How to make quick and delicious Vegetable Biryani the easy way?
Veg Biryani Recipe – Easy Lockdown version 🙂 using pressure cooker in 30 minutes or less. This Veg Biryani recipe is so flavorful that you’ll have people asking for more.
What we have is a Lockdown version of Veg Biryani that tastes as good as the non-vegetarian version but can stand on its own as a recipe that you can make repeatedly over the years. The dish is inspired by the Dindigul and Ambur Biryani versions of Tamil Nadu where the very flavorful Samba Rice is used.
You can easily substitute Sambar Rice used in this Biryani with Basmati Rice, and it will taste just as good or even better. The difference between Biryani and Pulao is that in Biryani, Curd and spices are used which gives it that unique aroma and taste.
Veg Biryani often is looked down upon by people who claim that Non-vegetarian Biryani is the best. We agree only partially – Biryani has been made popular by the hundreds of non-vegetarian versions with varying flavors from across India. And also because Biryani was traditionally cooked using the Dum method by marinating the rice with Chicken or Mutton with a variety of spices.
What is unique about this Lockdown Veg Biryani?
This recipe for Veg Biryani is very easy to make – whether it’s for Lunch or Dinner. We haven’t used any major vegetables other than Tomatoes and Onions – you can easily add veggies like Cauliflower, Peas Carrots or Beans to create your own variation. This is a great dish for who are just getting into a little more intermediate level of Indian cooking.
Ok, the best part of making this Veg Biryani is that you can have this ready to eat within 30 minutes or less. This is suited not just for this lockdown but any other situation where you need to make a quick Indian Biryani Recipe – one that is not a ‘normal’ dish but carries the exotic distinction of a Biryani 🙂
What does the Biryani taste like?
The taste of this Veg Biryani is not too spicy and not too bland. The flavors do pop because of the spices and the rice that we’ve used but it’ll not sting your tongue. If you wish you increase the spiciness, you can vary the amount of Chilli powder or by increasing the number of Green chillies during the grinding process.
Or you can add in dry fruits to give it that Mughlai influence. We’ll leave it to your imagination as to how you want to improvise on this – you can take this Biryani any direction you want and still have a great dish for your meal.
Side-dishes for Lockdown Veg Biryani
This Biryani doesn’t require any side-dishes but we would recommend a simple Onion or Cucumber Raita, Mint Chutney or even Potato Chips on the side. We would also pair this with a fresh fruit juice or a milkshake to complete the meal.
Check out these Chutney recipes for Veg Biryani:
Check out other Veg Biryani recipes:
You can also have simple home-made Potato Chips recipe to along with this Biryani.
Recipe for Lockdown Veg Biryani, below
Veg Biryani Recipe – Quick ‘n Easy
Equipment
- Pressure cooker
Ingredients
- 1 cup Samba Rice or Basmati Rice or any other Long Grain raice. . Make sure to soak the rice for ten minutes
- 2 nos Onion slice lengthwise
- 1 no Tomato slice finely
- 3 tablespoon Mint leaves cut finely
- 2 tablespoon Corinader leaves chopped fine
- 1 tablespoon Chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon Garam Masala Powder
- 1 teaspoon Coriander Powder
- 1 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- 1 tablespoon Curd fresh
For grinding
- 6 nos Garlic
- 1 inch Ginger
- 1 teaspoon Saunf or Aniseed in English
- 1 tablespoon Onion chopped fine
- 3 nos green chillies chopped
How to make:
- Soak the rice for 10 minutes. Here we've used Seeraga Samba Rice but can always substitute this with Basmati Rice.
- After that, drain the water and set the rice aside.
- Grind the ingredients given under the "for grinding".
- Grind these ingredients coarsely.
- Heat the pressure cooker and add oil, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom.
- Fry these for about a minute.
- Add onion and the ground mixture
- Fry these till the onion turns golden.
- Add tomatoes and fry for about two minutes.
- Add mint leaves and coriander leaves.
- Fry till it becomes mushy and a nice aroma comes from it.
- Add chilli powder, garam masala, turmeric powder, coriander powder, curd and mix it well.
- Finally add in the rice with 2 1/2 cups of water.
- Check for salt consistency.
- Now, pressure cook the Biryani for about three whistles.
- Seperate the Biryani with a ladle if you see that the rice has clumped.
- Garnish with coriander leaves or cashewnuts before you serve.
