Mushroom Biryani

I love chicken biryani. But I don’t love how long it takes to make a chicken biryani. All that marinading and browning the chicken in small batches and then steaming it with the rice for a long time, I only have the patience for that a couple times a year. Besides, I try to avoid animal protein.

Yesterday, I was hungry for lunch and just staring at my the contents of my fridge when I saw a half packet of cremini mushrooms just languishing there. Suddenly, inspiration struck! I thought I could just substitute the mushrooms for chicken and do a quick version of the traditional biryani.

I tried it and loved it. So I decided to share it with you. Hope you love it too!

Mushroom Biryani

5 from 1 vote

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Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Indian

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Servings: 6

Calories: 240kcal

Ingredients

• 10 oz mushrooms in about 1/4 inch slices
• 1 1/2 cups Basmati Rice rinsed at least 3 times
• 2 tbsp oil separated
• 1 tsp salt separated
• 1/2 tsp turmeric separated
• 1/4 cup yogurt
• 2 tsp garam masala separated
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 3 garlic cloves minced or grated
• 1/2 tsp ginger grated
• 1 onion sliced pole to pole

Instructions

Rice:

• In a medium sized pot toss in the rinsed rice add 2 1/2 cups of water, 1/2 tsp of salt and 2 tsp of oil.
• Bring to a boil on high heat, cover and lower heat to lowest setting immediately. Cook for 8 minutes. The rice will be mostly cooked but not all the way.
• Take out 1/2 cup of the par-cooked rice in a bowl. Add 1/4 tsp turmeric and 1 tbsp of water and mix. This will make the pretty yellow rice.
• Fluff par cooked rice with a fork and turn out onto a plate.

Mushrooms:

• While the rice is cooking, heat 1 tsp oil in a saute pan and toss in the mushrooms. Add 1/4 tsp salt.
• Turn the heat on high.
• Cook the mushrooms, stirring a few times, until nice and golden brown. The mushrooms will shrink a lot.
• Add 1/2 tsp garam masala cook for 1 minute and turn off heat.

Yogurt marinade:

• In a small bowl, toss in the yogurt, 1 tbsp of water, 1 1/2 tsp of garam masala, 1/4 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp chili powder, 1/4 tsp salt, the garlic and the ginger. Mix.
• **This not technically a marinade because I don’t even leave the mushrooms in it for more than 15 minutes. But I add the mushrooms while they’re still hot in hopes that they will absorb more flavor. It’ll work either way.

Assembly:

• Toss the hot mushrooms into the yogurt mixture.
• In the same pot that the rice was cooked, add 1 tbsp of water, 1 tsp of oil and 1 tbsp of yogurt. Whisk it together with a fork. This should coat most of the bottom layer of the pot. If it doesn’t, add 1 more tbsp of water.
• Now, layer a third of the par-cooked white rice on top of this water, oil and yogurt later.
• Layer half of the mushroom yogurt mixture on top of the rice layer. Spread it around.
• Layer a second third of the rice on top, followed by another layer of mushrooms.
• Then layer the last third of the white rice.
• Top with the 1/2 cup of yellow rice.
• Drizzle 2 tbsp of water over the layers.
• Cover and put the pot back on the stove over high heat for 30 seconds. Lower heat to the lowest setting and let cook for 15 minutes.

Fried Onions:

• In the same pan that the mushrooms were cooked, heat 1 tbsp of oil.
• Cook the onion slices on medium high heat until deeply browned.
• Top the biryani with the fried onion slices and serve.

Nutrition

Calories: 240kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 401mg | Potassium: 260mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 60IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 35mg | Iron: 1mg