Biryani - The Regal Course

One perfect & tasty dish which combines the flavours of spices with yogurt,rice and meat is the Biryani. So why I call this as a regal dish is because of the combination of colour, flavour and the heavenly aroma it produces which stimulates your appetite fiercely. 

The Biryani served along with Raita (chopped onion in a blended yogurt mix) and Khorma forms a superior meal on all special occasions.

Biryani uses the mughlai style of cooking as the ingredients used are typical to the Mughal style. The meat used in the Biryani can either be of Mutton, Beef, Chicken, Fish, Prawns/Shrimps. Sometimes Vegetables are also subsituted with meat to form the Vegetable Biryani.

I always wondered if the Biryani and Pulao were the same dishes. However I later learnt that the difference between them being is in their cooking style and not in their ingredients. Pulao is obtained by cooking the curry and the rice together while the Biryani is obtained by cooking the rice seperately and then brought together with the curry and spices in the form of layers. Biryani is a popular dish in South Asia and the Arab countries.

Biryani has been an easy favourite dish for me as it was one of the initial attempts of my cooking history. I remember trying it many times until the outcome was flawless. I also tried different types of Biryanis like the Lucknowi type, the Hyderabadi type and the Sindhi type.

Generally I prefer the Biryani of a very light colour. Each rice grain needs to be separate and should retain a pale yellowish color. However a few grains scattered in the dish should possess a dark yellow or saffron colour. And the aroma should be the typical Biryani one.

Biryani comes best when it is cooked using Basmati Rice.

This is how the recipe for the Chicken Biryani goes:

INGREDIENTS:

1 kg of  medium sized pieces of chicken
Onions       -      4 big (sliced)
Tomatoes   -      2 big (chopped)
Green Chillies -  6 - cut slanted
Curd          -       200 gms
Ginger garlic paste - 4-5 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Chilli powder       - 3 tbsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Whole Garam masala items - 2 cloves, 1 bay leaf, 1 cardamom, 2 medium sized cinnamon sticks,
Garam Masala powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - 1 cup
Food coloring/Saffron - a pinch
Basmati rice - 1 kg
Mint leaves (pudina) -1/4 cup
Finely chopped coriander leaves - 1/4th cup

HOW TO COOK:

1. In a large pan, heat oil and add the whole garam masala items.

   2.    Add onions and Saute them for a while.

                           
                                                    

     3.      Then, add the ginger garlic paste and saute for a min.

    4.     Add chicken and saute it and let the water dry up completely till you see the oil  on  the top  so that the meat odour goes. 

      

      5.     Add the red chilli powder, turmeric powder,coriander powder, salt and garam masala powder and fry for a minute.Then add the curds and the tomatoes and little water and cook till you see oil coming up and the chicken is almost done.

  6.     Finally add the coriander leaves, green chillies and the mint leaves and cook for a minute before turning off the stove. This forms the Akhni or the gravy mixture for the Biryani.

 7.     Separately cook the basmati rice (make sure the water is more than adequate for the rice to boil well and  ensuring that the rice is not sticky and every grain of rice needs to be seperate when you are draining it. The rice should not be overcooked. 

 8.     Add a 1 full tsp of salt to the rice while boiling it  . Soak the pinch of saffron in 3 table spoons of water or fresh pre heated milk. 

9.     Once the rice is cooked and strained  put in a layer of rice in a large dish. Sprinkle a little saffron mix . Add some chicken masala to this Then again add another layer of rice, saffron water, and chicken masala. Continue this until all of the rice and masala is exhausted.
(Note: The biryani would have a mix of colors - orange (from the food coloring), partially plain white (from the rice), orangish brown (from the masala)).

10.     Toss in  a handful of mint leaves, cover lid and  keep on low flame for about 10 mins for the flavours to blend . I usually keep the vessel on a griddle for the Dum.

Serve hot with onion raita or cucumber raita.

For the Mutton biryani, follow same recipe, just make sure that you cook the mutton pieces( 1kg of  tender and fresh, with some rib bones)  gravy in a cooker instead of a dish- after a whistle on high flame, the  gravy needs to be kept on low flame in the cooker for about 12 minutes , once the cooker opens, dry up extra water till you see the oil on the top and then mix it with the cooked rice.

Similarly, for Vegetable Biryani, you can follow the same recipe.  Just substitute the chicken/mutton with vegetables like potatoes, beans,carrots and peas. However while making the vegetable Biryani, do not add the vegetables until you add the all the spices, powders, curds and tomatoes as the vegatables will soon become tender. If you are pressure cooking this gravy, make sure the pressure cooking time is not more than 5 minutes.

You can garnish the biryani with deeply fried onion slices and fresh chopped coriander leaves.

So enjoy the delicious Biryani.