Gutti Vankaya Biryani, My 342nd Recipe
is a flavorful dum-style biryani made with stuffed brinjals, aromatic basmati rice, a freshly ground nut and spice masala, herbs, saffron, and whole spices. The stuffed eggplants are slowly cooked in a rich masala and then layered with partially cooked basmati rice before being finished on dum.
Our Family Love for Biryani
Biryani is our family favorite. We love it in all shapes and forms. While one-pot veggie biryani in a pressure cooker is what I grew up with, I was introduced to Hyderabadi dum biryani after moving to Dallas.
Initially, the veggie dum biryani was our favorite. That only lasted until we tasted paneer biryani. However, everything completely changed when we tried Gutti Vankaya Biryani for the first time.
The brinjal or eggplant, when cooked, becomes so soft that it almost melts in your mouth. The combination of the spicy masala-coated eggplant with the individual grains of aromatic basmati rice, all brought together through dum cooking, adds to the whole flavor and experience.
There is something especially delicious about getting a little bit of the stuffed brinjal, its rich masala, fragrant rice, fried onions, mint, cilantro, saffron, and ghee together in every serving. It is a biryani that is rich and flavorful, and has quickly become one of our favorite versions of biryani.
All About Gutti Vankaya Biryani
The highlight of this biryani is the stuffed eggplant. A freshly ground masala made with peanuts, cashews, sesame seeds, desiccated coconut, coriander seeds, onion, ginger-garlic paste, and spices is stuffed into the eggplants. The remaining masala is mixed with curd to form the base in which the stuffed eggplants are cooked.
The rice is cooked separately with whole spices until about 75% done. It is then layered with the prepared eggplant gravy, fried onions, ghee, saffron milk, mint, and cilantro. Finally, everything is sealed and cooked on dum, allowing all those wonderful flavors and aromas to come together.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Flavorful stuffed brinjals that become soft and almost melt in your mouth.
- Freshly ground peanut, cashew, coconut, sesame, and spice masala.
- Fragrant basmati rice flavored with aromatic whole spices.
- Traditional layering and dum cooking brings all the flavors together.
- Rich layers of fried onion, mint, cilantro, saffron milk, and ghee.
- A delicious vegetarian biryani for weekends, celebrations, and special meals.
- A wonderful alternative to regular vegetable or paneer biryani.
Gutti Vankaya Biryani
Ingredients
- Oil – ⅔ cup divided
- Basmati rice – 3 cups
- Onion – 1 ½ thin sliced
- Green chilli – 3
- Eggplant – 5 large
- Curd – 1 cup
- Salt – to taste
- Bay leaves – 4
- Cinnamon stick – 2
- Black cardamom – 1
- Cloves – 8
- Star anise – 3
- Cumin – 1 tsp
- Fennel seeds – 1 tsp
- Cardamom – 6
- Mace – 1
- Ghee – 2 tbsp
- Milk – ¼ cup
- Saffron – pinch
- Mint – 1 bunch
- Cilantro – 1 bunch
To Grind
- Peanut – ½ cup
- Cashews – 10
- Sesame seed – 1 tbsp
- Desiccated coconut – ½ cup
- Coriander seeds – 1 tbsp
- Onion – ½ roughly chopped
- Ginger garlic paste – 1 ½ tbsp
- Kashmiri Red chilli powder – 2 tsp
- Coriander powder – 2 tsp
- Garam masala – 1 tsp
- Turmeric – ½ tsp
- Cumin powder
Instructions
- Wash and soak the rice for 30 minutes.
- Take a pan and dry roast peanuts, cashews, coriander seeds, desiccated coconut and sesame seeds until golden brown. Let them cool down to room temperature.
- Now transfer the dry roasted ingredients to the mixie jar along with other ingredients listed in “To grind” and grind them into coarse paste by adding little amount of water.
- Now cut the eggplants as shown in the picture and stuff them with the ground paste and set aside until needed.
- To the remaining ground paste add little more water and grind into smooth paste. Now take a clean bowl mix the ground smooth paste and curd, mix well until combined and set aside.
- Now heat a pan with ¼ cup of oil and fry the onion until golden brown. Drain them from oil and set aside.
- Now to the remaining oil add little more extra oil and fry the stuffed eggplants in medium flame until the eggplants turn brown or cooked by turning from all around carefully. Once done remove them from oil and set aside.
- Bring a pot of water to boil, add the remaining spices 2 bay leaves, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 black cardamom, 4 cloves, 3 cardamom along with 1 tsp of oil to avoid rice sticking to one other and salt. Add the washed and drained rice to the boiling water and cook the rice until 75% done. Once done drain and keep the cooked rice aside.
- Now heat clean pan with remaining oil add the remaining items 2 bay leaves, 1 cinnamon stick, 3 star anise, 3 cardamom, 4 cloves, 1 mace along with fennel seeds and cumin, and once splutter add the green chillis and few mint leaves saute.
- Now add the curd and paste mixture along with salt, mix well until combined, add ½ cup water, mix well.
- Once the mixture starts to boil add the stuffed eggplants, turn the flame to low-medium, cover and cook
- Cook until the mixture starts to thicken, ooze the oil. Turn off the flame and keep aside.
- Take the warm milk, add the saffron, mix well and keep aside.
- Now assembling for dum. Take a biryani pot or wide and tall pan. Place some of the prepared eggplant gravy along with eggplants as the base and portion of fried onion. Top it with a portion of cooked rice.
- Above that sprinkle some fried onion, some ghee, saffron milk, some mint and cilantro. As shown in the pic.
- Again repeat the same process for another two times to get the layers. Now cover the pot and seal tight.
- I used biryani pot. I just kept the weight over to lock the lid. If not, seal the sides of the pot with aluminum foil or dough. Cook the biryani dum for 20 minutes in low flame.
- Once done, make sure not to break the rice strands. Enjoy hot with chips and raita
Notes | FAQ
- If you do not use a heavy bottom pot, place a tawa and once the tawa is hot enough place the biryani pot over it and turn the flame to low and cook for 20 minutes.
- Adjust the Kashmiri red chilli powder and green chilli according to your preferred spice level.
- As we always prefer mild spice for kids, I used with the listed quantity.
Leave a Reply