Seepla Vegetable Biriani - Entry for BloggerAid

Seepla Vegetable Biriani

14th November Update: Hot off the Press! Yea! The BloggerAid Cookbook is finally out. Here is the link.

Biryani or Biriani, is one of the most popular rice based dishes, popularized by Muslim merchants and travelers across the Middle East and South Asia. There are as many delicious adaptations as there are regions. For example, there are distinct differences between a Sindhi Biryani, a Bengali Biriyani, the Awadhi Biryani of Lucknow, or the famous Hyderabadi Biryani.

Of all the special Birianis, the one made by Rukmini from our native village Seeplaputhur, is the one we cherish most! Her dish is reminiscent of the delicious flavours and aromas of kitchens in deep interior Tamil Nadu. It is made of ingredients that are quite unusual for Biryanis! Suffice to say you would not find this kind of Biriani, anywhere in the world! We are naming this unique recipe ‘Seepla Vegetable Biriani’ after our village Seeplaputhur, and sending it for the BloggerAid Cookbook.

BloggerAid is a committed group of international food bloggers who have joined forces in raising awareness and funds for those suffering from hunger. The BloggerAid Cookbook will host a collection of original recipes by food bloggers, and is slated for release, later this year. Proceeds from the sale of this book will be given to the school-meals program, which is part of the World Food Program. A big thanks to, Ivy of Kopiaste, Giz of Equal Opportunity Kitchen , and Val of More Than Burnt Toast, who conceived the idea of BloggerAid and driving the initiative with much energy and passion!

Both Chitra Amma, and I tried this recipe at Bangalore and Sydney respectively, with local ingredients to test out proportions and so on. Both birianis turned out delicious – the vegetables and rice were cooked just right, and every grain had absorbed the yummy masalas!

You can see Chitra Amma’s Bangalore trial here.

And here is my Sydney trial ...

A note to Asha - Thanks for asking for this recipe, as it triggered us calling Rukmini and picking her brains on how she makes this dish! It was quite a revelation for us, but we are unable to share the recipe now, just in case it gets selected for the BloggerAid Cookbook! We will publish it once we know whether we made it to the Cookbook or not! :-))))