Bingeing on Biryani

Sindhi Mutton Biryani
(Sindhi biryani is more spicy and has fried onions as one of its base ingredients)

Ingredients

• 1 kg mutton
• ½ kg basmati rice
• 1 cup yogurt
• 4 tomatoes, chopped
• 2 tomatoes, sliced
• 4 tbsp ghee
• Few strands of saffron
• soaked in milk
• 5 to 6 green chilli, finely chopped
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
• 2 tsp red chilli powder
• Salt as per taste
• 10 to 12 dried plums
• ½ kg potatoes, diced and fried
• 5 onions, sliced and fried
• 2 tsp green mint, chopped
• 1 tsp kewra essence
• 2 tsp whole garam masala — cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, black pepper and bay leaf
• ½ cup mixed dry fruits, fried
• A little kneaded dough to cover the lid for cooking

Method

Heat ghee in a pan and fry onions till golden brown and shift to a bowl. In the same oil add mutton, green chillies, coriander powder, salt, red chilli powder, chopped tomatoes and fry well. Add water and cook until  the mutton is half cooked.

Add yogurt, fried onions, fried potatoes and dried plums. Cook until potatoes are a little soft. Lower the flame and add garam masala powder. Cover and cook for five more minutes on low heat. Layer the mutton with mint, tomatoes, and chillies.

Now, in another pan boil the whole garam masala. When simmering, add salt and rice continue boiling. When cooked three-fourth, transfer it into a strainer.
Now layer the rice over the mutton. Mix few drops of kewra essence, fried dry fruits and saffron with milk and pour it on the rice.

Cover the lid of the pan with kneaded dough and place the pan on a hot griddle on low flame for 50 minutes to an hour. Garnish with few mint leaves, dry fruits, lemon and onion, and serve with raita and papad.

Nawabi Chicken Biryani
(An interesting take on the delicious Awadhi biryani, which has its roots in the northern part of the country)

Ingredients

• 500 gm chicken
• 1 cup basmati rice
• 4 tbsp ghee
• 3 large onions
• 2” ginger
• 6 to 8 garlic cloves
• ½ tsp black peppercorns
• 3 black
• cardamoms
• 1 tsp saunf
• 2 mace
• 2” stick
• cinnamon
• Salt to taste
• 1 bay leaf
• 6 green cardamoms
• ½ tsp shahi jeera
• 6 cloves
• Few strands   of saffron
• 3 tbsp milk
• 15 to 20
• pistachios
• 1 cup cashewnuts, halved
• Silver vark, to garnish
• A little kneaded dough to cover the lid for cooking

For masala

• ½ tsp cumin seeds
• ¼ tsp nutmeg powder
• 5 cloves
• 6 green cardamoms
• 2 black cardamoms

Method

Clean and wash the chicken and set it aside. Wash rice twice and soak in two cups of water for half an hour. Peel, wash and chop onions, ginger and garlic. Tie up some chopped onion, ginger and garlic with peppercorns, black cardamoms, saunf, mace and cinnamon in a muslin cloth. Put this bundle with chicken, salt and three cups of water and let it cook, till it is three-fourths done. Take out the chicken pieces and retain the stock to cook the rice.

For the masala, grind the remaining onions, ginger and garlic with cumin seeds, nutmeg, cloves, green cardamoms and black cardamoms. Heat some ghee and sauté the ground masala till the fat begins to separate. Add semi cooked chicken pieces and salt and sauté for a while. Take it off the heat and keep aside.

In another pan, heat ghee, add bay leaf, green cardamoms, shahi jeera and cloves. Add the rice and sauté for a while. Add double the quantity of reserved chicken stock and salt. When it comes to a boil, add cashewnuts, cover and let it cook till it is three-fourths done.

Now in a handi, put a layer of cooked rice, then a layer of chicken and repeat the layering process. Add deep fried onions, ghee and a little saffron induced milk over it. Cover the handi with the lid and weigh it down with something heavy or seal with dough. Keep the vessel on a hot tawa on a low flame and cook for half an hour.
Transfer to a serving dish, garnish with pistachios and silver vark and serve hot.

Pattu Vari Chitti Muthyala Kodi Palav
(Natives of Chittor — Pattus have a great influence of Tamil cooking in their dishes)

Ingredients

• ½ kg chicken
• ¼ tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tbsp chilli powder
• 4 tbsp coriander powder
• Salt as per taste
• 2 tsp oil
• 2 clove
• ¼ inch cinnamon stick
• 1 mace
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cardamom
• ¼ tbsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp fennel seeds
• 4 tbsp grated coconut
• ¼ tbsp poppy seeds
• 8 cashewnuts
• ½ kg seeraga samba rice
• 4 tbsp ghee
• 2 tsp mint leaves, chopped
• 10 to 12 curry leaves
• 4 tsp coriander, chopped
• ½” ginger, peeled and chopped
• 1 garlic, peeled
• 1 onion, sliced lengthwise
• 1 green chilli, slit lengthwise
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 egg

Method

In a pressure cooker, add chicken pieces, salt, turmeric powder, chilli powder and coriander powder. Mix well. Add three glasses of water and cook for one whistle.
Dry roast coconut, ginger, garlic, poppy seeds, fennel seeds, pepper, cinnamon stick, clove, cardamom, few curry leaves and mint leaves. Grind everything to a fine paste, add some water if required.

Now in another pressure cooker, add ghee, mace, bay leaf, sliced onion and green chilli. Once the onions are translucent, add the cashews and fry till they turn slightly golden. Now add the masala paste and fry till it starts leaving the oil on the sides. To this, add the rice. Fry it for a while and then add the cooked chicken. Mix well.

After ten minutes add chopped mint, coriander and curry leaves to it and mix well.
Lastly, add lemon juice. Now, place the egg over it and cook for one whistle. Let the pressure release completely from the cooker and then remove the lid. Remove the egg and de-shell it, cut into half and place over the palav while serving.