Delicious & super flavorful Coconut Mint based Vegetable Biryani recipe, can be made in Pressure Cooker, Rice Cooker or Fry Pan.
As long as I can remember, our Sunday lunch was standard. Amma’s special coconut-mint based vegetable biryani and onion raita. The preparations would start as early as 10 in the morning. Amma starts with peeling garlic and chopping ginger for the ginger-garlic paste which was otherwise seldom used in our household. At times, I helped her in chopping vegetables. And when we were in the mood to get creative, we cut the vegetables in different shapes and sizes. The coconut-mint based masala paste is first prepared and amma started the rice preparation in our big old pressure cooker. Now this cooker’s weight never worked and hence perfect for the best biriyani. My most favorite from this vegetable biryani used to be the meal-maker (soya chunks) followed by potato pieces. As a kid, I used to eat all of the rice, sneaking in bits of carrot and beans – working my way around the potato and meal maker chunks which were reserved for the last. Even today, I continue to do this even after getting weird looks from people around me 😀
Last weekend, I asked amma to prepare her special Coconut Mint Based Vegetable Biryani before she left to Chennai and she was super sweet to make it for me. Its not spicy and is loading with vegetables. The coconut and mint based paste gives this dish rich taste and aroma. Usually, there will be no left-overs but in my opinion, it tastes even better when left over for few hours making it popular lunchbox treat 🙂 Check out other Biriyani recipes on my blog!
How to make Coconut Mint Based Vegetable Biryani
📖 Recipe
Coconut Mint Based Vegetable Biryani
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker or Thick Bottomed Pan
MEASUREMENT
1 cup = 250ml, 1 tablespoon = 15ml, 1 teaspoon = 5ml
Ingredients
- 1 cup Basmati rice
- 1 Large Onion Sliced Thin
- 1 Large Tomato Finely Chopped
- 1 cup Mixed Vegetables Chopped I used carrot, beans, potato, green peas
- 10-15 Cooked Soya Chunks optional
- 1 teaspoon Ginger Garlic Paste
- ½ teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- 1 tablespoon Oil
- 1 Dried Bay Leaf
- 2 inch Cinnamon Piece
- 2 Cloves
- 1 Green Cardamom
- ½ cup Chopped Fresh Coconut
- ½ cup Mint Leaves tightly packed
- ¼ cup Coriander Leaves tightly packed
- 1 teaspoon Poppy Seeds optional
- 1-2 Green Chillies adjust as per taste
- ½ teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
- ½ teaspoon Garam Masala Powder
- 2 cups Water
Instructions
- Blend coconut, mint leaves, coriander leaves, poppy seeds and green chillies into a smooth paste adding little water. Keep aside.
- Wash and soak basmati rice for 20mins.
- In a pressure cooker, heat oil. Add bay leaf, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon. After 30secs, add thinly sliced onions. For spicy biryani, add one or two slit green chillies along with the chopped onions.
- When onion pieces turn translucent, add ginger garlic paste and chopped tomatoes. Cook for 5mins until tomatoes are mushy.
- Add the chopped vegetables (juliennes) and soya chunks. Cook for 2-3mins. Add the ground coconut paste. Cook for 4-5mins. Add required salt and spice powders – turmeric powder, red chilli powder and garam masala powder.
- Add water and let it boil. I usually add 2 cups of water for 1 cup of rice while making biriyani especially if there are vegetables to cook too. Adjust by ¼ cup if needed.
- When the water gets boiling, add rice. Cover it with the lid of the pressure cooker and let the flame be on medium. And cover the pressure valve with a steel tumbler. After 5 mins, simmer the flame and let it cook for another 10mins. Alternatively, let the biryani cook for 2 whistles in the pressure cooker. Wait for another 15mins before opening the lid.
- Mix well and serve hot with onion raita.
Nutrition
Detailed Recipe to Make Coconut Mint Based Vegetable Biryani
- Blend coconut, mint leaves, coriander leaves, poppy seeds and green chillies into a smooth paste adding little water. Keep aside.
- Wash and soak basmati rice for 20mins.
- In a pressure cooker, heat oil. Add bay leaf, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon. After 30secs, add thinly sliced onions. For spicy biryani, add one or two slit green chillies along with the chopped onions.
- When onion pieces turn translucent, add ginger garlic paste and chopped tomatoes. Cook for 5mins until tomatoes are mushy.
- Add the chopped vegetables (juliennes) and soya chunks. Cook for 2-3mins. Add the ground coconut paste. Cook for 4-5mins. Add required salt and spice powders – turmeric powder, red chilli powder and garam masala powder.
- Add water and let it boil. I usually add 2 cups of water for 1 cup of rice while making biriyani especially if there are vegetables to cook too. Adjust by ¼ cup if needed.
- When the water gets boiling, add rice. Cover it with the lid of the pressure cooker and let the flame be on medium. And cover the pressure valve with a steel tumbler. After 5 mins, simmer the flame and let it cook for another 10mins. Alternatively, let the biryani cook for 2 whistles in the pressure cooker. Wait for another 15mins before opening the lid.
- Mix well and serve hot with onion raita.
Recipe Notes
- You can make this in a pot/fry pan/thick bottomed kadai too. Cooking time remains the same, close the pan with a lid while the rice is cooking.
- You can make this with Sona Masoori rice too, in fact that's how Amma still makes it today.
- Adjust spices as per preference.
I would be delighted to know if you have tried this recipe, don’t forget to share your feedback and comments below. If you have any questions, you can e-mail me! I am also available on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter 🙂
This post was first published in June 2015 and updated in May 2020.
srividhya
I have never tried this combo for masala grinding. I grind poppy seeds and coconut alone. This seems interesting. So many ways to do biriyani naa
chcooks
Exactly! Every household has its own recipe 🙂
Chitra Jagadish
Flavorsome biryani.... yummm
chcooks
Thank you 🙂 🙂