This biryani was one of the most expect when I prepared the list. From Tripura, chicken biryani was the most famous recipes I found on research. And the method of cooking is what differentiated it from the other chicken biryani. I have watched so many shows where the anchors try out chicken biryani from road side vendors. The speciality is that the biryani is layered inside bamboo, covered and placed inside fire to cook. I had to bookmark the recipe to try. I watched a lot of videos and the recipes were the usual biryani recipe. Only the cooking mattered.
I searched for bamboo, and I planned on baking it in oven, but I couldn’t get it. One day, when I was going through Amazon, I saw these cute bamboo steamers which are mostly used for puttu or biryani in hotels. I didn’t even think about it, just ordered and waited. Sruti was more excited than me. I made biryani with the steamer, replacing chicken with paneer. Rice and gravy are made separately and they are layered in the bamboo and then placed on a cooker instead of the weight. As the steamer is small, I made a very little portion with just 1/2 cup of rice. But even then, I was left with some rice and gravy, which I cooked on low flame in a pan on gas. I didn’t want to go for a second steaming.
After I arranged the steamer and I went to do some other work when I heard a sound from kitchen. I ran inside to find the rice shot out of the steamer like a missile. Hahaha. It was just funny. The steam was so powerful, it made such a mess. So for the next try, I wrapped the top tightly with foil and watched it closely until finish. When I removed the rice from the bamboo, I was really excited looking at that beautiful platter. My daughter gave me a thumbs up for both taste and presentation. This was one unforgettable experience I had for this BM.
Ingredients:
Basmati Rice – 1/2 cup
Salt – to taste
Water as needed
Paneer – 100 gm
Red Chilly Powder – 1/2 tsp
Ginger Garlic Paste – 1 tbs
Green Chilly Mint Coriander Paste – 1 tbs
Yogurt / Curd – 2 tbs
Salt – to taste
Garam Masala Powder – 1/2 tsp
Procedure:
Wash and soak rice for 20 minutes.
Add enough water and cook until 80% done. Drain rice and set aside.
Mix together cubed paneer, red chilly powder, garam masala, ginger garlic paste, salt and mint coriander chilly paste.
Mix well.
Place the base plate in a bamboo puttu maker, add 1/3rd of rice.
Add 1/3rd of the paneer mix on top. Repeat until you end up with the final paneer layer.
Cover the top with layers of aluminium foil and tie it to secure.
Heat water in a pressure cooker and when it starts steaming, place the bamboo instead of the whistle and let it cook on low flame for 10 – 15 minutes.
Switch off flame and let it sit for another 10 minutes.
With the help of the rod, slide the biryani out of the bamboo.
Serve it piping hot with a side dish of your choice.
Recipes so far in this festival
Kaju Pulao from Andhra Pradesh
Kharzi Pulao from Arunachal Pradesh
Aloo Chutney Pulao from Haryana
Meetha Chawal from Himachal Pradesh
Modur Pulao from Jammu and Kashmir
Mangalore Veg Biryani from Karnataka
Thalassery Biryani from Kerala
Jadoh/ Khasi Pulao from Meghalaya

Paneer Biryani in Bamboo Recipe
Ingredients
- Basmati Rice - 1/2 cup
- Salt - to taste
- Water - as needed
- Paneer - 100 gm
- Red Chilly Powder-1 /2 tsp
- Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tbs
- Green Chilly Mint Coriander Paste - 1 tbs
- Yogurt / Curd - 2 tbs
- Salt - to taste
- Garam Masala Powder - 1/2 tsp
Instructions
- Wash and soak rice for 20 minutes.
- Add enough water and cook until 80% done.
- Drain rice and set aside.
- Mix together cubed paneer, red chilly powder, garam masala, ginger garlic paste, salt and mint coriander chilly paste.
- Mix well.
- Place the base plate in a bamboo puttu maker, add 1/3rd of rice.Add 1/3rd of the paneer mix on top.
- Repeat until you end up with the final paneer layer.
- Cover the top with layers of aluminium foil and tie it to secure.
- Heat water in a pressure cooker and when it starts steaming, place the bamboo instead of the whistle and let it cook on low flame for 10 - 15 minutes.
- Switch off flame and let it sit for another 10 minutes.
- With the help of the rod, slide the biryani out of the bamboo.
- Serve it piping hot with a side dish of your choice.
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#99
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How interesting ! On our trip to Wayanad I saw these bamboo steamers , and since I already have a puttu maker I just didn’t bother to buy it .
Now I see the rice so beautifully made and feel I should have got one . Bamboo rice is very popular here in parties and they steam it in large steamers .
I can understand what you say about the mess created by the missile – such mishaps happen at times anyway it ended in a fantastic result .
The biryani preparation in that bamboo steamer sounds interesting. Those step by step pictures help to understand the cooking process better. Does the bamboo impart any extra flavor to the dish?
Thank you Suma. The steaming done in bamboo gives it a slight flavour.
OMG! What a unique way to cook biryani. The missile would have scared me so much but glad you dared to make changes and cook again. What a masterpiece.
oh wow love this bamboo steamers. Let me too search on amazon for ths. Would love to cook biryani in this. The Biryani looks super delicious. Thank you for this fabolous share.
Wow the biryani looks amazing Gayatri. Glad you found the bamboo. It must have been so tasty and flavorful.
This is surely a fantastic dish and the experience really matters! Awesome that you were able to make this Gayathri, the rice looks so sinful! I can see that you guys really enjoy doing all this..hehehe..
I have watched quote a few videos of this recipe .was alawys interested in this..so happy you did this.. good effort
That’s awesome that you can get those bamboo steamers. was the taste any different? Wrapping it up foil sounds like a great idea. Food always creates memories and I am glad this one did like your other biryanis.
Thank you Vidya. It did have a subtle flavour, but you can only know if you look for it.
wonderful recipe sissy.. I had also recently tried a paneer recipe. it was actually Paneer Gravy