Egg Biryani is a delicious amalgamation of flavorful and fluffy rice cooked with aromatic spices and boiled eggs, on low flame. Rice is cooked in whole spices and egg gravy is made with golden caramelized onions, tomatoes, yogurt and spices. The rice is then layered with egg gravy and topped with fried onions, saffron and herbs.
Biryani takes almost 1 hour and 15 minutes from start to finish but with proper planning you can save time. It does need time and patience, so cook it on weekends . Preparation is more in it as there are few steps which come together to make a single dish. Biryani is a complete meal in itself and there is no need for any side dish. You just need your choice of raita and onion salad.
Although pressure cooker is a convenient way of cooking Biryani, I like to make dum biryani as I feel it tastes better. Once you make this Biryani you will know that each spoonful is bursting with absolutely delicious flavors.
Preparation:
- Rice : Wash the rice 3-4 times till water runs clear . Soak it in water for 30 minutes.
- Eggs : In the mean time boil eggs for 8-10 minutes. Do not over boil. Peel and keep aside. If you like you can fry the eggs in ghee, salt, turmeric powder and red chilli powder . I just used boiled eggs.
- Ginger Garlic Paste: Make fresh ginger garlic paste and keep aside . Homemade paste tastes so much better. You can make some extra paste and keep in fridge to use in other recipes . It stays good for few days.
- Onions: Thinly slice 2 onions and fry in 1/4 cup oil until golden brown. Keep them aside. Thinly slice 2 more onions for gravy.
- Chopping: Clean the mint, chop tomatoes, green coriander and green chilli.
- Saffron: Soak the saffron in 2 tbsp of warm milk and keep aside.
- Biryani masala : I used Shan’s biryani masala.
Egg Dum Biryani
Egg Biryani is a fluffy and fragrant rice dish cooked with aromatic spices and boiled eggs. Served with plain yogurt or raita.
Ingredients
For Biryani Rice
- 2 Cups Basmati Rice soaked for ½ hr
- 2 litre Water
- 1 inch Cinnamon stick
- 4-5 Green elaichi
- 1 Bay leaf
- 1 Green chilli sliced
- 1 tbsp oil
- 2 tsp Salt
- ½ tbsp Kewra water
- 1 tbsp Rose water
- Few Mint leaves torn
For Biryani masala/ Gravy
- 8 Eggs Boiled
- 2 Bay leaf
- 2 tsp Shah jeera
- 1 Javitri
- 5-6 Black Pepper
- 8-10 Cloves
- 2-3 Black cardamom
- 4-5 Green cardamom
- 2 Star Anise
- 2 tsp Red chilli powder
- 1 tsp Turmeric powder
- ½ tsp Nutmeg powder
- ½ tsp Kasuri Methi
- 2 tbsp Biryani Masala
- 2 tbsp Ginger paste
- 2 tbsp Garlic paste
- 7-8 Green chillies sliced ( less if you want it less spicy )
- 2 Onions sliced
- 3 Tomatoes chopped roughly
- 1/2 cup tomato puree store bought (optional )
- 1/2 cup yogurt
- 1 tsp Kewra water
- 1 tsp Rose water
- 20-25 Mint leaves
- cup Coriander leaves
- Salt according to taste
- 2 tbsp ghee
Others
- 2 Sliced onions for making fried onions
- 3 tbsp Oil
- 10-12 Saffron strands
- ¼ Cup warm milk
Instructions
PREPARATIONS:
- Boil eggs for 8-10 minutes. Peel and keep aside.
- Wash the rice 3-4 times, until water runs clear. Soak in water for minimum 30 minutes.
- Soak saffron strands in warm milk and keep aside.
- Take ginger and garlic and blend in a grinder/blender with just a little water to get a smooth paste .
- Fry 2 sliced onions in 3 tbsp oil on medium flame until golden brown. Drain and keep aside.
- Chop tomatoes, coriander, mint and slice green chillies.
For cooking rice :
- Boil 8-10 cups/ 2 liters of water. Add 1 bay leaf, 4-5 cardamom , 1 inch cinnamon , , few torn mint leaves and 1 sliced chilli. Let it boil for 10 minutes.
- Remove the spices and add 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp oil to the boiling water.
- Add 2 cups of rice , 1/2 tbsp of Kewra water and 1 tbsp of rose water to the boiling water. Cook for 6-7 minutes until rice is 80% cooked . Switch off the flame.
- Save 1 cup of water in which rice is cooked , we will use it later.
- Drain the rest of water and keep rice aside on a wide plate.
For egg gravy:
- In a thick bottom and deep pan, heat oil and ghee. Once hot add 2 tsp shah jeera, 1 javitri, 2 star anise, 1 inch cinnamon, 2 bay leaf , 5-6 black pepper , 2-3 black cardamom , 5 green cardamom and 8-10 cloves. Saute till fragrant.
- Next , add sliced onions and fry for few minutes. Once the edges of the onions start to get golden , add ginger garlic paste and fry for few minutes until the raw smell goes off.
- Add 3-4 sliced green chillies and chopped tomatoes and cook until tomatoes are mushy.
- Next , add salt, 2 tsp chilli powder, 1 tsp turmeric powder, 2 tbsp biryani masala , 1/2 tsp nutmeg powder and tomato puree ( if using ) and cook for 3-4 minutes.
- Keeping flame on low, add 1/2 cup yogurt and mix vigorously until combined. Cook for 5-6 minutes until specks of oil is seen on top.
- When oil starts to release from the corners , add 1/2 of the fried onions and 1/2 tsp of kasuri methi. Mix well.
- Make incisions on boiled eggs and add the eggs to gravy. Gently saute the eggs so the masala coats the egg well. Add handful of mint leaves, 1 tbsp of chopped coriander leaves and 2 sliced chillies.
- Add 1/2 cup of water in which the rice was cooked and let it cook for 4-5 minutes or until the gravy thickens.
- Switch off the flame.
Assembling the Biryani:
- First, we need to take 1/2 of the gravy out from the pan so we can layer the rice and the gravy. Keep half of the gravy in a separate bowl and keep aside.
- Next , gently add half of the cooked rice on top of the gravy and spread evenly. Add some of the fried onions, torn mint leaves and some chopped coriander leaves .
- Add rest of the gravy (which we took out earlier ) on top of the rice.
- Take the remaining rice and spread it on top of the gravy. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of water, rest of the fried onions, 1 tbsp torn mint leaves , 1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves, 1 tsp kewra water and 1 tsp of rose water. Also pour saffron soaked milk and 1 tbsp of ghee on top.
- Cover the pot with aluminum foil and close it with a tight fitting lid.
- Keep the flame on low and cook on dum for 10 minutes. Switch off the flame after let it rest for 10-15 minutes.
- After 10-15 minutes mix gently with a large spoon . Serve with Raita of youe choice.
- Enjoy.
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