Sunday 13 January 2013

Biryani

Lamb or chicken on the bone 3lbs
Basmati rice 2 coffee mug full
Onions 4 medium
Garlic 12 cloves
Ginger 2 inch
Yoghurt to marinade
Large fresh lemon sliced thinly into discs
Cooking oil 6 tbs
Ghee approx 6 tbs

Saffron 1 large pinch
Cinnamon 9 one inch pieces
Cloves 12
Black cardamom 6
Green cardamom 12
Black peppercorns 12
Red chilli powder 2-3 tsp

For Dum (optional)
Coal
Ghee

Take 6 cloves, 6 cinnamon, half the cardamom and peppercorns and grind them in a mill to powder.
Blend 3 onions, all the garlic and ginger in a blender or alternatively use a shredder.
Marinade the lamb/chicken with yoghurt and salt
Soak the washed rice along with the leftover cloves, cinnamon and cardamoms in water ( usually double the quantity of rice) for an hour. Add a tbs ghee just before cooking.
Soak the saffron in 1/4 cup of warm milk
Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed dish and add the bay leaves till they splutter. Then add the blended onion, garlic, ginger paste. Fry till golden and add the chilli powder. Fry for another minute and raise the heat, then add the meat pieces slowly so as not to lower the temprature. Fry on medium or low heat till tender and the oil starts to seperate.
Meanwhile start cooking the rice till al dente ( slight bite). Once done quickly spread on a flat platter to prevent steam cooking. Seperate into two portions and sprinkle the one with the saffron and milk mix.
Slice the leftover onion thinly and deep fry in some oil till browned but not burned and keep aside on kitchen towel paper to absorb the excess oil.
Use a heavy clay pot or a casserole dish for the final preparation. Use ghee to grease the bottom and the sides. For layering, start with the plain portion of the rice first and sprinkle on top with some of the freshly ground spices. Next spoon in the meat/chicken and sprinkle again. Layer the lemon slices and use the saffron flavoured rice next. Sprinkle the rest of the spices before finally adding the layer of fried onions. Put a few spoons of ghee all over the dish.
For smoking the dish use a small metal katori on top of the whole preparation and put a small piece of smouldering coal on top. Pour some ghee on this carefully and quickly seal the dish to prevent the smoke from escaping.
Put the whole casserole in a preheated oven about 140 degrees for about an hour.
Open just before eating and mix layers well before serving piping hot.
Accompaniments: raita (a special one called burrhani, I'll do yhe recipe later)
Simple onion salad
Poison of your choice but I prefer chilled beer.