Quick Vegetable Biriyani
Loaded with veggies, crunchy cashews and warm spices like saffron and cinnamon, this vegetable biryani is a delight to the taste buds.
This deliciously fragrant and quickly achievable vegan curry recipe was created by Grace Regan, founder of SpiceBox – the UK’s first plant-based curry house based in Walthamstow.
Total Time: 1 hour
Servings: 4
Rating:
Total Time: 1 hour
Servings: 4
Ingredients
Method
Ingredients
(Servings: 4)
- For the veg
- 0.125 0.125 cauliflower, cut into small florets and roasted
- 1 1 carrots, thinly sliced and roasted
- 25 25 g green beans, topped and cut in half
- For the biriyani
- 37.5 37.5 ml unsweetened almond milk
- A large pinch of saffron strands
- 0.75 0.75 Tbsp veg oil
- 0.75 0.75 cardamom pods, crushed
- 0.25 0.25 cinnamon stick
- 0.5 0.5 cloves
- 0.5 0.5 bay leaves
- 0.25 0.25 tsp cumin seeds
- 0.25 0.25 medium white onion, peeled and sliced into half moons
- 0.25 0.25 tsp salt
- 1 1 cloves garlic, grated
- A thumb-sized piece of ginger, grated
- 0.25 0.25 green chilli, sliced
- 0.5 0.5 tomatoes, roughly diced
- 0.25 0.25 Tbsp tomato paste
- 0.25 0.25 tsp sugar
- 0.25 0.25 tsp coriander powder
- 0.25 0.25 tsp chilli powder
- 150 150 g cooked basmati rice (it’s fine to use the cooked stuff in a packet)
- 25 25 g cashews, roasted and roughly chopped
- 0.5 0.5 tsp garam masala
- A small bunch of coriander, finely chopped
- A small bunch of mint, stalks removed and finely chopped
Method
- Start by making the saffron milk. Put the milk on a gentle heat and add the saffron. Bring to a simmer for 5 minutes and then turn off the heat. Leave the milk to infuse whilst you start the biriyani.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan or shallow casserole dish and fry the cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves and cumin seeds. Fry for a minute until they are golden and aromatic then add the onion and salt. Turn down the heat and cook slowly until the onion is soft and caramelised. Once the onion begins to soften, add garlic, ginger, green chilli and fresh tomatoes. Cook out with the onions until the tomatoes have broken down.
- Add the tomato paste, sugar, coriander and chilli powder and stir fry for a couple of minutes. Now add all the veg followed by a generous pinch of salt. Stir well so it’s all coated with the spiced onion mix.
- Using the back of your spatula, flatten the veg so it forms a tightly packed layer on the bottom of the pan. Cover the veg with a layer of the cooked rice, again tightly packing it down with the back of your spatula. Top with half the cashews, half the coriander and half the mint.
- Spoon over half the saffron milk – you almost want to dot it over the surface of the rice. Finish the layer by sprinkling over half the garam masala and a pinch of salt.
- Repeat this process for the second layer of rice.
- Cover the pan with a lid and cook over a low heat for 5 minutes. Serve straight from the pan.
