Name: Avakaya Biryani | Andhra Avakaya Dum Biryani
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 60 min
Ingredients: 1 cup Basmati Rice; Water as needed; 1/2 tsp Shahi Jeera; 1 tsp Ghee; Salt as needed; 3-4 cups Water; 1 cup Sliced Onions (2 Medium Sized Onions); 8-10 Shallots Chopped; 1 Green Chilli; 2 tbsp Oil; 1 tsp Ghee; 2 inch Cinnamon Piece; 2 Cloves; 1 Green Cardamom; 1 Star Anise; 1 Dried Bay Leaf; 1/2 cup Thick Curd; 1/2 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste; 1 tbsp Avakaya (Andhra Cut Mango Pickle - recipe link in steps below); 1/2 tbsp Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder; 1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder; 3/4 tsp Garam Masala Powder; 1 tsp Coriander Powder; 1/4 cup Finely Chopped Coriander Leaves; 1/4 cup Finely Chopped Mint Leaves

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Super simple, mighty flavorful Andhra special Avakaya Biryani recipe with step by step pictures. Easy recipe to make Avakaya Dum Biryani recipe.

As cliched as it may sound, I have been looking forward to try Avakaya Biryani since a few years. We make Avakaya – Andhra Cut Mango pickle year after year during summers. I have grown up having Avakaya annam almost all my life and it is one of my most favorite pickles. So you should know my surprise when I found out about Avakaya biryani for the first time in Paradise Biryani outlet. The in-house biryani expert and the super fan that my husband is, got mortified with the very idea and refused to order it. So that was it, and I put that idea to rest. After all these years, I got tempted to try it again and luckily this time the husband got onboard too.

As I have never tasted Avakaya Biryani myself, I adapted the recipe from vahrevahchef to make mine. The recipe is neither a total dum biryani nor is a biriyani where rice and masala are cooked together like in Tamilnadu. What I loved about the process is that it is quick and the rice absolutely turns flavorful – it is nearly impossible to fail this recipe. In all the other biriyani recipes I have made including the dum biriyani recipes, the rice is cooked until it is ¾^th done and is set in multiple layers along with the masala. But in this recipe, the rice and masala are cooked almost simultaneously reducing the chances of breaking the rice, even though cooked rice is added directly to the pan containing masala.

Usually Dum Biriyani recipes require golden fried onions and unless you have them ready, that could considerably increase the time & effort of biryani preparation. In this recipe of Avakaya Biryani, though dum method is used to cook the rice and masala infused with Avakaya together, it is really simple and straight forward. We will use a lot of regular onions and shallots to enhance the flavor. I used upto 1 tablespoon of our homemade Avakaya in the masala and it can totally be adjusted as per preference. If you don’t have Avakaya, you can skip it altogether too. But, pushing aside all cliches, this Avakaya biriyani turned out really delicious – one that I will definitely make many times in my kitchen 🙂 All it needed were boiled eggs and onion raita on the side – perfect meal.

How to make Avakaya Biryani | Andhra Avakaya Dum Biryani –

Detailed step-wise picture recipe of making Avakaya Biryani | Andhra Avakaya Dum Biryani –

Soak Basmati Rice in enough water for 15 mins. Bring a pot of water to boil. Add 1 teaspoon ghee, ½ teaspoon shahi jeera and salt as needed.

Add soaked basmati rice, mix well. Cook on medium flame in open pot.

Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoon oil in heavy bottomed kadai. Add 1 dried bay leaf, 2 cloves, 1 cardamom and 2” cinnamon and 1 star anise. Fry for few seconds.

Add 1 slit green chilli along with 1 cup chopped onions and 8-10 shallots chopped. Fry until light golden brown.

Next add ½ teaspoon ginger garlic paste and fry for a few minutes until the raw smell goes off.

Now add spice powders – ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder, ½ tablespoon Kashmiri red chilli powder, ¾ teaspoon garam masala powder, 1 teaspoon coriander powder and salt as needed. Fry off for 2-3 mins.

Keep aside a tablespoon each of chopped mint and coriander leaves and add the remaining of ¼ cup each of finely chopped mint and coriander leaves. Cook for a couple of minutes.

Next add ½ cup thick curd and mix well, cook for 3-4 mins on low flame.

Now add 1 tablespoon Avakaya and mix it in.

Check if the rice is cooked to ¾^th done.

Strain off the starch and remove excess water from the rice as much as possible.

Quickly add the strained rice to the pan. Sprinkle the saved mint and coriander leaves. Drizzle a teaspoon of ghee on top of the rice.

Cook it covered on lowest flame for 5-6 mins. Remove from heat.

Let it rest for another 5-10 mins before fluffing it up with a fork.

Serve hot with onion raita.

Note –

Adjust the quantity of Avakaya as per spice preference. If you don’t have it, skip it altogether.
I don’t like to use sour curd, so I used fresh curd. If you like tangy flavor, either use sour curd or drizzle juice of half a lemon along with curd.

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