While antarachocolates.com was bustling with visitors
looking for Rakhi gifts (an Indian celebration of siblings), I got a surprise visitor at my place too. Though in
between work, I don’t believe in entertaining; this was one situation I
couldn’t excuse myself from. And now, when I think back, it provided me with a
nice time to catch up with myself and to let my hair down for once.
Working from home is something I am yet to come to terms
with. With real estate prices of Mumbai, I have no other solution but to endure
these maddening days when my pretty little home transforms into a frantic,
noisy chocolate factory. There have been times when I have actually asked
people to leave or not come at all. The entertainer in me cried out loud, but
the chocolatier in me had the firm hand. But this dinner was different, and
couldn’t be ignored at all.
Now if it is so important for me, then the menu had to show
that up straight. Easy simple ingredients, which would give out the most
exquisite, delicious dishes. So I chose
chicken and rice with wine followed by apples for dessert; can u get simpler “everyday”
ingredients than that. So the menu for the night read out like this:
- · Quickest Chicken Biryani
- · Mint Raita
- · Some leftover Paneer (cottage cheese) masala (optional!! :P)
- · Baked apples with cheese, served with a dollop of whipped cream or ice cream.
So this is my mantra in hosting successful dinner parties in
the middle of a hectic working week. I am sure you have more such awesome ideas
and recipes that you or your family uses. Please feel free to write to me about
them. I love reading your comments, suggestions and experiences!!
Now to the recipe of this post, I am gonna spill the beans
on my quick quick biryani. There are a few steps you need to follow, but
nothing that is not gonna let you finish cooking between 30 minutes. So strap on
your seat belts now, because the roller coaster ride to making a perfect plate of Biryani begins...
Ingredients:
For the Biryani Part
of the dish:
1 cup Biryani Rice (The pic taken is from earlier times,
when I made the biryani using everyday rice rather than the expensive biryani
basmati. If you are not too choosy, feel free to use whichever kind of rice you
like.)
Salt to taste
A bunch of whole spices like a star anise, a cinnamon stick,
couple of cloves, a dried red chilly and ½ tsp of shahi jeera.
2 onions chopped
Big handful of mint leaves
Big handful of coriander leaves
Traditionally saffron with water, but I didn’t have saffron
at my place, so I dissolved 2 pinches of turmeric in water, to get the colour
right. Flavour wise, saffron is the best way to go!
 |
| Riot of colours!! |
400 gms Chicken
200 gms curd
Turmeric to taste
½ tsp Cumin powder
½ tsp Coriander powder
¼ tsp all spice powder (Garam Masala)
Cinnamon powder to taste
Salt to taste
1½ tbsp of olive oil (love the fruity flavour it adds,
groundnut oil will work too)
1 heaped tsp garlic paste
1 tsp ginger paste
and 2 tbsp of oil for frying chicken and onions
I always mix these spices in the curd and whisk it well to
incorporate. Then slowly add in the chicken to sit and absorb flavours of the spices. If you are using big pieces of chicken with bone (like a couple of
whole legs), spritz on some fresh lime on the flesh, before submerging it into the curd mix. The acid in the lime juice
will help tenderizing the muscles of the chicken, resulting in shorter time to
cook.
Before you start prepping the ingredients for the dish, soak
the rice in some water and let it rest there for at least 10 mins, longer the better.
Meanwhile prep the herbs and onions, and get a pan of water
to come to the boil.
Once the water starts boiling, throw in the whole spices and
a generous amount of salt. Remove the residual water in which the rice was
sitting and add it to the boiling pan of flavoured water. Let it cook for 5
minutes on a high flame.
While your rice is cooking, heat a wok with oil and
caramelise your onions till light brown. Once you are happy with the colour,
mix in a pinch of salt to season and remove from the wok.
After five minutes, remove half the rice from pan. By this
time, the rice should be 40% done, with a resisting bite in the middle part of the
grain. This portion of rice will cook further with the chicken. The half which
is still boiling in the flavoured pan will be removed when almost al dente or
80% cooked. This portion of rice will go on top layer of the biryani, which
will be exposed to only residual heat. 10 minutes in boiling water of the pan
should render the rice 80% cooked.
Now, in the wok where you fried the onions, pour in another tablespoon of olive or groundnut oil and brown the chicken slightly to enhance
the flavours. This is an optional step but I strongly recommend you to do so.
Once all these tedious prepping is done, start layering your
Pressure cooker. I suggest use a pretty one, which can later be also used as a
serving dish.
 |
| Hot and steamy!! |
The meat with bones
will take the most of time to cook, and thus it goes in at the bottom. Cover it
with a layer of the marinade. If you have boneless meat left for a second
layer, then divide the marinade accordingly. Sprinkle on a big dose of fresh
mint and coriander leaves followed with a splattering of fried onions.
This will be followed by 40% cooked rice. Layer the top of the 40% rice again with herbs and fried onions.
Boneless chicken pieces along with its
marinade will go in next, followed by herbs and onions, topped later with the
80 % cooked rice. Once this layer is complete with a generous sprinkle of fresh
herbs and fried onions, splash on the Turmeric-water-mix for a pleasing yellow
colour. If you intend to serve white biryani, then simply splash on a few
spoons of water to complete the layer. At this stage feel free to add in any
nuts if you may want to.
Tightly secure on the lid and let it cook on a high flame
till it blows the whistle for the first time. Now reduce the flame to the
lowest possible and let it simmer till it blows the whistle once again. On the
2nd whistle, switch off the gas and let it release the
steam slowly, unaided.
 |
| All done and beautiful!! |
Raita:
While your biryani rests, take out a mortar pestle to smudge
about a handful of mint leaves with a teaspoon of brown sugar. The leaves will
wilt and smash into a pulp pretty quickly. Dump in the sugar and mint mix,
season with salt and pepper and viola, mint curd is ready. To transform it to
raita, whisk vigorously till its cream like smooth...
To pair the perfect
wine:
Biryani, just like the other spicy Indian food, is best paired
with a nice red wine with robust flavours and a wonderful body. Shiraz is one
of my favourite, while Merlot is another that can be paired well with this
meal.
And I cannot stress enough, but please note; when the bottle
says it is supposed to be served at room temperature, it means a pleasant 18 degrees,
which would be the room temperature of a northern European country. India is a tropical country; hence the wine should be served at a pleasant temperature acquired
by an hour of refrigeration.
My next post is gonna be all about the dessert, Baked Apples with Figs and Cinnamon!! Cheers!!
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