origin of biryani

The word biryani came from Parsian word Biriyani , which mean Fried before cooking. It origin is believed to be in Parsia as a rustic rice and meat dish then traveled to India. And here it transformed into a classical dish with all the aromas and spices  called BIRYANI.

Types of biryani

Biryani are mainly two types 
  • Veg biryani and
  • Non veg biryani
 In Non vegetarian types lamb,  chicken, eggs, beef and seafoods are used.

 And in vegetable or veg biryani beans, carrots , cauliflower, paneer, potato,  green peas ,  and mushroom are used.

Vegetable biryani or veg biryani is as popular as non veg biryani and you can make this Veg biryani recipe easily at the comfort of your kitchen.

Variations

India has many States and territories and each have their own culture and taste. And this diversity has given birth to many form of this popular biryani.

Some of the popular biryani you can taste are.
   •  Lucknowi or Awadhi biryani
   •  Hydrabadi biryani
   •  Kolkata biryani
   •  Memoni biryani
   •  Malabar biryani
   •  Ambur biryani
   •  Dingidul biryani

Vegetable biryani ingredients list

Rice : The main ingredient, use a good brand long grain basmati rice and soak them in water before cooking for the best result.

Whole spices : These spices gives the aromatic flavour to the biryani so make sure to include them in your recipe. They are bay leafs, green cardamom, black cardamom, mace, black pepper con, cinnamon sticks and cloves.

Spice powder : cumin powder, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and biryani masala powder. 

Herbs : Mint leafs, coriander leafs, ginger, garlic, onion and green chili.

Vegetables : Common used vegetables are french beans, cauliflower, carrot and green peas. You can add any other vegetable of your choice.

Flavoured water : In restaurant style biryani recipe Rose water and Kewda water are used. 

Ghee : use pure desi ghee to increase the flavour.

Saffron : it is optional but can increase the flavour.

Others : salt, cooking oil

Yoghurt : Use a thick and less sour curd.

Serving suggestions

Raita and papad is best to serve with biryani. Boondi raita , mix vegetable raita or pineapple raita are some popular opinion you can serve with biryani.

Another popular one is Salan. Mirch ka salan is the favorite to serve with it. Plain curd and green salad are also goes well with this.

Steps to make veg Biryani 

Using dum technique

What is Dum pukht?

Dum pukht is a cooking technique by not allowing the steam to pass . Literally means choking off the steam. Dum pukht means slow cooking in a sealed container.

Traditionally Food is kept in a pot and then sealed with wheat flour dough thus not allowing the steam to pass.

These popular cooking methods goes back hundreds of years. It is used to cooked  meat dishes almost without no water . The food gets cooked in its own steam and juice on slow fire infusing  the flavours and aromas of its herbs and spices to the food.

Dum pukht cooking technique is now popularised by Master Chef Imitiaz Qureshi with the help of ITC  Hotels creating the culinary brand of Bukhara and reviving the Dum pukht tradition of cuisine.

Photo for dum pukht biryani serving in restaurants using wheat flour dough on a biryani pot

Dum pukht veg biryani  using wheat flour dough on a biryani pot

Cooking rice for biryani

 Wash the rice thoroughly under running water till the water runs clear. And then soak them in water for 30 minutes.
 Soaking rice in water helps to get cooked quickly and make them more puffy.

 In mean time , you can chopped all your vegetables and herbs. 

 You can cook the rice either in a pressure cooker or pot. But best to use pot for biryani rice cooking.

Take a deep bottomed pan and add 3 - 4 cup of water and heat in high flame. Add the whole spices green cardamom , black pepper con , black cardamom , bay leaf , cloves , cinnamon stick and mace into the water.
Also add one teaspoon ginger garlic paste, one slits green chili and half teaspoon salt. And let them boil for 2 minutes to release the flavours from the spices.

Chilli, Bay leaves, cinnamon stick, Cardamom in water for rice cooking for veg biryani recipe

 Now add the soaked rice and cook in medium flame. When the rice cooked almost 70% , check by just squeeze a grain between your thumb and index finger. There should be a small white core at the centre.

Checking grains if cooked at the tip of index finger for veg biryani recipe

Switch off the flame and drain the rice with water in a colander. You can rinse the grains with water gently thus stopping them from further cooking. 

Cooked rice with spices in a stainer for veg biryani recipe

Making gravy for biryani

Take a pan and add 2 tablespoon of cooking oil and 1 tablespoon ghee and heat over medium heat flame. When become hot add the 2/3 rd  of the slice onions and fry till the onion become crisp and  golden. Remove  the fried onions on a kitchen paper to absorb excess oil. These fried onions are  known as Barista onion (caramelised onions)

Fried onions (barista) for veg biryani recipe

 Take half of the fried onions and make a fine paste using little water. Keep the onion paste aside for later use.  The remaining fried onions will be used while layering the biryani .

Fried onion paste for veg biryani recipe

 In that same pan , add one tablespoon more ghee and heat. When become hot add the remaining 1/3 rd slice onions and saute till the onions become light brown in colour.
Add the remaining ginger garlic paste and saute till the raw smell of ginger garlic paste goes off. Now add the red chilli powder, cumin powder  and biryani masala powder and mix well. Next add the beaten yogurt and the fried onion paste and mix everything nicely and cook for 1 more minute.

Fried onion paste , beaten curd with masala in pan for veg biryani recipe

Cooking the vegetables

Add the chopped vegetables and  mix well and cook for 2 more minutes.  Further pour little water and cook the vegetables till 70 to 80% done.

Chopped vegetables cooking for veg biryani recipe

Mixing vegetables with masala for veg biryani recipe

 Onion paste makes the biryani gravy more thick and sticking. It makes your biryani more masaledar .
 
Layering the biryani

Take a thick bottomed pan or container and layer the half of the vegetables gravy first.

Layering vegetables at the bottom of a pot for veg biryani recipe

Then layer the half of  rice over the vegetables.

Layering rice for veg biryani recipe

Sprinkle half of the chopped mint, coriander leaves above the rice. Also sprinkle some fried onions (barista onion) over the rice.
 Again layer the remaining vegetable gravy over the rice .

Layering vegetables over rice for veg biryani recipe

Lastly layer the rest of the rice over the gravy. Sprinkle the remaining chopped mint, coriander and fried onions over the rice . You can top the rice with saffron milk as well.  Sprinkle 1 teaspoon Rose water over the rice ( optional) .

Layering rice over vegetables for veg biryani recipe

 You can make two or four layers of gravy and rice . Do remember that the last layer should be of Rice. Two layers are standard for a biryani.

Giving Dum to biryani

Now it is the time to give the  Dum to cook the vegetables and rice completely. You can give DUM by using two simple and easy methods.
First is the old traditional method using wheat flour dough. And the second one by using silver foil ( aluminum foil).

Seal and secure the pod with silver foil and cover with a fitting lid.

Sealed pot with aluminum foil for veg biryani recipe

Sealed pot covered with lid for veg biryani recipe

Take a heavy cast iron skillet or iron tawa and heat on medium flame heat.. Place the silver foil covered biryani pot on the tawa and cook over slow flame for 15- 20 minutes.
 Slowly steam start to grow and  you  can feel it by touching the silver foil .
 After the said time, open it and sprinkle one teaspoon of  pure ghee and serve  hot the Dum pukht veg biryani.

Garnished veg biryani in a covered pot

You can use wheat flour dough to give the Dum for veg biryani also.  You need to place the dough on the rim or lip of the pot shaping circular wise by its shape.
Now place the lid firmly over the dough leaving no space to pass the steam. Place the pot on the skillet or iron tawa in slow flame and cook for 15 minutes.

Giving dum by traditional method using wheat flour dough for veg biryani recipe

You can even make this vegetable Biryani in a instant pot. For more details read the recipe by Manali   Instant Pot biryani recipe 

Veg biryani restaurant style 

We often eat biryani while visiting a restaurant and within 15 minutes it comes to our table.
So how they manage to cook biryani so fast with all the flavours in such a short period of time?
Let me share the secret for a restaurant style veg biryani recipe here .

Preparation

Heat water in a large bottomed pan , add salt, ginger garlic paste, green chili and the whole spices, Cardamom, cinnamon stick, Bay leave, cloves, black pepper con and mace.

 Boil them for 1 minute then add the pre soaked rice in the water. You can take enough water to boil the rice as we are going to stain all the excess water after the rice is cooked for almost 90 %.

It will take around 8 - 9 minutes to cook the rice for that % .
Using a conical stainer remove the excess water from the rice. Or you can use any suitable method to remove the excess water from the rice. Now  seal the pan or pot using aluminum foil and cook further 5 minutes in very slow flame without letting the steam to pass.
Cooking rice using Dum pukht technique for restaurant style veg biryani recipe

 These is the  Dum technique (dum pukht) used to cook the rice further in slow flame.
 Switch off the flame and let the rice to cool down completely.  Don't remove the  aluminum foil. In the meantime you can chopped all your vegetables and herbs and slice the onions for the recipe.

In restaurants, the biryani rice that served are colourful. Did you noticed that?
Yes they serve a colourful biryani rice  in restaurants. And you can also easily make that at your home.

They don't use any colour in biryani rice. 
It is very simple, take two small bowl and add half teaspoon of red chilli and turmeric powder in each bowl. Add few drops of water in each bowl to make a thick dilution.

Red Chilli powder and turmeric powder mix with water for colouring rice for restaurant style veg biryani recipe

Pour this over the rice while cooling. Let the rice to cool completely. You will get the desired colour of the biryani rice by this process.
Pouring red chilli and turmeric powder dilution over rice for restaurant style veg biryani recipe

Colourful rice for restaurant style veg biryani recipe

Boil all the said vegetables , beans , carrots, cauliflower till fully done.

Now take a pan and heat 2 tablespoon of cooking oil and 1 tablespoon pure ghee. Fry the sliced onions till crisp golden. Make a paste using the 2/3 rd of the fried onions. And keep the rest for later use.

In that same pan , add one more teaspoon ghee and add 1 teaspoon of ginger garlic paste and saute till the raw smell of them goes off. Add red chilli powder, turmeric powder, biryani masala,  cumin powder and salt and saute a few more seconds.

Sauteing red chilli cumin powder biryani masala turmeric powder with ginger garlic paste for restaurant style veg biryani recipe

Now pour the onion paste and beaten curd and cooked further one minute.

Pouring onion paste and beaten curd with masala and ginger garlic paste for restaurant style veg biryani recipe

Add the boiled vegetables and mix well. Add  half of the chopped mint leaves , coriander leaves and fried onions with the vegetables and cook  1 minute more minutes..

Cooking vegetables with masala for restaurant style veg biryani recipe

Now place the cooked rice over the vegetables gravy and topped with the rest of the chopped mint , coriander leaves and fried onions.

Placing rice over vegetables on a pan for restaurant style veg biryani recipe


Topped rice with mint Cilantro and fried onions for restaurant style veg biryani recipe

Sprinkle some rose water or kewda water over the rice . Pour 1/2 teaspoon ghee over the rice.
Rose water and kewda water for restaurant style veg biryani recipe

Rose water or kewda water are widely used for briyani recipe. They give a good essence or scent to the final product of the biryani.
You can use any one of the two for a biryani recipe.
14. Now slowly stir and mix the rice with with the vegetables partially.  Don't fully mix the rice and vegetables  together.

Cooked veg biryani recipe using restaurant style method

Switch off the flame and remove in a serving bowl or dish . Garnish with chopped mint and coriander leaves and sprinkle some fried onions as well.
 This is restaurant style of veg biryani recipe. They make most of the gravy ahead like tomato gravy , chopped onion gravy (chopped masala) and brown gravy( fried onion gravy).

Can I cook the veg biryani in an Oven?

 Yes you can cook it in a Preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. Use oven proof glass utensil and layered them first the vegetables then rice and cooked at 180 degree celcius for the said time.
You can also make this delicious veg biryani  in a pressure cooker. Full recipe description to make veg biryani recipe using Veg biryani in cooker.

How to make homemade biryani masala 

Ingredients

•  7 - 8 green cardamoms.
•  1 black Cardamom
•  5 - 6 bay leaf
•  2 inch Cinnamon stick
•  1/2 teaspoon whole black pepper
•  1/2 teaspoon cloves
•   2 Mace blades
•  1 Nutmeg
•  1/2 teaspoon Caraway seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds

First roast them in a pan for 2 minutes and cool down completely and then make powder of them.
You can use grinder or mixer to make fine powder .  Seal in a air tight jar and use whenever you're making biryani.

Difference between Garam masala and Biryani masala

Biryani masala is essentially a variation of Garam masala with less portion of spices.
Biryani masala is not hot as compare to garam masala. It is little bit sweet in taste.
In garam masala we generally use almost all the whole spices like .... Star anise , Cumin seeds, whole red chilly, coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds  in addition to the above ingredients. And their quantity is larger than that of biryani masala.
There is no standard recipe for either Garam masala or biryani masala. It vary from place to place.

If you love the recipe of vegetables biryani then I am sure you would love the recipe of Vegetables Dal khichdi recipe as well.

 Veg biryani recipe

Serving veg biryani for veg biryani recipe

Veg biryani is a aromatic rice preparation made with long grain basmati rice, aromatic spices and mix vegetables. It can be made using different method like Dum pukht, using pressure cooker and restaurant style method. Biryani is served with different types of raita, papad and pickle.

Prep time      cooking time      serving
10 min            30 min                        2
Author :- Mobasir hassan

Ingredients 
  • 1 cup  basmati rice
  • 1/2 cup French beans chopped.
  • 1/3 cup carrots ( medium size chopped)
  • 1/3 cup green peas.
  • 1/3 cup chopped cauliflower
  • 2 green Cardamom ( choti elaichi)
  • 1/2 inch Cinnamon stick (dalchini)
  • 2 Bay leave ( tez Patta)
  • 1/2 black Cardamom (badi elaichi)
  • 4 - 5 black pepper con ( kalimiri)
  • 1 Mace ( javitri)
  • 2 cloves ( laung)
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin ( jeera powder)
  • 1/2 teaspoon biryani masala
  • 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
  • 1/3 teaspoon turmeric powder(haldi)
  • 3 large onions
  • 2 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
  • 2 green chillies ( slits)
  • 3 teaspoon pure ghee (Desi ghee)
  • Few saffron stands ( kesar) soaked in warm milk
  • 2 teaspoon beaten yogurt (curd)
  • 1/2 cup chopped Coriander leafs
  • 1/3 teaspoon chopped Mint leaves
  • 1 teaspoon salt or as per taste
  • 2 teaspoon cooking oil
   How to make the recipe
  1. Wash the rice in running water till run clear then soak them in water for 30 minutes.
  2. Chopped the mint and coriander leaves and slice the onions. Slits the green chilles.
   Cooking  rice for biryani
  1. Take a deep bottom pan with 3 - 4 cup of water and heat in high flame. Add the whole spices green cardamom, black pepper con, black cardamom, bay leaf, cloves, cinnamon sticks and mace.
  2. Add 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste, 1/2 teaspoon salt and one slit green chili. Let them boil for 2 minutes to release the flavours.
  3. Now add the soaked rice and cook in medium flame till 70% done.
  4. Remove and drain the rice in a colander with water. Rinse them with water to stop further cooking. Remove all the whole spices and let them cool down completely on a wide surface plate.
   Making vegetable gravy for biryani
  1. Heat 2 teaspoon oil with 1 teaspoon ghee in a pan and fry 2/3 rd  of the slice onion till crisp golden.
  2. Remove them in a absorbent paper and make a fine paste using water with half of the fried onion. Remaining half fried onion will be use while layering the biryani.
  3. Heat 1 teaspoon ghee in the same pan and fry the remaining 1/3 rd onion slices till light brown.
  4. Add the remaining ginger garlic paste and saute till raw smell goes off.
  5. Add the red chilli powder, cumin cumin powder, biryani masala and mix. Pour the beaten yoghurt and fried onion paste and stir for a minute.
  6. Now add the chopped vegetables and mix well. Stir them for 2 minutes. Pour  little water and cook the vegetables till almost 80% done. Make sure the gravy become semi thick.
   Layering the biryani
  1. Take a thick bottomed pan or utensil and place half of the vegetable gravy at the bottom of the pan.
  2. Now layer half of the rice over the vegetable gravy and sprinkle half of the fried onions and half of the chopped mint and coriander leaves.
  3. Again layer the remaining vegetable gravy over the rice. And topped with with the remaining rice over the gravy.
  4. Now sprinkle the remaining fried onion and chopped mint and coriander leaves.u
  5. You can topped the rice with saffron milk as well. Or pour few drops of Rose water or kewda water over the rice.
   Giving Dum to biryani
  1. Seal and secure the pod with aluminum foil and cover with a fitting lid.
  2. Take a heavy cast iron skillet or heavy bottom Tawa and heat in medium flame. When hot lower the flame to low and place the aluminum foil sealed pod over it.
  3. Cook the biryani for 15 - 20 minutes on slow flame.
  4. After that open the lid and foil and pour one teaspoon ghee over the biryani and serve hot with raita.
                         Nutritional value
  •  Calories :- 566 kcal |  fats :- 16 g
  •  protein :- 11 g. | Dietary fiber :- 7 g
  • carbohydrate:- 93 g 
                           Serving tips
  • Veg biryani is served with raita and papad( papadum). Raita can be of mix vegetable raita , boondi raita, pineapple raita or cucumber raita. You can served fried papad or roasted papad with biryani.
  • Mirch ka salan is another well known dish from Hyderabad which is served along with biryani
  • A good green salad with slice of onions, cucumbers and  carrots can be served with a biryani.
Serving veg biryani with raita and papad

                                   Video

Veg biryani restaurant style recipe video


 
You can read some best traditional recipes of Indian Cuisines 
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