Biryani is treated as more than just a dish in India. The wide range of biryanis that are cooked in matkas, pots, and cookers are proof enough of the fanfare that this one-pot dish enjoys in our country. Interestingly, biryani is often looked at from a meat lover’s perspective. The succulent pieces of meat cooked with rice and spices is believed to add the tantalising aroma and flavour to the dish.
However, there’s something called a vegetarian biryani too and it shouldn’t be confused with pulao. Oftentimes, non-vegetarians dismiss the existence of a veg biryani and argue that the Nawabs of Awadh and Nizams of Hyderabad enjoyed a mutton or chicken biryani rather than a vegetarian rice dish.
Although that is partially true, negating the veg biryani wouldn’t be fair either. The dum-style biryani involves a slow-cooking technique that releases all the flavours of the vegetables into the rice and the infusion is what gives a delightful plate of this one-pot dish. While the technique is decades old, it is still used to make authentic biryani in several parts of the country. Have you tried making a dum biryani at home too but failed? Well, home chef and Slurrp Community member, @tadka_mar_ke shares a detailed recipe of veg dum biryani along with some pro tips to ace the biryani game.
Source: Slurrpapp/Instagram
Here’s the recipe for Veg Dum Biryani.
Ingredients:
For par boiling the rice:
• 1.5 cups rice
• 4 cups water
• 1 tsp ghee (1 tbsp)
• Salt as per taste
• 1 cinnamon
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 black cardamom
• 4-5 green cardamom
• 4-5 cloves
For marinating the vegetables:
• Vegetables of your choice
• 1.5 tsp turmeric
• Salt (as per taste)
• 2 tsp chilli powder
• 0.5 tsp cinnamon powder
• 4-5 green cardamom
• 0.5 tsp green cardamom powder
• 1 tsp jeera
• 1.5 tbsp ginger garlic paste
• ¼ cup mint leaves
• Green chilli
• 1.5 cup curd
For layering:
• 5-6 tbsp ghee
• Saffron strand mixed in lukewarm milk
• 1 cup birista
• ½ cup boiled green peas
• ¼ cup mint leaves
For the dum process, use wheat flour dough.
Method:
1. Start by preparing the parboiled rice. For that, take a pot and add all the ingredients mentioned like cinnamon, bay leaves, cardamom and cloves in ghee.
2. Toss them and add rice and water to it. Sprinkle salt and let it cook for some time.
3. Keep this rice aside and prepare the vegetable mixture. Marinate the vegetables like potatoes, cauliflower and carrots with yoghurt, green chillies, spices and ginger garlic paste.
4. Toss the veggies in a pan with ghee. Take them out and keep aside.
5. Then, take the pot to be used for making biryani and layer the vegetables and rice one by one, starting with rice.
6. Drizzle some saffron-flavoured milk on each layer and finally garnish it with birista, saffron strands and mint leaves.
7. Cover the lid and seal the pot with the dough (dum).
8. Let it cook for some time and serve hot with raita.
Pro tips:
1. Marinate the vegetables for 20-30 minutes at least before cooking.
2. After marination, cook the vegetables on high flame for 4-5 minutes.
3. After sealing the vessel with the dough, cook it on high flame for 1 minute and then reduce the flame and cook it for 10-12 minutes.
4. If your vessel has a thin bottom, keep a tawa below it (this way vegetables will not burn).