So, this weekend I decided to tackle the ultimate Indian-Pakistani delight of Biryani. It has been an absolute favourite in the Mahmoud family household for as long as I can remember. It reminds me of my mum getting up first thing in the morning to prepare the ingredients for this epic dish; turning the tamarind into liquid, marinating the chicken, roasting the potatoes, soaking the rice and getting out exotic and aromatic spices of various smells and colours. My job, when I finally roll out of bed with my little sister, is to set the dining table (using the extra large Denby plates usually reserved for guests), with some family-friendly film playing in the background as my dad sits on the sofa laughing at all the jokes. Gradually through-out the cookathon, we all migrate to the kitchen as delicious the smells begin to seep into the living room and we begin making the accompaniments of raita and salad, and dipping our fingers into the big pot, all desperate for a little taste of heaven.
When I saw the series of Rick Stein in India, my eyes popped out of my face. Having never been to India, I was fascinated by the colours, combination of ingredients and creative ways of cooking. In order words, I was inspired. I hinted and hinted and hinted, and finally got bought the book by my boyfriend. As I’m sure you can imagine, when I came across the Chicken and Rosewater Biryani, I had to give it a try. I bought a list of ingredients as long as my arm (and walked round and round in circles looking for various things in Sainsbury’s), but was finally ready. Other than boycotting the Ghee (I used Lurpak’s unsalted butter instead), I followed the recipe to a tee.
The recipe is essentially divided into three distinct areas: Stage 1 – Preparation (making the marinade, coating the chicken, soaking the rice, leaving to rest). During stage 1 of cooking, I also measured up all my ingredients for stage 2 and 3, chopped and sliced all the extras and got my pans out on the appropriate hobs, filled with the appropriate levels of oil. I still had 40 minutes to kill, so I mixed up some Walnut Brownies and stuck those in the oven at the same time (Mary Berry’s recipe – fool proof, unless your eggs are off like mine were). Stage 2 is the fun bit – frying up some onions, cooking the chicken and making the rice.
Stage 3 is the scary bit, where it could potentially go wrong – the assembly. I didn’t quite have as much chicken as I thought I might (I divided everything by 2.5 based on the weight of the chicken – but that was before I trimmed off all the gooey white bits), but the layering still worked fine, and it was a proud moment as I saw my creation come together. I poured some butter around the edges and then left the lid on. To my amazement, the dish didn’t burn and was cooked to absolute perfection. I know you shouldn’t blow your own trumpet about your cooking, but WOW. My boyfriend said it was as nice as my mums (though of course, very different with the saffron and rosewater instead of tamarind and potatoes, to name a couple of obvious differences). Either way, I’d say don’t be afraid of this epic 2-pager. It has been my favourite Rick Stein recipe so far and I can’t recommend it enough. Have confidence, cook, and devour!
You can find Rick Stein’e recipe on the BBC website, though, I personally would suggest buying the book. There is nothing more satisfying than looking at all the curry-stained pages reminding you of your experimentation and hard work.
Manchester to the world 