Soya Dum Biryani – Classic Meal Maker (Soya Chunks) Biryani

The weather in Chennai is quite blissful these days….the nights are crisp and breezy…whereas days are warm and clear. Bitten by this weather bug, I thought of making something special in lunch today. It’s been a while since I made an elaborate meal on weekdays. As my dear husband was also working from home today, I thought of giving him a foodielicious surprise. We are one biryani loving family…so it didn’t take much time to decide on the menu. Keeping the soya chunks, which were lying idly in the kitchen shelf to good use…..I thought of making this Soya Dum Biryani.

The aroma when biryani is simmered on DUM is intoxicating….When the biryani was still on dum, I made spicy pan fried Tandoori Aloo, which have become my family favourite these days. Biryani is incomplete without raita. So I quickly whizzed onion raita to go with it…and ta…da….a delicious meal is ready to be served in no time…

Soya Dum Biryani

INGREDIENTS:

FOR RICE LAYER:

• 3 cups Rice, you can use Basmati Rice
• ½ tbsp. Ginger-Garlic paste
• 1 Bay leaf
• 1 1’inch Cinnamon + 3 Cloves + 2 Green Cardamom
• Salt, as per taste

FOR SOYA CHUNKS LAYER:

• 15 Soya Chunks
• 1 big Onion, sliced finely
• 1 small Onion, sliced finely
• 2 Green chilies
• ¾ tbsp. Ginger-Garlic paste
• ¾ tbsp. Garam Masala
• ½ tbsp. Red chili powder
• ½ tbsp. Turmeric powder
• ½ cup Curd, beaten
• Salt, as per taste
• ½ cup Oil (I used half ghee and half oil)

FOR LAYERING:

• 3 tbsp. fresh chopped Coriander leaves
• 6 Mint leaves
• 3 tbsp. Lemon juice
• Pinch of Saffron, soaked in 3 tbsp. lukewarm milk

PREPARATION:

FOR SOYA CHUNKS LAYER:

• Wash soya chunks thoroughly and boil them in enough water by adding a pinch of salt and a pinch of garam masala for 6-8 minutes or until soft.
• Squeeze and drain the excess water. Set aside until use.
• In a skillet, heat oil and add finely sliced big onion. Fry until they turn crisp and nice golden brown. Using a slotted spoon, separate fried onions and oil. Set aside.
• In the same skillet, add 2 tbsp. of oil from above and add slices of small onion and fry till translucent. To this now add ginger-garlic paste and fry till raw smell disappears.
• Now add boiled and drained soya chunks, red chili powder, turmeric powder, salt, beaten curd, garam masala and stir until all the spices are neatly coated with soya chunks. Add ½ cup of water and cook for 10-12 minutes on low flame till you get thick gravy. Adjust salt and turn off the flame.

FOR RICE LAYER: 

• Boil rice in enough water along with cardamoms, cinnamon, cloves, salt and ginger-garlic paste. Cook rice until just done.
• Check by pressing a grain in between your forefinger and thumb. If it is soft, then drain off the excess water from the rice using a sieve.

LAYERING:

• Coat a thick bottom vessel with a tbsp. of oil (use the oil, in which we fried onions). On this gently spread cooked rice. Top this with cooked soya chunks gravy and spread evenly.
• On top of this spread remaining rice. Now add above fried onions, lemon juice, chopped coriander leaves and mint leaves. Sprinkle pink of garam masala and saffron milk.
• Now make holes in between and drop a tablespoon of oil (that which we used for frying onions). Seal the vessel with a foil and cook on low flame for 20 minutes. Turn off the flame and start serving after 15 minutes by gently mixing the rice.
• I served this with onion raita and tandoori aloo.
• Add love to make this Soya Dum Biryani taste ‘Yummy’.

This recipe is going to be part of Muslim Food Bloggers Challenge and where the theme of the month is ‘Biryani’. Drool by the spread of varied biryani recipes linked over here…..