A spicy, tasty Indian vegan "chicken" biryani made with seitan chicken. It's the perfect comfort food.
I don't cook with meat substitutes often but sometimes I like to experiment because I know many vegans do enjoy them. Both because they offer tons of healthy protein without the fat usually found in meat, and because they simulate the texture of meat.
The secret to cooking with meat substitutes is to infuse them with tons of flavor-- or else they end up tasting like, well, substitutes for the real thing and that defeats the purpose of it all.
For my Vegan Chicken Biryani I used seitan, a wheat-based protein that's got a really chewy texture and that's quite popular even with some lacto-vegetarians I know. My memory of seitan was for a long time tainted by a dish I once had at a popular vegetarian restaurant here in the DC area. The dish was called "Kale Infinity" and as the name suggests it was packed with an infinite amount of almost-raw kale and flavorless slices of seitan.
Despite my adamant refusal to waste food, I am ashamed to say I did end up throwing most of that mess into my compost heap.
So when I decided to try my biryani with seitan, I wanted to make sure I put into it as much of a punch as I could pack. Which was not difficult because there are so many dashing and brilliant flavors you can add to a biryani.
It was perfect, and for the first time I can stomach seitan again. Joyfully.
Here's the recipe. Enjoy!
Looking for more Indian vegan recipes?
- Vegetable Biryani
- Instant Pot Butter "Chicken" with Tofu
- Easy Vegan Chick'n Curry with Potatoes and Coconut Milk
- Vegan Spinach "Chicken"
- Quick, Spicy Vegan "Chicken" Masala
Vegan Chicken Biryani
Ingredients
For the rice
- 1 ½ cups Basmati rice (or any long-grain rice, washed in running water until clear)
- 2 ½ cups water or vegetable stock
- 2 cloves
- 2 green cardamom pods
- A bay leaf
- Salt to taste
For the gravy
- 18 oz seitan
- 8 oz silken tofu
- Juice of half a lemon
- 6 cloves garlic , minced
- 1 inch ginger , minced
- 1 cup cilantro (loosely packed)
- 2 green chillies
- 1 ¼ onions (thinly slice 1 onion and chop the remaining ¼th)
- 1 cup tomato puree
- 1 tablespoon garam masala powder
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon red chilli powder (optional)
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- Salt to taste
- Cilantro (for garnish)
Instructions
- Make the rice by placing the water in a pot along with the cardamom and bay leaves. Bring it to a boil, then turn the heat down to a simmer. Cover and let the rice cook 10 minutes. Turn off and let stand.
- Place the tofu, lemon juice, ginger, garlic, green chili peppers, chopped onion and coriander leaves in a blender and grind to a fairly smooth paste.
- Drain the seitan and place it in a bowl. Pour the tofu-ginger-garlic marinade over it and toss with a spoon till all the pieces are thoroughly coated. Set aside for at least an hour.
- Heat the oil in a skillet. Add the sliced onions and cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until they are golden-brown and caramelized, about 10 minutes.
- Remove half the onions to a bowl and reserve. To the remaining onions, add the garam masala, turmeric and chilli powders and stir well for a few seconds. Add the tomato puree.
- Saute until the tomato turns darker and begins to express oil.
- Add the seitan along with the marinade, stir together well, bring to a boil. Then lower the heat to low and allow the mixture to simmer for about 15 minutes or until the flavors have merged well. Add salt to taste.
- Take the cooked rice and gently spread it on top of the gravy in an even layer.
- Close the skillet with a tight-fitting lid, ensure the heat is still turned to low, and allow the biryani to cook another 10 minutes. If you like some additional color in your biryani, mix 2 tablespoon of soymilk with a few strands of saffron or a generous pinch of turmeric and sprinkle on top of the rice before putting on the lid.
- Turn off the heat and allow the biryani to stand at least 10 minutes before opening. Garnish with the fried onions you had reserved and the coriander leaves. I also love sauteing a few cashew nuts and raisins in a smidgen of oil until the raisins are plumped up and the nuts golden, and then sprinkling them on top of the biryani for a fabulous final touch.
Nutrition
Love this vegan "chicken" biryani? Check out more vegan rice recipes at Holy Cow Vegan!
Supriya
Making this now but which step do we add add the green chilis and red onion?
Vaishali
Step 2! Sliced onions in step 4.
Anonymous
I have made this and it turned out amazing .! Addition of blended tofu is an ingenious idea. Dint miss my meat at all!
Gayathri Bhandarkar
Made this yesterday! Another awesome recipe!! LOVE it!! You did a good job getting the seitan to really absorb some flavor!
Vaishali
Gayathri, so happy you liked it. Thanks for letting me know!
Pinky
Cooked it !!! just perfect Taste... Went back to the day i lived in Hyderabad... thanks a lot !!
Anonymous
Yum! Your biryani looks better than the ones served at restaurant here.I have never tried Seitan before but will give it a try soon.
Anuu
Vaishali
Nostalgia, Thanks!
Laavanya, in the DC area you can find it at any Whole Foods market-- I am sure you must have some in Northern Virginia.
Gulmohar, Thanks!
Zengirl, Thanks! I felt the same way about seitan suntil I tried adding all the flavor, and then I changed my mind 🙂
Uma, Thanks!
Indhu, this marinade would work with tofu, but try and freeze the tofu first which changes its texture and makes it more spongelike and therefore more likely to absorb flavors. Use firm or extra-firm tofu. One word of warning, though, if you use it for a biryani: tofu doesn't have a texture as strong as seitan and likely it will just crumble into pieces.
Voracious, Thanks!
The Voracious Vegan
YUM! I love seitan SO much. Unfortunately we haven't been able to find vital wheat gluten in ages, so we've had to go without. Grrr! But once I get my hands on some this will be one of the first things I make. It looks DELICIOUS!
Indhu
such a catchy name Vaishali 🙂
love the marinade that you have used.. am going to try the same marinade with tofu 🙂
Uma
looks so good!
Zengirl @ Happy Heart and Mind
Vaishali,
As I read here often, I realize that I have yet to like and try out new food, like Seitan. I have tried it once and did not care for it much, but I should to be open minded and try again.
Gulmohar
This looks goodie good :-)The rice grains look so perfectly cooked..love all kinds of biryanis
Laavanya
Oh my! That biryani looks perfect. Where can I get Seitan? will common grocery stores carry it or does it have to be from a specialty store. I live in the DC suburbs too (VA) so i'm hoping you buy at a chain that I have in my neighbourhood 🙂 Thank you.
Btw, I love the name - cute!
Nostalgia
Looks great! I have never tried vege variations like you say but the dish looks great enough that I want to give it a go. Thanks for sharing
Vaishali
Chitchat, Parita, Tiffany, Peteformation: Thanks!
Skay, you can try this with the soy chunks, but I agree that the chunks never seem to absorb the flavors well enough. I don't think they'd be very appropriate for the biryani for that reason. When I make a vegan "beef" stew, I sometimes season the soy chunks with some pepper and salt and dredge them in flour and then saute them until browned, just like one would with the meat. That does improve the texture of the soy chunks and makes them more "meaty." Also, since the stew is more liquidy, the longer they sit in the stew, the more flavor them seem to absorb.
Sharmila, thanks! Desi, my witty husband, came up with it 🙂
Pavani, that's wonderful that you make your own seitan. I want to try it too with the recipe from VWAV.
AMA, stock adds great flavor to any dish, giving it that long-cooked taste without the long cooking. Do try it in curries and biryanis-- and, of course, soups.
Gita, thanks dear-- hope you'll try it.
Latha, Cham: thanks!
Cham
I like biryani with meat subsitute, done with soy crumble and taste exactly like meat! Seitan-i didn't cook yet, looks and sounds delicious too!
Latha
Biryani looks awesome.
Gita
Very interesting briyani with seitan....this looks like the normal nonveg version and much tastier too...super spicy and delicious Vaishali...I am going to try this 🙂
AMA's AnythingVegetarian
Its interesting to see you used vegetable stock for biryani.I always considered stock : soup.Anyway great recipe.
Pavani
That looks delicious. I usually make my own seitan, next time I'm going to use Indian spices to flavor the seitan and use that in this dish.. yummmmm..
Sharmila
Great header Vaishali! Chickfree. 🙂
That biryani looks perfect to the t ... every single grain separate and every single layer visible. Awesome! 🙂
Skay
ooh very nice, Vaishali! The rice looks perfect.
Do you it will work with something like Nutrela (soy chunks)? I can never get them to catch the flavor of the sauce though, could you?
peteformation
Ahh, this interesting, a chick free biryani. It looks very delicious!
Tiffany
This looks really good! 🙂 I love biryani, but since going veg, I haven't ever tried the dish with any sort of meat substitute--just veggies. I'm glad you liked the seitan this time around. I had some textural issues at first, but when done just right, it can be pretty tasty!
Ms.Chitchat
Biryani looks very tempting, loved the variation.
Parita
Love long grain rice, looks so perfectly cooked and spicy!