Egg Biryani
It's been a while since I shared an egg recipe, hasn't it? To make up for lost time, I'm presenting a biryani recipe. I must admit, I had reservations initially. I was concerned it might resemble ghee rice with an omelet on the side. However, it turned out to be a delightful biryani in every aspect! What impressed me the most is the relatively shorter cooking time compared to other biryani recipes. So, if you're craving homemade biryani without much ado, your search ends here.
Ingredients
For Omelete
- 4 Whole Eggs
- 2 Egg whites (refer notes)
- 4 tbsp Grated coconut
- 2 big Onions (chopped)
- 1/2 tsp Chilli powder
- 4 Green chilli (chopped)
- 1/4 – 1/2 tsp Pepper powder
- Salt
- Oil (I used coconut oil)
For Masala
- 4 med – large Onion (chopped)
- 1.5 tbsp Crushed ginger and garlic (each)
- Green chilli (crushed)
- 1.5 tsp Garam masala
- 1/2 – 1 tsp Fennel powder
- 2 med – big Tomato (chopped)
- 2 tbsp Chopped coriander and mint leaves (each)
- Salt
- Oil (I used coconut oil)
For rice
- 2.5 cups Basmati rice
- 4 crushed green chilli
- 1 – 1.5 tbsp Crushed ginger and garlic (each)
- 1 big Onion (chopped)
- 10 cm piece Cinnamon
- 4 Cardamom
- 4 Cloves
- 1.5 tbsp Lemon juice
- Ghee / oil (I used ghee)
- Salt
For garnishing
- 1 big Onion (finely sliced)
- 1/3 cup Cashew nut and raisins (each)
- 4 Hardboiled eggs
- Coriander and mint leaves
Instructions
To make omelet
- Combine the whole eggs and the egg whites and add to them all other ingredients for the omelet. Heat oil in a frying pan. Pour in half the mixture and make an omelet. When cooked, remove from fire and cut into bite size pieces. Repeat the step with the remaining egg mixture.
To make Masala
- Heat oil and fry onion. When it becomes golden brown, add crushed ginger, garlic and green chilli. Fry till it gives out an aroma. Add tomatoes and salt and fry for a few more minutes. Add garam masala and fennel powder. Add coriander and mint leaves and omelet. Mix well.
To make rice
- Clean, wash and drain the rice. Heat ghee and add spices. Fry for a min and add chopped onion. When onion appears transparent, no need to brown it, add crushed ginger, garlic and green chilli. Stir well till it gives out an aroma. Add rice and stir for five mins. Add salt, lemon juice and 5 cups of boiling water (refer notes) to cook the rice.
For garnishing
- Fry the cashews and raisins in ghee / oil (I used ghee) till it becomes golden. In the same oil / ghee, add more if required, add sliced onion and fry till it's golden brown. Drain on paper towel.
Assembling and cooking the biriyani using oven
- Preheat the oven to 180 degree 10 minutes before baking the biriyani. Apply some ghee to a baking dish. Spread one layer of rice first and spread a layer of masala on top of it. Repeat the same. The top layer should be of rice. You can drizzle ghee & sprinkle coriander and mint leaves in between the layers. Spread a wet cloth over the dish while baking. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. Garnish with fried onions, nuts, raisins and hard-boiled eggs. Serve with Sweet pickle, raita and papad.
Assembling and cooking the biriyani using stove top method
- Layer the rice and masala in a greased heavy bottomed vessel/non stick pan & cover it with a tight lid. Heat a thava/dosa kallu, when it is really hot, place the biriyani vessel on top of that. Reduce the heat to the lowest flame & cook for 20-25 mins. Keep the heat at the lowest flame throughout, otherwise it might get burnt.
- Also place a pan of boiling water on top of the biriyani vessel at the same time.
Notes
- Usually to cook the rice, double the qty of water is used. But I used only 4.5 cups of water instead of 5. I wanted the rice grains to be separate and not mushy.
- If you want, you can use 6 whole eggs instead of 4 whole eggs and 2 egg whites or you can use 3 whole eggs and 3 egg whites.
- It is better to make a slightly thick omelete than thin ones, so that it will hold the shape while cooking and mixing.
- Once the biriyani is layered and cooked, keep it covered for another 15- 20 mins and then open and mix it. The biriyani tastes better the next day. It keeps well in the fridge for 2-3 days.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!