Mughlai Lamb Biryani

A really good Biriyani is one of the most impressive dishes in Indian cuisine...in my opinion! It is usually made for special occasions and involves layering meat and rice in a casserole dish which is them cooked usuing the dum process. Dum is the indian method for pot-roasting food, in the case of Biriyani the rice, meat and spices are steamed together in the oven in a sealed casserole dish, and then arranged and garnished on a platter. I've seem recipes for Biriyani that combine cooked rice and meat with garnishes, but the more authentic approach (and better result) is to steam them together.

The recipe I've chosen is from Madhur Jaffrey's book - Indian Cookery - which I highly reccomend! This book is really very accessable, with clear instructions, yet also quite authentic. The other authors I would reccomend are Charmaine Solomon and Julie Sahni.

This recipe is quite complex and does take some time, so I chose to make it over 2 days....just to avoid total chaos in the kitchen. The actual cooking time for the Biriyani is only about an hour, but it took a couple of hours to prepare the garnishes and lamb curry which is layered with the rice. Also, a good tip from the book is to soak the rice (after washing) with some salt for 3 hours beforehand. It makes the grains whiter and they seperate more easily - fluffy rice!

This recipe serves 6. I made the full amount for the lamb curry, then divided it in 2 (froze half) and then divided the rest of the ingreedients. I'll include the full amounts here.

Comments

• This is a very mildly spiced dish, focusing on the "sweet" spices like cinnamon, cardamom and cloves. Next time, I would add some Moghul garam masala (Julie Sahni recipe) to give it a bit more oomph and fragrance.
• I wouldn't reduce the sauce so much. I think it would be better trying it with a wetter meat mixture to flavour the rice a bit more.
• Halving the quantity needs less time for the rice to steam in the oven. So check after 45 minutes.
• you need to cook the onions for a long time....no really, can be over half an hour. I think I may have even over browned mine, but seriously, you can go a long way before they are burnt. Just keep moving them around the pan so they colour evenly.
• And finally....Biriyanis are a meal in themselves so you can keep the accompanying dishes simple - a yoghurt dish, a relish and I also included some okra.
  

For the rice
450g long grain rice
3 tablespoons salt
1 teaspoon saffron threads
2 tablespoons warm milk
25g butter cut into 8 pieces

For the meat
3 medium sized onions
4 cloves garlic
2cm ginger, peeled and grated
13 tablespoons vegetable oil
750g lamb, boned and cut into 2.5cm cubes
250ml natural yoghurt
5-6 cloves
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon cardamom seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
2.5cm cinnamon stick
1/6 nutmeg
1/4 traspoon cayenne pepper

Garnishes
4 tablespoons blanched slivered almonds
3 tablespoons sultanas
3 hardboiled eggs

1. Wash the rice, drain and soak in 2 litres water with 1 tablespoon of salt for 3 hours.
2. Lightly toast the saffron threads, crumble and add to the warm milk and leave for 3 hours.
3. Cut 2 of the onions in half, then cut the halves into fine half-rings. Chop the third onion roughly. Put the chopped onion, garlic, ginger, 2 tablespoons of the almonds and 3 tablespoons of the water into a blender and reduce to a paste.
4. Heat 6 tablespoons of the oil in a heavy pan over medium-high. When hot add the onion slices and fry until brown and crisp (this can take over half an hour). Remove and drain on paper towel.
5. Fry the sultanas in the same oil. Remove, and then fry the remaining almonds until brown.
6. Brown the meat cubes. Remove the meat to a saucepan/casserole pot, add 7 tablespoons of oil to the pan and fry the paste from the blender until medium brown. Add to the meat, and gradually a tablespoon at a time, add the yoghurt. Now add 1 1/4 teaspoons of salt, 150ml of water, cover and simmer on low for 30 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, grind the spices (not the cayenne) in a spice grinder. After the meat has cooked 30 minutes add the spices and cayenne and continue cooking another 30 minutes. At the end of this time, take the lid off and raise the heat to medium and reduce the liquid to about 200ml. Turn heat off and degrease the dish. (I resorted to scooping the meat out, pouring the sauce into a jug and waiting for it to seperate with the oil on the top).

Assemble the Biriyani

1. Preheat the oven to 150C / 300F. Bring 3.6 litres of water to the boil and add 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt. Drain and rinse the rice, then scatter the rice into the boiling water, bring back to the boil and cook for 6 minutes. Drain the rice.
2. Put the warm meat in the a layer on th ebottom of a casserole dish and then pile the rice on top in the shape of a hill. Using a chopstick (or whatever is handy) make a 2.5cm wide hole in the middle of the rice down to thr meat. Scatter 2 tablespoons of the brown onions on the rice, dribble the saffron milk down the rice and dab the butter around.
3. Cover with foil and put the lid on to create a seal. Bake in the oven for 1 hour.

To serve
My preference is to carefully scrape as much of the rice into a bowl, then put the meat in a pile in the middle of a nice platter and then mould the rice around the meat, so it can't be seen. Cut the eggs into quarters and arrange on the side and sprinkle the top with theremaining browned onions, fried nuts and sultanas. If you feeling rich, and can find some, you can add Vark (edible silver foil).