I have a delicious biryani that is made in the slow cooker for today’s blogging marathon. My theme is ‘Rice recipes’ and it would be unfair to not post one of my favorite rice dishes. I am sure hard core biryani eaters might turn their nose up on my vegetarian biryani love. But I love making and eating biryani with vegetables. Dum (pronounced the-um) is a very traditional cooking technique that is used to make rice and/ or meat casserole type dishes. It is a slow-cooking method that is believed to have been around for many many centuries. Mughals have introduced this type of cooking in India. To make traditional dum biryani, partially cooked rice is layered with spiced meat in a heavy bottom pan/ pot. A tight fitting lid is used to cover the pot. The edges of the lid are sealed with a dough and then the pot is heated gently. This ensures that the steam doesn’t escape and all of the flavors are retained in the dish.
🍲Slow cooker to make biryani
Slow cooker aka crockpot is a great appliance to make dum biryani, because the heat is gentle and the lid is tight fitting. This creates the same cooking environment as using a heavy bottom pan and sealing it. So the crock used in the slow cooker is perfect to create ‘dum’ effect for biryanis. Biryani is not a quick to make meal. Generally, most Indian families reserve Sunday lunch for biryani. This dish needs a little bit of time, patience (and lots of love). It needs a good 45 minutes to 1 hour of hands on time and the rest is waiting for all the flavors (and your hard work) to come together.
Do you need a Slow Cooker to make this biryani?
Not really. I originally made this slow cooker recipe in 2013 and continued making in it until I sold it in 2017. Then I started using the slow cook feature on my Instant Pot and it works beautifully. I have included the instructions on how to use the Instant pot in the recipe and in the tips. So, don’t fret if you sold your old crockpot or if you never had one. Simply make it in your Instant pot or any heavy bottomed pot for that matter. In about 1 hour, your house will filled with the delicious aroma that will bring everyone to the table.
🥘Ingredients
There are 2 main layers in this dish - rice layer and the vegetable layer. Here’s what you need for each layer:
Rice layer:Basmati rice - gives the dish it’s characteristic aroma and perfect texture.Whole Spices - bay leaf, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon stickOil - a little bit of oil in the cooking water ensures that the rice turns out fluffy and perfect.Salt Vegetable Layer:Any mix of your favorite vegetables can be used in this recipe. I used carrot, green beans, peppers, green peas, corn kernels. But broccoli, cauliflower, potato etc. are all great options.Herbs - Mint and Cilantro are quintessential to biryani. They add tons of flavor to the dish. I also added a little bit of kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves).TomatoesGinger+garlic pasteWhole spices Biryani/ Pulao Masala - I use Everest brand biryani masala, but feel free to substitute it with garam masala.
💭Top tips
Here are a few tips to keep in mind to make the perfect vegetable dum biryani:
Cook rice until 90% cooked. DO NOT overcook the rice. Mushy rice is the bane of good biryani. So, stick around while making rice. It only takes a few seconds to end up with mushy rice.Add oil while cooking rice. This helps in keeping the grains separate after cooking.Add salt to the rice cooking water. This adds flavor to the final dish.Taste the vegetable mixture before layering. Since the rice is fairly bland, vegetable layer needs to have enough spice and salt. Otherwise the whole dish will turn out bland.Fresh herbs add tons of flavor to the dish. So, make sure you have fresh mint and cilantro before making this dish.Saffron milk is traditionally sprinkled on top to give nice color and subtle flavor to biryani. This is an optional step, but a highly recommended step.To use Instant Pot: Cook the rice separately as per the recipe and keep ready.Make the vegetable layer directly in the instant pot using the Saute feature. Once ready, remove half of the veggie mixture into a bowl. Turn off the Saute feature. Top the veggie layer in left in the Instant pot with the rice, fried onions, chopped nuts.Followed by the reserved veggie mixture, remaining rice, fried onions, herbs and saffron milk (if using).Cover and set it on ‘Slow Cooker’ feature for 1 hour on high or 2.5 hours on low.
🥗Serving Suggestions
Since vegetable dum biryani is a pretty elaborate dish, you can keep it simple and serve with bhurani raita. But if it’s that special Sunday, then take time to make Bagara Baingan or Mirchi ka Salan to go along with the biryani. In either case, this is a delicious dish that will be enjoyed by the whole family. Linking this to Valli’s BM# 109 and don’t forget to check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked up today. I originally posted this recipe for BM# 24 back in 2013. I can’t believe we have been doing this together for that long.
