Egg Dum Biryani in Handi

Wash , rinse and soak rice for 10 minutes. In a pan, take 4 cups of water. Add whole spices, salt and 1 tsp oil to it. Let it come to a boil. Add rice to it and cook them till they are 80% done. Drain excess water and keep aside.

In a handi ( earthern pot would give more authentic look and taste) take oil and add chopped onions. Cook till onions are golden brown. Now add ginger garlic paste and cook for another minute.

Add tomato puree and cook until oil separates. Add in all the powdered spices along with curd and cook for another 2 minutes till you start smelling the aroma of the spices and your masala mix looks rich in colour and texture.

Add 2 cups of water and let this water boil till it blends well into the masala to form a thick gravy. This step might take 10-15 minutes.

Take another small pan. Add in 1 tsp butter. Add a pinch of salt and red chilli powder to it. Its time to drop in your boiled eggs to this pan and coat them nicely all over with red chilli. You can cut the eggs into halves or keep them whole.

Its time to assemble everything by layering your prepared gravy, semi cooked rice and eggs.

Separate half of the gravy masala that’s prepared in your handi and keep it aside for second layer. Add half of the prepared boiled eggs into it. Cover this with a layer of half of the semi cooked rice Sprinkle some fried onions and mint leaves over it.

Repeat the above step with the remaining gravy, rice, fried onions and mint leaves.

Once layering is done, pour the saffron infused milk and finally butter on top.

Its time for dum cooking. This can be done in various ways but I’ll share my way. Take a piece of aluminium foil large enough to cover handi in such a way that no steam can escape from the vessel. Now place a lid on this.

Finally put some weight over the lid probably your rolling board. This arrangement might sound really funny but believe me its really going to give your biryani a dum to cook!! Let it cook on a very low flame for 12-15 minutes

Thus, the genuine aroma, flavor and texture of the egg and spices are not only stopped from escaping, it is also spread to the rice in the biryani.

Now serving your biryani is an important step. Take a flat spatula with a long handle. Dig it deep into your biryani handi and take out a portion of biryani with it. Spread it on a platter nicely

Avoid mixing your rice and gravy masala in the handi with spatula. Serve it with mint raita.