Hyderabadi Vegetable Biryani is a popular vegetarian version of Hyderabadi Biryani. It’s a vegetarian’s way of enjoying this traditional recipe.
Biryani and it’s History
Biryani, is an Indian dish consisting of basmati rice, spices, meat or vegetables. Originating in Persia, it was brought to India by the Mughals and quickly spread throughout India.
Each state/ region in India is popular for it’s own version of biryani. Among them, Hyderabadi dum Biryani, is the most loved and famous. This authentic dish comprises of Basmati rice, meat/ vegetables, ghee (or butter), spices, yogurt and nuts.
The vegetarian biryani was born during the same time and cooked amongst the vegetarian community.
What is Hyderabadi Cuisine?
Hyderabad is a metropolitan city in the South of India. It’s a capital city of an Indian state of Telangana.
An old Indian city, that was for a long time ruled by Qutub Shahi dynasty, Mughal Dynasty and lastly the Nizam dynasty.
Hence, the food here has Turkish, Mughal and Arabic influences. This is in combination with the regional influences of Telugu and Marathi cuisines.
More Hyderabadi Recipes: Chicken Biryani, Hyderabadi Lukhmi, Methi Murgh
Hyderabadi Vegetable Biryani
Cooking this recipe requires patience and attention to detail. It basically involves 3 steps:
- Cooking the vegetables and marinating
- Cooking the rice with whole spices
- Layering rice and vegetables and cooking using ‘Dum’ technique.
What is ‘Dum’ technique of cooking?
‘Dum’ is a way of cooking that involves ‘slow cooking’ in a ‘handi’ (or a clay pot) that goes back in time.
Rice and vegetables (or meat) is layered and a clay saucer covers the handi’s mouth. A mixture of flour and water seals the lid over the handi. This is left over hot charcoal for hours. Steam that generates inside the pot helps in cooking.
Cooking in real-time
In real-time, use an oven safe dish and oven or a crock pot. If using a crock pot, seal its lid with flour and water mix.
Sharing my version of this traditional recipe. Hope you enjoy making it as much as I did! 🙂
Hyderabadi Vegetable Biryani
Ingredients
For Rice
- 1.5 cups Basmati Rice
- 5 cups water for boiling rice
- 1.5 tsp Ginger garlic paste
- 1 tsp cardamon pods
- 7-8 whole cloves
- 1-2 medium bay leaves
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tbsp Lemon juice
- Salt to taste
Prepping Vegetables
- 1 whole Yukon gold potato (large) cubed into 1/2 to 3/4 inch pieces or 2 medium sized potatoes
- 1/2-3/4 cup Carrots cubed into 1/2 to 3/4 inch pieces
- 1/2-3/4 cup Green beans 1/2 to 3/4 inch pieces
- 1/2 cup Green Peas boiled
- 1/2-3/4 cup Cauliflower florets
- 1/2-3/4 cup Bell peppers any color (I used yellow)
- 1/2-3/4 cup Red Onion thinly sliced and caramelized/ golden brown
For Marination
- 4 tbsp plain yogurt or dairy-free alternative for vegan
- 1.5 tsp Ginger garlic paste
- 3 tsp Lemon juice
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1 tsp Cumin
- 2 tsp Red chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric
- Salt to taste
For cooking
- 3 tbsp cooking oil for sautéing vegetables
- 3 tbsp Ghee or butter for caramelizing onions or olive oil
For Garnish
- 1/2 tsp Saffron or kesar
- 1/4 cup Milk dairy free alternative for vegan
- 1/4 cup Almonds chopped
- 1/4 cup cashew nuts chopped
- 3 tbsp Cilantro chopped
- 3 tbsp mint leaves chopped
Instructions
Prepping
- Measure, wash and soak basmati rice. Let it soak for 30 minutes before cooking.
- Wash and cut all the veggies. Sauté them and keep them aside.
- Before sautéing cauliflower, wash and par boil it. Strain. Then sauté.
- Boil green peas and strain.
- In a separate pan, heat ghee (or butter). Add sliced onions and fry until they turn golden brown or caramelized. Remove from pan and drain into a bounty to remove excess ghee.
Marinating the veggies
- In a medium sized bowl, beat yogurt to get a smooth consistency. Then add all ingredients for marination and mix well.
- Take the sautéed veggies (and green peas) in a separate container and add the marination mixture. (Excepting fried onions) Mix well. Let it marinate for 3-4 hours or overnight.
Cooking the rice
- In a large pot, bring around 5 cups of water to a boil. When the water is hot, add the spices listed under ‘For Rice’. Get it to a boil and add rice.
- Gently stir with a spoon occasionally while the rice is cooking. Don’t reduce the flame.
- Just when the rice is about 75% cooked (the rice grains should have a slight bite to them), drain the rice in a colander. Gently fluff and keep aside.
Layering and cooking
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius or 360 degree Fahrenheit.
- Grease a thick bottom oven safe pan/ disposable aluminum tray with cooking oil or butter (ghee).
- Heat milk and saffron in a small bowl. For convenience, use a microwave. Else, heat milk in a small saucepan and add saffron. Bring it to a boil and remove from heat. Keep aside.
- Layer half of the marinated vegetables. Next layer half of the 75% cooked rice.
- Sprinkle half of fried onions, cilantro, mint, saffron milk, almonds and cashew nuts.
- Layer the remaining marinated vegetables.
- Layer the remaining rice and sprinkle the remaining fried onions, cilantro, mint, saffron milk, almonds and cashew nuts.
- You can make 2 layers of vegetables and rice or 4 layers. Or more than that (depends on the depth of the container and the quantity you are cooking). But the top most layer should always be that of rice.
- Seal the container with an aluminum foil. Bake the biryani for 25-30 minutes.
- Serve hot and delicately flavored biryani with ‘Dahi Ki Chutney’ and ‘Mirchi Ka Salad’. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
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