• Add the saffron strands to the milk and set aside.

Make the rice

• Add 2 cups vegetable stock to the soaked, drained rice along with the green cardamom pods, cloves and salt to taste (the stock should taste slightly saltier than you want the rice to be, once it's cooked).
• Microwave the rice on high for 10 minutes, at which point it should be nearly 90 percent done, with a slight bite to the center. Individual microwaves can vary, so use your best judgement with yours.

  To cook the rice on a stovetop, bring a large pot of water to boil. Add salt, cloves and cardamom and the soaked, drained rice. Cook until rice is about 90 percent done, then strain the water out and reserve the rice.

Make the dum aloo gravy

• While the rice cooks, prep the potatoes by pricking each potato all over with a toothpick or the tines of a fork. Place the potatoes in an air fryer basket. You can toss them first in half a teaspoon of oil, which will give you a nicer color, but you can leave the oil out if you'd rather. Air fry 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Halfway through air-frying toss the potatoes so they cook evenly. The potatoes should have a golden-brown crust when done and should still be just slightly raw inside when you bite into one. They will finish cooking in the gravy.

  To bake the potatoes instead, coat them with ½ teaspoon oil and spread on a baking sheet in a single layer. Bake in a 400 degree F oven for 30 minutes or until almost done.
• Heat the oil and add the brown cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, bay leaves, shah jeera, asafetida, ground fennel, ground coriander and ginger powder. Stir-fry for a minute.
• Add the mint, dill and cilantro to the pot and stir to mix. Saute for a minute.
• Add the vegan yogurt along with the paprika and turmeric and give it all a good stir. Add the vegetable stock along with the garam masala or biryani masala and fried onions and bring to a boil.
• Add the air-fried potatoes and stir them into the gravy. Once the gravy comes to a boil lower the heat, cover, and let it cook for five minutes. Check salt and add more if needed.

Put the biryani together

• Keeping the heat at the lowest point, or with the heat turned off, layer the cooked rice over the dum aloo gravy.
• Top the rice with the nondairy milk with saffron strands, fried onions, mint leaves. Sprinkle on some garam masala or biryani masala.
• Cover with a tight-fitting lid, turn the heat up to medium-high, and let the biryani cook for three minutes. Turn the heat down to the lowest point and let it continue to cook another 20 minutes.
• Turn off the heat and let the biryani stand, undisturbed and without removing the lid, for another 10 minutes.
• Serve hot.