Having discovered that I could now cook lamb biryani, I set about making another one today, but this time with no cheating involved. First step was to cut a 1/2 leg NZ lamb into curry-sized pieces, and then very gently cook the lamb in a mixture of re-used pre-cook sauce and recycled Madras curry sauce. When the lamb was tender, I removed it from the heat and left it to cool, then lifted each piece out in turn and put them all into a large Chinese takeaway container.
This evening I started by gently bhooning a finely-cut 1/2 red onion, a couple of pieces of Chinese cinnamon bark, about 2/3 Indian bay leaf, half a dozen green cardamom, one star anise and a few cloves in a small amount of ghee and rape-seed oil. When the onion had softened, I added 4/5 large cup of basmati rice (unwashed) and turned it until all the grains were coated with the seasoned oil, then left the rice to cook for a few minutes, occasionally turning it again and pressing it gently down into the seasoned oil & ghee.
While the rice was gently cooking I prepared a potli ka masala containing one black cardamom, some real cinnamon, some green cardamom seeds (not pods), cumin seed, caraway seed, fennel seed, anise seed, mace and panch phoran (probably more of the latter than of any of the individual spices). I tied the potli ka masala and placed it in the bottom of a Pyrex casserole, then poured a little boiling water over it to moisten the spices, poured on the rice/onion/whole spice mixture and gently pressed it down to gauge the height. I then added some salt and covered the rice with boiling water to a depth excess of about 1/3".
The rice was then cooked with the lid on in a microwave oven at 100% for 12 minutes, after which it was removed and about 16 pieces of the pre-cooked lamb laid on the top. Each piece of lamb was then covered with a small spoon of its own sauce to keep it moist, and the lamb & rice gently folded in together.
Into a conventional oven (again with the lid on) at about 90C for half an hour, then out from the oven and a few drops of three liquid food colourings (red, yellow, green) added, each colour in just one spot. Back into the oven for another 30 minutes, then out again and the colours gently distributed throughout the rice. Finally garnished with a little dried fried red onion and some freshly chopped coriander.
Taste was superb, lamb was beautifully tender, but had gone a little dry. To compensate for this I spooned a little of the sauce in which it had been cooked over each piece of lamb, and that restored the missing moisture.
All in all a very satisfactory meal, and a pleasant change from my normal chicken Madras.
** Phil.
Topic: No cheating Gosht ki Biryani ( 12,112 )
