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March 29, 2015

Mughlai Vegetable Biryani Recipe(Veg Layer Biryani Recipe)-Sunday Lunch Recipes 11

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Mughlai vegetable biryani recipe

This week’s Sunday lunch recipe is the most popular Mughal biryani recipe. Mughlai cuisine is a style of cooking developed in South Asia by the imperial kitchens of the Muslim Mughal Empire. It represents the cooking styles used in North India (especially Uttar Pradesh and Delhi), Pakistan and the Indian city of Hyderabad. The cuisine is strongly influenced by the Central Asian cuisine, the region where the Chagatai-Turkic Mughal rulers originally hailed from, and it has in turn strongly influenced the regional cuisines of Kashmir and the Punjab region.

The tastes of Mughlai cuisine vary from extremely mild to spicy, and is often associated with a distinctive aroma and the taste of ground and whole spices(Source: Wikipedia). Authentic mughal biryani recipe is made with chicken or mutton. But here I have tried it with mixed vegetables. You can call this as Vegetable layer biryani or Veg Dum biryani too.I tried this recipe from here and I also watched Suntv’s Ramzan cookery show episode in you tube.I have made this recipe thrice so far. Every time it came out really well.

Sendhil certified me as “Biryani Expert” hehe . Even though its a lengthy, time consuming process the end result is absolutely worthy. Friends, do try this recipe. I am sure you will get the credits & appreciations from your family members like me. Lets see how to make this yummy mughlai vegetable biryani recipe with layers.


Mughlai vegetable biryani recipe\

Mughlai vegetable biryani recipe


Mughlai vegetable biryani recipe Mughlai vegetable biryani recipe - Flavorful vegetable layer biryani
Cuisine: Indian
Category: Lunch
Serves: Serves 3
Prep time: 10 Minutes
Cook time: 20 Minutes
Total time: 30 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

  • Basmati rice - 1 cup ( I used India gate, super)
  • Cinnamon-1 inch piece,Cloves – 2 nos, Cardamom-1 no, Black stone flower- 1 no)
  • Lemon juice- 1tsp
  • Salt – little
  • Water - 8 cups
For gravy
  • Mixed vegetables - 1/2 cup ( 1 carrot, 3 beans, fistful of peas, 1 potato)
  • Cooking oil - 3-4 tbsp
  • Cinnamon - 1 inch, cloves – 2 nos,cardamom – 1 no, bayleaf- 1no
  • Big onion - 1 no
  • Tomato - 1 no (grind to puree)
  • Green chilli - 1 no ( slitted, optional)
  • Ginger-Garlic paste- 1 tsp
  • Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
  • Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp
  • Curd - 1/4 cup
  • Khus-khus - 1 tsp
  • Cashewnuts- 5 nos
  • Salt - as needed
To layer
  • Mint+coriander leaves - a handful
  • Ghee - 1 tbsp
  • Saffron threads in milk –  2 tbsp
To garnish
  • Big onion – 1 no ( slice cut)
  • Ghee – 1tbsp
  • Cashews – few ( optional)

METHOD
  • Wash and soak the basmati rice for 30 minutes. Wash and chop the vegetables into small cubes. Grind the tomato with skin and take the puree. Grind khus-khus and cashews to a paste. Keep everything ready.
Mughlai vegetable biryani recipe
  • Parboil the vegetables and drain the excess water. Collect in a bowl to use it later. Soak saffron threads in warm milk. Slice the big onion and roast in ghee till it turns golden brown. Roast cashews if using.
Mughlai vegetable biryani
  • In a wide kadai or vessel, boil 8 cups of water adding cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and black stone flower. Add some salt. When the water comes to a roll boil,  add lemon juice.Drain the water from the soaked basmati rice and add to the boiling water.
Mughlai vegetable biryani recipe
  • Cook the rice in open pan for nearly 8 minutes. Stir it once or twice in the middle. Make sure you don’t over cook the rice. Rice should be firm and soft. It should be 3/4 th cooked.
  • Remove the kadai and pass it through a colander/sieve. Run the tap water over the rice to stop cooking process. Drain all the excess water and keep the rice in the colander. Spread it in  a wide plate and let it cool completely.
Mughlai vegetable biryani recipe
  • In the mean time, prepare the gravy.Heat oil in a wide kadai and saute the cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and bayleaf. Add the ginger-garlic paste and saute for a minute till raw smell goes off. Now add sliced onions and saute till transparent. Add the ground khus-khus, cashew paste.  Mix well. Add tomato puree and mix well for a minute till it becomes thick.
Mughlai vegetable biryani recipe
  • Now add the curd and mix well in low flame.Add the red chilli powder, garam masala powder and salt. Mix well. Lastly add the 3/4th cooked vegetable. Add the collected water from cooked vegetables and cook the mixture very well till veggies are completely cooked and oil floats on top. It will become a semi solid gravy.
Mughlai vegetable biryani recipe
  • Remove the gravy from the kadai to a bowl. Do not wash the kadai because there will be oil leftover in it. In the same kadai,spread half the rice as first layer. Spread half of the chopped mint+coriander leaves. Now layer the gravy over the rice and cover it with the remaining rice. Spread the remaining coriander+mint leaves. Drizzle the saffron milk at the end and 2 tbsp of ghee.
Mughlai vegetable biryani recipe
Mughlai vegetable biryani recipe
  • Now switch on the flame and keep the kadai. Keep the flame as low as possible. Close the kadai with a tight lid and keep a bowl of boiled hot water over the kadai.Let it be for 15 minutes ( Here I did not keep the kadai in dosa pan. I kept in direct low flame). Rice should be cooked in very low flame. This is referred as “DUM” method.
  • Alternatively you can layer the gravy & rice in microwave safe bowl and cook it for 10 minutes OR you can follow the same in pressure cooker too. All these methods work well.Remove the biryani after the rice is completely cooked. Fluff it with a fork, garnish with roasted onions and serve hot with raita !
How to put DUM

Enjoy !


Note

  • Adding green chillies is optional. U can add more red chilli powder for spicy biryani.
  • You can replace garam masala powder with biryani masala powder too.
  • Addition of mint+coriander leaves is very important.
  • Replace curd with lemon juice for variations but add lemon juice only before putting in DUM.

Try this flavorful,vegetable layer biryani in Mughal style.U will love it !!
Mughlai vegetable biryani recipe


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10 comments :

great-secret-of-life said...

looks perfect.. I love one pot meal and it is must for Sunday afternoon

sujitha said...

nostalgic chitra..

Rafeeda AR said...

lovely biriyani...

Unknown said...

Delicious and flavourful biriyani!!!!

Unknown said...

Mughlai Vegetable Biryani is a famous recipe of Muslim Mughal Empire time. It is famous in some famous cities of North India like Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Hyderabad. Taste of Mughlai Vegetable Biryani is so yummy and finger licking. I ate this at Delhi in the last month, when I was on company tour.Some Amazing Veg Restaurants In Jaipur is also famous for Mughlai Vegetable recipes.

Unknown said...

The way the process is explained is worth a thousand likes������������..

Would like to know which briyani masala powder was used in this receipe as I never got the right taste with few brands.

Chitra said...

In this recipe,i used Catch Garam masala powder.I have tried MTR too.For biryani masala powder,you can try everest or Aachi brand.

Unknown said...


Excellent site you’ve got here.. It’s difficult to find excellent writing like yours nowadays. I honestly appreciate people like you! Take care!!
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Unknown said...

Hi I have the last step steaming now. The khus khus paste was watery otherwise it wouldn't grind, same for the tomato ,but I didn't add water to the tomato. It took well over 20 minutes to reduce both pastes and still it looked more watery than what your picture looked like.

I had problem in past with mushy rice, hopefully this one will be better. I keep cooking the rice less and less to under 50% yet somehow it still winds up watery. Maybe the curry sauce is too watery? I'll try parboiled rice next time. One of my fave takeouts here does a great mughlai biryani and the rice is somehow very dry almost like they fried it in ghee/oil first.

I think they don't use any yoghurt in theirs and maybe more garam and more cashew paste. I like leaving out the turmeric, most recipes call for it but not yours.

Ok it came it good, maybe a bit oily, I can never get the oil/ghee proportions correct.

Chitra said...

Hi,Thanks for taking time to share your experience & thoughts :) If you have cooked for more time, all the water wuld have drained out & it will be perfect for the rice to cook. There are some variations in Mughlai biryani. This is one of its kind:)