How To Make Veg Biryani

 In this recipe, I have added a mix of cauliflower, onions, potatoes, carrots, french beans, bell pepper (capsicum), button mushrooms and green peas. It has always been a much loved dish on the dining table.

In my opinion, recipes always turn out even better when tied to love and care!

This version of veg dum biryani is light, a bit spicy and super delicious. 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

. I like to add a variety of vegetables when making this vegetarian dish. This Veg Biryani is an authentic Indian vegetarian recipe packed full of your favorite rice, veggies, and spices. It truly is a perfectly balanced dish.

What ingredients should I use?

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. Nutrients are not lost in this process and thus dum cooked food is nutritious.

Why This Recipe Works

This Hyderabadi veg biryani is one of the best vegetarian biryani recipe I make – loved by friends, family, and readers alike for more than 10 years.

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. The curry can be meat based or vegetable based.

Similar to some layered and baked pasta dishes, the curry is layered with semi-cooked rice – later to be baked or dum cooked until the rice is completely done and the curry or gravy has been absorbed by the rice.

Usually the meat is marinated and cooked later for the curry, but for vegetables marination is not done or is needed.

Biryani is also spelled as Biriyani and is popular not only in India but in South Asia as well.

What is Dum Cooking

Dum cooking is also known as dum pukht or cooking on dum. The subtle flavors of the garam masala, caramelized onions and yogurt are perfectly infused in the vegetable chunks.

Each bite has the taste, flavor and aroma of the masala, as well as the unique taste of the vegetables. The savory flavors in your first bite are well worth the time and effort spent in the kitchen.

What is Biryani

In simple words Biryani is a rice and curry casserole. 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. Made with patience and lots of love, this delicious veg dum biryani requires both care and attention to detail. 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. The various layers of food or the ingredients are kept in a clay pan or pot which is then sealed tightly using wheat flour dough.

As the pot is tightly sealed, steam cannot escape from it. It has always been a much loved dish on the dining table.

I have forgotten the number of times I have made this veg dum biryani recipe for family, friends and get-togethers. The result is that the food ingredients or layers are slow cooked in the steam emanating in the pot and in their own juices which makes the food very flavorful.

Traditionally clay pots are used while making dum biryani. The dum pukht method of cooking comes from Persia.

It is a technique or method of slow cooking food in tightly sealed earthen pots.

In home cooking, it's not always possible to add some hot coal on top of the lid, so usually i do skip that part, still the biryani turns out so good & flavorful every single time. Compared to another version of biryani, dum biryani is so flavorful and delicious.

Traditionally in dum cooking, cooking pot is closed with lid, put on some weight on top to reduce the steam to escape and also put on some hot coal on the lid for even cooking. Here we dump all the ingredients in single pot and do the dum cooking for aromatic & delicious biryani. Dum cooking means trapping the steam inside the vessel and cook it on low flame. Veg Dum Biryani, a delicious one pot biryani made from basmati rice & vegetables and flavored with whole indian spices.

The recipe that i'm sharing today is not Hyderabadi style dum biryani where the rice & vegetables are cooked separately and layered for dum cooking.