When we talk about Indian biryani varieties, Hyderabadi biryani, Kolkata biryani, Lucknow biryani, Chettinadu biryani, and many other regional biryanis’ tops the chart, the Bhatkal variety of biryani from the coastal Karnataka is slowly finding its way in that chart. Bhatkal, also known as ‘Batecala’ & ‘Al Nawayath’ in some historical texts, is a port town in the Uttara Kannada District of Karnataka. Honestly, I wasn’t aware of this biryani until 2018. While researching the biryani varieties, I read about this and decided to try it. Food exploration and research are what I like about this blogging marathon. Like the coastal Karnataka cuisine, this Bhatkal biryani recipe fascinated me. We add curry leaves to this biryani, and we serve this with the pickle. You read it right. Yes, curry leaves in biryani.
The Easy Pressure Cooker Bhatkali Biryani:
Like every other biryani, I found a lot of recipes for this one as well, but when I saw this one on the Hindu paper, I didn’t look any further. Its recipe shared by the owner of the famous hotel called Kwality hotel that serves Bhatkal biryani. You can read more about the biryani in that article. I made this as a one-pot biryani in the stove-top pressure cooker. This Bhatkal biryani is one of the easiest biryani to make. If you are using soy chunks or paneer, there is isn’t any chopping involved either except for onion. It doesn’t include any grinding or marinating either. You can prepare this biryani in less than 30 minutes. Yes, I did not even soak the basmati rice. So now without any further ado, here is my veg version of the Bhatkal Biryani.
Ingredients:
2 tbsp oil 1 onion 3 garlic cloves 1 green chili 10 curry leaves 1 tsp ground pepper 1 tsp coriander powder ¼ tsp turmeric powder 1 tsp garam masala ½ cup soy chunks soaked in water for 20 minutes and drained 1 tsp salt 1 cup basmati rice 1.25 cups water
Prep-work:
Wash the basmati rice thoroughly and drain the water. As I mentioned above, I did not soak the rice for this biryani. Soak the soya chunks in water for atleast 15 minutes and drain the water. Squeeze the soy chunks and remove the excess water. Chop the onion and garlic and slit the green chili into two.
Steps:
Heat the pressure cooker or pressure pan and add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the onion, garlic, green chili, and the curry leaves.
Saute until the onion turns translucent. Now add all the spice powders – ground pepper, coriander powder, garam masala, and turmeric powder.
Mix well and now add the soya chunks, followed by salt.
Mix again and add rice and water. Gently mix and close the pressure cooker lid and put the weight on.
Cook the biryani for one whistle and turn off the heat. Allow the pressure the release and open the lid. Allow the rice to cool for 10 minutes and gently fluff.
Serve hot with pickle and raita.
Recipe Notes-
As always adjust the salt and spices according to your preference. Instead of soy chunks, you can include ½ cup of mixed vegetables or paneer or a combination. Adjust salt and water based on the vegetable quantity. (¼ tsp extra salt and also ¼ cup of water)
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📖 Recipe
