Cauliflower Biryani (South Indian Style)

This Cauliflower Biryani is an one-pot recipe of a dum cooked South Indian style biryani from the Tamil Nadu cuisine. It is made with fresh cauliflower, herbs, spices and desiccated coconut. Just try it once I’d say, and I am sure you will like this version of a biryani.

About This Cauliflower Biryani

It is been a long time I shared any cauliflower recipe. So here goes this delicious cauliflower biryani with South Indian flavors.

This biryani has a lot of spices but they blend beautifully and give a really good flavor and taste. This cauliflower biryani is dum cooked but not layered and everything is cooked in one pot.

While preparing South Indian versions of biryani, I always use seeraga samba rice – which is a fragrant variety of short grained rice cultivated in South India. It is also known as kaima rice.

If you do not have seeraga samba rice, then you can use aromatic Indian varieties of rice like basmati rice or amber mohur rice (mango blossom rice) to make this biryani recipe.

You can also use sella basmati rice (parboiled basmati rice) to make this biryani. Even short-grained or medium-grained non-sticky varieties of rice work well in this recipe.

I have blanched the cauliflower before adding in the biryani. This step is optional. I also add vinegar in the water while blanching.

Adding vinegar gets rid of the typical cauliflower aroma that comes in the dish. Some folks do not prefer it. You can skip adding vinegar if you want.

To make cauliflower biryani more nutritious and flavorful you can add veggies like potatoes, carrots, capsicum and green peas. Add them when you add the cauliflower.

Serve cauliflower biryani with any raita or salad of your choice. I usually also serve papad and a pickle with the biryani. It will also well with plain yogurt. It can be packed for tiffin box.

How to make Cauliflower Biryani

Soaking Rice

1. Rinse 1.5 cups seeraga samba rice (280 grams) 3 to 4 times in water. Then soak rice for 30 minutes in enough water. After 30 minutes, drain the water and keep aside.

Blanching Cauliflower

2. Next rinse and then chop 1 small to medium cauliflower in medium-sized florets. You will need about 3 cups of gobi florets.

Take the florets in a bowl. Add hot boiling water till it cover the cauliflower along with ¼ teaspoon salt. Keep aside for 5 to 6 minutes. Then drain all the water and set aside.

Blanching the cauliflower is to get rid of the worms or insects. This step is optional. To get rid of the cauliflower aroma, you can add ½ teaspoon vinegar to the hot water and mix it well before adding cauliflower florets.

Preparing Spice Paste

3. Meanwhile prepare the spice paste or masala paste. Take the following whole spices.

Note: If you don’t have poppy seeds and stone flower then you can skip adding them.

4. Now add the above spices along with the desiccated coconut in a small grinder jar or chutney grinder jar.

TIP: You can also use fresh coconut in place of desiccated coconut.

5. Also add ½ tablespoon chopped green chilies (about 2 green chilies, chopped), ½ tablespoon chopped ginger, ½ tablespoon chopped garlic and 2 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves.

TIP: For a spicy cauliflower biryani, you can add 3 to 4 green chilies.

6. Add ¼ cup water and grind to a smooth paste. Keep aside. You can add more water if needed while grinding the paste.

Sautéing Onions

7. Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a thick bottomed heavy pan or pot. Add ½ cup thinly sliced onions.

8. Begin to sauté onions on a low to medium flame. Keep stirring at regular intervals so that onions don’t get burnt.

9. Sauté the onions till they turn golden.

Cooking Tomatoes

10. Then add 5 to 6 curry leaves and 1 cup finely chopped tomatoes.

11. Mix very well.

12. Cover the pan and cook the tomatoes for 4 to 5 minutes on a low flame, till they soften and become mushy.

13. In between do check a couple of times and stir, so that the tomatoes do not stick to the bottom of the pan.

Sautéing the Spice (Masala) Paste

14. Then add the ground masala paste.

14. Mix and sauté for 1 to 2 minutes on a low flame.

15. Then add a pinch of turmeric powder.

16. Mix again.

Adding Cauliflower and Rice

17. Now add the blanched cauliflower florets.

18. Mix the cauliflower florets with the rest of the masala.

19. Then add the rice.

20. Gently mix the rice grains with the rest of the ingredients.

21. Add 3 cups of water or as required. For some varieties of rice you may need to add less or more water. So add water accordingly.

22. Next add 1 teaspoon lemon juice. If you want you can skip adding lemon juice.

23. Then season with salt as per taste. Check the taste of the water and it should have a slight salty taste. Stir well.

Dum Cooking Cauliflower Biryani

24. Seal the pan with an aluminum foil or a moist cotton kitchen napkin.

25. Now cover the pan with its lid. You can even directly keep the lid on the pan without using the foil. Since this lid has a vent on it, I have sealed the pan with the foil.

Dum cook for 18 to 20 minutes on a low heat or sim. Do use a thick bottomed heavy pan or else your cauliflower biryani can get browned or burnt from the bottom.

If doubtful, then keep the pan on a hot heavy tawa (griddle or skillet) which is placed on the burner and cook biryani on a low heat.

26. Give a standing time of 6 to 8 minutes. Then open the lid. Gently fluff the gobi biryani and serve hot or warm.

Serving Suggestions

Garnish with coriander leaves while serving. Serve cauliflower biryani with any raita or salad of your choice. I usually serve it with onion tomato raita or cucumber raita or sometimes a simple veggie salad.

It also pairs well with plain curd (yogurt). Accompany a roasted papad and a mango pickle or lemon pickle for a delish meal.

Storage

You can refrigerate the leftovers for a day. While reheating, steam the gobi biryani in your instant pot or pan. I would not recommend freezing as rice based dishes are best had when freshly cooked.

For more cauliflower recipes, you can check this collection of 18 Gobi Recipes.

Expert Tips

• Rice: Other Indian varieties of rice like basmati rice or sona masuri rice or amber mohur rice (mango blossom rice) or surti kolam or sella basmati rice (parboiled basmati rice). For sella basmati rice soak for 1 hour and you may need to add more water while cooking.
• Spicing: For a spicy biryani, add more green chilies while making the spice paste.
• Pan: When cooking recipes like this, I suggest to use a heavy and thick bottomed pan or pot. This ensures that your rice does not get burnt or browned on the bottom of the pan while dum cooking.
• Blanching: You can choose to skip the blanching of cauliflower which is optional step.
• Spices: I would recommend adding all of the spices. But due to unavailability you can choose to skip poppy seeds and stone flower.  
• Veggies: To make this gobi biryani more healthier and flavorful, you can add veggies like carrots, green peas, broccoli, green beans, capsicum and potatoes. Include them at the step when you add the cauliflower.
• Scaling: If you want to double the recipe, then you have to use the Indian method of approximation (or andaaz in Hindi) as this recipe is a complexly flavored dish.

More Biryani Varieties

• Mushroom biryani
• Soya Biryani
• Kolkata biryani
• Ambur biryani
• Mughlai biryani
• Biryani – Hyderabadi veg dum biryani

This Cauliflower Biryani recipe from the archives was first published on December 2016. It has been updated on November 2024.