Biryani

There is something exotic about the lingering smell of curry cooking in the house and something I cook year round, not just in winter because my taste buds and stomach don’t know anything about seasons so if they feel like curry, well who am I to argue with them?

I grew up in Durban and eating curry is almost part of my DNA. My mom makes a mean mutton curry but I faff around with recipes to much to make it the way she does and that's not necessarily a bad thing because when I eat hers it's wonderful and special and unlike anything I make.

When we visited Singapore I, obviously, had to try the famed fish head curry and it was every bit as fantastic as it was made out to be and every bit as incredibly spicy as it was made out to be which lead to a brow sweating, butt clenching, nervous dash in search of a toilet once the curry finally hit my intestines. I laugh about it now but it was slightly traumatic at the time, can you imagine this large, blond, seemingly mad woman running through the streets in search of a loo?

I love the smell of a spice shop or spice market, it’s intoxicating and transports me to far flung places and I dream of all the recipes I can cook using them so it might be surprising to know that I’ve never made a proper, from scratch, authentic biryani and I actually feel quite stupid for not having done so.

Biryani is basically a rice and meat dish, sometimes the meat is cooked separately and sometimes with the rice, when it's chicken I cook everything together, when its mutton I cook the mutton in its own sauce and add it towards the end of the rice's cooking time for all the stuffs to say hallo, mingle, chat and get to know each other better.

By all accounts and a bit of research this recipe is a fairly traditional south Indian Tamilnadu recipe and from what I learnt through my research is that biryani recipes differ from region to region so this might not be your version of traditional but that’s okay, let’s call this my interpretation of authenticity. It differs from a lit from many other biryani recipes in that it doesn’t use a pre-mixed masala but just a few whole spices and the chili paste but the result is a complex, extremely flavourful dish I hope you enjoy as much as I do (and the rest of my bunch did).

There are a few notes at the end of the recipe that will help with the prep etc.

As always, do your mise en place (aka prep) by chopping all the veg, measuring the spices and other ingredients and bringing the meat up to room temp.

Fry the onions and whole spices till the onions is golden brown, be patient and do it at a medium temp to ensure not getting some bits to dark, the onions must be sweet and not bitter.

add the garlic, ginger, tomato and fresh onion

cook until soft

add chili, turmeric and

add yogurt and fresh herbs

add rice and water

cover and cook to perfect yumness

Here's the recipe for this fantastic Biryani and there are notes at the bottom of the recipe with regards to the chili paste, rice, raita etc.

Ambur Biryani

Ingredients: 1½ cup Biryani Rice, soaked for 40 minutes 1 star pack Chicken (4 drums & 4 thighs ±1kg)

¼ cup Oil 2 tbsp Butter

2 Onions, thinly sliced or diced 2 Tomato, chopped 2 tbsp Onion, chopped 2 Bay Leaf 2 Cinnamon Stick, small 5 Cloves 8 Cardamom pods 1 heaped tablespoon Garlic, grated

1 heaped tablespoon Ginger, grated Dry Red Chili paste soaked & ground (made with 6-10 biggish dried chillies, see notes) 1 teaspoon Turmeric Powder Salt, (I used about 10ml in total) ¼ cup unflavoured double cream Yogurt ¼ cup Coriander Leaves ¼ cup Mint Leaves 550 - 600ml Water Method: Preheat the oven to 180°C

In a wide bottom pan with medium heat, pour oil and add butter and onions

Then add bay leaf, cinnamon stick, cloves, cardamom, and saute until it turns aromatic and the onions are light golden brown, this adds a rich flavour the the dish. Add garlic and ginger and saute until it turns fragrant and the raw aroma leaves. Add the extra 2 tbsp of thinly sliced onion and tomato to the above mixture and saute until the tomatoes turn mushy. Adding a small portion of onion along with tomatoes gives a creamy texture and good flavor to the biryani Now add the red chili paste, turmeric powder, salt and saute until raw chili paste aroma leaves Add the cut and cleaned chicken pieces to the chili gravy and mix them well until evenly coated with the masala. Cover the pan and cook the chicken for about 5 minutes. Now add yogurt, coriander leaves, and mint leaves and mix everything well Close the pan with a lid and cook the chicken on medium low heat for about 10 minutes Open the lid and add the rice and water to the above gravy and bring to a boil,

Cover, place in the oven at 180°C and cook for 45 minutes

(don’t be tempted to peak)

Remove from the oven and give it a stir.

Cover again and leave to rest for at least 10 minutes, it will stay hot during the resting time.

Uncover and serve.

I removed the meat from the skin and bones before serving. but obviously you don't have to, I just did it sommer because.

I served it with a yogurt raita, a spring onion and tomato salad and more fresh coriander and mint leaves.

Notes: The uniqueness of this dish is that the chili paste is used as the main ingredient. And it doesn't need any masala powders compared to other biryani dishes. But if the chili count feels too hot to your taste, feel free to reduce it. I used 6 biggish dried chillies and I’d prefer more but my greybeard prefers it milder and this was perfect for him, he actually commented that it could be a bit spicier. I suggest you taste the paste before adding it to the sauce and if it still isn’t spicy enough after cooking serve chopped fresh chilli on the side.

This is the size of the dried chillies

To prepare the chili paste, soak the dry red chilies in hot water until it turns soft and grind into a smooth paste using a mortar and pestle (or you can use a food processor or blender)

The Traditional rice for this Biryani is Seeraga Samba Rice but I couldn't find it anywhere around where I live but I found this Biryani rice. If you can't find a biryani rice where you are use a regular short grain rice (here in SA normal Tastic rice is perfect).

I made my raita by toasting cumin seed, coriander seed, mustard seed and dried chilli flakes in a bit of sunflower oil until the seeds start popping. I added salt, the hot oil and tempered spices to the yogurt and let it cool in the fridge before serving.

I used; 1 cup yogurt, with half teaspoon each of the spices and 1 tablespoon oil.