Hyderabadi Veg Dum Biryani

Vegetable biryani cooked in a Hyderabadi Dum style

Preparation Time: 35 minutes

Cooking Time: 45 minutes

Serves: 4.

Ingredients and Quantity:
Hot milk to steep / soak the saffron strands- 20 ml
Saffron strands- ½ gm.
Pure ghee- 100 gm.
Ginger paste- ½ tbsp.
Garlic paste- ½ tbsp.
Biryani m/s powder -1 tsp
Red chili powder- ¼ th tsp.
Turmeric- ¼ th tsp.
Yogurt – 250 gm.
Rose water- 15 ml
Raisins, fried– 20 gm
Cashew nuts, fried- 20 gm.

For Golden brown Fried onions:
Refined Oil – as required to deep fry
Onion thinly sliced, apply salt – 01 no. large

Vegetables:
Cauliflower florets, medium sized- 08 nos.
Potato cubed boiled-01 no. large
Carrot cubed- 01 no. large
Green peas- 45 gm.
Mint leaves , finely chopped- 01 tbsp.
Coriander leaves chopped very finely-02 tbsp.
Green chilies slit- 03 nos.

Whole garam masala:
Cinnamon stick- 1 inch
Green cardamoms- 02 nos.
Black cardamom- 01 no.
Mace- 01 strand
Star anise-01 no.
Cloves- 04 nos.
Bay leaf- 01 no
Black Cumin (Shahi jeera)- ¼ th tsp.

For cooking rice:
Long grained Basmati rice- 1 ½ cups
Water- 08 times the quantity of rice
Black cumin (shahi jeera)- ½ tsp.
Salt -to taste
Hot Pure Ghee for pouring over the last layer of biryani- 100 gm.

For sealing the dum vessel:
Whole-wheat flour- 200 gm
Water- as required to knead.

Method:
1. Steep saffron strands in hot milk to extract colour and flavor from the same
2. Thinly slice onions , apply salt , keep aside for 10 minutes, squeeze out the water and deep fry them in oil till golden and crisp. Set these aside on a kitchen absorbent paper.
3. In the same pan, add whole garam masala and sauté till they begin to crackle.
4. Add ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw aroma goes off
5. Add parboiled potatoes and fry for about 5 minutes, till they are almost cooked
6. Add the rest of the vegetables and sauté for 03 minutes
7. Add turmeric, biryani masala powder and red chili powder. Mix and fry well for 03 minutes till give a cooked aroma.
8. Pour 150 gm. yogurt and mix. Cook till the vegetables are done till tender. Cook till done.
9. Add ½ the mint ,coriander leaves and slit green chillies.
10. Cook rice till al dente in 08 times of hot water along with ingredients mentioned for cooking. The rice has to be cooked grainy. Drain it off in a colander.
11. Spread on a slab to remove excess of water.
12. Set aside ⅓ of the cooked vegetable mix. Now mix together the rest of the cooked vegetables, rest of the yogurt and nuts and raisins, fried onions and add it to a heavy bottomed dum utensil.
13. Layer the rice over the mix and layer the ⅓ cooked vegetable mix that was set aside. Sprinkle some fried onions
14. Layer rice over it again, then the fried onions, raisins, nuts, mint and coriander leaves and pour off the saffron milk. Sprinkle rose water. Pour the hot ghee over this.
15. Seal with whole-wheat flour dough to seal the utensil.
16. Place the dum utensil, on a hot griddle and cook for 10 minutes on a medium flame and then on low flame for 5 minutes.
Chef Tips:
1. Place a few bay leaves at the bottom of the dum vessel so that the rice does not stick to the bottom, it also imparts a beautiful flavor to the rice.
2. Do not put too much of yogurt as your biryani will turn mushy.
3. You may deep fry all the cut vegetables and boil peas.
4. The dum utensil is sealed with whole-wheat flour dough, so that the flavor and aroma does not escape from the biryani.