Chettinad vegetable biryani, popularly known as Chettinadu veg biryani or kaikari biryani, is one of the delicious Indian biryani recipes prepared with the unique spices of Chettinadu and with the seeraga samba rice.

Of all the Tamil Nadu cuisines, my favorite is the Chettinadu cuisine. I don’t know if it’s the spices or the simple yet delicious recipes that make me say so. But yes, it’s my favorite. There are so many recipes that I can keep talking about them.

While Chettinadu cuisine is known for its meat-based dishes, I am going to share a vegetarian recipe today – the vegetarian version of the Chettinad biryani.

I made this recipe as part of the Indian Cooking Challenge, and I adapted the recipe from their blog. As always, I modified the spices as per our taste.

What makes this biryani unique? Of course, the traditional Chettinadu spices and the seeraga samba rice. These spices are the Chettinad cuisine’s identity, and these spices differentiate them from the other cuisines. The three main ones that we use in this biryani are-

The Chettinadu Spices-

Marathi Moggu | Indian Capers | Kapok Buds

Marathi Moggu is a unique bud used in this recipe. It is the unopened flower bud of the Red Silk Cotton Tree. We also use it for bisibelebath. It is quite popular in South Indian cuisine.

Kalpaasi | Black Stone Flower | Dagad Phool

Kalpaasi is yet another unique ingredient that adds fragrant to this biryani. This is also one of the key ingredients in the Maharashtrian Goda Masala. You can find it as dried flowers or in powdered form, and you can use either one. For this biryani, I went with the black stone flower powder.

Star Anise

Star Anise is a spice commonly called star anise, star anise seed, Chinese star anise as per wiki. It has a licorice flavor. It has medicinal benefits also. Star anise is a good source of shikimic acid used in the manufacture of Tamiflu, a flu treatment. So it is used in herbal teas, medicinal concoctions.

Seeraga Samba Rice-

For chettinadu biryani, we use Seeraga Samba Rice, which is flavorful small ovular grain rice, not the basmati rice. The Livestrong website has an article about this rice. It has a unique taste. We love it for all our biryani recipes, be it for Ambur biryani or brinji rice.

The recipe is very straightforward, and please don’t get overwhelmed with the long list of ingredients. Along with onion, we use shallots or small onions. Every ingredient here plays a significant role in the flavor, so if you can source shallots, please use that.

Now without any further ado, let’s see how to make this Chettinad veg biryani.

One-Pot Chettinad vegetable biryani with detailed step-wise pictures-

Prep-Work-

Wash the rice and soak it in 4 cups of water for 30 mts.
Peel the onions and chop them and also the vegetables and tomatoes.
Break the green chilies into two and keep aside.
Clean the mint and remove the stems and chop the cilantro and set aside.

Biryani preparation-

Heat a pan or kadai and add the ghee. I used my Dutch-oven for this biryani preparation.

When the ghee melts, add the cashews and fry until it turns light golden brown. Please remove it from the pan and set aside.

Now in the same pan, add the 1/4 cup oil. When it is hot, add the bay leaves, cinnamon, green cardamom, cloves, marathi moggu/kapok bud, and the star anise. Saute for a minute.
Now add the onion and shallots and saute until the onion turns soft. Then add the ginger-garlic paste and green chilies and saute for a minute or until the ginger and garlic’s raw smell goes off. You can add the green chilies along with onions as well.
Add chopped Mint and Cilantro (reserve some to garnish) to the pan and saute for 1 minute.

Add the mixed vegetables to the pan. Mix well and cook for 3 to 4 minutes – no need to cover.
At this stage, add chopped tomatoes, red chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, salt, and Blackstone flower powder to the vegetables and mix well. Add 1/4 cup of water and cover and cook for 2 to 3 minutes until the tomatoes are slightly mushy.

Now remove the lid and add 4 cups of water and bring it to a boil.
Now add the drained rice and cook for 5 minutes in high flame.
By now, the rice would have cooked 80% and, if required, drizzle the remaining 1/4 more water and reduce the heat to low—cover and cook for 12 minutes.
Then turn off the heat and let it sit for 10 minutes.
Add the fried cashews and garnish it with cilantro and serve warm.

Recipe Notes-

Adjust the salt, veggies, and spices as per your preference.
If using a black stone flower, the dried one, add it along with the tempering ingredients.
We use 1/4 cup of veggies for cooking the veggies and 4 cups of water for the rice. For one cup of seeraga samba rice, I went with 1 1/3 cup of water. And if needed, add 1/4 more cup of water, but you won’t need more than that.

Kaikari / Chettinadu veg biryani pressure cooker version-

You can also make this pressure cooker. Follow the same procedure till you add 4 cups of water. When the water boils, add the rice and pressure cook over medium heat cook for one whistle. After one whistle, reduce the heat to low(on a number scale 1) and cook for just 5 minutes. It acts as a DUM, but it is not mandatory. Allow the pressure to release naturally. After opening the pressure cooker lid, allow the rice to cool for 5 minutes and fluff it gently.

More Veg Biryani Recipes to Explore-

PS – If you try this Chettinadu vegetable biryani, please don’t forget to comment and rate this recipe. If you have any questions, please leave a comment, and I will get to it asap. Make sure to follow me on my Pinterest for more healthy and delicious ideas! Follow me on Instagram or join my Facebook Group for more gardening and recipe updates.

Update Notes – Updated the recipe with recipe cards and new pics in 2020.

Chettinad Vegetable Biryani ~ Tamil Nadu Special