Biryani and cabbage do not go together right? Yes, it is not a typical combination, but these are unusual time and unusual times call for unusual recipes. Don’t you agree? Also, there is a thrill in pairing the unusual isn’t it?
I woke up on a Sunday morning and felt like eating biryani for lunch, So I went right to work. I got the masalas, yogurt, onions and the rest of the line up ready. Now dig the fridge to gather my veggies and I realized that I almost ran out of every veggie suitable for a biryani. All I had was cabbage, beets, and some brussel sprouts.
My mind was made up to eat biryani and I had to figure out a way… either go running to the store and get the veggies, which I did not want to do without proper grocery planning, or use what I had on hand…so I took out the cabbage and was convinced to get that biryani going and I am soo glad that I did.
Now all I had was cabbage to work with, which was not enough for 3 cups of rice, so I went ahead added some brussel sprouts. Biryani can make even brussel sprouts taste good believe me :).
So I quickly went through the steps of frying onions and cooking the onion, cabbage in the yogurt masala mix. Then soaked some basmati rice for about 30 min and cooked it until it was cooked 3/4th. Then layered it up with the masala mix in my 6 qrt instant pot and cooked it for 5 min in steam mode and let it sit in warm mode with the pressure vent closed for 10-15 mins.
The aroma was amazing and it turned out very good. The sweetness from the cabbage and the bitterness of brussel sprouts worked very well. It was totally approved by my family and I throughly enjoyed the dish with some good tomato raita and onion on the side.
Usually any native vegetable is referred to as “naatu kaai” country vegetable to translate. Cabbage is not considered on of them as it’s origins are mostly outside India mostly form China, and Eroupe.
Cabbage is a low in calories vegetable yet very nutritious especially high in vitamin C, vitamin K and a potent antioxidant. It is interesting to note that this is a gassy veggie as it’s from the cruciferae (green leafy) family, such as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and bok choy, are packed with fiber and raffinose which can cause high gas production.
It releases a very strong smell when cooked and it’s not a pleasant one. That smell is the result of hydrogen sulfide, so it is better to avoid overcooking of cabbage. Adding a little lemon jiuce when cooking cabbage helps with the strong smell.
Cabbage Biryani – One Pot Biryani
Equipment
- Instant pot of Pressure cooker
Ingredients
- 1 small onion sliced
- 2-3 cup cabbage julienned
- 2 Tbs mint
- 3 Tbs coriander
- 2 cup Yogurt
- 3 cup Basmati rice or any long grain rice
- 1/4 cup Oil
Masalas
- Chilli powder to taste
- 2 tsp coriander-cumin powder
- 2 Tbs Biryani Masala
- 1 Tsp Turmeric powder
- whole spices 1- cardamom, 3-4 cloves, 1 javitri flower, 1 bay leaf and 1 inch cinnamon
- 2 tsp jeera
Instructions
Cooking Rice
- Wash and Soak Rice in water for 30 minutes minimum and 1 hour max
- In a pot, bring some water to boil with some whole spices like Cardamom, Bay leaf, clovs, and chopped Mint.
- Once water starts boiling add some salt and let it boil for another 2 min.
- Now add in the soaked rice to the boiling water. Wait for the rice to start floating on the top and stat to dance.drain and add the rice to the cabbage mix when ready.
Instant Pot -Steps
- In your Instant pot add oil or ghee and heat it. Now add the jeera and the whole spices and let it release aroma
- Once the aroma is released add in the sliced onion, cabbage and give it a quick stir. Add in the mint and stir again for couple of minutes.
- Now add in the turmeric, Chilli powder, coriander- cumin powder and half of the biryani masala or garam masala. Mix well and the add.
- Add in the yogurt and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Once it looks cooked add in salt. do not let the mix to get dry.
- Add Cooked rice to the cabbage mix. Layer up the rice and cabbage gravy.
- Top it with chopped mint, coriander powder and garam masala.
- Add barista ( fried onions) if you have it. I did not use in this recipe
- Cook the biryani in Instant pot for about 5 minutes in steam mode with vent closed. then let it sit in warm mode for 10-15 mins
Notes
- You can follow the same process in pressure cooker and dum it in pot-in pot method or
- Add the soaked rice to gravy mix to cook it all together to make it a one pot meal.
Don’t you want to try this dish right away? I know you do, Drop a word to let me know how you liked it. You can follow me on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for more such recipes and food photography
