Biryani is believed to have originated in Persia and made its way to India. It originally began as a dish in which meat and rice were partially cooked separately and then layered and cooked together.

Vegetable Biryani is a variation of this dish that evolved over time because of the large vegetarian population in India.

In this dish, hard vegetables such as beans, carrots, potatoes and cauliflower are cooked separately and then layered between two layers of long grain basmati rice and cooked together. To make the process simpler, I have put together a recipe to cook in our trusted pressure cooker.

While the terms Biryani and pulao are used seamlessly, if you ever wondered what the distinguishing factors between biryani and pulao are…

• Biryani is a main course whereas pulao is an accompaniment to a larger meal.
• In Biryani, rice and vegetables are cooked separately before being cooked together. Pulao is mostly a one pot meal where everything is cooked together.
• Biryani has more complex and stronger spices resulting in a stronger taste of curried rice. Pulao uses comparatively fewer spices.

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Sharing Vegetable Biryani recipe below. Also, do check my other recipes for a Variety of rice dishes:

1. Methi-Matar Pulao
2. Carrot Rice
3. Mint Pulao
4. Chana Pulao
5. Gujarati Masala Khichdi
6. Kashmiri Pulao
7. Bisi Bele Bath – Karnataka Special

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Vegetable Biryani Recipe:

Serves – 3
1 Cup = 150 ml

Ingredients:

• Long grain basmati rice – 1 cup
• Onion – 2, medium, sliced
• Onion – 1, medium, finely chopped
• Oil – 3 tbsp
• Paneer/ cottage cheese – 150 gm, diced
• Carrot – 1, medium, 1 inch long fingers
• French beans – 9, 1 inch long pieces
• Potato – 1, medium, diced
• Cauliflower – 10 florets (optional)
• Shahi jeera – 1 tsp (substitute with cumin seeds)
• Red chilli – 1, whole
• Cinnamon – 1 inch piece
• Black cardamom – 1 (substitute with 2 green cardamoms)
• Mace – 1
• Bay leaf – 1
• Ginger-garlic paste – 2 tsp
• Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
• Kashmiri red chilli powder – 1 tsp
• Coriander powder – 1 tsp
• Cumin powder – 1/4 tsp
• Shahi biryani masala powder – 2 tsp
• Curd – 1/4 cup
• Salt – 1 tsp
• Water – 1-1/2 cup
• Mint leaves – 1/4 cup, finely chopped
• Coriander leaves – 1/4 cup, finely chopped
• Garam masala – 1/4 tsp
• Ghee – 2 tsp
• Saffron – 1 pinch, soaked in 2 tbsp warm milk

Instructions:

Preparation of ingredients is the key to quick and smooth cooking experience. Get the ingredients sorted before you begin cooking.Tip: Potatoes oxidise when left cut. After dicing, keep them soaked in water until they are ready to be used.

1) Heat oil in a pressure cooker/pan on medium flame.

2) Add the sliced onions. Stir so that they are well coated with oil. Cook them until they turn light brown and crisp.

3) Once the onions turn brown, scoop them out with as less oil as possible.

4) Add diced paneer to the oil in the pressure cooker.

5) Fry the paneer cubes until they turn golden brown. Scoop them out and keep aside.

6) Add carrot pieces to the oil in the pressure cooker.

7) Add french beans.

8) Add diced potatoes.

9) Fry all the vegetables for about 3-4 minutes until they are partially cooked. Remove and keep aside.

10) To the remaining oil in the pressure cooker, add shahi jeera/cumin seeds, cinnamon, bay leaf, whole red chilli, mace and black/green cardamom. Fry for 30 seconds.

11) Add finely chopped onions.

12) Fry until they turn translucent.

13) Add ginger-garlic paste. Fry for about one minute until the raw smell goes away.

14) Reduce the flame to low before adding the spice powders. Add turmeric powder, kashmiri red chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, and shahi biryani masala powder.

15) Fry the spices for about one minute and turn off flame because we’ll add curd in the next step. Curd disintegrated when added to hot container, so wait for a couple of minutes for the cooker to cool down.

16) Beat the curd well and add.

17) Mix well. Turn on the flame and saute for a minute.

18) Add the fried vegetables.

19) Add the fried paneer cubes.

20) Add half the amount of salt now. (Remaining half of the salt will be added to the washed rice).

21) Mix well and saute for about one minute.

22) Add the remaining salt to the washed rice so that there is uniform distribution. (Since the Biryani is layered and not stirred much later, it is important that salt is evenly distributed amongst all the ingredients in the dish).

23) Add half the amount of water now.

24) Give it a quick stir.

25) Let’s begin layering the vegetable Biryani. Sprinkle half of – finely chopped mint leaves and coriander leaves, garam masala powder, and browned onions.

26) Add 1 tsp ghee.

27) Spread half of the rice evenly.

28) Add saffron strands soaked in warm milk.

29) Add the remaining half of the water. Do not stir or mix the Biryani.

30) Let’s do the second set of layers –

• finely chopped mint leaves,
• finely chopped coriander leaves, garam masala powder,
• rice,
• ghee.

31) Cover the pressure cooker with its lid and cook for 2 whistles. Turn off heat and allow the pressure to release naturally.

32) Usually the lower layer of rice gets cooked more than the top layer. So using a fork, turn the rice from the sides to cover the top layer. Cover and leave it for a few minutes. This way the top layer of rice will also get cooked a little more.

33) Serve with your choice of raita or salan. Here I have served with tomato raita with a hint of chaat masala. Chaat masala enhances the flavour of this simple and quick raita making it a perfect accompaniment for vegetable biryani.