Monu Danesh Surendran
Salaam Namaste. My Kerala Biriyani
By the time I got to cooking up Biriyanis some years ago, I had gone the whole hog.
I have tasted pretty much every Biriyani, though all not from its geographical place of repute.
I have eaten a delicious Lucknowi Biriyani, but not from Lucknow.
The same with Bengali, Marathi, Konkani and Kashmiri…a lot of Biriyanis.
These varied experiences of eating all kinds of Indian and their Middle Eastern versions got me to finally make one at home.
A Kerala Biriyani, My way.
SALAAM NAMASTE! Come, taste My Biriyani!
As a genuine fan of Biriyani, I was infatuated with it from the moment I tasted it or rather gobbled it down like a glutton the very first time.
’Don’t eat mutton like a glutton!’.
Even when I got screamed at for not giving Biriyani its due respect, it had a strange rhyming to it.
Just saying the word ‘Biriyani’, had a royal ring, conjuring up a feast of a meal that would make any stomach happy.
Like how the tender meat and the fluffy rice blended into all those heady, heavenly spices.
The sad part back in the days was, like Masala Dosas (another of my favourites) Biriyanis were never cooked at home.
It happened to be restaurant fare. Not that many restaurants served it too.
But,it was at the Muslim weddings of friends in my hometown Kollam in Kerala, that I got to gorge on some of the finest Mutton Biriyanis.
Unlike in restaurants, it was at these weddings that we would ‘Ask for more!’, and they would happily oblige.
Ask, and you shall receive, was the unsung motto at wedding Biriyani lunches.
The hospitality at these sit down wedding lunches as the Biriyani was served again, with special care to top it up with juicy, mutton pieces.
Second servings of Biriyani were a given those days.
Years later, the weddings were remembered more for the quality of Biriyani than the wedding itself.
The Biriyani had staked its claim to the pleasure centre in my brain and my subconscious.
You could hypnotise me and I would blabber out Biriyani when asked what was my favourite choice of food.
By the time I got to cooking up Biriyanis some years ago, I had gone the whole hog.
I have tasted pretty much every Biriyani, though all not from its geographical place of repute.
I have eaten a delicious Lucknowi Biriyani, but not from Lucknow.
The same with Bengali, Marathi, Konkani and Kashmiri…a lot of Biriyanis.
These varied experiences of eating all kinds of Indiana and their Middle Eastern versions got me to finally make one at home.
Though I hail from Kerala where I have tasted the finest of Malabar Biriyanis cooked with the unique ‘Kaima’ rice grains, I preferred to make my ‘Signature’ Biriyani with long grained Basmati rice.
To understand the real flavour of Basmati rice, I cooked it plain and simple many times to accompany the rest of the curries at home.
Of course the meat has to be mutton, but considering that most of the folks nowadays opt for Chicken Biryani, I went ahead with using chicken.
My motto is ‘Marinate the meat tonite for a great Biriyani tommorrow!’.
Cooking a Biriyani has 3 distinct processes.
1. Cooking the rice with the right spices.
2.Cooking the marinated chicken using green herbs, green chillies, ginger and garlic all blended with rich curds or yoghurt in the marinade.
3. The ‘Dum’ cooking process where the almost cooked rice is layered alternatively with the cooked chicken, deep fried onions, raisins, cashew nuts and a sprinkling of green herbs – mint and coriander.
The Rice.
Wash and soak the basmati rice for 30 minutes, Saute spices like cinnamon, cardamon, cloves, bay leaves and saffron in a mix of Pure Ghee and oil.
When the spices give out their aromas, add in the soaked basmati rice, mix well and pour in a little more than double the quantity of water in proportion to the rice. (2 cups rice to 5 cups water),
The Chicken
Blend together curds, fresh mint leaves, coriander leaves, green chillies, crushed black pepper and a dash of garam masala (The same spices used for the rice above I had dry roasted and ground). Mix well with the chicken pieces and marinate overnight.
Saute some sliced onions in ghee and when they turn brownish, add in the marinated chicken pieces and leave to cook till done.
The DUM Process
Place a large, wide mouthed vessel on a chapatti tava over a medium to low flame.
Once warm, firstly layer the vessel with the cooked chicken, then top it with a layer of cooked rice, deep fried onions, raisins and cashew nuts. Intersperse with a sprinkling of fresh mint and coriander leaves. Add a few drops of ghee onto the rice and at the edges of the vessel.
Continue this alternate layering and finally top it up with the fried onions, raisins, cashew nuts and sprinkling of green herbs.
Cover with a lid and place a heavy object on top, I used a mortar as in pic.
Cook on low flame for about 30 minutes.
Serve the Biriyani after another 30 minutes.
My signature accompaniments are the ‘Kerala Mandatory’ creamy raitha with tomatoes, onions and cucumber, boiled eggs and pappadoms.
This Chicken Biriyanihas that rhythm. Equal quantities of juicy chicken with fluffy, basmati spiced rice and a fresh touch of green mint and coriander.
SALAAM NAMASTE to a signature homemade Biriyani!
Monu Danesh Surendran.