Vegetable Dum Biriyani Recipe | How to make Vegetable Dum Biriyani

Vegetable Dum Biryani, a little lengthy process but worth its time. The layering of veg masala alternated with rice cooked in Dum heat make this a delectable food. There are 6 steps in the process of making Veg Dum Biryani.

1. Prepare fried onions
2. Prepare Vegetable Masala
3. Cook rice till 80%
4. Layer the masala and rice alternatively
5. Cook in Dum method

What is Dum Cooking?

Dum, means “Breathe In”. Dum cooking uses a round, heavy-bottomed pot, preferably a handi (clay pot), in which food is sealed and cooked over a slow fire. Such long, slow, enclosed cooking resulted in the retention and permeation of the flavor of all the ingredients.

In Dum method of Cooking, the handi or pan is sealed with dough or foil to prevent the steam from escaping. The food sealed inside, steams slowly in its own juice absorbing all flavors spices and herbs. The vessel used for Dum Cooking plays a very important role. A heavy bottomed clay pot is said to work the best as it releases heat slowly (maintaining the temperature inside) and prevents the fire from burning the bottom of the dish. Another preferred choice is a copper vessel, which is often seen in fine dining Indian restaurants as well as famous stalls. But if we don’t have both, we can use our regular pans too.

Tips for making Vegetable Dum Biryani:

• Do not over Cook Rice: Make sure to cook the rice to only 80% before layering. If you take a cooked rice and press it, it should not break but should be little firm in the middle.
• Veg Masala should be semi-thick not very dry or very watery. Too thick masala gets dry quickly and gets burnt before the rice is dum cooked. Too watery masala will be make the bottom layer wet even after the rice is dum cooked.
• Dum Cooking: Dum cooking can be done using tawa and heavy bottomed pan or we can do it in Oven. For Oven, grease a oven safe bowl, layer the biryani, seal it with foil, dum in pre-heated oven at 180 c for about 15 mins.
• Natural Coloring of rice is accomplished with saffron threads soaked in warm milk. If we need strong color, we can use food color.

You may also want to try:

• Paneer Dum Biryani - Paneer Dum biryani, a wholesome meal packed with marinated paneer, rice packed with balance of spices. Aroma Rich rice that is a perfect treat for our taste buds!
• Aloo Dum Biryani - Aloo dum Biryani, layered and dum cooked Biryani with tender and soft baby potatoes and fluffy rice. A lip-smacking Veg Biryani with rich flavor of masala.
• Tomato Biryani - Tomato Biryani Recipe, a biriyani variety that has a rich flavor or tomato along with masala. Serve with Raita of your choice and enjoy this aroma rich Tomato Biryani

INSTRUCTIONS WITH STEP BY STEP PICTURES:

SOAKING SAFFRON

• Take few strands of saffron in a small bowl. Add 2 tablespoon of warm water and set it aside.

FRYING ONIONS

• Chop the onions to thin slices. Keep mixing and splitting the sliced onions.

• Heat oil in a Pan. When the oil is hot, add the sliced onions and fry in low flame till its golden brown.

• The onions will become crispy upon cooling. Set this fried onions aside.

SOAKING RICE

• Take rice in a bowl. Add water and wash thoroughly. Add fresh water and soak the rice for 30 mins.

PREPARING VEG GRAVY

• Heat 3 tablespoon of ghee in a pan. Add 1 teaspoon of shahi jeera and allow it to sputter. Also add 3 slit slit green chili and give a good mix. Shahi jeera has less aroma than the normal cumin seeds and we don’t want jeera aroma to dominate much in biriyani. Thats the reason we add shahi jeera.

• Add mixed vegetables like cauliflower, carrot, beans, potato and peas. Stir-fry for 2 mins.

• Next, ginger-garlic paste to the pan. Saute the veggies and ginger-garlic paste for 2 mins.

• Now, add turmeric powder, red chili powder, 1 teaspoon garam masala, ½ teaspoon of salt and ½ teaspoon of cardamom powder.  Stir-fry the vegetable till they are half-cooked. Switch off the flame.

• Now, add curd to the half-cooked vegetables. If you don’t have sour curd, then you can add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice along with curd.

• Mix the curd and vegetables nicely and add 10-12 mint leaves.  Add half of the fried onions and mix everything well and cover the pan with a lid. Now our vegetables are ready which forms our 1 layer of biriyani.

COOKING RICE

• Bring 3.5 cups of water to boil. When the water starts to boil, add bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves, star anise and cardamom along with 1 teaspoon of shahi jeera and salt.

• Drain the water from rice and add it to the boiling water.

• We need to cook the rice till its 80% cooked. If you take a grain of rice and try to mash, it should be little firm to mash. Thats the correct consistency.

• Drain the excess water using a strainer.

LAYERING BIRYANI

• Gently take out the cooked rice and spread on top of the cooked vegetable gravy. On top of the spread rice, spread / sprinkle 1 teaspoon of garam masala along with ½ teaspoon of cardamom powder.

• Then sprinkle half of the saffron thread water.

• Next, add the rest of the fried onions to the pan.

• Cover the pan with an aluminium foil. Close the pan with a lid.

DUM COOKING

• Heat a tawa. Place the the Layered and covered Biryani pan on top of the tawa. Keep the flame low and allow the Biryani to dum cook for about 15 mins.

• After 15 mins ,open the lid, remove the foil. Using a spatula, check if you have any water. Generally there wouldn’t be any water. But If you have any water, again keep the rice in low flame till all the water are absorbed.  Cover the pan with the lid till you serve. While serving, don’t mix the rice. Using a flat spatula, gently take the rice from the sides of the pan so that the layers are nicely piled up.

SERVING

• Serve the mouth-watering and fluffy Vegetable Biriyani with your favorite raitha!!