Biryani – Pulav – Kichadi Festival
I am participating in a month-long marathon and theme is “Biryani Pulav and Kichadi festival.” Sounds delicious right? So I will be sharing 26 biryani and pulav recipes all this month in alphabetical order. There is no doubt that I love traditional recipes, and when it comes to biryanis, of course, the DUM biryanis are the best. In fact, for the ulava charu biryani, I made the DUM in the clay-pot. But who doesn’t like quick and easy biryanis? Atleast I do. :-) So I made all the 26 vegetarian/vegetable biryanis and pulavs in either the traditional stove-top pressure cooker or in the Instant Pot. Even though I took short-cuts, I did not compromise on the taste. I substituted the meat protein with either plant-based protein or dairy-based protein along with the vegetables and went with traditional and authentic spices. As always, all my recipes are adaptable and please do check the recipe notes for variations and details. So without any further, here is my first recipe and it is the Ambur Veg Biryani that I made in Instant Pot.
Ambur & Ambur Biryani
Before getting into the recipe, let me share some information about Ambur. Ambur is a town in Vellore District, Tamil Nadu, India. Both Ambur and its neighboring town Vaniyambadi are famous for their biryani, and they are known worldwide. The Nawabs of Arcot introduced the biryani, and the spice usage is moderate when compared to other biryanis. We don’t use any dry spice powders, and also we use the fresh paste of ginger, garlic and red chili for this biryani. I want to thank Suguna at Kannama Cooks for sharing the details of this Ambur biryani. I didn’t want to repeat what she mentioned here again. You can read the details and the dum mutton biryani version on her blog. I adapted her recipe and made it into the Instant Pot vegetarian version.
Making Ambur veg biryani in Instant Pot
You can make biryani quickly in Instant Pot. I know I can’t compare it with the dum pukht method but it is very easy and it makes all the dishes as one pot meal. Now, one thing I want to insist – Mix and scrape. Yes, it is very very important. After adding every ingredient, make sure you mix and rub to avoid the burn warning.In this Ambur biryani, we add yogurt to the hot oil. To prevent the spluttering, you adjust the heat setting to low while adding the yogurt and then increase it to normal. I just went with the standard heat setting for the sauteing process. I know if you ask me to write about Instant Pot, I can keep writing. So let me stop here and share how I made the Ambur veg biryani. Ingredients:
5 garlic cloves or 1 tbsp garlic paste (tightly packed) 2-inch ginger or 1 tbsp ginger paste (tightly packed) Five red chilies ¼ cup neutral oil 3 tbsp yogurt (divided, 1 tbsp + 2 tbsp) 2 cloves 2 cardamom 3 or 4 1-inch cinnamon stick 1 big onion, sliced lengthwise 2 tomatoes, chopped ½ cup white peas (soaked and drained) 1 cup paneer cubes 2 tbsp lime juice 2 tsps salt 1 cup mint leaves ½ cup cilantro 1.5 cups seeraga samba rice 2 cups of water
Soak the beans:
If you are using white peas or any other beans, soak it for atleast 5 to 6 hours.
Soak the rice:
Wash and soak the seeraga samba rice for atleast 15 to 20 minutes and then drain the water thoroughly.
Prepare the pastes:
For this biryani, we need to prepare three paste separately – Ginger paste, garlic paste, and red chili paste. Grind the garlic cloves into a fine paste by adding 1 to 2 tsps of water. And same with ginger as well, grind it, into a fine paste and set aside. Soak the red chilies in water for 10 to 15 minutes and drain the water. Then grind it into a fine paste by adding 1 to 2 tsps of water.
Prepare the Biryani:
Set the Instant Pot in the saute mode and add the oil. Then add one tbsp of yogurt and mix well.
Then add the cinnamon sticks, cloves, and cardamom — Cook for 10 seconds.
Then add the garlic paste and cook for a minute, followed by ginger paste and cook again for two minutes. (PS: I missed to click the picture while adding the ginger)
Now add the chili paste, onion, mint and cilantro leaves. Mix thoroughly.
Then add the tomatoes, salt, and soaked white peas. Mix again and make sure to scrape the bottom.
Now add the paneer cubes, yogurt, and lime juice.
Mix and then add the water and the rice. Gently mix but make sure you scrape the bottom thoroughly to avoid the “burn warning.”
Press the cancel button and close the IP lid. Ensure the vent is in the sealing position. Now cook the biryani at high using the manual or the pressure cook mode for 3 minutes. When the cooking is complete, wait for 5 minutes and do a quick pressure release. (IP Formula – 3 mts manual at high pressure and QPR after 5 minutes) Carefully open the lid after releasing the pressure and allow the biryani to cool for 5 minutes and then fluff it up with a fork.
Serve hot with raita.
Recipe notes
Instead of white peas and paneer, you can use vegetables and soy-chunks. I would always recommend seeraga samba rice, but if you can’t source it, you can make it with Basmati rice as well. Adjust the salt, garlic, and red chilies according to your preference. If you are adding more veggies, then increase the water by ½ cup but not more than that. Make sure to mix the biryani masala, after adding each ingredient and make sure to scrape the bottom of the Instant Pot after adding the water and rice.
PS: If you try this Ambur veg biryani recipe, don’t forget to comment and rate the recipe. If you have any questions, please leave a comment, and I will get to it ASAP. Make sure to follow me on my Pinterest or Instagram or join my Facebook Group for recipe updates and simple Indian meal ideas.
📖 Recipe
