Vegetable Biriyani or Vegetable Pongal?

Right from my childhood, I am an ardent fan of this dish called Vegetable Biriyani. Mom’s recipe was different from my aunt’s and so I didn’t want to recreate any of those.

After I got married, I wanted to make it. Whenever I tried it, the end result would not be what I expected it to be! Sometimes, it would become pongal, sometimes, the masala would not get mixed up well, sometimes, the vegetables get more cooked, masala would not taste to my satisfaction, and salt would be a pinch less or more! Oh my god!

            Luckily, hubby isn’t a big fan of this dish and so the after effects would live only with me. He got bored with me ordering Vegetable biriyani every time we visited a restaurant. He wanted to find out why am so crazy about tasting it everywhere!

Every restaurant gave their own taste to this item just like every sambar tastes different! This made my job even tougher. I could not even set a standard of what to expect from mine!

One would make it in yellow color with bread crumbs, one would make it red in color with tomatoes, one would present it with basmati rice and the other one would make it with whole lot of cashews! I got a doubt whether I was tasting biriyani or is it rice kheer?! 

The best was the one I tasted in Hyderabad. We had been to a famous restaurant and I saw people around me placing an order for Hyderabadi dum biriyani! Eager to know how it tastes, with a sheepish look at my hubby, I too placed an order for the same! Now came the surprise in red color! It’s nothing but red chilli powder rice with some vegetables, half cooked here and there. It was layered with vegetables and white rice and chilli powder! May be they thought eating half cooked veggies is good for health! I was shocked! Another restaurant in Hyderabad gave it little salt, thinking that people might get blood pressure if they took much salt! This was half white and half yellow in color. Remember the layering? This was with lots of elachi and layer of half cooked vegetables with yellow and white basmati rice. When hubby asked for my feedback, I said a meek ok and he found out that I was forcing myself to eat this mixture!

        

       Though I stopped trying out Vegetable Biriyani anymore in Hyderabad, the zeal to find out the authentic recipe didn’t fade away! I tried to find out from close friends and cousins about the recipe and everyone came out with similar stories as mine! Can someone please give me the authentic recipe? 

        Watching someone making it in YouTube made it seem easy but while making it, it was different! Until finally, one day I decided to create my own recipe! And I did and it came out successfully. 

         I found out a simple recipe to suit my expectations. I had cooked the rice and kept it aside, made the vegetable masala separately and finally mixed them both. The taste was perfect! I am so happy that my search for the right recipe ended here and now am thinking of ways to improve it!

PS – If any of you are interested to know the recipe, do let me know. I would be very happy to share it with you!