This is not a dum biryani, but tastes great with good flavors and can be prepared in a pot, pressure cooker or an Instant pot. Traditionally a biryani is dum cooked after layering partially cooked rice over marinated meat. Making a traditional biryani takes a lot of time. So I make egg biryani often following this recipe. For years I have made egg biryani in a traditional whistling pressure cooker. I had posted this recipe earlier with instructions to make it in a normal pot & traditional cooker. It’s been more than an year since I moved to Instant pot for my regular cooking. So I have updated this post with a video of Instant pot egg biryani along with instructions.
- Boiling eggs in pot: Rinse the eggs well under running water. Pour water to a pot and gently place the eggs in it. Pour enough water to cover the eggs. Cover and cook on a medium heat until you see cracks on the eggs. Turn off and rest for 5 mins. Later drain the water and keep the eggs under running cold water. Shell the eggs. Make 2 to 3 slits on them and set aside. Boiling eggs in Instant pot: Pour 1 cup water to the steel insert of your Instant pot. Place the steaming rack and arrange the eggs on the rack gently. Alternately you can place them in a steel bowl and cover it. Press PRESSURE COOK button and set the timer to 5 mins. Once the IP finishes let the pressure release naturally for 5 mins. Release the rest of the pressure manually by moving the steam release value from sealing to venting. Remove the eggs carefully and keep them under running cold water. Peel the eggs. Make 2 to 3 slits on the eggs and set aside.
Making egg biryani
- Heat a pot or pressure cooker with oil. Add whole spices – cinnamon, star anise, shahi jeera (or cumin), cloves, bay leaf and cardamom. Sometimes I first fry capsicum in oil for a few minutes and set them aside. I use them towards the end to garnish.
- When they begin to sizzle, add onions and green chilies. Then fry till lightly golden.
- Add ginger garlic paste and fry until the raw smell goes away.
- Add tomatoes, turmeric, red chili powder, salt, yogurt, coriander and mint leaves. Mix and cook till the tomatoes become mushy.
- Add the eggs and the biryani masala powder. If you wish to use potato, you can use at this stage. Mix well and cook until the mixture thickens and begins to leave the sides of the pan.
How to make egg biryani
- Pour water and adjust salt if needed. Bring the water to a boil.
- Add rice. I also added some fried capsicum here.
- If using the pressure cooker, close the lid and cook for 1 whistle on a medium flame. Set aside to cool.
- Fluff up biryani when you open the lid. Serve egg biryani with onion raita or a mint raita. Here are some tips that may be useful if you are a new cook.
Tips
Basmati rice: To make the best egg biryani, I always use aged basmati rice. Other kinds of rice may turn sticky or mushy. Soak the rice for at least 30 mins to get rid of the excess starch. Soaking also helps the grains to absorb water and cook to fluffy texture. Whole Spices like cumin, bay leaf, cardamoms, cloves and cinnamon impart a lot of flavors to the egg biryani. However you can also skip them if using a good garam masala or biryani masala. Ghee or oil: Using ghee to fry the onions enhances the flavor of the biryani. If you do not have it you can use oil. I use this homemade ghee. Herbs: Mint and coriander leaves are the 2 fresh herbs used to make any biryani. Boiled eggs do not turn hard or mushy in the cooked biryani since they are cooked in water. They absorb the flavors from the spices and herbs used. More biryani recipes on the blog,Hyderabadi style anda dum biryaniEgg roast biryaniChicken biryani