Kerala Veg Biryani | Thalassery Veg Biriyani | Malabar Veg Biryani

This is rice and vegetable blended aromatic recipe. There are lots of speculations about origin of biriyani. Most stories say that it was created in mughals kitchen and some say that this dish was known in India before the first mughal emperor Babur came to India. There are endless theories about the origination but we cant deny the fact that there is a strong influence of mughals in this dish, may be they would have modernized it.There are two basic types of biriyani - Pakki(Layer cooked rice and vegetables/meat) and Kacchi(Raw cooking of rice and veg/meat). This recipe is a pakki type of biriyani

Mughals were trading in north kerala for many centuries before 1900. This recipe is amalgamation of both mughal and malabar cuisine. The main difference is rice(Khaima/Jeerakasala) used in this recipe. Its a short and thin rice which is also called biriyani rice in Kerala.


Finally i would like to add my related recipes with this post of  Thalassery Veg Biryani recipe,
Kerala Veg Aviyal, Orange tholi gojju, Brinjal Theeyal, Pazhakkai Aviyal, Hyderabadi veg biryani, Cheese Balls, Mor Kuzhambu

Kerala Veg Biryani | Thalassery Veg Biryani | Malabar Veg Biryani Recipe Cuisine: Kerala |  Recipe Category: Rice Prep Time:  15 mins    |  Cook time: 40 mins     |  Serves: 4 - 5 BASMATI/KHAIMA/JEERAKASALA RICE - 1 CUP OIL - 1 TBLSP CINNAMON - 1 NO CLOVES - 2 TNOS CARROT - 2 NOS BEANS - 15 NOS ONION - 4 NOS(1.5 FOR GARNISHING) PEAS- 1 CUP TOMATO - 1 MEDIUM SIZE SALT - TO TASTE COCONUT MILK - 3/4 CUP TO GRIND CORIANDER LEAVES  - FEW MINT LEAVES - FEW GREEN CHILLI - 2 NOS RED CHILLI POWDER - 3/4 TSP KUSKUS - 3/4 TSP GARAM MASALA  - 1 TSP  GINGER GARLIC RAW/PASTE - 1 TSP TURMERIC POWDER - 1/4 TSP FENNEL SEEDS - 1/2 TSP TEMPERING OIL - 2 TBLSP GHEE - 3 TBLSP CINNAMON - 2 NOS CLOVES - 6 TNOS BAY LEAVES - 3 NOS GARNISHING COCONUT OIL - 1 TBLSPN ONION - SEE ABOVE FOR QUANTITY CASHEW NUTS - 15 NOS MILK - 1 TBLSPN SAFFRON - FEW

METHOD OF PREPARATION :

1.Soak rice in water for 30 mins and then in pressure cooker/pan add 1 tsp of oil/ghee. When oil is hot add cinnamon and cloves fry it until fragrant, add rice and salt. Add water 1:1.5/1:2(Pressure Cooker) or 1:3(Pan) depending on the rice brand and cook the rice little above 3/4th cooking.Keep it aside in separate bowl.

• Prepare and cut the vegetables required.
• Soak Saffron in hot milk for 10 mins.
• Grind the mixture mentioned under to Grind
• Extract thick coconut milk from coconut

2.Now take a pan and add items under tempering and fry till fragrant

3.Add the straightly sliced onion and fry it till translucent.Meanwhile grind the items under Grinding by adding 2 tblspn or required amount of water. Add the grinded paste to the frying onion.

4.Mix everything in the pan well and add tomato, once the tomato becomes mushy add the beans and carrot and cook for 5-7 mins.

5. Add salt and then coconut milk. 

6.Add peas at last if its frozen peas, if you are adding uncooked peas add it along with beans and carrot.Cook this mixture for 10 mins on medium flame until oil separates

7.In heavy bottom pan or on the microwave safe vessel add a layer of cooked rice and then the vegetable masala.

8.Then add the rice layer again on top of that and add the saffron milk( should be soaked in 1 tbspn of hot milk for 10 mins) above the rice layer.

9.In a pan fry the onion and cashew nuts until crisp. Repeat the step 5 until masala and rice gets over.Finally add the onion cashew nut mixture.Reserve few for final garnishing

10.Cover the vessel with aluminium foil.Preheat oven to 200 deg C.Bake this for about 10 to 12 minutes.(For stove top method,heat a tava/dosa pan and place the biriyani vessel on top of the tava,reduce flame to low and cook for about 20 minutes.). Biriyani is ready, garnish it with the remaining onion cashew nut mixture, you can add coriander leaves also.

Note:

• If you dont have coconut you can either use coconut milk powder or ready made coconut milk from super market. Alternatively you can also use curd instead of coconut. Curd is also used in the kerala biriyani preparation in many parts of kerala, this also gives a really nice taste to biriyani. If using curd, beat it well and add 4 full spoons of it.
• I didnt mix the rice and masala fully, if you want you can mix it well. Some people like it to be served in this way with some white rice here and there
• If you want your biriyani to be more spicy add more chilli powder which will give nice colour and spicyness. We prefer less spicy so added less.
• You can also precook all the vegetables and add that which will save the time of cooking the masala. 
• If you are using tava method make sure the flame is in lowest range possible in your stovetop.
• You can deep fry onion and cashews or buy fried onion from store which will be very crispy. To make onion very crispy while frying it in oil you can add cornflour 1/2 a tsp, which will remove moisture and make it crunchy.

My Other Briyani Recipes

Hyderabadi Vegetable Briyani