Packed full of flavour and healthy vegetables this Easy Vegetable Biryani is quick, simple and delicious – the perfect midweek meal! It’s also vegetarian, vegan, gluten free and dairy free.
Healthy but definitely not boring!
Who says healthy meals have to be boring? Certainly not me! And this Easy Vegetable Biryani is anything but boring. It’s packed full of garlic, chilli and spices – plus a whopping great 6 different vegetables (perfect if you are trying to get your ‘5 a day’).
In fact this vegetable biryani is full of nutritious deliciousness and yet comes in at just under 500 calories per (generous) portion.
Flexible for many dietary requirements
This Easy Vegetable Biryani is vegetarian, vegan, gluten free and dairy free – making it a great choice if you are cooking for a variety of dietary requirements.
It’s also great if you are cooking for a mix of meat eaters and vegetarians/vegans.
For those who feel they need meat, you can add in some cooked chicken (or indeed any cooked meat) with the peas, 5 minutes before the end of the cooking time (just make sure the meat is piping hot all the way through before serving).
Alternatively, you could serve this vegetable biryani as a side dish to a grilled/pan-fried chicken breast or salmon fillet.
A quick and easy midweek meal
I make no claim that this vegetable biryani is authentic or traditional in any way. An authentic vegetable biryani would take MUCH LONGER and involve MUCH MORE EFFORT.
Instead my Easy Vegetable Biryani captures the spirit of a traditional biryani – but is much less time-consuming and far less effort. Perfect for busy weeknights!
What to serve with vegetable biryani?
This easy vegetable biryani is a delicious meal in its own right – served on its own as a quick and easy midweek meal.
For a little extra pizazz, serve with all your favourite extras, such as naan breads, pickles and chutneys.
Alternatively, you can serve it as a side dish – as an accompaniment to one of my other curries.
What to drink with vegetable biryani?
As with all my curries, the best match here would probably be beer – an IPA, or similar, would be perfect.
If you are like me and prefer to drink wine, then an aromatic white works well here: an off dry Riesling, a Pinot Gris (Pinot Grigio) or a Gewürztraminer are all good matches for this vegetable biryani. A fruity rosé would also work well.
If it simply has to be red, then try something fruity and medium bodied – a Chilean Merlot, for example.
Easy Vegetable Biryani (Vegan)
Ingredients
Cumin Roasted Aubergine and Cauliflower
- 1 aubergine chopped into 1cm chunks
- ½ cauliflower chopped into small florets
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon salt
Vegetable Biryani
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion sliced
- 1 red pepper sliced
- 3 cloves garlic grated
- 1 teaspoon chilli flakes (or 1 fresh chilli diced or to taste)
- 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
- 2 teaspoons garam masala
- 2 teaspoons turmeric
- 300 g basmati rice
- 400 ml tin coconut milk
- 200 ml water (half fill the empty coconut milk tin)
- 100 g frozen peas no need to defrost
- 2 tablespoons of fresh coriander chopped finely (plus extra for garnish)
Method
- Preheat your oven to 220C / 200C fan / gas mark 7 / 425F.
- Place all the ingredients for the Cumin Roasted Aubergine and Cauliflower in a large oven tray and toss together. When the oven has heated up, roast the vegetables for 20 minutes or until soft.
Meanwhile, put the remaining tablespoon of olive oil, the sliced onion and pepper in a large frying pan or sauté pan (must have a lid). Fry gently, with the lid on, for 5 minutes or until softened but not browned. Stir occasionally.
Remove the lid, add the garlic, chilli and spices and fry for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the rice and stir to coat the rice in the onions, garlic and spices, then add the coconut milk and water and bring to the boil. Put the lid on the frying pan and turn the heat right down, simmer for 7 minutes.
- Add the peas to the pan, stir and replace the lid. Cook for a further 5 minutes or until the rice is done to your liking. If it starts sticking before the rice is cooked, add an extra splash of water.
- Finally stir in the roasted aubergine and cauliflower and 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh coriander.
- Sprinkle extra coriander on top and serve with all your favourite extras, such as naan breads, pickles and chutneys.
Notes
Suitable for freezing. Defrost before reheating.
Reheat until piping hot in the microwave or oven.
To reheat in the oven: cook in an ovenproof dish, covered with foil at 180C / 160C fan/ gas mark 4 / 350F, for 20 minutes or until piping hot all the way through.
Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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Linkies
I am linking this up to Cook Blog Share and Cook Once Eat Twice.
This easy vegetable biryani looks super tasty and I love how versatile it is! It would definitely be great as part of an big Indian meal as a side dish or as a main dish. Thanks for sharing with #CookOnceEatTwice x
Thanks Corina – yes I totally agree. Perfect as part of a big Indian meal with other curries and side dishes! Eb x
Thanks for this Eb as I have been looking for a biryani recipe so I just try this , although I may add some curried chicken because my lot are not a fan of non meat dishes all that much! x
Oh yay – so glad you like it!! This would be great with curried chicken – or just add some cooked chicken in with the peas to make it a chicken biryani!! I’d love to hear how this goes with your family 😀 Eb x
I love the way you roast the veg here. I reckon it would make all the difference to the finished dish. I’ll have some mango chutney and a beer with mine please!
Thanks Anna – yes it does make all the difference here – I am a huge fan of roasted veg, but especially roasted cauliflower and aubergine!! Haha – and yes mango chutney and beer would go very well with this 😀 Eb x
This looks really tasty I’ll have to give it a try!
Thanks Kat – I’d love to hear how you get on if you do! Eb x
Well, Veganuary will never be boring with your great selection of recipes! I’ve never made biryani before—mostly because, as you say, the authentic version is too labor intensive. But YOUR easy version is rocketing straight to the top of my to-make list. I adore dishes like this that are loaded to the gills with veggies!
Hahaha – thanks Michelle. I Keep thinking I should do a veganuary roundup post one of these years as I have so many vegan recipes now. Good to hear this recipe is heading for the top of your must make list… do let me know how you get on! Eb x
YUM! what a beautiful dish, The peas would love this! Curries and Indian food in general is very very popular in this house!
Thanks Midge! Good to hear this would be popular with your little peas. Curries and Indian food are very popular in this house too!! Eb x
I love biryani and this one is quick to make, as well as having a much lower calorie count than regular biryani! Will definitely make this with some soy chunks thrown in (I love them in biryani) and a nice onion raita on the side…
Thanks Deirdre! Love the idea of this with soy chunks and raita 😀
Eb, the colours of this are stunning, it looks too good to eat! It sounds fabulous though so I’m going to definitely give this one a go soon!
Thanks Lou! I’d love to know how you get on if you make it 😀
Hi Eb!
I made this yesterday for my husband and I. Now, this man will always turn his nose up at anything vegetarian, let alone vegan, so I didn’t tell him what I was making. On trying it however, he was blown away as was I. It has such a beautiful layering of flavours. I made it an accompaniment to Kashmiri chilli lamb chops with mango chutney and a home made raita. This biryani is a dream come true, we will definitely make this many more times to come. Thanks for your wonderful recipe!
Yay – I am so happy to hear this! And YUM – I love what you paired it with… Delighted to hear your husband liked it too… did you ever tell him it was vegan??? Eb 🙂
I did and he said he would have it as a main with a salad, which is what we did last night for supper. It freezes brilliantly too. I am going to make it in big batches from now on! Thanks again
Whoop whoop – that’s awesome 😀
OMG this is delicious. I dialed down the chilli flakes slightly as little daughter isn’t a fan but it was sooooo good. You don’t even miss the meat.
Yay! So happy to hear that 😀