Biriyani ( My style)

Biriani/Biriyani  is a very special dish and no doubt  an exciting dish in my home, when I was a child we used to eat Biriani may be 2 or 3 times a year only, you will always find a Biriani dish on very special occasions such Eid, wedding, birthday lunches etc. This very famous dish I believe is adapted from the Indian subcontinent I would say coz at one time they were one nation although now every country claims that theirs is the best, and so is every restaurant , every home and like wise I claim that mine is the very best.

Biriani is a one meal dish, its rice and meat cooked separately ( some do it together ) and are put together in layers, its a very aromatic and flavorful meal.

For those who have cooked this dish will always argue with me to say this is not Zanzibari or Indian or which ever....Having lived in Africa, India and Middle East I have come up with my own style of Biriani using the Zanzibari basics and adding herbs and more flavorful spices (more Indian way) The secret to getting a good Biriani is the onions, make sure you do not over fry them, once they get too dark , you loose the taste there. The quantity of the onions is also very important if you have less then you get very dry Biriani and too much you will have your rice soaked in the sauce and sometimes becomes too mushy. Its taken me along time to put this recipe in right measurements coz I usually eyeball most of the ingredients as per my taste buds, so here we go and I hope I will be as accurate and feel free to add or omit whatever tickles your fancy.

Please don't be intimidated by the list of spices down here, to me this is one of the easiest dish to make when I have guest coz I prep my meat a day in advance and you just let slow cook on the actual day. The onions can be fried earlier and wrap them tightly and freeze them.

For the marinade   Serves: 05  For the Meat/Mutton/Lamb Marinade  2 Pound Mutton/Beef (preferably with bones) 4 table spoons yogurt 4 table spoons tomato paste 3 medium red onions or 3 ½ cups golden fried sliced onions 3 tbsp Garlic and ginger paste 2 lemons 1/2  bunch coriander leaves 1/4 bunch mint leaves 1 Green whole chilies (optional) 2 table (tbl) spoons biryani spices (home made) or garam masala 2 table (tbl) spoon salt (or as per your taste) 3 cups vegetable oil for frying the onions Potatoes (optional) Method: Slice the onions into thin rings and fry them to crispy gold. Drain and cool them into kitchen paper towel. If you are using potatoes, you can fry them now, after the onions  are done   Get the garlic, ginger, green peppers (optional) or you can remove the seeds, mint, garlic and grind them together to a fine paste , I used a chopper If you are marinating overnight, I suggest you use a freezer bag or glass large bowl , add the meat and crush some fried onions with your hands into crumbles ( or you can put them on food processor and pulse for few seconds . Combine into meat and add all the above ingredients ,except the potatoes ( Alternatively you can put all the ingredients for marinade in a blender and use the pulse button to mix , pour the blended sauce into the meat and marinade) Put the marinated meat  into a heavy bottom pan and add ½ cup of oil ( use the oil used from the fried onions) if not, you can use fresh oil cover it well and slow cook for about 2 hours or until the meat is tender and the oil has separated from the masala(roast, sauce). Add the fried potatoes into your meat pot may be 10 mins before you remove it from the stove so that way the potatoes will get combined with the sauce and also if they are not well cooked they can be cooked well. Remove the cooked meat and pour it in a separate container, pan etc. Drain out the extra oil from the meat and keep it separately. Use the same pan to cook the rice, do not rinse it. You will have some grease/oil in cooked meat, use a spoon to drain and keep in aside you will need it  for the rice  Variation: You can use the same ingredients and method for chicken but reduce the yogurt to 2 table spoons and marinating time to about 1n hour only. For the rice;  Wash and soak the rice with  2 Tbls salt for at least 20 minutes before cooking  Soak saffron in rose water for 30 minutes before cooking  3 cups basmati rice {Indian LONG grain rice} 2 sticks cinnamon 5 pods cardamom 3 cloves ½ Cup golden fried onions ½ bunch coriander 1 ½ table spoon salt (as per your taste) 1 pinch saffron ¼ cup rose water (optional but recommended) 6-7 cups water.  Method: Bring the water to boil  add some whole cardamom, cinnamon sticks and cloves.  Add drained rice and cook till nearly done (7 to 8 minutes) do not overcook. Drain the rice and leave it uncovered. Sprinkle 2 table spoons rose water onto the rice. Divide the cooked rice into 2 portions . LAYERING THE BIRIYANI You can use the same pot used above or any oven proof serving dish. In the serving dish, sparkle little oil extracted from the meat, put some put the first 1/2 portion and spingle some saffron mix and  the oil from the cooked meat This is how I like to do mine but if you wish you may go ahead and mix part of the rice or all of the rice with saffron so its all yellow. I like mine like this coz I get 3/4 colors coz I get white, yellow, orange and brownish Layer the meat nicely on top of the rice, then sprinkle some fried onions and cilantro . Layer the rest of the  rice over it sprinkle some cilantro, mint and fried onions, heat the oil ( you used to fry the onions) and drizzle about 3/5 table spoons over rice , cove it   well with foil and cook it in the oven at 300F for about 30-45 minutes. Garnish with golden fried onions and chopped coriander and serve hot. You can add some boiled eggs for more colorful meal....serve it with your favourite salad ,  in addition to that I love tos erve it with kachumbari and raita ( yogurt with mint, cucumber and onions ) karibuni!!!