Mushroom Dum Biryani

By now, you would have got the point that, everyone in the family here loves mushrooms! ;)

So here we go with yet another mushroom recipe, this time a Dum style Biryani. My folks at home are generally not a big fan of dum biryani, as it is more flavourful because of the spices than the actual vegetables and the masala. But sometimes, a change from the usual is good.

Mushroom Dum Biryani:

This involves 4 steps,
1. Cooking the Basmati Rice Al Dente
2. Prepping the Vegetables
3. Making the Biryani Gravy
4. Assembling it and keeping it in Dum.

What you need:

1 Cup Basmati Rice
2 Cloves
1 Cardamom
A Small Piece Bay Leaf
A Small Piece of Cinnamon
1 Tbsp Ghee
4 Tbsp Oil
2 Onions Sliced Thinly
1 Packet Mushroom (Remove the stems and mince them and cut the mushroom caps into 2 if big)
4-5 Garlic Cloves
1/2 Inch Ginger
2 Green Chillies Slit
1 Tomato chopped finely
1 Tbsp Chilly Powder
1 Tsp Turmeric Powder
4 Tbsp Curd
1/4 Cup Mint Leaves Chopped
1/4 Cup Coriander Leaves Chopped
Salt as required

What you do:

• Take 4-5 Cups water and when it boils, add the basmati rice, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, bayleaf, ghee and little salt.
• Let the rice cool al dente or till half done and drain the water completely and keep aside.
• Take some oil in a pan and saute half the sliced onions till they are caramelised and keep it seperately.
• In the same pan, add the mushroom caps and let it cook till the water evaporates and remove and keep it aside.
• Now add some more oil in the same pan and saute the remaining onions and mushroom stems till the water evaporates.
• Crush the garlic and ginger or grind it into a paste and add it to the pan along with green chillies.
• Add the sauteed mushroom caps and tomatoes.
• Once tomatoes are mushy add chilly powder, turmeric powder, curd, half of the mint and coriander leaves and salt.
• Cook till the raw smell goes and oil separates. 

Now its time to assemble the Dum! 

• Take a heavy bottom pan that has a lid to close or you can use your cooker even. 
• Divide your mushroom gravy, cooked rice, caramelised onions, mint and coriander leaves into two. 
• Add the first layer of mushroom gravy to the pan and top it with one portion of rice.
• Sprinkle the mint, coriander leaves and caramelised onions.
• Repeat the process again.
• Keep a dosa tawa on medium heat on the stove and let it be heating while you seal your dum.
• Close the pan with the lid and take some chapati dough as required as per the size of the pan and seal all the corners where the lid meets the pan.
• Now keep this sealed pan or cooker on the heating dosa tawa and let it be in dum for 10 minutes before you switch off the stove. 

Dum Style Biryani actually travelled from Persia to here. It was a slow cooking tradition of biryanis that were cooked on wood fire with meats and spices along with kewra scented rice to infuse the flavour of meat. But today we have many variants in the vegetarian version too :)