Add the onions and tomatoes, process until smooth, and scrape into a bowl that will hold all the lamb and fit in your fridge. It will be partially cooked—if you break a grain of rice, you will see an outer translucent ring and a tiny, opaque inner ring. Tejal Rao’s 10 Essential Indian Recipes. If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment. In others, the meat is cooked separately, as I do in this recipe; this is called the "pakki" method (pakki is Hindi for "cooked"). You can use either Greek yogurt or regular plain yogurt for marinating the meat; I haven’t noticed any differences between the two, but you will need to add about an extra half cup of water or stock if you use Greek yogurt to ensure you have enough cooking liquid. Lamb biryani is best served immediately, but will keep in an airtight container for up to one week in the refrigerator. Prop Stylist: Paige Hicks. Reduce heat to low, cover with lid, and cook for 30 to 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the lamb is completely tender. His first cookbook, Season: Big Flavors, Beautiful Food, was a finalist for a James Beard Foundation award and an International Association of Culinary Professionals award. Biryani is a South Asian one-pot dish in which lamb, mutton, beef, chicken, seafood, or a mixture of vegetables is layered with rice. Christopher Testani for The New York Times. NYT Cooking is a subscription service of The New York Times. In a medium bowl, mix the yogurt, garlic, ginger, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt until combined, pour the yogurt mixture over the lamb, seal the bag, and shake the bag to coat the lamb well. Using your hands, pull apart the fried onions to separate to prevent them from sticking together, and set aside. In this version, which might seem a bit restrained, I reserve some of the browned onions and add those as a garnish over the rice before I steam it, but you can do a lot more. Mix everything together and leave the lamb to marinate for an hour. Once the meat and rice are layered together, the entire pot is sealed tight with a double layer of aluminum foil. Reduce the heat to its lowest setting, cover the casserole dish and leave to simmer for 1 1/2 hours (the lamb should not be completely tender at this point), Meanwhile, prepare the rice, milk and garnish. Hyderabadi biryani of vegetables in a pumpkin shell, To begin, melt 30g of ghee in a large flameproof casserole dish over a medium-high heat. The dish is pervasive, with many modern interpretations and regional permutations rooted in Muslim communities of the subcontinent. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl marinate the lamb with all marinated ingredients leaving a little bit of the fried onion for the top of the biryani. Place half the saffron threads in a mortar and pestle and grind to a fine powder. There are two more aromatic ingredients of significance added to the biryani: rosewater and pandan (also called screwpine or kewra) water. Place the basmati rice in a large container and cover with several inches of cool water; let stand 30 … Let’s take a closer look at what makes a biryani so special. 2. These are sprinkled over the rice just before it steams, and the combination results in a highly fragrant biryani. When testing the recipe, I was curious to see if marinating the meat in yogurt affected the time needed for the lamb to become tender, and, on average, marinating the meat in yogurt and salt overnight in the refrigerator cut back my cooking time by at least an hour. Get recipes, tips and NYT special offers delivered straight to your inbox. This Sindhi-style biryani is the one I make for special Sunday lunches and parties. As it's such a time-consuming dish, Colin recommends completing steps 1–7 a day in advance to save time on the day of serving. Stir in the garam masala and taste, adjusting with salt and chile powder as needed. Stir to mix well, increase the heat to medium-high, and bring liquid to a boil. The ground Kashimiri chile can be replaced with a combination of 3/4 teaspoon ground smoked sweet paprika and 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne. Yogurt is a mixture of lactic acid, fat, enzymes, and proteins, all of which work in concert to tenderize the meat and imbue it with flavor. Remove half of the caramelized onions and reserve to use as garnish for the biryani. Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. Add the yogurt, mint, cilantro, coriander, cumin, chile powder, turmeric and salt, and stir to combine. Hyderabad is famous for its style of biryani, which traditionally involves a layer of raw meat and gravy that cooks the rice as it steams in a tightly sealed pot. In India, you’re just as likely to have biryani as a lunchtime delivery at the office as you are to see it as a stunning centerpiece at a wedding feast. Stir in the meat, its marinade and 1 cup water, and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Pick over the the rice for any debris, then place it in a fine mesh strainer and rinse under cold running water, until the runoff is no longer cloudy; drain well. While the biryani can be served with plain unsweetened yogurt, my carrot raita would also be a wonderful accompaniment to this dish. Sometimes the raw meat is cooked with the rice; this is called the "kacchi" method (kacchi is Hindi for "raw"). (Onions are rich in long chains or polymers called fructans, made up of the sugar fructose, and also contain glucose and fructose.) Stir well and cook for 3 minutes, transfer to a colander in the sink to drain. Biryani is a celebration of aroma, color, and flavor, with perfectly cooked, fluffy grains of scented basmati rice and tender chunks of spiced lamb. The classic method involves creating a seal by caking a simple dough around the cooking vessel’s lid, but the foil method (which is what I’ve shared here) suffices (and, admittedly, this is the method I use often). Garnish the top of the rice with the reserved caramelized onions. Remove from the oven and let stand for 5 minutes. Put the lid on the pot of rice, transfer to the oven and bake until piping hot, about 1 hour. Add a rating: Comments can take a minute to appear—please be patient! Meanwhile, as the lamb cooks, prepare the rice. Flour tortillas that are airy, tender, and subtly sweet. Prepare the fried onions: In a Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat the oil over medium. Opt out or, green finger chiles (or serrano chiles), stems removed, medium yellow onions, peeled and quartered, teaspoon Kashmiri chile powder, plus more as needed, teaspoons kosher salt, plus more as needed, pounds lamb chops (or boneless or bone-in lamb shoulder pieces), (1/2-inch) Indian cinnamon sticks, or 1 large cinnamon stick, cup neutral oil, such as grapeseed or canola, cups mixed fresh cilantro and mint leaves. (Interestingly, 2-AP is also present in the pandan water used to add aromatic complexity to biryanis). Add lamb and fry for 3-4 minutes, until browned. In a large saucepan, combine rice with 4 cups cold water, lemon juice, the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, the remaining 2 green cardamom pods, and the remaining 2 teaspoons of ghee or oil and bring to a boil over medium heat. A heavy Dutch oven or saucepan with a heavy bottom with a heavy lid works great; however, a clay pot with a lid can also be used. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat is tender and the sauce is very thick and dark, about 2 1/2 hours, adjusting the heat as needed to maintain a low simmer. Almost 20 years on and he has fulfilled that ambition and much more besides. Add the ginger, garlic, turmeric and chilli powder and stir around for 3 minutes, until aromatic, Add the chicken stock and coriander and bring to the boil. The next important stage of flavor development is the browning of the onions. Have you cooked this recipe? From a cook’s and a science standpoint, I find biryanis to be interesting because their emphasis lies in carefully building up layers of aromas and flavors and celebrating combinations of textures and colors—in a good biryani, every aspect of the dish is splendidly executed. Using a slotted spoon, transfer fried onions to a paper towel-lined plate. Set the onions to one side, Wipe out the frying pan with kitchen paper and heat the remaining oil in it. The result is a highly aromatic and colorful dish of meat and rice. Biryanis comprise a category of highly aromatic rice and meat dishes, typically served during special occasions; when I was growing up my family would eat biryani during the festival of Eid or at other celebrations. Spices, like cardamom, cinnamon, and mace, and fresh herbs, like cilantro and mint, imbue the meat with their aromas as it cooks. The first step in preparing my lamb biryani involves marinating the meat in a mixture of yogurt, salt, ginger, and garlic in the refrigerator overnight. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a small saucepan placed over low heat, warm the milk just until it starts to bubble, then turn off the heat. These giant cookies aren't for the faint of heart. Regardless of the method, aromas are infused into the meat and the rice using a combination of spices, herbs, and extracts, while saffron threads and turmeric add bright hues of orange and yellow to the otherwise white backdrop of long-grain rice. Work in batches if necessary so you don’t overcrowd the pan, Wipe out the casserole with kitchen paper and melt the remaining ghee over a medium heat. Place the lamb in a 1 gallon (3.8L) ziptop bag. 2 pounds (910g) boneless leg of lamb, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1-inch (2cm) cubes, 6 medium garlic cloves, peeled and finely grated, One 2–inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated, 3 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt, divided; if using table salt, use half as much by volume, 2 large yellow or white onions (26 ounces; 750g total), sliced thinly, 5 green cardamom pods, lightly cracked, divided, 1 teaspoon ground Kashmiri chili (see note), 1 cup (240ml) water or low-sodium stock (lamb, beef, or chicken), 1 bunch fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems, chopped, 1 fresh green chile, such as a serrano or Thai bird, minced, 2 teaspoons pandan (kewra/screwpine) water (see note).