Kerala fish biryani

Recipe adapted from here

Fish- 500 gms (any firm, fleshy fish like salmon, tilapia can be used, but ideally King fish, which is what I've used)

To marinate

Kashmiri chilli powder- 2 tsp

Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp

Lemon juice- 1/2 tbsp

Salt- to taste

Oil- enough to shallow fry the fish

For fish masala

Ghee- 1 tbsp

Oil- 1 tbsp (use leftover oil from frying the fish)

Onions- 3 medium, thinly sliced

Ginger- 1 large piece, around 1/2 tbsp

Garlic- 6 to 8 pods

Green chillies- 2 to 3 (increase as per heat level)

Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp

Garam masala- 1/2 tsp

Kashmiri chilli powder- 1 tsp

Freshly ground black pepper- 1/2 tsp

Tomato- 1 1/2 finely chopped (if they are small use two, mine was pretty big)

Coriander leaves- 1/2 cup 

Mint leaves- 1/4 cup 

Yoghurt- 1 1/2 tbsp

Thick coconut milk- 1/4 cup (this is purely optional, i love the coconut milk taste)

Warm water-  3/4th cup

Salt- to taste

For the rice

Basmati rice- 2 1/2 cups

Cinnamon- 1 inch stick

Cardamom- 4 pods

Cloves- 4

Bay leaf- 1

Ghee- 1 tsp

Lemon juice- 1 tbsp

Water- enough to cook the rice

Salt- generously

To layer

Cashew nuts- a handful

Onion- 1 small, thinly sliced

Coriander leaves- 2 tbsp

Mint leaves- 1 tbsp

Ghee- 2 tbsp + enough to fry the cashew and onion

Coconut milk- 5 tbsp

Cut the fish into relatively large slices and wash and clean with salt and vinegar to remove some of the smell.

Marinate with all the ingredients under the marinate section and keep aside for about 20 minutes.

Also wash the rice and soak in water for around 20 minutes.

Crush the ginger, garlic and green chillies in a blender or using a pestle and mortar.

Heat some ghee in a shallow pan and fry the cashew nuts first till golden brown followed by the onions, also to a golden brown and drain on to paper towels. Be careful to not burn them. (I used red onions which is why they look almost black, but they are not burnt :)

Heat oil in a pan and shallow fry the fish, in batches if needed. You dont need to completely cook the fish, just crisp them on the outside. Drain on to paper towel and keep aside.

Heat ghee and some of the oil from frying the fish in a large pan.

Saute the onions with a little bit of salt, till they turn light golden. Make sure you cook the onions properly or they will turn the curry sweet.

Add the crushed ginger garlic chilli paste and cook till the raw smell disappears.

In goes the turmeric, chilli, garam masala, pepper powder and salt. Cook them for a couple of minutes and add a dash of water if you feel the masala is dry.

Stir in the chopped tomatoes, 1/4 cup water and cook it covered till the oil slightly starts to appear around the edges. 

in goes the coriander and mint leaves, mix well.

Add the yoghurt and mix it all well.

Add the coconut milk and around 1/2 cup water and mix very well. Check salt and add if needed.

Slowly add the fish pieces and cover with the masala as carefully as possible without breaking the fish. Add a bit more water if you feel that the masala is too thick.

Cook for about 5 to 6 minutes uncovered, till the gravy has thickened and the fish pieces are smothered all over the fish.

Keep this masala aside while you sort out the rice.

While the fish is cooking in the masala, put enough water to boil along with the whole spices.

The pot used should be big enough and water quantity quite a bit.

Add salt in such a way that the water tastes salty, only then will the rice taste nice.

Once the water comes to a rolling boil, pour in the lemon juice and then carefully add the drained rice into it. Mix well.

Now this is the tricky part- cooking the rice till its only 3/4th done.

With the basmati rice i used, i got to this stage at 8 minutes. Do not over cook the rice and then it turns into a mushy biryani.

Add the ghee and give a good stir and then drain.

What i did was instead of draining it into the colander, i used a sieve to scoop the rice out of the water and put into the colander so there wasnt a lot of water that needed to be drained as i was time constrained.

Assembly:
Generously grease a large pan with ghee, up the sides as well and place a layer of the fish and masala (as even as possible).
Top with half the rice, again as evenly as possible and sprinkle half of the coconut milk on the rice.
Sprinkle half the mint and coriander leaves and the fried cashew and onion over the rice and finally drizzle half the ghee as well.
Top with the remaining fish and masala followed by rice layer with all the leftover toppings.
Cover with foil and close with a tight fitting lid.
You can either do the usual dum process on the stove top for about 20-25 minutes on low heat or do it in the oven, which is what i did, at 180c for 25 minutes. (While the rice is draining, you can preheat the oven)
Once done, keep to slightly cool for about 10 minutes and then dig in.

Notes: I made the fish masala the previous day and that made life so much easier. I also felt that the masalas were caught on to the fish much better.
I used my Le Creuset for the entire process and it was a breeze, it went from stove top to oven to table t refrigerator.

Chettinad chicken biryani

Recipe adapted from here

 

Chicken- 1 kg, without skin, but with bone and cut into medium size pieces

To marinate

Greek yoghurt- 1/2 cup

Ginger garlic paste- 1 heaped tsp

Green chilli- 1, finely chopped

Garam masala- 1 tsp

Salt- to taste

For the rice

Basmati rice- 3 cups, washed till water runs clear (refer notes)

Coconut milk- 2 cups

Water- 3 cups

Lime juice- 1 tbsp

Salt- to taste

For the masala

Ghee- 3 tbsp

Cardamom- 4 pods

Cinnamon- 2 inch stick

Cloves- 4

Bay leaf- 1

Star anise- 1

Onions- 3 medium, finely chopped

Thai green chilly- 2, slit in half (add more if you want it spicy)

Ginger garlic paste- 1 tbsp

Tomato- 2 medium, finely chopped

Chilli powder- 2 tsp

Coriander powder- 2 tsp

Turmeric powder- 1 tsp

Mint leaves- 1/4 cup, roughly chopped

Coriander leaves- 1/2 cup, roughly chopped

Marinate the chicken with all the ingredients in that section for a minimum of at least an hour. I marinated it the previous night.

Mix together the coconut milk and water and soak the washed rice in  it when you begin to start prepping the biryani.

For the gravy, heat a large pot over medium heat and melt the ghee

Into it add the whole spices and when they start smelling great, throw in the onions and green chilly.

Saute and cook till the onions turn a light golden brown at which point you add the ginger garlic paste.

Mix well and cook till the raw smell disappears.

Add the tomatoes, cover with a lid and cook till the oil starts appearing around the edges. 

In goes the chilli, coriander and turmeric powder. Add a dash of water if needed and cook for about 2 minutes.

Mix in the mint and coriander leaves and then tip in the marinated chicken. Mix well.

Cover and cook for about 10 minutes, till water starts coming out. Don't add any water.

Pour in the coconut milk mix from the rice into the pot (without the rice of course), mix well, increase heat to high and bring the mix to a boil.
After boiling for about 5 minutes, add the rice, lime juice and enough salt into the water. The salt should stand out a bit, as only then will your biryani have the right amount of salt once cooked.
Close with a tight lid, reduce heat to low and cook for about 25 minutes.
Make sure no steam escapes. If you don't have a tight lid, wrap the lid with foil so it fits tightly.
Once the time is up, and all the water has been absorbed, do a taste test from the rice right on top. If its cooked then remove from heat, if not, cook for a further 5 minutes.
Drizzle some ghee on top and cover with lid and keep aside for about 10 minutes and then serve hot with a side of raita, pickle and pappadom.

Notes: I use a variety of basmati rice called golden sella which is more resilient to cooking and doesn't break or become mushy as easily as basmati. I always end up with a mushy mess when i use basmati for biryani and so started using sella after i tasted a really good biryani using this rice at the famous Kadiris in London.
If using basmati, follow same method, but you would know the cooking time for your rice and amount of water, so adjust accordingly. I know this is pretty vague info, so ill try it with a normal basmati next time and update.
Use good quality coconut milk, the thick creamy one, as coconut milk powder will not bring out the taste that well.
I need to perfect this recipe a bit more, as the flavour hasn't come out the way i expected. I shall update it as and when i try it again.

Kerala beef biryani & Christmas traditions

 

Christmas is a month away- A MONTH AWAY- can you believe that?

Its too early to whine about resolutions and how fast this year went by,which i shall keep for my New Year post, so lets talk about food, and Christmas family traditions.

Christmas is a big deal for us back home, something i thoroughly miss after we moved to UK. Although we have tried to do something or the other on Christmas day with friends who are around, its never the same without family. Christmas was spent with cousins and aunts and uncles and started pretty early with a church service at the wee hours of the morning. Droopy eyed we'd still go to church without much fuss because we know we'd get to open presents after. After church we'd all go over to my paternal grandparents house where my grand mother would have prepared a breakfast fit for the kings. But before we sat down to breakfast we'd open all our gifts, which of course was the most favourite part. Breakfast would be elaborate with a Kerala special called appam (hoppers as its commonly known here) served with chicken or mutton stew and there would also be loads of sides like boiled eggs, steamed plantains and this and that. I cant ever remember my grand mother entertaining guests with just two or three dishes, she'd go all out, and every one of them delicious.

We'd have relatives or friends dropping by and they would all be given fruit cake (equivalent of the Christmas pudding) and home made sweet sweet wine. Lunch would follow soon after with a biryani and a side of raita, pappadum, cutlets (croquettes), fish fry etc etc. All home made. It would stretch on for a couple of hours, with non stop banter, Christmas carols in the background, and finally end with dessert which would either be a payasam (which is a sweet milk pudding with vermicelli) or caramel custard or something similar. We'd all be stuffed by then and would be calling dibs on which sofa or bed we'd want to plonk on.

 

These are all such fond memories of home during Christmas. Its not the same now. Of course the appam and the biryani's are all very much omnipresent, but its no longer a big gathering with cousins and family as we are all spread around the world now. I feel terribly home sick around Christmas time and give Ro quite a hard time about it.

Beef biryani is not something that is made on Christmas day- its usually a chicken or a mutton biryani- but i thought I'd give a twist to tradition with a beef version, which is just as good. The recipe may look long and a bit intimidating for first timers, but its actually not that cumbersome, especially if you manage to make the beef curry a day or two in advance. Do read my notes.

Every family has a Christmas tradition, but if you are looking for something different this time around, then check out the Waitrose Christmas page which has a round up of traditions from around the world accompanied by recipes (Mixing Gorgonzola cheese with Prosecco, now that's a combination i thought never existed!).

Food, in the end, in our own tradition, is something holy. Its not about nutrients and calories. Its about sharing. Its about honesty, its about identity.' Louise Fresco

Kerala Beef Biryani (Serves 4 to 5 generously, as part of main) 

 

To marinate

Beef- 1 kg, diced

Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp

Garam masala- 1 tsp

Pepper powder- 1 tsp

Yoghurt- 4 tbsp

Salt- to taste

For the masala

Oil- 2 tbsp

Onions- 2 large, roughly chopped

Curry leaves- 2 sprigs

Ginger- 2 1/2 tbsp, peeled and roughly chopped

Garlic- 2 1/2 tbsp, peeled and roughly chopped

Green chillies- 3 to 4 (increase or decrease as per tolerance level)

Tomatoes- 2, finely chopped

Garam masala- 1 tsp

Chilli powder- 1 1/2 tsp

Coriander powder- 2 tsp

Fennel powder- 1/2 tsp

Biryani masala powder- 1 tsp (optional)

Mint leaves- 1/4 cup, finely chopped

Coriander leaves- 1/2 cup, finely chopped

Water- 1/2 to 3/4th cup

Khus Khus (white poppy seeds)- 1 tbsp, soaked in water

For the rice

Ghee- 2 tbsp

Cloves- 5 pods

Cardamom- 5 pods

Cinnamon- 2, 1 inch sticks

Star anise- 1

Bay leaves- 2

Basmati rice- 3 1/2 cups (I used Tilda long grain rice)

Water- 7 to 8 cups

Salt- to taste

Lemon juice- 1/2 tbsp

For garnishing

Ghee- 3 tbsp

Onions- 1/4 cup, julienned

Cashew nuts- 2 tbsp

Coriander leaves- 1/4 cup

Marinate the beef with all the ingredients under the 'to marinate' section. Keep aside while you prepare the remaining ingredients.

Grind together the ginger, garlic and green chillies.

Soak the khus khus in water for about 15 minutes, and grind to a smooth paste. Keep aside.

Wash and soak the rice in cold water for about 30 minutes.

Also get the garnish ingredients ready by heating the ghee in a pan and frying the onions and cashew nuts, separately till they turn golden brown and crispy. Drain on paper towels and keep aside.

Into a pressure cooker pour the ghee. 

Keeping the heat on medium, add the chopped onions and curry leaves and cook till they turn a light brown in colour. This could take around 10 to 12 minutes.
Add the crushed ginger-garlic-chilli paste and continue cooking till the raw smell disappears.

Add the tomato and cook till they turn mushy and the oil starts to slightly separate.

Stir in all the spice powders- garam masala, chilli powder, coriander powder, fennel powder and biryani masala (if using).
Season with salt, saute for about 2 minutes, and then tip in the marinated beef and all its juices.

Add the mint and coriander leaves, give a good stir and then pour in about 1/2 cup water. 

Bring to a boil, and close the cooker.
Put the weights on once the steam comes and cook the beef on medium heat for about 4 to 5 whistles or till the beef is completely cooked.
Wait for the steam to die on its own and then open the lid.
If you feel the gravy is too loose, then slow cook it till you feel its thick-ish. Alternatively, if you feel there is not enough gravy then add some more water. Remember you need enough water to mix with the rice and make it moist.
Stir in the ground khus khus, check for salt, add more if needed and take the meat off heat.

 

While the beef is cooking get the rice ready.

In a large pot (enough to hold around 8 cups of water) heat the ghee.

Throw in the whole spices and sauté for a couple of seconds, just to get the aromas going, on medium heat. Put a kettle of water to boil at this point.

Add the drained rice and fry for a couple of seconds.

Add about 7 to 8 cups of water to the rice followed by salt and lemon juice. Stir well and wait for it to boil on high heat.
Once the water starts boiling, time it and cook the rice to an almost al dente form, for about 6 to 8 minutes maximum on a rolling boil.
Keep stirring in between, but make sure the rice doesn't break and get over cooked.
Drain immediately into a colander.

To assemble, smear the bottom of a large heavy bottomed pan with ghee. Use left over ghee from frying the cashew and onions.
Spread a layer of rice and then sprinkle half a tsp each of the chopped coriander leaves, fried onions and cashew over the rice
Top with a layer of the beef curry. Spread it out as gently as possible.

Tip in the remaining rice, spread it out and sprinkle the remaining biryani masala powder and coriander leaves. Continue the layers till you run out of both, but with the rice layer right at the top.

Close with a tight lid, making sure no steam escapes, reduce heat to the lowest possible and let it warm up for about 10-15 minutes.

When done, scatter around the remaining fried onions and cashews and serve hot with some raita, pappad and pickle.

 

Notes: The beef curry can be made a day or two in advance, refrigerated and used as required for the biryani. In fact its a better option because the curry would taste absolutely delicious once the masalas have caught on.
The rice i use got cooked to perfection in exactly 5 minutes, so keep a close watch and make sure you don't over cook it. If you can comfortable with the absorption method with the exact quantity of water used, please do that instead
It is a spicy one, so reduce the green chillies to 2 if you are not a spice fan. I used birds eye chilli
If you can get hold of beef on the bone, nothing like it. I shall do so the next time.

Instead of using the biryani masala powder you can also use normal curry powder in its place.

You can do the layering in the oven as well. Arrange it in an oven proof bowl and warm in an oven preheated at 150C for about 20 minutes.
Freeze the remaining biryani in a freezer proof container. To thaw, either transfer it to the top compartment of the fridge and let it thaw over night or take it out and leave on the counter for it to thaw by evening. Tip the contents into an over proof bowl and let it heat in an oven preheated at 200C for about 15 minutes. 
If you don't own a pressure cooker, you can slow cook the beef in a heavy bottomed pan till done. Just keep a check on it at intervals, keep stirring in between and add water as required.

Tomato and shallot raita

 

Yoghurt- 1 cup
Green chilli- 1/2 of one, finely chopped
Chaat masala- 1/2 to 1 tsp + enough to garnish
Salt- to taste
Tomato- 1 small, finely chopped
Shallot- 1 small, finely chopped
Coriander leaves- 1 tsp

Add a few table spoons of water to the yoghurt and whisk to make it a bit loose.
Stir in the salt, chaat masala and green chilli
Add the tomato and shallots, give it a good stir and just before serving garnish with coriander leaves and a generous sprinkle of chaat masala.

With thanks to Waitrose online for sending me a Waitrose gift card which I used to purchase my ingredients. 

Malabar chicken biryani

I am not sure if I have mentioned this before, but I love biryani, in any form that is. Even if its a horrible one, I can pretty much enjoy it with gusto which actually doesn't make me the best judge of a biryani, but surely I can say the difference between a good one and a bad :)

I have been wanting to make a Thalassery/ Malabar biryani for a long time now, and last weekend I was finally able to do so. Thanks to experts from the region, like Shab, a quick text to her and she gave me detailed instructions as to how to go about it. I am very pleased with the way the biryani turned out and like I mentioned before, I am a sucker for any kind of biryani and this was no different. If you insist I still give you a verdict, I'd say I prefer biryani's with some more masala and such, unlike this one which uses very little of the masala's. I understand that in the authentic Thalassery biryani, the only masala used is the special garam masala mix and nothing else, which is also the reason behind the biryani colour I suppose (did I just comment on the biryani colour?????). Also a special type of rice called the Jeerakashaala is used for the authentic Thalassery biryani, something I couldn't get my hands on, but basmati rice worked just fine.

The chicken masala was so good on its own, if it wasnt for my enthusiasm to make the biryani, I would have just said, ok its rice and chicken curry for lunch. I would have to give the chicken curry a go some other time, because it seemed  like a perfect curry for chapathis and such. Now before going on to the recipe, I am not claiming it to be the authentic way (before the blog police heads here and leaves nasty comments)- although authentic is a very strong word and different people have different definitions of it. The biryani was spectacular and thats what matters. Both of us enjoyed it to the last bit.

Taking pics of awesome smelling food, especially when you are hungry, is quite torturous and so I haven't really done justice to how great it actually is, so pardon the pics.

Recipe adapted from here and here

For the chicken masala

Chicken- 500 gms (cleaned and cut into medium size pieces)

Ginger- 2 inch piece, peeled and roughly chopped

Garlic- 10 pods, peeled

Green chillies- 3

Lemon juice- 1/2 tbsp

Fennel powder- 2 tsp

Onions- 2 medium ones, chopped fine

Tomato- 1, chopped

Pepper powder- 1/2 tsp

Chilli powder- 1 tsp

Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp

Coriander powder- 1 tbsp

Cumin powder- 1 tsp

Garam masala- 3/4 tsp

Coriander leaves- 1/4 cup, chopped fine

Mint leaves- 3 tbsp, chopped fine

Cashew nuts- 5 to 6

Coconut milk- 100ml

Oil- 3 tbsp

Salt- to taste

For the rice

Basmati rice- 2 cups, washed and drained

Cinnamon- 1 inch piece

Cardamom- 2 pods

Cloves- 2

Nutmeg- a pinch

Bay leaf- 1

Ghee- 1 tbsp, heaped

Water- 4 cups

Salt- to taste

For assembling

Biryani masala powder- 1 tsp 

Cashew nuts- about 6 to 7

Onion- 1/4 cup, julienned

Oil- enough to fry

Coriander leaves- 2 tbsp

 

Grind together coarsely the ginger, garlic and green chillies.

Marinate the chicken pieces with a quarter of the ground mix, lime juice, fennel powder and salt. Keep aside while you prepare the remaining ingredients. You can also marinate it in the refrigerator over night.

Soak the cashew nuts for the chicken masala in the coconut milk and keep aside.

Heat enough oil in a pan and fry the onions and cashew nuts (from the assembling bit) till they turn golden brown and crispy. Drain on paper towels and keep aside.

In a heavy bottomed pan, heat the 3 tbsp of oil. 

Add the chopped onions and the remaining ground mix and cook till they turn a light brown in colour. this could take about 10 to 15 minutes on medium heat.

Add the tomato and cook till they turn mushy and the oil starts to separate.

In goes the marinated chicken pieces and pepper powder. 

Stir in all together, close with a tight fitting lid and let the chicken cook on medium heat. 

Once the chicken is half cooked, add the chilli, turmeric, coriander and cumin powders. Stir well and continue till the chicken is fully cooked.

If there is too much water, leave the pot open and boil it off.

Grind the cashew nuts with coconut milk and add to the chicken once it is fully cooked, making sure the curry doesn't boil, but gently simmers henceforth. You should have a thick gravy by now. 

Also do the salt test and add more if required.

Finally mix in the chopped mint and coriander leaves and let the chicken simmer for about 5 more minutes. 

Then take it off the flame, sprinkle the remaining garam masala on top, close with the lid and keep aside to infuse flavours.

Before layering, give a good stir.

Get the rice ready, once the curry is taken care of.

In a large pan heat the ghee.

Throw in the whole spices and sauté for a couple of seconds, just to get the aromas going, on medium heat. Put a kettle of water to boil at this point.

Add the drained rice and fry for a couple of seconds.

Once the water has boiled, measure 4 cups and add to the rice.

Season with enough salt and close with a tight fitting lid.

Reduce heat to low and let the rice cook for about 10 to 12 minutes or till you can no longer see any water remaining and the rice is cooked but not mushy in consistency.

Remove pan from fire, open the lid and gently fluff the rice using a fork, making sure you don't break up the rice.

Transfer to a separate bowl immediately.

 

Assembling:

Smear the bottom of a pan with oil or ghee and place a layer of rice.

Sprinkle half a tsp of the biryani masala, half of the chopped coriander leaves, fried onions and cashew over the rice and top with the chicken curry. Spread it out as gently as possible.

Tip in the remaining rice, spread it out and sprinkle the remaining biryani masala powder and coriander leaves.

Close with a tight lid, making sure no steam escapes, reduce heat to the lowest possible and let it warm up for about 10-15 minutes.

When done, scatter around the remaining fried onions and cashews and serve hot with some raita, pappad and pickle.

 

Notes: Instead of using the biryani masala powder while doing the layer, you can also use garam masala in its place.

You can do the layering in the oven as well. Arrange it in an oven proof bowl and warm in an oven preheated at 150C for about 20 minutes.

You can make the chicken masala a day or two ahead in which case, the flavours would have infused better.
The chicken masala can be made in a pressure cooker to reduce cooking time. Although Shab advices against it.
Try the exact same recipe with mutton, if you prefer that.

Freeze the remaining biryani in a freezer proof container. To thaw, either transfer it to the top compartment of the fridge and let it thaw over night or take it out and leave on the counter for it to thaw by evening. Tip the contents into an over proof bowl and let it heat in an oven preheated at 200C for about 15 minutes.