Paneer Biryani Recipe (Restaurant Style)

Paneer Biryani is a delicious vegetarian layered dish of paneer, dum cooked with spices, herbs and basmati rice. Making this special dum Paneer Biryani is a labor of love and is great to make for special occasions or when the cravings kick-in for a real good vegetarian biryani. Serve this super flavorful Paneer Biryani with a Vegetable Salad or Kachumber, Raita or a biryani Salan.

Biryani needs no introduction and is the most popular dish enjoyed by Indians. Though it is a celebratory dish and is usually made for occasions, with the rise of Biryani corners in every nook & corner of India, it is eaten and enjoyed more often.

Traditionally a Biryani is made with meat and in the recent decades the Vegetable Biryani has been popular among the vegetarian Indians.

About Paneer Biryani

Paneer Biryani got its attention in the recent years and you get to taste the most amazing dish in some of the best biryani places in India. You will be amazed at how delicious a vegetarian Paneer Biryani can taste.

In this post I share the recipe to make a super flavourful and delicious Paneer Biryani. I am sure you will love it for the texture and aroma. You can make a fast paneer biryani in a pressure cooker too but the taste, flavour and texture is completely different.

Sometimes I make that as well by simply marinating and frying the paneer in a pan and then mixing it in the pressure cooked vegetable biryani.

But this layered dum biryani is special and in the true sense it is a celebratory dish. Paneer, cashews, raisins, saffron, yogurt, spices, herbs and basmati rice come together into a lovely classic dish.

It is not a quick recipe so I suggest reserving it for leisure times, weekends and special occasions. You can also prepare a bit the previous day so you can easily finish it the day you plan to serve.

This Paneer Biryani takes lesser time and effort than a vegetable dum biryani because you don’t need to chop, saute or cook the veggies before layering. To cut down the cook time I do not prefer to add any veggies in this recipe.

But if you prefer and like sweeter tones go for green peas. Frozen work well and if you want to use fresh peas, make sure you boil them first until tender and then add them along with the paneer.

If you are a beginner I highly recommend following the detailed step by step instructions instead of the recipe card.

Photo Guide

How to Make Paneer Biryani (Stepwise Photos)

Preparation

1. I prefer to use 20 to 25 whole cashews (split open later) and 2 to 3 tablespoons sweet raisins for garnish. You may skip them if you want.

2. Heat ¼ cup milk in cup or sauce pan and add 2 to 3 large pinches of saffron strands. Optionally, also add ½ tbsp. of kewra or rose water to it and keep aside. Whisk 1¼ cup fresh yogurt (not sour) well with a whisk or fork and set aside. (To use Greek yogurt whisk 1 cup Greek yogurt with ¼ cup milk.)

3. Puree ½ cup tomatoes (sweet tomatoes) in a small grinder. Slice 2 cup onions thin and evenly so they fry evenly. I use 1 large onion, slice and then halve the slices so they fry faster. You will slice and then squeeze them gently to separate the layers completely, then measure.

4. Rinse & drain ¾ to 1 cup each of mint leaves and coriander leaves. Chop them later. Slice 1 green chili (optional, deseed if needed) & set aside 1½ tablespoons ginger garlic paste (or gratings).

5. You will need the following ground spices:

• 1½ to 2 teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder (adjust to taste)
• ¼ teaspoon turmeric
• 1 ½ to 2 teaspoons biryani masala or garam masala (adjust to taste)
• 1 tablespoon coriander powder
• 1 teaspoon roasted cumin powder
• ¾ to 1 teaspoon salt (adjust to taste)

6. Rinse 2 cups aged basmati rice well and soak it in water for at least 30 minutes. You can soak up to 50 minutes but not more as the rice can easily break and turn mushy.

Other Preparations

7. Heat 1 tablespoon ghee in a heavy bottom pan. When it is hot enough, place the paneer block/s (250 to 400 grams) gently and fry it on a medium high heat until golden on both the sides, turn it when one side is done. (If you put the paneer in cold ghee or cold pan, it will get stuck, so wait until hot)

If you don’t want to garnish the biryani with fried paneer, you can cut down to 300 grams.

8. Remove to a plate and cool down. Later dice to desired sizes. I dice each block to 10 portions. To garnish I dice to smaller pieces.

9. To the same pan, add cashews and fry until light golden. Stir in the raisins. If you want you may add a tsp of ghee while frying.

10. Let fry until they turn plump. Remove to a plate and keep aside. I prefer to wipe the pan with some kitchen tissues to prevent burnt bits of nuts or paneer.

11. Pour 4 tablespoons ghee and add the sliced onions. Begin to fry on a medium high heat. Keep stirring often & spread them in the pan. Continue to fry for a few minutes, then reduce the flame as needed to medium or low.

12. After about 8 to 9 minutes, onions begin to caramelize. At this stage turn down the heat to lowest so they don’t burn. If using dutch oven, turn off the heat. Saute until the onions caramelize and turn evenly deep golden. Be very attentive at this stage as they can burn in few seconds. Burnt onions taste bitter. It took me 12 minutes for this entire task, at varying heat levels. Turn the heat to low. Remove 2 tbsps of these fried onions to a plate and set aside.

13. Add the following spices

• 1 bay leaf
• 2 star anise
• 6 green cardamoms
• 2 inch cinnamon
• 2 Black cardamoms
• 1 large strand of mace / javitri

14. Quickly sauté 1½ ginger garlic paste & slit green chilli until slightly aromatic. Be cautious as this can burn in a flash.

15. Stir in salt, Biryani/ garam masala, Coriander powder, Cumin powder, Kashmiri red chilli powder & turmeric.

16. Pour the half cup tomato puree.

17. Cook until it turns thick & aromatic.

18. Make sure your yogurt is smooth and whisked well. To the yogurt bowl, stir in 2 tbsps of the prepared masala.

19. Turn the heat to low and add the spiced yogurt to the pot.

20. Stir well and cook on a low heat until the mixture turns thick and fats begin to separate.

21. Turn off the heat. Pour 3 to 4 tablespoons hot water and stir well. Taste test this and add more salt or garam masala if you want. Add ¾ of the mint leaves, ¾ of the coriander leaves you prepared and ¾ of the fried paneer (save some for kids or garnish if you want). Do not add all 400 grams here. You can add max 300 grams.

22. Cover and keep aside until the rice is prepared.

Cook Basmati Rice

23. On a high heat, bring 6 cups of water to a rapid boil along with 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon oil & 1 tablespoon lemon juice. If you want you can add any whole spices like shahi jeera, star anise, bay leaf, etc. But I didn’t add any here.

24. When the water comes to a rapid boil, drain the water from the rice and add it to the pot of boiling water. Cook on a high heat ensuring the water does not over flow. Cook until the rice is just 95% cooked, meaning al dente. Rice should have a bite to it.

When it is done drain it to a colander & shake off the excess water.

Dum cook Paneer Biryani

25. Before you layer the rice over the paneer masala, make sure your gravy and the rice both are hot and not warm or cold. If the gravy is cold, heat it until hot and turn off. Also make sure the gravy is slightly runny else it will burn. (read my pro tips section below)

26. Layer the rice over the gravy & pour saffron milk all over evenly.

27. Sprinkle rest of the mint leaves, coriander leaves, ¼ teaspoon biryani masala (optional), 1 tablespoon ghee, fried cashews and raisins.

28. Seal the pot with a foil or moist cloth so the steam does not escape. Cover with a heavy lid. Cook this for 2 to 3 mins on a medium heat until the pot is hot, while you heat a griddle or tawa on another burner on a high heat.

29. After 2 to 3 mins, place your pot over the griddle and reduce the heat to low. Dum cook this way for 15 mins. Turn off and rest for another 20 mins. If you put it on direct flame biryani can easily burn.

30. Serve Paneer Biryani in layers such that every serving gets a part of the bottom layer paneer masala, the middle layer basmati rice and top the layer garnishes.

Papads, raita, veggie salad or salan goes well with this. Even plain yogurt will do.

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