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British Indian Restaurant Recipes - Main Dishes => British Indian Restaurant Recipes - Main Dishes => Biriani Dishes => Topic started by: Peripatetic Phil on November 27, 2024, 09:06 PM
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I was in Great Cornish Food (adjacent to Waitrose in Truro) recently, and was looking at the butchery counter where I saw "cull yaw". Having no idea what "cull yaw" was, I asked the butcher and he explained that when a ewe gets too old to breed, some farmers will give her an extra year of life at pasture, after which she is culled and hung. The result is meat that is as tender as lamb but with all the flavour of mutton and arguably more. This sounded perfect for a biryani, so I bought 3/4kg shoulder which I then skinned and diced. The following is basically the recipe from a Shan Mutton Biryani mix, with notes where I deviated. The results were out of this world.
CULL YAW BIRYANI
1. Heat 1 cup of ghee/oil and fry 3-4 medium, finely sliced onions (400gm) until light golden.
2. Add 750 gm bone-in cull yaw, three tablespoons fresh garlic paste, two tablespoons fresh ginger paste and stir-fry for a minute. Add one packet Shan Memoni Mutton Biryani Mix and stir-fry for 5-6 mins.
3. Add 3-4 cups of water, 1¼ cup (250g) of plain, whipped yoghurt and two medium (250g), peeled and halved potatoes - [I omitted the potatoes]. Cover and cook on low heat until the meat is tender [For this I used an “Instant Pot” clone, slow cook setting, two hours duration].
4. Add four medium (300g) diced tomatoes [I probably used less], 10 medium/large whole green chillies and 3-4 tablespoons lemon juice (two lemons) [I forgot to add the lemon]. Stir and remove from heat.
5. Separately: wash 3½ cups (750g) of Shan Basmati Rice and soak for 30 minutes [or Laila — I didn't bother to wash or soak]. Boil 15 cups (three litres) of water ]Fairly certain that I used far less water than this — 1 cup of basmati rice needs 300 ml water when cooked on the rice setting in an "Instant Pot" or clone if you want no excess water at the end of the cooking period] and stir three tablespoons of Shan salt [I used pink Himalaya] and the soaked rice. Boil the rice until ¾ cooked [Again, in the Instant Pot clone, 4 minutes on rice setting, with the addition of mixed whole masala — this would have been better put in a strainer container]. Remove and drain thoroughly.
6. Spread ¾ of the boiled rice in a pot and pour the cooked meat curry over it [I didn’t pour most of the sauce — there was far too much]. Then spread and cover with the remaining rice. Cover and cook on low heat for 10 minutes.
7. Heat ½ cup of ghee/oil and pour over the rice [I just poured on some of the fatty layer from the sauce — I also added a little green, yellow and red powder food colouring at this stage, and allowed 20 minutes for it to set before stirring]. Mix the rice well bottom to top. Cover and cook for five minutes.
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** Phil.
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Nice! I was back at the Tilted Pan a couple of days ago and bought a few dishes, including some of their chicken biryani. £5.00. Tried a bit, so lush. Have put it in the freezer and the plan was to have it for my Christmas dinner. May go sooner though. Great to hear you are back in the kitchen Phil.
Rob
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Sounds tasty Phil, nothing wrong with Big Chunks of Meat. Is culled yaw the Cornish language term for it? I wonder if my east London butcher would have heard of it!
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Ah, they were more the conventional biriani size by the time I had finished dicing the shoulder! Incidentally, bought another 1.5kg today, but failed to spot that diced cull yaw is £2 cheaper than shoulder, despite the latter having bone ... Ah well. As to the Cornish language aspect, as an incomer I can only say "I assume so" — the phonemic distance from "culled yew" to "cull yaw" (/kʌld juː/ -> /kʌl jɔː/) is not very great.
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Great to hear you are back in the kitchen Phil.
Thank you Rob ! I have even ordered (yet another) Indian cookery book — Cooking with My Indian Mother-in-law: Mastering the Art of Authentic Indian Home Cooking — on the basis that its recipe for ghost biriani and Shan's are very similar.
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** Phil.
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Not come across the Shan Memoni Biryani as yet Phil. Remembered I used Shan spices during lockdown for one-pots, often. Felt the Pilau Biryani (Mughal style meat pilaf) was a good one. I added CalNort lamb stock cube, green cardos and mace, for chicken and mutton. Made a pre-cook similarly this week. Great taste, but the mutton I got was way too fatty. My mistake. Should have gone to my local Iranian butchers. Last time I went got schooled on age, time since slaughtered, fat contact, shoulder, cuts, etc. He was showing me different examples. Endless details. Way above my head. Took real pride in what he was doing. This is the place. I get the Persian flat breads from here too and a lot of the stuff I use nowadays, including saffron.
https://youtu.be/pjyju2fnQp8?si=272hKNYU1PvEmr9i
Rob
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CalNort lamb stock cube
Calnort lamb stock contains the following ingredients:
Salt
Corn starch
Monosodium glutamate
Sugar
Palm oil
Hydrolyzed vegetable protein (with soy)
Yeast extract
Artificial and natural flavoring
Onion
Extra virgin olive oil
Makes me shudder just reading it.
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Could you do the same for Knorr stock pots, Santa, without which I cook virtually nothing (including cull yaw biriani) savoury at all ...
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CalNort lamb stock cube
Calnort lamb stock contains the following ingredients:
Salt
Corn starch
Monosodium glutamate
Sugar
Palm oil
Hydrolyzed vegetable protein (with soy)
Yeast extract
Artificial and natural flavoring
Onion
Extra virgin olive oil
Makes me shudder just reading it.
What's wrong with it? Fine ingredients. Reckon It's a fantastic product :) But yes, as Phil says you can use a Knorr stock pot. Had some more of the pre-cooked (actually well-cooked) Shan lamb pilau last night. Used Tilda brown basmati for it. I have 4 x 500 g bags. 50 p each on yellow sticker. Felt the finished pilau was indeed pretty spectacular, although I have very little experience making meat/rice dishes. Definitely a keeper though, big time.
Rob
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Could you do the same for Knorr stock pots, Santa, without which I cook virtually nothing (including cull yaw biriani) savoury at all ...
I daren't Phil. I use the Knorr stock cubes and I know they're not going to be full of anything much better than the Calnort ones. But I would recommend Kallo stock cubes and in particular the chicken ones which are, for me anyway, the best flavoured stock cubes. And the ingredient list doesn't stop my heart just by reading it.
Ingredients:
Sea salt, potato starch*, sustainable palm fat *, sugar*, chicken fat* (3.5%), yeast extract*, natural chicken flavour, chicken powder (1%), spices* and herbs* (turmeric*, black pepper*, parsley*, rosemary*), onion*, *Organic ingredient
Allergen Advice: May contain celery
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I must admit, I was not particularly impressed when I tried Kallo, but to answer my own question in re Knorr stock pots :
Ingredients:
Concentrated lamb stock (66%)(water, lamb),
salt,
palm fat,
sugar,
yeast extract,
flavour mix [flavourings, flavour enhancers (monosodium glutamate, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate)],
potassium chloride,
gelling agents (xanthan gum, locust bean gum),
garlic,
herbs (rosemary†, thyme†, parsley†),
carrots†,
sunflower oil,
onion juice concentrate†,
caramel syrup,
maltodextrin,
parsley roots†.
† Sustainably grown
Looks pretty good to me ...
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** Phil.
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I got a box of the Shan Memoni Phil. Ingredients look fairly similar to the Pilau Biryani. Dill in the Memoni though. I like Dill. Looking forward to giving it a go. Good shout on the Shan spices. Recall seeing an open box in one of the desi Pakistani places (kitchen) in Birmingham many years ago. I bet they are all using it.
Rob
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Looks pretty good to me ...
If by "good" you mean it's loaded with ultra-processed junk then , yes, it's "good".
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"Concentrated lamb stock (66%)(water, lamb)" is hardly "ultra-processed junk", dear boy ... If you look at the ingredient list again, tell me honestly what fraction you identify as "ultra-processed junk".
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** Phil.
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sugar, monosodium glutamate, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, xanthan gum, locust bean gum, caramel syrup, maltodextrin.
Now, you tell me where in a properly fresh-made stock you'd find any of that junk.
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"What fraction" remains unanswered, Santa ...
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You'll probably never get that answer Phil, considering the only listed ingredient is at the top with 66%. Meaning the remaining 34% is made up the other ingredients, supposedly in decreasing order of proportionality.
Salt could be either side of 25%.
Palm fat is palm oil, which is somewhat controversial, but I seriously doubt it will kill you very fast. While there are some questions on health, the main issues with it appears to be ecological or related to human rights.
The scientific names of the other ingredients (flavour enhancers, etc.) can be off-putting, but many of these are naturally occurring anyway, or derived from natural sources. Monosodium and disodium are self-explanatory. E621, E627 and E631 on the food additives list.
In reading that list of substances, I don't see anything I would be fearful of. However, it wouldn't be too difficult to whip up a homemade lamb stock.
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it wouldn't be too difficult to whip up a homemade lamb stock
Agreed, which I invariably do. But it always includes a Knorr lamb stock pot, because they are so d@mned good !
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** Phil.
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I use Knorr Chicken Powder in everything, so I will not say that is a bad thing Phil.
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The Oriental version (https://www.orientalmart.co.uk/knorr-chicken-powder) (in a tin) or the cubes, Livo ? I use the former but not the latter, preferring the chicken stock pots for western chicken dishes.
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** Phil.
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The oriental one. I use it regularly and it is available over here in 800 gram bags.
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"What fraction" remains unanswered, Santa ...
I refer you to livo's post. I thought given your recent woes though that you'd be a bit more receptive to the perils of the junk in your food. The problem is that these additives are long-acting so the results are usually only felt many years after indulging. Bit late for you but in general it's best either not to eat them, I know, easier said than done, or at least attempt to moderate your intake.
Re the Knorr stockpots, I've had the chicken ones and find them too salty and way too expensive for what they are. The Kallo cubes are less salty and I suspect is why they do not score better with you. Haven't tried the lamb stockpots but will in due course (if I can see them on a deal).
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The Stock Pots are sold out here under the brand Continental, but for all intents and purposes they are the same and even the associated website is strikingly similar to the Knorr site. I have tried the Chicken variety, and they were quite good but too expensive for what they are. We have a low salt version of the Chicken as well but, we don't have the Lamb version here unless purchased through eBay or Amazon at stupid prices.