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[Opening jingle]
Assalaamu Alaikum and welcome to Titli's Busy Kitchen with me Titli Nihaan.
I haven't done a Biryani for some time and I woke up this morning what that Biryani in motion.
I'm gonna do a Lamb Biryani today and for those of you hoping to see a packet mix...
Here it is!
Go away.
Go away. [packet drops]
Here's my jamboree of ingredients for Lamb Biryani.
I've got 500 g of lamb that I've cut into quite big chunks,
3 large onions - very thinly sliced,
1 large or 1 and a half medium tomatoes - quite well chopped,
half a cup of fresh coriander and a quarter of a cup of fresh mint - both chopped.
Do try and get fresh mint if you can. It DOES make a difference.
Half a cup of plain yoghurt,
2 green chillies that I've chopped quite coarsely,
4 teaspoons of garlic and ginger paste,
half a stick of cinnamon that I've just broken up into little pieces.
Here I've got 2 bay leaves and 2 brown cardamoms that I've cracked open and
3 green cardamoms that I've cracked open
together with 4 cloves and 4 black peppercorns.
Finally, I've got a teaspoon each of salt and chilli powder and half a teaspoon of black cumin seeds.
I've heated 2 tablespoons of ghee in a pan and I'm gonna add in the onions
and I'll fry these until they're quite dark.
I've been stir-frying these on a medium heat now for about 15 minutes and they're starting to caramelise so I'll just turn the heat off
and scoop these out with a spoon.
I've heated another tablespoon of ghee in a pan and I'm gonna add in
the bay leaves, cardamoms, cloves and peppercorns,
the cinnamon
and the garlic and ginger paste and I'm just gonna fry this for a minute.
Oh, I love that smell!
Now I'm gonna add in the meat,
the chilli powder, salt and black cumin.
I'll stir-fry this to brown the meat.
Once the meat is nicely browned on all sides,
we'll add in the remaining ingredients:
tomatoes,
the yoghurt,
the coriander, the mint
and the chillies
and about two-thirds of the onions. We're gonna keep a third back for garnishing later.
I'm gonna stir this altogether.
Bring it back to the boil
then turn the heat right down so it's on a very gentle simmer
and you're gonna cook this until the meat is done
and there's gonna be very little gravy.
This could take 30 minutes to an hour, depending upon your meat.
Do remember to stir from time to time, won't you?
This has been cooking for about an hour. The lamb is lovely and tender. There's very little gravy left
so I'm gonna turn off the heat
and just remove this from this pan into a bowl.
Now then. Pay attention! This is important!
I've got 500 g of basmati rice and I soaked this in cold water for 20 minutes.
I've got a pan of cold water here and I'm gonna add my drained rice into the pan
and just bring it to the boil.
Once the rice comes to the boil,
give it a stir
and then cook for 1 minute
and drain.
So now I've got a pan of part-cooked rice.
I've cleaned out my large pan and I'm gonna put about a third of the rice into the base of the pan.
Spread it around.
Now add on about half of the meat mixture
in a separate layer.
Spread that around too.
Add another layer of half the remaining rice
then the remaining meat.
Finally, the remaining rice for a final layer.
Finally, I'm just gonna add in a few drops of red food colouring onto the top layer.
Now I'm gonna cover this and put it in a very, very low heat
for about 15 to 20 minutes to finish cooking the rice.
After 15 or 20 minutes, open up.
Stir and serve.
Garnish with fried onion and a little bit of coriander and serve with slices of lemon. Hm..hm!
The succulent lamb and the whole earthy spices and the picant-ness of the chilli
make for a really delicious dish where every mouthful is just slightly different from the last one.
Join me next time in Titli's Busy Kitchen with me Titli Nihaan.
Until next time... Khuda hafiz.
[Closing jingle]