Mushroom Biryani Recipe – Kalan Biryani (2024)

Rice & liquid measure

• 2 cups Basmati rice ***read notes
• 1 cup Water
• 1 cup Light Coconut milk ***read notes
• 1 cup Gravy below accounts for 1 cup approx, ****read notes

Mushroom Gravy

• 20 each White Button Mushrooms sliced, roughly 2 cups
• 2 cups Onion sliced lengthwise
• 1 cup Tomatoes chopped
• 2 long Green Chili slit open
• 1 tbsp Ginger Garlic Paste
• 1/4 cup Mint leaves
• 1/4 cup Coriander leaves chopped
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
• 1 tsp Red Chilli powder
• 2 tsp Coriander powder / Malli thool
• 2.5 tsp Salt or as per taste
• 1/4 cup Oil
• 1 tbsp Ghee for sauteing
• 1 tbsp Ghee for drizzling
• 3 each Bay leaves
• 1 each Star Anise
• 3 sticks Cinnamon 1 inch sticks
• 5 each Cloves
• 3 each Cardamom
• 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
• 1/4 tsp Black peppercorns
• 1/4 cup Yogurt
• 1/4 cup Coriander leaves for garnishing
• 1/2 small Lemon 2 teaspoon juice

Optional

• 1/2 tsp Biryani Masala Powder / Garam Masala Powder

Prep Work

• Soak basmati rice for 30 - 45 minutes. Clean the mushrooms, slice and keep it ready. Chop all the veggies, make ginger garlic paste, extract light coconut milk and set these aside.

  

Saute

• Heat oil and ghee in a cooker pan and add all the whole garam masalas like bay leaves, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, star anise, cumin seeds & black peppercorn. Let it sizzle for a minute. Add few green chilies and fry along.

  

• Add thinly sliced onions and fry till translucent. Add ginger garlic paste and saute till the raw smell goes. This should take about 20 minutes over low medium flame.

  

• Once it turns light golden add the chopped tomatoes and cook until mushy.

  

• Add turmeric powder, chili powder, coriander powder and salt.

  

  See Also

  Prawn Biryani Recipe | Dum Style Shrimp Biryani - Cubes N JuliennesSoya Keema Masala | Veg Keema Masala Recipe - Cooking From HeartHow To Make Yakhni Pulao Recipekashmiri pulao recipe | saffron rice recipe | how to make kashmiri pulav

• Add yogurt and cook to make a thick masala. Saute until the masala thickens to semi thick stage.

• Now add the chopped mushrooms along with mint and coriander leaves.

  

• Now 2 cups of basmati rice, we will be using 1:1.5 rice water ratio - So we will need a total of 3 cups liquid measure. The base masala will account for 1 cup, add 1 cup water and 1 cup coconut milk. Add this to the mixture along with given measure of coconut milk. Once the gravy begins to boil, drain all the water from rice and add the soaked rice to the gravy. Squeeze about 1/2 lime over the gravy.

  

• Close the cooker and put the weight. Cook upto 1 whistle over medium flame. (the first whistle usually comes out in about 5 minutes) Then bring the flame to lowest setting, place a big tawa and place the closed pressure cooker over it. (like shown above) Cook for 10 minutes and then switch off the stove.

  Alternatively you may place it over a iron tawa if you have coil burners for even flow of heat.

  ander leaves and drizzle ghee.

  

• Let all the pressure settle, remove the weight and carefully open the lid. The rice must have cooked with all the mushrooms on top. Drizzle ghee and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

  

• Carefully scoop out the rice to a wide bowl, fluff up with a fork and let all the steam settle a bit. Do not mix right away that will lead to mashing the rice. Gently mix once it cools a bit. Serve with chalna and raita.

  

Pressure cooker Method - Cooking biryani in cooker has always been tricky. Following this methods yields fully cooked fluffy long rice with no browning on the bottom of the pan. For quick version, just soak rice for 15 minutes and use 1:2 ratio and cook up to two whistles over medium flame and switch off.

Stove top version - If cooking over stove top with 2 cups rice – Soak 30 minutes, use the same measure water, yogurt & coconut milk. Once it starts to boil reduce to very low flame, cover with lid and cook for 15 minutes stirring once midway.

Rice Cooker Method - If using a rice cooker just dump everything in the rice cooker pan, use 1:1.75 ratio and cook as per cooker instruction.

Instant Pot Method (3 quart)- Use 1:1 ratio , cook everything in Pressure cooker mode setting it at High Pressure for 5 minutes. Do immediate pressure release for firm texture and natural pressure release for soft texture.

Basmati rice - I have used India Gate Basmati rice for this recipe, which is promising taste and texture wise. For a long, slim, slightly grainy texture use 1:1.5 rice water ratio. For soft and mushy, go for 1:2 ratio.

Base Gravy - Always keep in mind that the base gravy also has some water content that has to be taken into account.

Water & Coconut Milk -Mushroom biryani can be cooked with just water alone but trust me that biryani is going to be just ordinary masala rice something bland in my opinion. Adding coconut milk gives a unique flavor to this biryani and is highly recommended for this recipe. Try use very light fresh coconut milk.

Transfer - This matters! transfer the biryani to a plate / tray immediately after making. Spreading on a tray with drizzle of ghee helps to keep the rice from sticking to each other and also avoids over cooking from whatever leftover heat that's on the bottom of the pan.