Biryani Buzz!

‘ello all! As my husband can attest, I’ve been on a bit of a cooking binge these past couple of months. I think the procuring of my new combi oven might have been a catalyst for what I hope will continue to be a rather successful run of pulaos, curries and sautéed veggies and while on the one hand, I’m quite keen (now that I’ve resumed updating the blog) to chart these endeavors for posterity… on the other hand, I fear that my friends shall use all these entries as evidence that I can cook which means more work for moi :D But hey, I gotta do what I gotta do, right?

How the “dish-du-jour” came to be a Biryani, was the backfiring of a much-awaited trip to Mohhamed Ali Road for some Haleem and Bheja. We ended up appeasing the stomach demons with a rather delectable Nalli-nihari but I clambered home that day and decided to find myself a Haleem Recipe that would satisfy the baser cravings. A rather unsuccessful dive into the nether realms of Google left me still wanting that elusive recipe (…one that I will share once I get my hands on it, I promise!) but did yield a rather comprehensive Biryani “how-to” list that was too tempting to resist…with a few alterations, of course!

So here it is….my own version of the ever-popular Mutton-Biryani…and while this might sound tedious..(I generally need three different casseroles for the frying, parboiling and finally the pressure cooking of the meat) its pretty par-for-course and doesn’t take more than an hour at the most…I like to do it with the layers of meat, rice, potatoes and onions but you can just mix up the whole lot if that’s what gets your goat! Try it and tell me what you think…

For a biryani for two you’ll need:
3 potatoes
3 large onions (thinly sliced)
500 gms of Meat (I like to use the cut off the shoulder)
10 cloves
3 pieces of Elaichi (the big black stuff)
7-8 strands of Saffron (soaked in two teaspoons of hot milk)
5 bay leaves
3 sticks (about 4 inches long) of Cinnamon
A teaspoon of Black Peppercorns
400 gms Basmati Rice
Half a cup of Mint Leaves (washed and finely chopped)
Half a cup of Coriander leaves (washed and finely chopped)
2 Tomatoes. (skinned and chopped to pieces)
Half a teaspoon of Turmeric Power
Half a teaspoon of Red Chilly Powder
Two Green Chillies (I like the light green ones)
Half a Cup of Curd
Two spoons of Ginger-garlic paste
Salt to Taste
Sunflowers seed oil.

Method:
1. Skin the potatoes and cut them into quarters. Add salt to taste and deep-fry the quarters till golden-brown and set aside.
2. Fry the onions till they’re soft and remove half and set aside. These are to flavour the meat. Fry the rest till crispy brown. These are to add to the top of the Biryani layers.
3. Wash the meat and drain the water.
4. Heat up some oil (about 3 teaspoons) till smoking. Add the cinnamon, peppercorns, bay leaves, elaichi & cloves and toss around for a minute. Add the onions that we set aside to flavour the meat and stir for another minute or so.
5. Add the ginger-garlic paste and the tomatoes and stir for another 3 minutes.
6. Add the Meat and sauté until the meat releases its own juices.
7. Next we need to add the Red-chilly power and Turmeric and salt to taste.
8. Now add the curd and sliced green chillies and stir till well mixed in with the meat.
9. Add a half cup of water & pressure cook until the meat is done..(about two whistles)
10. In a separate microwavable bowl, wash the rice and then soak it in about 400 ml of water. Cook in the microwave for about 3 minutes or till the rice is half-cooked or has soaked up all the water. (I generally add an extra stick of cinnamon to the rice as well just for a bit of flavoring)
11. Once the meat is cooked spread it evenly at the base of a heavy bottomed deep pan.
12. Layer the rice evenly on top of the meat. Then layer with the quartered potatoes, chopped coriander and mint leaves and finally the crispy fried onions.
13. Add the saffron flavored milk and cover the pan with a tightly fitted lid and cook on a low flame for about 15 mins.

Viola…your biryani is done!

I don’t like to use cumin in this recipe at all so if you are so inclined to you can add about a spoonful of powered cumin when you add the chilly and turmeric powders. But serve this with a freshly made boondi raita and it’s a complete meal!

Enjoy!