Soak the rice in 3 cups for 20 minutes.

 In a pan add the rice and water along with the whole spices and little salt and few drops of oil.

 Once the rice is 3/4th cooked, drain the water and discard the whole spices.

 Cut the onions into thin long slices. Add 2 tbsp of oil in a non-stick pan and start cooking the onions till it becomes golden brown. Traditionally it will be deep-fried. But I didn’t do that.

 Keep it aside.

 Grind the garlic, ginger, mint leaves, green chili, kalpaasi (stone flower), and fennel seeds into a fine paste. If needed add 1-2 tsp of water.

 Soak the saffron in warm milk. Boil the veggies in 1 cup of water or you can microwave it for minutes till soft. Let it be crunchy not too soft.

 Do not add too much water and end up discarding the water. Add little by little and cook the veggies.

 In a pan add 1 tbsp oil and ghee and add the ground green paste to it.

 Saute it for a while till the raw smell goes.

 Add the yogurt to this and mix well.

 Cook for a minute and add the tomato puree. You can grind the tomato and add. I added the store-bought puree as my tomatoes were pale.

 Add the red chili powder to this. Choose the one which gives a nice color.

 Add the parboiled veggies to this. Add salt and biryani masala to this. Remember we have added the salt in the rice too.

 Cook for 2 minutes.

 Switch off the flame. Now, this mixture will be slightly in saucy consistency. Now let’s start layering the biryani.

 Take a heavy-bottomed vessel. I used my non-stick pan as the base was thick for that.

 Layer first with fried onions. Spread one portion of the cooked rice on this by covering the onions fully.

 Add half portion of the saffron milk to this by sprinkling it all over the rice.

 Add the saucy vegetable mix to this. Spread this as a layer.

 Spread the remaining rice over this and cover it fully. Sprinkle the remaining saffron milk to this.

 Now cover the pan with aluminum foil. Alternatively, you can cover it with thickly rolled chapathi dough.

 Heat a dosa pan and when it hot, place this covered pan onto this. Keep the flame low and let this be on this Tawa for 10 minutes.

 Open the foil after 10 minutes and carefully fluff it up with a fork and mix well.

 Super hot Veg Dum biryani is ready to serve. Serve with onion raitha and the popular Hyderabadi Mirchi ka salan.