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brinjal dum biryani

Brinjal Dum Biryani

A mouthwatering homemade biryani made with layered rice and a delicious brinjal and potato curry infused with aromatics and exotic spices. It is a complete one dish meal
Course Main Course
Cuisine Indian
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 6
Author Vanitha Bhat

Ingredients

FOR THE BIRYANI RICE:

  • 8-10 cups water
  • 1 ½ cups Basmati rice
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 5-6 cloves
  • 2 bay leaves
  • Cinnamon sticks
  • 2 green cardamoms
  • 3-4 teaspoons of salt
  • Few saffron strands soaked in ¼ cup milk

TO MAKE THE BAINGAN CURRY:

  • 6 small brinjals/eggplants/baingan (or 1 large)
  • 1 large potato
  • ¼ cup oil plus some more if needed
  • 1 teaspoon jeera/cumin seeds
  • 1 large black cardamom
  • 2 cloves
  • 2 green cardamoms
  • 1 small piece of mace or you can use 1 star anise
  • 1 ½ cups sliced onions
  • 1 tablespoon grated ginger
  • 1 tablespoon grated garlic
  • 1 cup chopped tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp coriander powder
  • 1 teaspoon cumin powder
  • 1 tsp kashmiri red chili powder
  • 1 tsp garam masala powder
  • ½ tsp haldi/turmeric powder
  • Dash of black pepper powder
  • ½ cup Barista/deep fried onions make fresh or use store bought
  • Handful of chopped mint leaves
  • 1 tablespoon dried mint powder optional
  • ½ cup curd/yogurt plain
  • Salt to taste
  • ½ - 1 cup freshly chopped cilantro/coriander leaves
  • 2-3 tablespoons melted ghee/clarified butter

FOR GARNISH:

  • Handful of halved cashew nuts
  • Handful of raisins
  • 2 teaspoons ghee

TO SERVE:

  • Boondi Raita recipe below
  • Instant Indian style pickled onions recipe below

Instructions

TO MAKE RICE FOR BIRYANI:

  1. Wash 1 ½ cups basmati rice well until water is clear and then soak in water for 30 minutes.

  2. In a large pot, bring 8-10 cups of water to boil. Add the dry spices (5-6 cloves, 2 bay leaves, 2 green cardamoms, few cinnamon sticks and 3-4 teaspoons salt) and oil.

  3. The water should be salty enough to flavor the rice.
  4. When the water comes to a boil, add drained rice and cook for 7-9 minutes until almost 80% cooked. Do not cook completely.
  5. Drain immediately, rinse with cold water and let cool, spread out in a wide pan.
  6. If you do not like getting whole spices in your mouth, remove the whole spices now.

TO PREP BRINJALS AND POTATOES:

  1. Wash brinjals/eggplants and slit it into four or 6 without cutting all the way to the bottom.
  2. Slightly open the cut sides outwards to check for any worms, if any..

  3. If using a large eggplant, chop into cubes.

  4. Peel and cube potatoes.
  5. Place both in a bowl of water until ready to use to avoid browning effect.

TO MAKE BRINJAL-POTATO GRAVY OR CURRY:

  1. In a wide saucepan (or in the same pan you will be making the biryani), heat ¼ cup oil and when hot, add the brinjals and potato chunks.
  2. Sprinkle some salt and fry on medium heat, stirring often until slightly charred and almost cooked. You can cover with a pan if needed.
  3. Remove from pan using a slotted spoon and set aside.
  4. In the same pan, add more oil if needed and sprinkle the whole spices (1 teaspoon jeera, 2 cloves, 1 large black cardamom, 2 green cardamoms, 1 small mace); sauté for a few seconds on medium heat to flavor the oil.
  5. Add 1 large or 1 ½ cups sliced onions; fry on medium heat until slightly softened; couple of minutes.
  6. Stir in 1 tablespoon each grated garlic and ginger and fry again until the raw smell of garlic goes and the onions are lightly browned.
  7. Stir n 1 ½ cups chopped tomatoes along with a pinch of salt.
  8. Fry for a couple of minutes.
  9. Sprinkle spice powders: 1 tbsp coriander powder, 1 teaspoon cumin powder, 1 tsp kashmiri red chili powder, 1 tsp garam masala powder, ½ tsp haldi and dash of black pepper powder.
  10. Fry on medium heat until spice powders are fried well; about 1 to 2 minutes on medium heat until you can almost see oil separating.
  11. Stir in ¼ cup barista/fried onions and mix well.
  12. Add 1 tbsp of chopped mint leaves and 1 tbsp dried mint powder. Mix well.
  13. Lower the heat and stir in 1 cup of thick yogurt. Stir on very low heat or the curd could split.
  14. Add salt to taste and the fried eggplants and potatoes.
  15. If preferred, add 1/3 cup water, mix and cook on medium low heat, covered for 8-10 minutes until the eggplants are almost cooked.

TO ASSEMBLE THE BRINJAL DUM BIRYANI:

  1. You can use the same pan for making dum biryani or use another less wide one and alternately layer the curry and rice in it.
  2. I have used the same pan.
  3. When the curry is ready, sprinkle the cooked rice on top evenly.
  4. Top with some more barista/fried onions, chopped coriander leaves, couple of tablespoons of melted ghee and the saffron milk.
  5. Cover the pan with a foil, put the lid back tightly so as not to let the steam escape and cook on very low heat for 20 minutes.

TO MAKE BOONDI RAITA AND PICKLED ONIONS:

  1. While the dum biryani is cooking, you can make the raita and pickled onions.
  2. Beat some creamy yogurt well until smooth, stir in powdered sugar, pink salt and roasted jeera/cumin powder to make a savory yet mildly sweet raita.
  3. Either stir in boondi (deep fried chickpea batter balls or drops) or even some veggies and onion to make the raita.
  4. To make Indian style pickled onions, slice red onions, sprinkle red chili powder (I prefer using Kashmrir red chili powder; more for color than heat), salt and lemon juice; mix well and set aside at least 1 hour to mellow the sharpness of the onions.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS:

  1. After 20 minutes, remove the lid and foil from the biryani pot, garnish with ghee fried nuts and raisins.
  2. Gently mix and serve hot with boondi raita or any raita or even plain yogurt and some pickled onions or even raw salad on the side.
  3. Enjoy and Happy Eating!

Recipe Notes

  • Adjust the amount of spices according to personal taste.
  • If you do not like bits of whole spices while eating, feel free to remove them from the cooked rice as well as the curry/gravy before layering and dum cooking.
  • Do not overcook the rice. Overcooked rice will result in a mushy biryani.
    Instead of brinjal/eggplant, you can use any mix of veggies to make vegetable dum biryani.
  • Addition of paneer cubes, tofu cubes or even some cooked chickpeas/red kidney beans etc. will add to the nutritional value of this biryani.
  • If you find you do not have all or some of these spices/spice powders, you can use a combination of store bought or homemade garam masala powder and biryani masala powder instead.
  • Enjoy and Happy Cooking/Eating!