Veg Dum Biryani, How to Make Vegetable Dum Biryani

Veg dum biryani recipe – Biryani was brought by the mughals to India during the mughal reign. It became very popular as one of the most nutritious, rich and royal foods. Since the authentic hyderabadi biryani was dum cooked with meat, ghee, nuts and yogurt, it was considered as a nutritious and wholesome dish. There are sources that say “veg biryani” was born during the same time and was prepared by the vegetarian community working for the mughals. There are so many kinds of veg biryani one gets to see on a restaurant menu like kerala biriyani, lucknowi biryani etc.

Veg Dum Biryani

Hyderabadi vegetable dum biryani is one of the most popular, aromatic and delicious food loved by many. Making a vegetable biryani can be as simple as making it in a pressure cooker or one that is prepared with a fresh ground masala and dum cooked like the one shown in this post.

This vegetable dum biryani recipe is roughly adapted from the hyderabadi vahchef’s video and is one of the best veg biryani that I can ever make.

To make vegetable dum biryani flavorful and delicious use the best quality aged basmati rice, premium quality spices, masala powder and fresh herbs. You can use a store bought masala powder or can make some from my biryani masala powder recipe (link in the recipe card below).

For this veg biryani recipe, veggies like carrots, peas, potato, cauliflower and beans are used. Avoid using veggies like brinjal, mushrooms or capsicums unless you have a personal liking towards them. You can also use soya chunks or meal maker nuggets if you like.

Making a good biryani is a regular affair at home and this collection of 30 biryani recipes shows my love for the home cooked dum biryani. Though the preparation & dum process is a bit time consuming, the results are great.

If you do not prefer to go for a elaborate recipe, You may check this quick restaurant style veg biryani and this super quick veg biryani in presssure cooker.

Photo Guide

How to Make Veg Dum Biryani

Preparation

1. Wash and soak rice for at least 30 mins. While the rice soaks you can go ahead with the next steps.

2. I highly recommend using fried onions for making a good hyderabadi biriyani. The aroma of these fried onions is great and cannot be substituted with any other ingredient and not even with pan fried onions. Thinly slice onions and fry them in hot oil until they turn crisp and golden. Set aside. These are also sold in super markets as fried onions (not onion flakes).

3. You can also shallow fry, this is how you can do it if you like to shallow fry. Heat oil in a pan. Add even & thinly sliced onions. Also separate the layers before adding.

4. Fry them until golden and brown. Do not burn. Keep stirring often to evenly brown them and prevent burning.

5. Set aside half of these. Move the rest of the onions to a side in the pan. Off the stove for a while to prevent burning the spices.

Make Gravy

6. Add all the whole spices except shahi jeera. Sauté till you get an aroma. Takes around a min, do not burn. Add shahi jeera and sauté until they crackle.

7. Switch on the stove and lower the flame. Add ginger garlic paste.

8. Saute till the raw smell goes off. Keep stirring.

9. Add all the vegetables and fry for 2 to 3 mins.

10. Add turmeric, salt, red chili powder and biryani masala powder.

11. Fry till it turns aromatic for about 2 to 3 minutes.

12. Pour 100 ml yogurt. Set aside rest of the yogurt for further use. Mix Well.

13. Cook covered till the veggies are cooked al dente, just cooked. Cook covered if needed. Do not overcook the veggies. Off the stove when done. While the veggies are getting cooked, you can proceed with the next step.

Cook Basmati Rice

14. In a large pot, bring 5 cups of water to boil, add oil, salt, shahi jeera and bay leaf. Adjust the salt as needed.

15. Add washed, soaked and drained rice.

16. Cook this rice till it is 90% done or al dente (just cooked). You must be able to get a bite into the rice.

17. Drain off the excess water and set aside. You can soak saffron in 2 tbsp of this hot water or in hot milk. Set aside.

Layer Basmati Rice and Veggies

18. Make sure the veggies are cooked al dente. If you like to make a 2 layer biryani, set aside 1/3 of the cooked veggies. If you are using a small pot for dum, then it works good to set aside half, If you use a wide pot, then just go ahead making a single layer.

19. Add the rest of the curd, mint and coriander leaves to the dum pot.

20. Mix well. Spread it well evenly.

21. Layer half of the rice, If you have set aside half of the curry then layer it now, if you have not set aside then just sprinkle 2 pinches of biryani masala powder. Then sprinkle few fried onions, mint and coriander leaves.

22. Repeat layering rice, mint, coriander leaves, fried onions and then pour soaked saffron milk.

Make Vegetable Dum Biryani

23. I fried cashews in a small pan in hot ghee, then added raisins towards the end. Poured the ghee and then the nuts raisins over the rice evenly. You can also add a tsp of kewara water for mughalai flavors.

24. Begin to heat an old heavy bottom tawa and proceed with the next step.

25. Cover the pan with 2 thick moist kitchen towels or just seal with aluminium foil. Place the lid and a heavy object on the lid. I do not place any heavy object, as my lid itself is very heavy. Or you can make dough made of wheat flour. Moisten the rim of the pan, place this dough around the rim and place the lid over it.

Press the lid tight so that it sticks to the dough tightly and no steam vents out. I do not prefer to do this as this mess up the pan and cleaning is a great pain. Move this pan to the hot tawa, cook on medium flame for 5 mins. Set the flame to low. Cook this way for 5 to 7 mins. Since the vegetables and rice both are already cooked al dente, the biryani rice turns out perfect. Allow it to rest for at least 15 mins.

Veg biryani is ready to serve. You can mix up the entire rice and veggie mixture for even flavoring and spice. You can also serve it without mixing for the marbled look. Just serve from the bottom to the top in portions. Make sure each serving gets a proportionate amount of spiced veggies and rice.

Serving suggestions: Veg biryani can be served with a raita or shorba. You can choose one from these
Collection of raitas or
Collection of biryani gravy.

Recipe Card