Hyderabadi biryani

Raw marinated meat under part-cooked rice in a pot sealed with dough.

Goat. Not vegetarian — contains goat.

Ingredients

500 g basmati rice
1 kg goat meat on the bone, in pieces
400 ml plain yoghurt
4 onions, sliced and fried brown
3 tablespoons ginger and garlic paste
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons chilli powder
2 teaspoons garam masala
6 green cardamom pods
4 black cardamom pods
a 5 cm stick of cinnamon
8 cloves
2 teaspoons caraway seeds, shah zeera
a large pinch of saffron
4 tablespoons warm milk
120 g ghee
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
a large handful of mint leaves
200 g plain flour, for the seal

Method

RAW MARINATED MEAT UNDER PART-COOKED RICE IN A POT SEALED WITH DOUGH. This is the kacchi method, and its article is specific about both the vessel and the difficulty: the meat goes at the bottom of a special degh, LAYERD WITH FRAGRANT BASMATI RICE AND COOKED 'IN DUM' AFTER SEALING THE HANDI (VESSEL) WITH DOUGH, and THIS IS A CHALLENGING PROCESS AS IT REQUIRES METICULOUS ATTENTION TO TIME AND TEMPERATURE.
WHICH IS WHY IT IS HARDER THAN A LAYERED BIRYANI, as on its own page. There the meat is cooked before it goes in and the pot only has to heat through. Here the raw meat and the part-cooked rice have to finish at the same moment, with the lid sealed and nothing visible. Too short and the meat is raw; too long and the rice is paste.
SO THE MARINADE IS LONGER AND STRONGER. Yoghurt, ginger, garlic, lemon juice, chilli, garam masala and half the fried onions, with the meat in it overnight. Twelve hours of acid is what makes an hour under rice enough.
AND THE MEAT IS CUT SMALL AND ON THE BONE. Pieces no bigger than five centimetres. The bone gives the gravy its body, since nothing is browned and no stock is added.
PARBOIL THE RICE TO HALFWAY, NOT TO SEVENTY PER CENT. Four minutes in heavily salted water with the caraway and the whole spices. It has a long way to go in the pot.
BUILD IT COLD: MEAT WITH ALL ITS MARINADE, THEN RICE, THEN THE SAFFRON MILK AND GHEE. Mint and the rest of the onions between the layers. Do not pack it down -- steam has to get through.
SEAL THE LID WITH A ROPE OF FLOUR-AND-WATER DOUGH. Pressed round the whole rim so no steam escapes. This is the article's own instruction and it is not decorative: the dish cooks in its own liquid and there is not much of it.
TEN MINUTES ON A HIGH FLAME, THEN FIFTY ON THE LOWEST, WITH A TAWA UNDERNEATH. The high heat raises the steam and the low heat holds it. Then stand it, sealed, for fifteen minutes off the heat. Break the seal at the table.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes