Topic: No cheating Gosht ki Biryani

[Peripatetic Phil]

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.

[solarsplace]

Hi Phil

That does indeed all sound splendid and delicious 

But all we have is a wall of text to wade through. Please can you post some pictures?

Thanks

[Peripatetic Phil]

But all we have is a wall of text to wade through. Please can you post some pictures?

Sorry, it was so delicious we ate it all   Worse, both cameras are now packed for the trip to China and Viet Nam, and Khanh will take them with her when she leaves in a few minutes time, so even if I were to re-create it before leaving myself in a week's time, there would be no possibility of photographing it.  Perhaps when we get back (late July).

But for comparison, it looked very like the image below, except that the rice had a slightly brown tinge; whether it picked this up from the sauce that I added, or whether from the whole spices with which it was cooked (particularly the Chinese cinnamon), I am not sure.

** Phil.
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[Peripatetic Phil]

Just a quick follow-up, but in case it slipped notice, the basmati rice in this biryani was completely unwashed, as per Dave Loyden's suggestion in Undercover Curry.  Despite a lifetime's belief that if you don't wash basmati rice it will stick like h@ll, it now seems to me that so long as you gently bhoon it before adding the water, the combination of heat, oil and fat will virtually seal the outside of the rice and prevent it from sticking.

** Phil.