Ingredients: |
Ingredients: 1 kg beef, 750 grams onions, 900grams - 1 kg basmati rice, Shan Bombay biryani or Shan Karachi beef biryani masala packet (get this at Anduluzia Market or taste east market), 3/4 cup oil, Youghurt 500 grams, Ginger garlic/garlic paste, chili powder, turmeric powder (optional), coriander leaves (optional)
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Directions: |
Directions:Part 1: The onions
- Cut your onion in half and slice from root to tip
- Fry all your onions in any neutral-flavored oil until they are golden brown
- Remove them immediately as they will continue to cook, you don't want the onions to get very dark. (golden brown fried onions will taste sweet and nutty).
- Spread the onions in a wide pan/dish and leave to cool. This will allow them to get a little crispy.
- Optional to place paper towels to drain oil.
- Save frying oil for use in the biryani
Part 2: The Beef
- Heat a little bit of oil and add your beef to it. Keep the heat high, we want to lightly fry it and get some color
- Add 2 heaped spoons of ginger garlic paste and continue frying for 2 minutes or till fragrant
- Reduce heat to medium and add 2 heaped spoons or half of your shan biryani masala, 1.5/2 spoons of red chili powder (or to taste), 1 spoon salt, or adjust to taste, 1/2 spoon turmeric powder.
- Fry all till the spices are fragrant for 3 minutes, we want to cook them to remove their raw flavor. Be careful not to burn the spices.
- Once fragrant, remove from heat and add all your yogurt. Whip your yogurt before you add it. Mix until all is combined and there are no yogurt lumps
-Bring back on the stove and increase heat to medium-high, keep mixing till everything comes to a boil.
- Once boiling, add hot water if necessary, we don't want it super soupy, just so most of the beef is submerged. Once everything is boiling again, cook in a pressure cooker or slow cooker until the beef is tender.
- Once tender, add 75 percent of your fried onions from part one and cook till the gravy is thick, this will take about 5 to 10 minutes. Once thick, your gravy is complete. Taste for any salt at this stage, it will have a strong spice-forward flavor but once mixed with the rice it will be balanced.
Part 3: The rice
- Get your 1kg or 4 cups of basmati rice and rinse off the starch. Let it soak in warm water for 10 minutes
- Bring a pot of water to a boil and season water with salt.
- drain your soaking rice and add to boiling water. Cook until the rice is about 75 percent done. You can check this by biting a grain and it will be slightly raw in the middle, kinda like Al dente pasta.
- Once the rice is done, strain water using a strainer and keep to a side.
Part 4: Bringing it together
- In your pot, add 75 percent of your (75 percent cooked) rice and add all the gravy in one layer.
- Add the remaining fried onions on top of the gravy and add the rest of your rice on top covering all the gravy as your final layer.
- Drizzle all your oil from the fried onions on top of the final layer. The idea is that it will seep into the rice in the final step. Add your coriander leaves to garnish on top of the rice.
- Cover the pot with Aluminium making it as air-tight as you can, then cover with the lid. Add any weight on the lid (could be a smaller pot upside down on it, the idea is to make the rice steam in the final step so adding weight will not let a lot of it escape)
- Turn your heat on to low, about a 3.5 on a scale of 1-10, and leave your biryani to steam for a good 13ish minutes. Your heat should not be too high that it burns rice at the bottom but it is okay for them to stick and get a little golden crispy. The idea with this step is to complete the cooking of the rice and let it absorb some of the gravy while they steam.
- After 13ish minutes, remove the lid and foil, careful not to get a steam burn. If done properly, a whiff of steam will arise when you remove the lid and foil, like when you remove the lid of something hot. |
Personal
Notes: |
Personal
Notes: This biryani recipe is a fusion between India's Hyderabadi biryani and Pakistan's Karachi Beef Biryani. Being originally from Pakistan, I have learned the techniques of my roommate's biryani, who is from India, and used spices that remind me of home in a dish that is shared and loved all over the world.
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