A flavorful Brinji Rice or Instant Pot Vegetable Brinji Rice recipe with exotic Indian spices and vegetables cooked in coconut milk – healthy kid-friendly lunch box special. Hop on to read what exactly Brinji rice is and how to make it!
This brinji rice or colloquially called as veg brinji is a famous dish in Tamil Nadu, and you can see in the wedding reception menu or on the Jaanavasam day menu along with kurma and cauliflower or potato roast. (We had it at our wedding too) A couple of years ago, when I made kuska rice, I got this grave doubt whats the difference between pulav, biryani, kuska rice and brinji are? I pinged Mullai, and we were discussing all these varieties.
The History of Brinji Rice
Every recipe traces its route long back in history. But I am just going to share what I understood. Please excuse me, if I am wrong. Biryani, as we all know, was introduced to us by Persians. We cook Biryani with different spices and spice powders. Traditionally Dum cooking should be followed for biryani. Pulao, on the other hand, is subtly spiced than biryani and it doesn’t require the Dum cooking. You can read more about pulao, pilaf, and biryani here.
Now coming to Kuska rice or Kuska biryani, it is plain biryani without any veggies or meat, Whereas brinji is mild like pulav but cooked with coconut milk. There are no hard and fast rules; you can make what your family likes. I made the veggie version of kuska biryani with coconut milk, calling it thengai paal saadam.
Kiddo likes mild biryani and pulav, and during the toddler stage, kiddo used call biryani as the brown mum mum. A couple of years ago, I tried kuska rice with coconut milk, and he liked it very much and from then on it became our lunch box recipe. When I realized brinji rice is similar, then I tried this variation as well. I adapted the base recipe from Mullai’s space but modified it a bit to suit our taste buds.
When you are tired of regular idli, roti and pasta for kids lunch, try this mild veg brinji rice. I used store bought coconut milk for this recipe, but of course, you can make it at home too. Also, I had only carrots and potatoes in hand so went with those veggies. But you can add beans, peas, and cauliflower too, but in little quantity.
Here is the recipe for the Instant Pot Vegetable Brinji Rice prepared with seeraga samba rice,
Brinji Rice | Instant Pot Vegetable Brinji Rice Recipe
A flavorful rice recipe with exotic Indian spices and vegetables cooked in coconut milk. Here is the instant pot version of the famous veg brinji.
Ingredients:
- Onion – 1 (Medium sized)
- Carrot -1 ( when chopped, I got ¾ cup)
- Potato – 1
- Tomato – 1
- Bay leaves – 2
- Green chilies – 2
- Oil – 1 tsp
- Ghee – 2 tsp
- Star Anise – 1
- Fennel seeds – 1 tsp
- Ginger Garlic paste – 1 tsp
- Mint leaves – 15
- Salt – 1.5 tsp
- Rice – 1.5 cups (I used seeraga samba variety)
- Thick Coconut Milk – 1.5 cups
- Water – 1.5 cups
- Chopped cilantro – 1 tbsp
- To roughly grind:
- Cardamom – 3
- Cloves – 3
- Cinnamon – 1-inch stick
- Fennel seeds – ½ tsp
Prep – Work:
- Cut the onion and tomato and cut the carrot and potatoes into small cubes.
- If preparing fresh coconut milk, make it and set aside 1.5 cups of thick coconut milk. I used store bought one. Make sure you shake the can well before using and set aside 1.5 cups of coconut milk.
- Using hand mortar and pestle or using a mixer (in pulse mode) roughly grind the cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and fennel seeds.
- Wash and soak the rice for 15 minutes.
- Roughly the chop the mint leaves.
Instant Pot Method:
- Set the IP in saute mode. When it is hot, then add the oil and ghee. Followed by fennel seeds, bay leaf and star anise.
- Let it cook for 30 seconds and then add slit green chilies, ginger garlic paste, and onions. Cook until the onions turn translucent.
- At this stage, add the mint leaves and the roughly ground masala and mix well.
- Let it cook for a minute and then add the tomatoes, potatoes, and carrots.
- Add salt and let it cook for two minutes.
- Now add the water, coconut milk, and cilantro.
- Drain the water from the rice and then add it the IP.
- Mix all the ingredients and set the IP in manual mode and set it high pressure for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes let it sit in warm mode for 3 or 4 minutes and then quickly release the pressure.
- Carefully open the lid and let it cool for 5 minutes before mixing.
Pressure Cooker Method:
- Heat a pressure pan or cooker and add the oil and ghee.
- When it hot, then add the fennel seeds, bay leaf and star anise.
- Let it cook for 30 seconds and then add slit green chilies, ginger garlic paste, and onions. Cook until the onions turn translucent.
- At this stage, add the mint leaves and the roughly ground masala and mix well.
- Let it cook for a minute and then add the tomatoes, potatoes, and carrots.
- Add salt and let it cook for two minutes.
- Now add the water, coconut milk, and cilantro.
- Drain the water from the rice and then add it the pressure cooker.
- Mix all the ingredients and pressure cook for just one whistle. Let the pressure subside naturally and carefully open the lid.
- Allow it to cool again for 5 minutes, before mixing.
Notes:
- Along with potatoes and carrots, you can use peas, beans, and cauliflower.
- Adjust the salt and spice as per your preference.
- Instead of water, you can use thin coconut milk. In that case, increase the green chili amount.
- I soak the rice only for 15 minutes and for seerga samba this timing worked out better. The cooking time in IP varies
- depending upon the rice variety and also based on the soaking time.
- If you want to skip the quick pressure release option, then cook the rice in the low-pressure mode for 3 to 5 minutes depending on the rice variety and let the pressure release naturally. Will post more about the low-pressure mode in the coming posts.
- Instead of seeraga sambar, you can use basmati or regular rice as well.
I usually serve this with raita, and I pack the rice when it is at room temperature.
📖 Recipe
Brinji Rice | Instant Pot Vegetable Brinji Rice
Ingredients
- 1 Onion Medium sized
- 1 Carrot when chopped, I got ¾ cup
- 1 Potato
- 1 Tomato
- 2 Bay leaves
- 2 Green chilies
- 1 tsp Oil
- 2 tsp Ghee
- 1 Star Anise
- 1 tsp Fennel seeds
- 1 tsp Ginger Garlic paste
- 15 Mint leaves
- 1.5 tsp Salt
- 1.5 cups Rice I used seeraga samba variety
- 1.5 cups Thick Coconut Milk
- 1.5 cups Water
- 1 tbsp Chopped cilantro
To roughly grind:
- 3 Cardamom
- Cloves - 3
- Cinnamon 1-inch stick
- ½ tsp Fennel seeds
Instructions
Prep - Work:
- Cut the onion and tomato and cut the carrot and potatoes into small cubes.
- If preparing fresh coconut milk, make it and set aside 1.5 cups of thick coconut milk. I used store bought one. Make sure you shake the can well before using and set aside 1.5 cups of coconut milk.
- Using hand mortar and pestle or using a mixer (in pulse mode) roughly grind the cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and fennel seeds.
- Wash and soak the rice for 15 minutes.
- Roughly the chop the mint leaves.
Instant Pot Method:
- Set the IP in saute mode. When it is hot, then add the oil and ghee. Followed by fennel seeds, bay leaf and star anise.
- Let it cook for 30 seconds and then add slit green chilies,ginger garlic paste, and onions. Cook until the onions turn translucent.
- At this stage, add the mint leaves and the roughly ground masala and mix well.
- Let it cook for a minute and then add the tomatoes, potatoes, and carrots.
- Add salt and let it cook for two minutes.
- Now add the water, coconut milk, and cilantro.
- Drain the water from the rice and then add it the IP.
- Mix all the ingredients and set the IP in manual mode and set it high pressure for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes let it sit in warm mode for 3 or 4 minutes and then quickly release the pressure.
- Carefully open the lid and let it cool for 5 minutes before mixing.
Pressure cooker Method:
- Heat a pressure pan or cooker and add the oil and ghee.
- When it hot, then add the fennel seeds, bay leaf and star anise.
- Let it cook for 30 seconds and then add slit green chilies ginger garlic paste, and onions. Cook until the onions turn translucent.
- At this stage, add the mint leaves and the roughly ground masala and mix well.
- Let it cook for a minute and then add the tomatoes, potatoes, and carrots.
- Add salt and let it cook for two minutes.
- Now add the water, coconut milk, and cilantro.
- Drain the water from the rice and then add it the pressure cooker.
- Mix all the ingredients and pressure cook for just one whistle. Let the pressure subside naturally and carefully open the lid.
- Allow it to cool again for 5 minutes, before mixing.
Notes
- Along with potatoes and carrots, you can use peas, beans, and cauliflower.
- Adjust the salt and spice as per your preference. Instead of water, you can use thin coconut milk. In that case, increase the green chili amount.
- I soak the rice only for 15 minutes and for seerga samba this timing worked out better. The cooking time in IP varies depending upon the rice variety and also based on the soaking time.
- If you want to skip the quick pressure release option, then cook the rice in the low-pressure mode for 3 to 5 minutes depending on the rice variety and let the pressure release naturally. Will post more about the low-pressure mode in the coming posts.
- Instead of seeraga sambar, you can use basmati or regular rice as well.
- I usually serve this with raita, and I pack the rice when it is at room temperature.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
P.S. Make sure to follow me on my Pinterest for more healthy and delicious ideas!
You will love these, too:
- Garlic Rice | Poondu Sadam
- Onion Biryani
- Rawther Veg Biryani | Palakkad Style
- Vegetable Biryani | Pressure Cooker Version
- Coconut Water Kheer | Elaneer Payasam
I thought it was an eggplant rice as I assumed brinji was a short cut for brinjal. The rice sounds very flavorful.
Thanks. :-)
This is surely a fantastic one pot meal Srividhya, this surely tastes yummy and great for lunch..I normally make something like this with different masala powders as the mood strikes, makes it easy to plan..
Thanks, Valli. Impulse cooking always turns out great.
This rice dish looks so fabulous and tasty..
Thanks Preeti.
Nice to read about the difference between all the types of rice preparations the Indian cuisine has. I love anything with coconut in it. Nice brinji rice, healthy and tasty for lunch box.
Thanks Mayuri.
I too make this kind of rice often and prefer coconut milk to regular water as it gives a nice aroma to the dish. I m yet to use different spices, i m kind of stuck with 4-5 which i use in tempering!
Rice looks perfectly done in your magic pot IP!! Perfect for lunchboxes!
Thanks, Priya. Yeah, coconut milk adds that nice flavor.
Never thought of the difference in names but it is quite interesting to read about it. Mom used coconut milk for rices only when there were guests and it used to be amazing. So even I follow the same tradition. This version of brinji rice with veggies look so yum Vidya.
Thanks Gayathri. :-)
Simple and flavorful brinji rice Vidhya. My kids like vegetable pulao, actually my daughter likes the vegetables and my son likes the rice — but they both eat it veggie fried rice without complaining. I am going to try your Brinji rice for them — I’m sure they will like it.
That’s nice Pavani. Please do try Pavani and let me know how they liked it.
A very flavorful rice with coconut milk. Looking at the name, I was for brinjal in the ingredients :)
he he… its brinji rice ;-) not brinjal.
I am yet to try out Brini rice with coconut milk. I love the flavor of coconut milk along with the spices and this would be a great choice for lunch box.
Yes. thanks, Sandhya.
Definitely this is my kind of food !!! You know what i love to add coconut milk for all my pulao, biryani or even for tomato rice sometimes and really love the mild sweetness and flavor from the coconut milk. But seriously i don’t know till now that cooking with coconut milk is called as Brinji rice :-) . Glad at least now i know :-)
Tomato rice with coconut milk, edu nalla idea va eruke… super Thanks Sandhiya. Will try it out.
I would love to carry this brinji rice in my lunch box, what a fabulous, flavorsome rich rice to enjoy without any fuss. Love this sort of easy dishes.
Thanks, Priya.
Brinji always makes a special appearance in our lunch boxes without affair every week and with mullai’s recipe it can never be wrong!! Hope Raghav is enjoying his lb daily :)
Yes da… :-) And very true about Mullai’s recipe.
And here comes the IP recipe queen !! Till the end of the recipe I kept thinking this was brinjal rice (vangibhath) which u kept referring to as brinji rice !! How mistaken I was .. interesting to know this is a nomenclature of variety rice ! Bookmarking to try
haha I know… Pulav biryani, brinji pilaf so many nomenclatures for the variety rice. Thanks a lot, Kalyani.
A very good read , i generally make Pulaos or Biryanis but haven’t made much variety with coconut milk . The brinj sounds flavourful , the mild rice and can be served with a simple curry too . Great lunch box idea
Thanks, Vaishali. Usually, that’s how they serve this ie with kurma. But kiddo likes this as is. So as of now good for me. :-)
Wedding reception dinners are not complete without this briyani right!! I am yet to make this. So many dishes to try but so little time!!
Yes Padma… Love it with the kurma they serve. :-) I am bookmarking a lot as well.
Omg such an flavorful and delicious looking brinji rice there :) I love having brinji rice with spicy curry on side , but this mild version is calling me vidhya . It is such an torture to just watch all these yummy dishes and unable to dig into them :D Love how you made them in Instant pot, so perfectly done not only kids even I can finish the box full of brinji in no time :) wonderful lunc box recipe again vidhya !!
Thanks much for your kind words Manjula. Usually, they serve this with Kuruma, but kiddo likes this as is or with raita. So for now, I going with this option. :-)
Even I would love this yummy rice dish in my lunchbox. The instant pot saves a lot of time and efforts to cook any dish. I love your tiffin styling and the blood oranges in it.
Thanks a lot, Sapana. Yeah, IP does save a lot of time, especially in the mornings.