Hyderabadi Biryani

We're having a group of about 20 friends from my mom's group over for dinner Sunday and serving Indian fare. It wouldn't be complete if we didn't serve biryani, a dish for which Shyam's hometown of Hyderabad is famous. I wouldn't exactly call this healthy, but we'll tag it as Indian and I will calculate the weight watchers points since myself and several of the moms in our group are following the plan.


The recipe below is taken from the book 'A Princely Legacy: Hyderabadi Cuisine' by Prathiba Karan. We've made it in the past, and while it's more labor intensive than using a jump start spice packet from the store, the flavor is rich and well worth it!

The common but much talked about Hyderabadi biryani is splendid in taste and in a way, an articulation of the Hyderabadi ethos and personality.

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Marination time: 2 hours
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Serves: 8

Ingredients
1 kg mutton or other meat (mix of chops, bones with meat, etc)
1/2 kg long grain rice
4 onions, finely sliced
1 teaspoon ginger paste
1 teaspoon garlic paste
1 teaspoon red chilli powder
1 bunch fresh green coriander, chopped
1 small bunch of fresh green mint, chopped
4 green chillies, chopped

Spice Mix 'A'
4 cardamoms
6 cloves
1/2" cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1/2 teaspoon peppercorn


2 cups yoghurt
1/2 cup milk
a large pinch of saffron
juice of 2 lemons
6 green cardamoms
8 cloves
2 bay leaves
1" cinnamon stick
2/3 cup oil
2 tablespoons ghee
salt to taste

Directions:
Wash the meat and drain all the water.

Heat oil. Fry the onions till golden brown. When the onions become cool, crush or grind them. Set aside.

Rub ginger and garlic well into the meat. Then add salt, red chilli powder, half of coriander and mint and green chillies, lemon juice, and ground spices in 'A', the crushed onions and the oil in which the onions were fried. Leave to marniate for about 2 hours.

Soak saffron in milk and keep aside.

Take heavy-bottomed pan. Put in the marinated meat with the marinade. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Cover and cook over medium slow heat till the meat is tender and the liquids are not fully dried up.

Simultaneously, wash rice. Boil about 8 glasses of water. Add the whole cardamoms, cloves, bay leaves and the cinnamon stick to the water and a little salt and rice. Parboil rice. Drain out all the water and spread the rice in a flat dish.

Now take another heavy-bottomed pan. Brush the bottom liberally with ghee. Place half the parboiled rice in a layer at the bottom. Cover the layer with the cooked meat. Cover the meat with the balance of rice. Sprinkle the saffron milk over the rice. Also sprinkle the remaining coriander, mint and green chillies. Dot it with ghee. Cover tightly and cook over slow fire till the rice is fully cooked and the fragrances blend. Take care to see that when the rice is cooked, each grain stands out separately and the rice under no circumstances is allowed to get mushy.

Gently take out the rice and meat, without mixing the two and serve steaming hot.

18 Weight Watchers Points for each of 8 servings. Ouch. An occasional treat, for sure.