Veg biryani – Restaurant style Vegetable biryani in cooker
Veg biryani is one of the most wanted and easy to make lunch box item and a very good party recipe as well. Biryani is the word brings water in the mouth and for most of us, it is an emotion than a food 🙂
If you want to make this delicious vegetable biryani for parties, just double or triple the ingredients. Make sure to fluff the cooked rice gently and transfer to the serving bowl without fail to avoid overcooking and mush.
Types of biryanis and methods:
There are various biryani recipes available from states across India. For instance, Hyderabadi dum biryani is the first name that may pop out. There is Mughal biryani, Kashmiri biryani/pilaf, Malabar biryani, Andhra style biryani, Chettinad spicy biryani, Dindigul biryani and many more.
Likewise, the method of making a biryani varies too, dum method, charcoal method, oven biryani, mud pot biryani, Electric rice cooker method, instant pot biryani and our usual pressure cooker method. Every method has its own pros and cons which involve cost, time, effort, equipment, ingredients, recipe and etc.
Pressure cooker biryani method:
Most of our Indian households do not have fancy instant pots or oven. But all of us are having at least one pressure cooker and most of the time we like to make biryanis in the cooker.
The main reasons are the easiness, less time consumption, no babysitting and less dish usage.
Personally I am not a big fan of dum biryani for the reasons first I lack patience and like to finish as fast as possible. Again if you have time and likes for dum biryani definitely it has its unique taste. Dum method is really the best for non-veg biryanis and you may like to check my Chicken dum biryani post.
Tips to make non-mushy veg biryani in the cooker:
There are certain tips to avoid mushy vegetables and mashed grains while making a veg biryani in a pressure cooker.
- Firstly, use bigger chopped vegetables. If you chop them tiny they may end up mush, particularly veggies like cauliflower.
Mushroom Biryani - Next, the cauliflower(especially US cauliflower) is extra soft and may get cooked in seconds. Hence people who are in the US, add cauliflower pieces along with rice towards the end of closing the cooker.
- Most importantly, the rice and water ratio is the main factor for separate cooked grains in a cooker biryani. Always follow the perfect rice: water ratio for basmati rice or seeragasamba whichever suits you. Most of the old basmati rice cooks perfectly for 1:1.5 which I always recommend for cooker biryani recipes.
- Finally, when pressure released, fluff gently and transfer the biryani to some other vessel immediately. This is to avoid the rice grains overcooked from the retained heat of the cooker.
In addition to the tips above, if you do Chicken biryani using a cooker, reduce half cup of water from the final measurement as chicken tends to release water.
Vegetable biryani is a good lunch box recipe with raita. Biryani is the best way to add vegetables to the kids’ menu. I used basmati rice for this biryani today. You can use jeera rice too. Both rice varieties have their unique taste. Be careful with the rice water ratio when cooking in a pressure cooker. The rice water ratio is usually 1:1.5 for any rice variety.
Beginners, please follow the stepwise pictures and explanations given below. I have added a quick video too from my youtube channel. Subscribe to my channel if you wish to see the recipe videos.
Veg biryani | How to make Vegetable biryani in cooker
Equipment
- Pressure cooker
Ingredients
- 2 cups Basmati rice (1 cup = 150g approx.)
- 3 cups water (same rice cup)
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- 1 tbsp ghee (optional to add at last)
- 2 cardamom
- 1 Bay leaf
- 1 inch cinnamon
- 2 cloves
- 1 star anise
- 2 mace
- 1 cup onion (sliced)
- 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
- 1 cup tomato (chopped)
- 1 cup mint leaves
- 1/2 cup coriander leaves
- 1 green chilli
Masalas & spices:
- 3/4 tsp red chilli powder
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 3/4 tsp biryani masala powder
- 11/2 tsp crystal salt
Vegetables used
- 1/2 cup fresh green peas
- 1/2 cup carrot
- 1/2 cup beans
- 1 cup cauliflower florets
- 3/4 cup potato
Instructions
Preparation:
- Rinse and chop vegetables. Keep them ready.
- Wash and soak basmati rice for 30 minutes. Too much soaking may also make rice grains mushy.
Recipe:
- Heat oil in a pressure cooker to medium temperature.
- Add bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, star anise, mace and black cardamom one by one. Roast them nicely to get a wonderful aroma.
- Now add sliced onions and fry until golden brown color achieved. Put one green chilli.
- Put 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste and saute two mins to remove raw flavor.
- Next, add chopped tomato and fry till they are mushy.
- Add chilli powder, turmeric powder and biryani masala powder.
- Add all the vegetables one by one and saute together with mint and coriander leaves.
- Measure and add 1 cup(same rice cup) of water and cook the vegetables just for 2mins by closing with a lid.
- After two minutes, put the required salt and add soaked, drained basmati rice. Spread gently. Do not mix.
- Cover the cooker with its lid, put the weight and pressure cook for just one whistle on medium high heat.
- Switch off and remove the cooker from the hot stove.
- Let the cooker sit on stove undisturbed for ten minutes to let the pressure release naturally.
- Open and fluff gently. Add ghee at this stage if you wish.
- Serve with onion raita.
Notes
Tips:
- The same recipe can be used for pot method also. Just make sure to use the correct measurement of water and close the lid tightly, while keeping in simmer for 20mins until done.
- Grinding mint with green chillies give a nice aroma to the biryani like restaurant one. You can pulse these three and add instead of adding separately.
- See the tips given in the post description to get non-mushy rice grains while making veg biryani in the pressure cooker.
Nutrition
Preparation:
- Rinse and chop vegetables. Keep them ready.
- Wash and soak basmati rice for 30 minutes. Too much soaking may also make rice grains mushy.
Recipe:
- Heat oil in a pressure cooker to medium temperature.
- Add bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, star anise, mace and black cardamom one by one. Roast them nicely to get a wonderful aroma.
- Now add sliced onions and fry until golden brown color achieved. Put one green chilli.
- Put 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste and sauté two mins to remove raw flavor.
- Next, add chopped tomato and fry till they are mushy.
- Add chilli powder, turmeric powder and biryani masala powder.
- Add all the vegetables one by one and saute together with mint and coriander leaves.
- Measure and add 1 cup(same rice cup) of water and cook the vegetables just for 2mins by closing with a lid.
- After two minutes, put the required salt and add soaked drained basmati rice. Spread gently. Do not mix.
- Cover the cooker with its lid, put the weight and pressure cook for just one whistle on medium-high heat.
- Switch off and remove the cooker from the hot stove.
- Let the cooker sit on the stove undisturbed for ten minutes to let the pressure release naturally.
- Open and fluff gently. Add ghee at this stage if you wish.
- Serve with onion raita.
Tips:
- The same recipe can be used for pot method also. Just make sure to use the correct measurement of water and close the lid tightly, while keeping in simmer for 20mins until done.
- Grinding mint with green chillies give a nice aroma to the biryani like restaurant one. You can pulse these three and add instead of adding separately.
- See the tips given in the post description to get non-mushy rice grains while making veg biryani in the pressure cooker.
Note: I have updated my old vegetable biryani post with fresh pictures and a new video.
