This Simple Cabbage Biriyani is an excellent one-pot meal and can be accompanied by just Dahi or yogurt. It is spiced cabbage rice that is good for those days when you want a have a quick lunch or dinner.
Biriyani is one of the most daunting recipes for me to cook. I always make the biriyani as a weekend lunch when I have more time to make it. I have always used fresh spices in the past and never even realized that there is a Biriyani Masala powder available in the stores until one of my friends who is moving away gave me her box of Biriyani Masala.
That is when I thought of making the quick Simple Cabbage Biriyani for dinner. When it comes to making one-pot meals, rice is the best choice. The options are just unlimited to make with rice.
One-pot rice recipes are very popular at our house and I make them at least once a week. One of the very favorite rice recipes of my little one is this Spinach rice. I also have another version of Spinach rice with peas that I make often.
When I was all set to make Biriyani with the masala powder, that is when I realized I did not have many many vegetables. It was just the end of the school year and things were too busy.
All I had was some cabbage and bell pepper in the refrigerator and hence thought why don't I make Biriyani out of just these two vegetables? I love the crunchiness of cabbage in fried rice and thought this would be a great choice.
The one pot Biriyani, I have made in the past is still a simple recipe, but I have made freshly ground masala paste. Using the biriyani masala is definitely the easy way out without compromising on the flavors. I am sure I will be using the store-bought Biriyani masala a little too often from now on.
Preparation time - 20 minutes
Cooking time - 45 minutes
Difficulty level - Easy
Ingredients to make Simple Cabbage Biriyani - (serves 4)
- Basmati rice - 1 ½ cups
- Onion - 1 (thinly sliced)
- Cabbage - 2 cups (thinly sliced)
- Bell pepper - 1 (thinly sliced)
- Red chili powder - 1 tsp
- Dhania jeera powder / cumin-coriander powder - 1 tsp
- Biriyani masala - 2 tsp
- Turmeric powder - ½ tsp
- Salt - to taste
- Fresh mint - about ½ a bunch (coarsely chopped)
- Yogurt (Plain) - 3 TBSP
- Star anise - 1
- Fennel - ½ tsp
- Cardamom - 3
- Oil or Ghee - 2 Tbsp
Procedure to make Simple Spiced Cabbage Rice -
- Cook the rice with star anise and ½ teaspoon of salt and keep aside to cool. I cooked my rice on the stovetop in a saucepan.
- Wash and soak the rice for about 20 minutes. Add star anise to about 2 cups of water and bring it to a boil. Add the drained rice along with salt to the boiling water and mix.
- Let it come to a quick boil and then simmer until all the water is absorbed and the rice is cooked. Cover the rice and let it finish cooking.
- Turn off the flame when the rice water is all gone. Let the rice stand for a few minutes and then spread it in a wide bowl or tray to cool.
- In a pan, heat the oil or ghee. Add the fennel seeds and cardamom and let it fry for a couple of minutes.
- Add the sliced onions and let it saute until translucent.
- Now add the bell pepper and the cabbage and mix well. Also, add the chopped mint and let it all cook until the cabbage and the bell pepper are ¾th cooked. Make sure that the cabbage and the pepper still maintain some crunch to it.
- Now add all the dry masala powders; turmeric powder, red chili powder, dhania jeera powder, biriyani masala, and the salt needed.
- Mix well and add the yogurt. Saute until the oil starts to separate and the mixture becomes aromatic. It takes about 5 to 7 minutes in medium flame.
- Add the cooked and cooled rice to the vegetable mixture and gently mix. Take care that we don't break the rice. Cover the pan for 4 to 5 minutes and simmer.
- Turn off the heat and serve the spiced cabbage rice hot with raita.
More One-Pot Meals
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Simple Cabbage Biriyani - Spiced Cabbage Rice
Equipment
- Stove
- pan
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups Basmati rice
- 1 Onion thinly sliced
- 2 cups Cabbage thinly sliced
- 1 Bell pepper thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon Red chili powder
- 1 teaspoon Dhania jeera powder / cumin coriander powder
- 2 teaspoon Biriyani masala
- ½ teaspoon Turmeric powder
- Salt to taste
- ½ Fresh mint about ½ a bunch coarsely chopped
- 3 tablespoon Yogurt Plain
- 1 Star anise
- ½ teaspoon Fennel
- 3 Cardamom
- 2 tablespoon Oil or Ghee
Instructions
- Cook the rice with a star anise and ½ teaspoon of salt and keep aside to cool. I cooked my rice on stove top in a sauce pan. Wash and soak the rice for about 20 minutes. Add a star anise to about 2 cups of water and bring it to a boil. Add the drained rice along with salt to the boiling water and mix. Let it come to a quick boil and then simmer until all the water is absorbed the rice is cooked. Cover the rice and let it finish cooking. Turn off the flame when the rice water is all gone. Let the rice stand for few minutes and then spread it in a wide bowl or tray to cool.
- In a pan, heat the oil or ghee. Add the fennel seeds and cardamom and let it fry for couple of minutes.
- Add the sliced onions and let it saute until translucent.
- Now add the bell pepper and the cabbage and mix well. Also add the chopped mint and let it all cook until the cabbage and the bell pepper are ¾th cooked. Make sure that the cabbage and the pepper still maintain some crunch to it.
- Now add all the dry masala powders; turmeric powder, red chili powder, dhania jeera powder and biriyani masala along with salt needed.
- Mix well and add the yogurt. Saute until the oil starts to separate and the mixture becomes aromatic. It takes about 5 to 7 minutes in medium flame.
- Add the cooked and cooled rice to the vegetable mixture and gently mix. Take care that we don't break the rice. Cover the pan for 4 to 5 minutes and simmer.
- Turn off the heat and serve hot with raita.
Padmajha PJ says
Cabbage is one of my favorite veggie and I can't get enough of it! I make rice with this in another method. Am surely going to try your version and pack it off in the kids lunch box. The rice really looks so inviting Sandhya!
Suja Ram says
A very flavourful Biryani indeed..love this version with Cabbage. Bookmarked.
Chef Mireille says
I always think cabbage is such an under utilized vegetable and this is the perfect way to use it
Renu says
This looks yum, lovely flavors and beautifully presented
preeti garg says
Wow.. love the flavors and process of biryani.. never tried cabbage in biryani... bookmarked.
Ritu Tangri says
Why didn't I see your recipe the day as a cabbage was lying in my fridge too and no one wanted to eat it. So I gave it to my maid. Now this flavorful spicy cabbage biryani is tempting me to the point that I need to make it asap.
Gayathri Kumar says
Using biryani masala makes life easier. The biryani looks awesome Sandhya and as usual nice presentation..
Mayuri Patel says
Ummm just a cabbage biryani, that's an interesting one pot meal. Have to try it. I too use freshly ground spices and have not used ready made biryani masala. Perhaps I should as these days ready made spice blends too are very flavorful.
harini says
Unique blend of veggies. Sounds flavorful. I have also used this biryani masala powder for the first time last month when my biryani loving husband got a brain wave and got 3 different brands of biryani masala 🙂
Varada says
Masala packets are so convenient to speed up the cooking process. The cabbage rice looks fabulous.
Priya Suresh says
How delicious and flavourful this rice will be. Simply irresistible and inviting cabbage rice. I would like to make this sort to carry in my lunch box.
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Srivalli says
Very flavoursome rice, I always have some at least 2 different biryani spice mix handy..love the use of cabbage here..very nice dish to enjoy!
Kalyani says
This is surEly flavourful . I make cabbage rice with vangibhath masala powder n that’s great too. These one pot meals r truly a life saver