When it comes to Biryani, I confess my knees go weak and my heart starts to pound! If it comes on the husband to impress me, he takes me out to a good restaurant and orders a biryani! Yes, that’s how much I love my biryani. And to top it all, Qubooli falls right under the category that I love to cook and eat. Why?? Because it’s delicate, flavorsome, light and can be prepared in a jiffy. It is a dish that does not take long to cook and prepare, compared to other biryani dishes. Hence take my word – once you try this recipe, Qubooli lentil biryani will be the best of your favorites!!
Hyderabad, popularly known as the “City of Nawabs” in India, is famous for its biryanis. Hyderabadi Qubooli was originated by the Nawabi style of cooking, mainly to cater to their vegetarian friends. But one might wonder – out of all lentils, why Chana dal? Chana dal has a unique meaty and nutty flavor to it, hence it forms a great combination to go with various meats in “meat curries”. Qubooli lentil biryani too has a unique meaty flavor rendered by the Chana dal, yet it’s vegetarian. From the day I learnt about this biryani dish, I never had to look back. It is a super-quick solution to satisfy my biryani cravings on a busy day. And guess what, it’s so good that you won’t even miss the meat!
I had been craving to have some home-made biryani after a long day and Qubooli was the perfect choice. It’s truly a scrumptious, rich and magnificent Hyderabadi meal for vegetarians.It is easy, simple, light, extremely delicious, royal and with every bite of it you will get an “Oh-so-good” feeling, making you jump with ecstacy and self pride! If you are an ardent biryani lover like me, you will definitely love this dish. Without any more delay I will jump on to the recipe, which I have been dying to share with you all. 😀
Ingredients:
Chana dal – 1 cup
Basmati Rice – 2 cups
Whole black peppercorns – 1 tsp
Whole cloves – 1 tsp
Bay leaves – 4-5
Cinnamon stick – 1
Cardamom pods – 1 tsp
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Onions – 2 large
Ginger-garlic-green chilli paste – 2 tsp
Tomato – 1 large
Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
Ground cumin – 1 tsp
Garam masala powder – 1 tsp
Cardamom powder – 1 tsp
Whisked Yogurt – 2 tbsp
Cilantro leaves – finely chopped
Mint leaves -finely chopped
Spring onion greens – finely chopped
Lime juice – 1 tsp
Milk – 1 tbsp
Orange Food color – (optional)
Rose water – 1 tsp
Ghee – required for cooking
Salt – as per taste
Method:
For the rice:
Wash and soak the basmati rice in water for at least 30 mins.
Heat some water in a pot. Add some salt, black peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaves and few cardamom pods. Let the water come to a boil.
Once the water starts boiling, add the soaked rice. When the rice is done, drain and set aside.
For the Chana dal gravy:
Wash and soak the chana dal for at least 1 hour.
Boil the chana dal with some turmeric and a little water. The dal should be just cooked and not mushy at all, rather it should be able to hold its shape.
Heat some ghee in a pan. Thinly slice the onions and fry until golden brown in color. Set aside the fried onions.
In the same pan that you used to fry the onions, add some more ghee. Then add the ginger-garlic-green chilli paste. Fry until the raw smell is gone.
Then add the finely chopped tomatoes. Add red chilli powder and cumin powder. Saute until oil starts separating.
Take few cardamom seeds and run them in a blender to form a fine powder. Alternatively you can use store-bought cardamom powder.
Now add the cooked chana dal. Add salt, garam masala, some crushed cardamom powder, finely chopped cilantro, mint leaves, spring onion greens and 1 tbsp whisked yogurt. Mix everything well. Let this cook for a min, add some lime juice, mix and then turn off the flame.
Now layer the biryani for dum –
I use a rice cooker for dum process.
Layer half of the rice at the bottom of the rice cooker.
Top it up with some chopped cilantro leaves, half of the fried onions, some food color and 2-3 tsp of ghee.
Then add the cooked lentils.
Mix Greek yogurt and milk together and pour the mixture on top of the lentils.
Layer the remaining rice on top.
Add chopped coriander leaves, food color, ghee, remaining fried onions, rose water and the yogurt-milk mixture.
Now cook this on dum for 5 mins.
After 5 mins, let the the biryani stand for another 5 mins.
Mix gently with a blunt spatula.
Wallah! A magnificent, elegant and a very royal Qubooli lentil biryani will be ready for your family to relish. I garnished it with some freshly grated coconut and a few more chopped cilantro leaves.
Serve Hyderabadi Qubooli biryani with your favorite curry or raita.
We had it with some lamb curry. It was absolutely a meal to remember!
Enjoy!!
Mmmh! This looks sooooo delicious, and I just love lentils! 🙂 Thank you so much for yet another wonderful recipe, Mona!! 🙂 Going to try this as soon as I can! xxx
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Thanks Sarah! I am glad you liked it😊 if you love lentils you are definitely going to love this biryani. ❤
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I´m sure I will, your pictures and descriptions are simply mouth-watering!! 🙂
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Thanks again Sarah! Have a great day😊
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You, too! 🙂
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Wow, Mona. This is amazing. Another wonderful dish. Thank you for sharing this. 🙂
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Amitav I am sure you can have this one. Just cut out the milk and yogurt and it goes vegan! 😉I am sure you will love it😀
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Yeah, you are right. Yes, I can have this for sure. Thank you for being thoughtful for this vegan friend. 😀
You really are a magician, cooking up such wonderful dishes. 🙂
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I am glad I have such friends who are too sweet and generous! Thank you!😊
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Always welcome, my friend. 🙂
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😊
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Another Delicious dish, I loved it!! Another delicious aspect of your posts is the way you introduce the dishes and your association with the same!
This looks awesome and specially your picture strategy to depict the cooking procedure is really unique!!
I pray that someone startsup a technique to taste these wonderful dishes online!!☺👍
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Hahaha you are so sweet Vivek. And I really love the way you appreciate my work. Thanks so much! 😁
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Why this ‘Hahaha’😇
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Hahaha for the fact that you’re praying for technology to help you eat food online 😉
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I guess everyone hovering around here wants it as well. Right guys?
After all Mona cooks so well!! Can we have a poll.
Guyss If you agree, hit like so that, at least we can get a glimpse of Mona’s delicious dishes more often!!
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Omg! 🙈 Well thanks🤗
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Oh my God Mona I’m drooling… Send me some!!! It looks so good! I’m going to try this for sure:)
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Sure Divya! Gimme your address!😂 Well do try it. It’s makes a satisfying and lovely meal 😊
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It’s unique with the Chana dal…and proteinaceous & healthy:)
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True that!! Very healthy
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Sounds wonderful. I just love rice dishes, so I have pinned it! Thank you 🙂
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Thank you so much! 😊
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Just by hearing biriyani, I’m drooling over here… never heard channa dal biriyani… looks really yummy😃
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Thank you dear! This chana dal biryani is so good that you won’t even miss the chicken😀
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YUMMMMM. I have been on a bean kick recently and just cant seem to get enough of them. Your dish is beautiful and I am sure equally delicious. Thanks for sharing 🙂
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Oh well if you are loving your beans then for sure you will go crazy over this biryani! It is very delicious! Thank you Gina😊
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I just love all the spices in this dish!
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I agree! Thank you 😊
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It sounds like you get almost as much joy preparing the meal as you do eating it! It is always such a pleasure to read your posts.
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Yes indeed I do! And that’s a good thing for my hubby🤔😄 When I am angry he knows how to pacify me….give me good food!😉Thank you doctor😊
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I’m a biriyani lover, and I order biriyani to every Indian restaurant I go 😃😃,Your recipe is looking awesome ,something I never had. Good idea indeed!
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Me too Payel!😊 This biryani is very popular in Hyderabad but not something commonly served at restaurants all over India or outside. But it’s super delicious. Thanks dear!
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A very good option for vegetarian people.
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Yes indeed!
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Yummy
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Thank you !!😊
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This is a novel biryani indeed.It looks so tempting . I must tell you Mona, you are a great cook .
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Thank you Anuradha di! Your sweet comment made my day. 😊
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Looks so good
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Thanks Karina! And tastes heavenly too 😊
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Dear Mona, I love briyani, and this sounds fantastic, with all the spices and flavors. Could you clarify for me: is Chana Dal actually lentils, or is it split chick peas? In the Indian store where I buy vegetables and spices, chickpeas are labeled Chana, and on your photos, it seems that those are split chick peas. Or maybe they are yellow lentils?
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Hey Dolly. How have you been doing? You are right Chana dal is split chickpeas. But they fall under the category of lentils too! When you are buying from the Indian store, look out for names as split chickpeas or split bengal gram. Or the pack might be even labelled as chana dal if it’s been imported from India 😊
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Thank you for clarifying. Where I buy, it’s being imported from Canada, but I am sure they import from India and package in Canada. Great – I am sending my husband there today for some other stuff so I’ll add it to the list.
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Happy shopping!! 😊 I am sure you will love this one
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Thank you!
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Awesome biryani with full of flavours!!
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Thanks Anu😊
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Yummy
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Thank you Ruchi!😊
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I am a big fan of biryani too, so totally understand the weakness. Your qubooli biryani looks so fluffy, yummy and just picture perfect!
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Thank you Sandhya! I am just happy to find another fellow biryani lover 😀
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Perfect!
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Thanks so much dear!😊
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Yumm I will try this recipe for sure! love
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Thanks Lynn! It was really delicious😊
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I am sure
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I have never heard of this biryani but this sounds too delicious 😋😋 thanks for sharing.. will definitely give it a try sometime ..
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It’s worth a try for sure! You will totally love it 🙂
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Delicious dish ! You are an awesome blogger,Mona!
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Thank you so much. You made my day! Seriously!! 🙂
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You are most welcome!
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Never heard about this biriyani though I have in Hyderabad since last 5 years. As a biriyani lover, I tasted different types of biriyani in different places of this city. But, I never tasted any veg biriyani. Great to know about that. Will try to find it once.
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Yes Sayanti. Do lookout for it. It is quite popular among the vegetarian population of Hyderabad. And a real treat for lentil lovers😊
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With that combination of spices and other goodies, it would have to be good! Throw in a little lamb curry… I’d think I was in heaven. 🙂 –Curt
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Yes Curt😊 We did enjoy the biryani with lamb curry and it was one of the best home-made meals we had. Heavenly😊
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It looks so delicious 🙂
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Thank you Leyla😊
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Your biryani recipe looks amazing! I’ve never used orange in it. I can imagine it brings a freshness to the dish.
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Sure it does! Thanks so much Ellie😊
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This is new! I have never tasted something like this! Very interesting:) ☺️ looks great!
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Thank you Shreya! So many friends of mine are telling me this is new to them. Pretty surprising! 😅Guess it’s not served anywhere outside Hyderabad. It is absolutely delicious😊 Do try and let me know 😊
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Hmmmm… Yummy… Have heard about this recipe but never trued this now deinitely Gonna try this recipe…
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Thanks so much. Thankfully someone has heard about it. 😀 Do try and let me know how it turns out 🙂
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I could feel the aroma of that Hyderabadi biriyani. Another great recipe from you.
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Thank you dear Sumith! I am so glad you are finally back! 🙂
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So glad to have amazing fellow bloggers like you. The family is growing big!!
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Hello, hope you are doing good. Just wanted to check with you if you have received our email. Was wondering since we didn’t hear back from you. Looking forward to your reply and let me know in case there are any questions.
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Aaj qubooli biryani banalam.Oshadhoron.Aami rice cooker e na diye microwave korlam.Too good.Fatafati recipe.Thanks for sharing.
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Thank you di. Bhalo legeche je shetai aamar jonno onek. You made my day😍
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This looks totally tempting …thanks for sharing step by step recipe…. gotta try
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Thank you. I am sure you’ll love it😊
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Will surely let u know 🙂
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Thank you😊
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This dish looks delicious and I even have all the ingredients except the yogurt. (I have white chickpeas/chana but not lentils).
I’ve only made biryani once … or was it twice? I can’t recall other than that I remember chicken being involved. I’d love to try it again soon especially as I have a big bag of basmati rice in the house that I have yet to open.
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Thank you so much. You will need chana dal for this recipe. I hope you’ll find it at the Indian store. Happy cooking😊 Biryanis are always such a treat😀
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Chana dal is even available at my local grocery store. It has an extensive selection from around the world. I’ve been avoiding the Indian grocery store because I’ll be tempted by the sweets/burfis, jalebi, samosas, pakoras and all the frozen and packaged goodies. I love sev or anything made with besan in general. 🙂
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Me too! I know it is pretty difficult to avoid lip smacking Indian snack items. They are always so good to munch on😊
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I made it, dear Mona, and it was every bit as delicious as you promised! We loved it, and my husband couldn’t get enough of it. Thank you so much for sharing this gem of a recipe!
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Oh you made my day Dolly! I am really glad you guys liked it. Thank you!!☺
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Such a great blog! Love the way in which you describe the process and do the detailing!
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Thanks so much Hindu!😀
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This is awesome
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Thank you 🙂
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Hey check out my new blog post
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Certainly I will 😊
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