"Vegetable Biriyani is NOT Biriyani!"
Moving to Europe I realized that having strong opinions about food is not specific to just one culture. Everyone likes their food in specific ways. I survived for four years after moving out without being able to cook but by cooking (yeah, that sounds weird!). Hence we will call these series of food recipe blogposts (hopefully more to come) the 'From the Non-Cook" series (not creative at all :/). Over the years I learnt to make several dishes from Amma and realized the key tip for good tasting (South) Indian food is the spice blend, which is hard to perfect. So naturally I found the best solution: get them made in large batches by Amma. It works so well for me and I would like to share over time a few recipes that makes my cooking hit right home! Lets start with the toughest of them all, a biriyani, but probably the most quickest one you have ever made. Most of this recipe was shared to me by a very good family friend from Kadayanallur, India. She also gave me a first batch of freshly prepared spice blend!
The promise of quick comes because I already have the spice blend ready. Roasted and powdered. You can also get them made in large batches and store them in the fridge for a long time (I have gone for 8 months straight, could probably go longer). I prefer a homemade spice blend to the store bought ones.
Ingredients for biriyani powder (spice blend):
Cardamom - 6 nos.
Cinnamon sticks - 2 nos.
Pepper corns - 10 nos.
Nutmeg - 2 pinches
Mace - 2 nos.
Bay leaves - 2 nos.
Star anise - 2 nos.
Cloves - 6 nos.
Cumin - 1 tbsp
Stone flower - 2 nos.
Dry roast them in a pan, blend it to fine powder and store in an airtight jar
The key to a good biriyani is its meat. So if possible, get fresh meat from the butcher. I go to the local metzgerei to buy chicken and use the leg and thigh pieces with bones. The "with bones" part is very important!
Chicken marinate (2-3 hours):
I usually do this step the first thing in the morning after waking up so it is ready for lunch!
Chop the chicken to medium-sized pieces and wash them in the same bowl for the marinate (save the amount of dishes to wash ;)). To this add the following:
Salt - 2 tsp.
Ginger&garlic paste - 2 tsp
Any readymade chicken powder - 1 tsp
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Unflavored yoghurt - 2 tbsp
Mix well and marinate for 2-3 hours in the fridge
Ingredients for biriyani:
Sunflower oil: 3 tbsp
Butter: 1 tsp
Cloves: 3 nos.
Bay leaves: 2 nos.
Cardamom: 3 nos.
Aniseed: 2 nos.
Cinnamon bark: 2.5cm/ 1 inch
Don't ask me why we add this raw when they are components of the biriyani powder anyway. We like to overdo it! And it tasted gooooood!
Shallots: enough to have to handful of fine chopped onions
Tomatoes: 2 nos.
Green chilli: 2 nos.
Ginger/garlic paste: 1 tsp
Salt: to taste
Biriyani powder: 2 tsp
Coriander leaves
Mint leaves
Basmati rice - 200g
In a pressure cooker, add 3 tbsp oil and a slice of butter. Once the butter melts, toss in the different spice tools (from cloves to cinnanom barks). as the flavor heightens add finely chopped onions and sauté until it turns golden brown.
Add the fresh green chillis at this stage as well. Next comes the chopped tomatoes and ginger garlic paste (feel free to over do it if you are a garlic lover like me!!). Add a good amount of salt at this stage so the tomatoes cook well.
Next toss in the marinated chicken and mix well as the onions and tomatoes coat the chicken. Don't forget to rinse the bowl with a little water to not waste the precious marinate. At this stage, the water level should just be enough to immerse the chicken pieces.
Now add a good amount of the biriyani powder and mix well. You could feel the aroma tickling your stomach at this point *drooling*
Add freshly washed and roughly-chopped coriander and mint leaves (that fits the palm of your hand, hahaha, I am never precise)
Give it all a very good stir and taste a bit. The gravy will taste a bit salty at this stage and maybe even a little raw. But don't worry, the chicken fat with neutralize it all too well. Close the pressure cooker and wait for two whistles and move it way from the heat immediately. Don't try to skip this first cooking step as I once did.
Once the pressure is released, open the cooker and feel the smell and taste all you want. If the salt is less at this stage, be more generous as it will reduce even further when the rice is added.
Now add washed basmati rice (I never presoak it as it always results in an overcooked texture. Not sure if this is specific to the brands we get abroad as Amma always soaked rice for 30 minutes in water.)
Mix it all well. Now the portion of liquid to rice should be 2:1. Sort of a critical calculation, try to be precise as much as possible. I still do this by eye and it works (most) of the time. So add excess water if your gravy does not have enough water already.
Now close the cooker again and leave it for 10 minutes in medium heat. Leaving it on high heat results in burnt rice at the bottom. Since the chicken is precooked, you don't need high heat at this stage.
After the pressure has released, the cooker can be opened. You will see that the masala (spice) mix has settled on the top. It is generally advised to not mix the rice with a laddle at this stage as it will break it, but I still give it a very gentle toss to mix the flavors.
And we're done, in just two dishes (one for the marinate and the pressure cooker)
As I mentioned, once you have the spice blend and do the marinate first thing in the morning... you have already divided the total time required to make biriyani. I usually listen to some music while in the kitchen and this also makes it more relaxing. The product of it is some very very good south-indian biriyani.
Why make it at home, you ask? It is very hard to get good south-indian biriyani abroad. Especially Europe which mostly has north-indian restaurants. My sister lives in Texas, USA and she is one of the more lucky ones. If you are in Paris, France you are probably lucky too. I complained about this a lot, but not anymore as I now have the hack! :D
Gulp it all in or store it in the fridge for up to 3 days (I always finish it earlier ;))
More recipes to come.. from the non-cook,
Swetha
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