Aloo Biryani- Veg Potato Biryani

Aloo dum biryani is a delicious and flavorful veg dum cooked biryani made with potatoes, basmati rice, spices and herbs. It is a wonderful alternate for vegetarians who do not eat traditional chicken biryani.

For more delicious rice recipes please check veg pulao, masala rice, curried rice, peas pulao, palak pulao recipe.

Calling all biryani lovers 🙂 Today I am sharing a wonderful and easy to make potato biryani recipe also known as aloo biryani.

Though the original Hyderabadi dum biryani is made with meat, there are many vegetarian variations of this dish. The ones made with mixed vegetables like carrot, peas, beans, cauliflower or paneer, mushrooms, potatoes are very popular and delicious too.

If you are looking for a special dish to brighten your weekend or to bring to your next potluck, this is a wonderful choice. You just need a handful of ingredients and an easy recipe like this 🙂

About This Potato Biryani Recipe

Aloo biryani is a popular Indian vegetarian biryani recipe with potatoes and basmati rice as main ingredients.

It is made by cooking potatoes and rice with a spice paste and finally cooked under dum to impart that characteristic biryani flavor.

This is a derived dish from classic biryani so it varies from place to place. There are many ways to make potato biryani. Here I am sharing a very simple method with out marinade or resting time.

Potatoes absorb the masala, spices so well and tastes wonderful here. Basmati rice imparts a wonderful royal flavor to the biryani but you can other flavorful rice varieties too. Check my notes for more options.

To make aloo dum biryani you can use both baby potatoes or regular ones. The taste and flavor will be the same.

There are few tips and tricks to be followed when making biryani at home. I have listed those too in this post. Please check and follow them to get the best taste and flavor.

Do try out this easy recipe and enjoy. This is a great recipe because it is

super simple to make

tastes absolutely delicious

very flavorful and moreish

a wonderful fit for potlucks and parties

Made with simple ingredients

How To Make Aloo Biryani Recipe

Preparing Rice

Pick and rinse 1 cup basmati rice well. Soak the rice in plenty of water for 15 minutes. Drain the soaked rice and set aside for 15 minutes.

Bring 2 cups of water to a rolling boil. To that add 1 inch cinnamon stick, 1 bay leaf and 2 small cardamoms, 1 star anise and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Add the drained rice, cover and cook for 7-8 minutes. Rice should be 80% cooked and not fully. Drain excess water and set the cooked rice aside.

Mix a pinch of saffron in 3 tablespoons warm milk ( dairy or almond) or water and set aside.

Frying Potatoes & Fried onions

Rinse and peel two large or 3 medium potatoes. Cube them and set aside. Also thinly slice 2 large onions and set aside.

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add the cubed potatoes and cook in medium flame for 5-7 minutes or until fork tender. Drain and set aside.

Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a pan. Add the par boiled potatoes.

Fry until they turn golden brown and crispy. Remove to a kitchen tissue and set aside.

In the same oil add the sliced onions.

Fry until they turn crispy and golden. Drain and set aside.

Preparing Masala Paste For Potato Biryani

take 1 large roughly cubed onion, 1/2 cup tightly packed mint leaves and 2 green chillies in a mixer jar.

Grind to a smooth paste. Keep aside.

Making Aloo Dum Biryani

Heat a thick bottomed large pot or pressure cooker with 3 tablespoons oil. Add cloves, black cardamom, cinnamon and green cardamoms. Saute well till they turn aromatic. Add cumin seeds and saute well.

Add ginger garlic paste and saute till the raw flavor goes off. Next add sliced onions and saute till the color changes.

Add chopped tomatoes and saute well. Add 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder and 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder.

Next add the ground mint paste and 1/2 cup water, mix well and saute till the raw flavor goes off. Add curd and mix well in low flame. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Add fried potatoes and mix gently.

Add the drained rice and spread as a layer. Do not mix vigorously. Pour the saffron soaked milk all over.

Cover the pan with a flat lid and place a heavy object like mortar and pestle or panini press. Cook in low flame for 12-15 minutes or until the rice is fully cooked.

Once done, open and mix gently. Add fried onions and chopped coriander leaves. Mix gently.

Serve dum aloo biryani warm.

Serving Suggestions

This flavorful delicious aloo biryani is so good on its own that you do not need a side dish 🙂 However when making for parties you can serve this with plain salna, any biryani gravy, mirchi ka salan or bagara baingan.

Kids will like this plain yogurt, cooling cucumber raita or onion raita too.

This biryani is a wonderful side dish in any Indian meal.

Tip To Make Best Biryani

Potatoes– You can use both baby potatoes or regular potatoes for this. Here I have shallow fried them for rich taste but to cut calories you can simply boil them or even bake them.

Rice– use aged and flavorful rice for this recipe. Basmati, jeeraga samba, keema rice are good for this. Do add whole spices like bay leaves while boiling as it adds a very good flavor to the biryani.

Next while cooking rice for biryani make sure to only cook the rice until its 80% done as we are going to dum cook for another 15 minutes. If you cook the rice fully first, the biryani will turn mushy.

Always use a very heavy pan or pot for making biryani. Cast iron pan or dutch oven or casserole is good for this. If your pan is not very heavy you can place it on a preheated flat skillet or tava while dum cooking.

The spice pasts used here is something I love to use for biryanis. If you want a strong biryani flavor 1 tablespoon biryani masala too.

While making biryani gravy you can add 1/2 teaspoon garam masala powder for more flavor and increase red chili powder by another 1/2 teaspoon if you like.

Adding fried onions or brista adds a wonderful texture, flavor and taste, do add it. You can also add store bought fried onions if you like

You can make biryani in ghee if you prefer but I have used oil here.

This recipe can be doubled.

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