Mushroom Soya Chunks Biryani ~ Step by Step Pictures

Had I been told that I might end up eating mushrooms someday, I would have just laughed. Yes if anybody had really noticed or as many of my readers asked, why don't I feature Mushroom recipes, I simply said I don't eat. Though I cook nonvegetarian and feature here, somehow I never cooked Mushroom.

In fact, I don't remember if I have actually eaten it, other than tasting it in a bite and not liking it. It was during my school days. Somehow Amma also never made it much. She completely stopped it after a while. I was later told or rather recently came to know that Daddy likes it and wanted her to make it for him. She was asking me for some good Mushroom recipes.

Then one day Konda came back from school and said her friend had got the best tasting biryani, which also had mushrooms, and wanted me to ask her mom for the recipe. Hearing her, Peddu also started asking why I don't make Mushroom. Now I had two of them asking for it.

Finally, after much deliberation and nearly missing, I got in touch with her friend's mom, Mrs. S. She was so taken in by the fact that I wanted to get the recipe at all cost. She is the person behind the famous Chicken Biryani Dindigul Thalappakatti Style on the blog. I knew right away that this biryani was going to be awesome as well.

Since hubby dear was away for the day, I was hoping he would come back for the dinner. Unfortunately, he had to leave out of town and missed this completely. When he saw me drafting this, he was so curious to know what this was as it looks so good. I have promised to make it soon for him.

Mrs.S is a skilled biryani maker. She says she makes about 5 - 6 varieties of biryani. I have told her that I would be visiting her some time, just to take notes. Coming to this recipe, she says the shallots makes all the difference. The taste increases over time, depending on how much we add.

So whenever she makes it, she ensures there is always extra for the next day. She also adds more shallots if she is keeping it for the next day.

This was the first time I tried the mushroom, or for that matter ate soya. I am sure I will acquire the taste soon.

However, the rice was extremely tasty. Daddy said this needs just the chicken or mutton to complete.

Soya chunks soaked for an hour, drained, and chopped before adding. You can also pressure cook.


Shallots, Garlic, and Ginger paste. Rest of the biryani ingredients.

Step by Step pictures for making biryani




Mushroom Soya Chunks Biryani

Ingredients Needed:

Basmati Rice - 2 cups
Oil - 1/4 cup
Ghee - 2 tsp initially + 2 tsp for final
Salt to tasteWhole Spices
Bay Leaves - 2 long
Cardamon - 3
Cloves - 4 -5
Cinnamon - 2"
Star Anise - 2
Marati Mogga - 4 - 5 small
Rathi Puvvu / Dagad Phool - 2"

To be ground
Small Onions / Shallots - 1 cup
Ginger - 2"
Garlic - 5 - 6 Cloves

Other ingredients
Button Mushroom - 250 gms
Soya Chunks - 2 cups, before soaking
Coconut milk - 3 cups (you can skip 1 cup and add 1 cup water as well)
Onions - 2 cups
Green Chilies - 4 -5 medium
Coriander leaves chopped - 1/2 cup
Mint Leaves, chopped - 1/2 cup
Tomatoes - 1 big
Red Chili powder -1  tsp
Coriander powder -1  tsp
Turmeric powder a pinch
Lemon Juice - 2 -3 tsp (adjust acc to taste)
Chapati dough for the Dum

How to make Mushroom Soya chunks Biryani
Preparation:

Rinse the soya chunks and soak them in water. Just before adding to the rice, you can squeeze it well and add. However, if you feel it will be still tough to chew, boil it in a pan of water for 15 mins or Pressure cook for a whistle. Since the chunks I used were a little big, I halved them before adding them to the biryani.

Extract Coconut milk and keep it ready.

Clean mushroom and chop and keep it aside.

Soak shallots, garlic, and ginger in water, peel, and grind to a smooth paste.

Making the Biryani

In a wide bowl, heat oil, ghee, add the wholes spices like cloves, cinnamon, cardamon, Marathi mogga, star anise, bay leaves, saute for a while.

Then add onion julienne, chopped green chilies, saute well. The onions should almost turn colour.

Next, add the small onions/shallot paste made with ginger-garlic. Saute on high. Then add chopped tomatoes, simmer till the tomatoes turn mushy.

Now add chopped mushroom, saute till it is covered well. Next, add soft soya chunks.

At this stage add red chili powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder. Combine everything well.

Add the chopped coriander, mint leaves. Mix everything well. You can add the salt at this stage.

Add coconut milk, rice. Add lemon juice, adjust the sourness of the water. Add more if required. Finally, add the drained rice. Combine everything gently.

Dum with chapati dough and cook on sim for 15 mins.

Once it cools down, remove and fluff with a fork and add 2 tsp of ghee again.

Cover for 5 mins before serving with raitha.

Notes:

Since this recipe is quite lengthy, it helps to be a little organized. Soaking soya chunks for a longer time will make sure your meal maker is not chewy. Else you can always pressure cook.

All the masalas need to be sauteed really well, which gives a nice brown colour to the final biryani.

By the time you do the dum, the rice and the masalas are all cooked, so take precautions to ensure you don't overcook it.

You can either use only coconut milk or add water. However, only coconut milk makes it richer.

Don't add extra water for the other ingredients. As we saute for a long, it gets cooked well.

Once done, don't rush in and handle the rice, add ghee and fluff the rice.

Rice is quite spicy as we add both green chilies and red chili powder, adjust as per taste.

When you want to reheat the biryani for the second meal, it will be better if you saute the rice on hot Kadai and not microwave.

Recipe

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Mushroom Soya Chunks Biryani ~ Step by Step Pictures

Course Main Dish - Rice

Cuisine Tamil Nadu

Author Srivalli

Tried this recipe?Mention @cooking4all or tag #cooking4all!