Name: Eggplant Biryani
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 60 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 1 tbsp ghee/clarified butter (unmelted ); 1 tsp fennel seeds; 1 onion (finely chopped); 5 small eggplants (cut length-wise); 1/4 cup peas; 1.5 tbsp biryani masala; 1/2 tsp salt; 1/4 tsp red chili powder; 1 cup seera samba rice (soaked for 20 minutes and drained); 1 1/4 cup water; 1 tbsp lemon juice; 2 tbsps cilantro

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Eggplant Biryani – An easy-peasy biryani made in the pressure cooker with baby eggplants or brinjal and store-bought biryani masala. Check out how to make this quick biryani with step-wise pictures.

So far, I posted four regional biryani recipes from India – Ambur biryani, Bhatkal biryani, Calcutta biryani, and Delhi biryani. For the next few days, you will see different vegetables and greens based biryanis. Here I am starting with my favorite vegetable, eggplant aka brinjal aka aubergine.

The blog needs no intro about my love for eggplant. It’s high time that I need to make an eggplant recipe collection post. :-) Without any second thought, I wrote eggplant biryani for the alphabet E. When we can make vaangi baath why not biryani?

Soaking the rice:

For this biryani, I used seeraga samba, but it is not mandatory to use that variety. You can use regular basmati rice or sona masoori variety. Make sure you soak the rice for atleast 20 minutes. Brinjals tend to become a mush quickly, so we don’t want to pressure cook the rice for a longer time. So soaking rice helps in faster cooking.

Alternatively, you can cook the rice separately (be it brown rice or any other grains) and mix it with the cooked brinjal masala. Check the recipe notes for more details. As I want to keep it as a one pot dish, I went with pressure cooking.

Store-Bought Biryani Masala:

One of my friends was suggesting this Priya brand biryani masala powder, and I wanted to try it for a long time. Finally, I bought it and used it in this biryani. By the way, this is not a sponsored post. Check below why I disclosed the brand name.

I know there are different varieties and brands of biryani masala both in powder and paste form, but I never thought the ingredients would be this different. For instance, the brand I used had mint, onion, garlic, and salt included whereas few other brands did not. The biryani masala had a decent mint flavor, and I did not include additional mint leaves or any other spices. I added fennel seeds while tempering and also a little extra red chili powder, that’s about it.

So, if you are using store-bought biryani masala, check the ingredients list and then adjust yours accordingly and also according to your taste preference. PS: Again I want to insist that this is not a sponsored post. I just wanted to share a quick and easy recipe that you can make during the weekdays. Also, I wanted to share quick recipes for bachelors who don’t want to buy all the whole spices for making biryani.

Now without any further ado, here is the easy peasy eggplant biryani recipe.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp unmelted ghee/clarified butter
5 small eggplants, cut length-wise
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup peas
1.5 tbsp biryani masala
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp red chili powder
1 cup seera samba rice, soaked for 20 minutes and drained
1.25 cup of water
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsps cilantro

Steps:

Heat the pressure pan or cooker and add the ghee.
When the ghee melts, add the fennel seeds and saute for 15 seconds. (Don’t let it brown, as it becomes bitter)
Then add the onion and saute until it turns translucent.

Now add the peas, chopped eggplant, biryani masala, salt, red chili powder.

Mix them thoroughly and cook for a minute.

Then add the rice and water. Gently combine and close the pressure cooker with the lid.

Do not add the pressure cooker weight. When the steam comes out of the vent, turn off the heat and then put on the weight. This process naturally acts as DUM for the biryani. Open the pressure cooker lid, after the pressure is all gone or after 15 to 20 minutes.

Allow the rice to cool for 5 minutes and then add the lemon juice and cilantro. Mix it gently and serve it with raita or with any curry. I served this biryani with raita and spicy peas kurma.

Recipe Notes-

Adjust the salt and spices according to your preference and also according to the biryani masala powder ingredients. If you are using Priya brand, then you can use up to tbsps of masala for this measure.
You can cook the rice separately and add it to the eggplant masala. In that case, drizzle some water after adding the eggplant and masala and cook till the brinjals are soft and tender.

PS: If you try this eggplant biryani recipe, don’t forget to comment and rate the recipe. Thanks :-)

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5 from 2 votes