Sindhi Biryani

The most popular Pakistani Biryani. It’s deliciously aromatic and spicy.

Can be made with Chicken or Meat, and it is quite easy to put together.

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Ingredients:

'Special Spice Mixture' for Sindhi Biryani:

 spice mixture may be made a day ahead of time for convenience.

Method:

1. Add all the ingredients, listed under ‘Special Spice Mixture’ to a shallow plate or bowl. Mix everything together. You can make this the night before making this Biryani if that saves you time. Keep it stored in an airtight container.
2. Clean the chicken pieces thoroughly and keep them drained. Make sure all water is removed.
3. Rinse the Basmati time 3-4 times, till the water runs clear of starch. Then, cover with fresh water and soak for 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.
4. Place a heavy-based pot (with a lid) on the burner and heat it for a couple of minutes.  Add the oil to this preheated pot, and allow it to come up to heat.
5. Add the sliced red onions and fry them, with constant stirring. You will see they eventually start turning golden brown.
6. As the onions, begin to become slightly crisp, add the drained chicken pieces. Also, add the minced garlic.
7. Now on high heat, toss the chicken pieces to coat them with the golden crisp onions and minced garlic, as they fry up a little. Continue to toss till the chicken pieces turn opaque and also take on the colour of the golden onions, and the garlic loses its raw aroma. It should smell good.
8. When the chicken has cooked a while and attained this colour, add the potatoes followed by all of the prepared spice- mixture.
9. Give everything a good stir and add the crushed/minced ginger. Toss well so that everything is evenly mixed through.
10. Next, add the whipped yoghurt and stir through as well.
11. Once the yoghurt has been mixed through, cook this on medium heat for 5 minutes. Add more salt at this point to taste- about 1/2 tsp (The spice mix already contains 1 tsp salt)
12. After 5 minutes, add 2 cups water. If you are cooking beef or mutton 3 1/2 – 4 cups water and just cook longer.
13. Cover with a lid and cook for 10 minutes on low heat.
14. At this stage start to boil the water for the rice – on a separate burner: Boil 3-litre water and 3 Tbsp salt in a large pot. Add the whole spices ( cloves and cinnamon – for the rice). Bring to a rolling boil and add the drained rice.
15. Cover and cook on high till the water bubbles and touches the lid, this should happen in 1 minute.
16. Remove the lid immediately, lower the heat and simmer for exactly 5 minutes. Drain quickly into a ready colander. The rice should be only 3/4th cooked at this stage. You know it’s done when you take a grain of rice between your fingers it should break to 3-4 pieces.
17. Continuing with the masala : (After 10 minutes of cooking, as in step #13). Open and cook until there are only 2 cups of gravy/liquid in the chicken. I just ‘eyeballed’ this.
18. Add this reduced masala to the same larger pot in which the rice was cooked, this is because we need the larger pot to fit both the layers of masala and rice together.
19. As the pot heats up again with the masala in it, add a layer on top of chopped tomatoes mint and green chillies. Do not mix this green masala. It is to act as a barrier between the masala below and the rice that is going to be added over the top.
20. Once the green masala is added, reduce the heat to very low, cover and cook for 5-7 minutes.
21. After this time, add the 3/4 th cooked rice, fluffing up as you add it to break any lumps that may have developed as it rested. Pat, it gently, and smooth the top surface. Don’t compress too much.
22. Cover again and cook for another 10 minutes on low heat. This allows steam to develop and the flavours of the masala to permeate through the cooked rice and it also finished cooking the rice to make it nice and soft and fluffy.
23. After the 10 minutes, add a few drops of Biryani colouring or concentrated saffron liquid, over the top of the rice, then toss it gently from the bottom, just folding it over a couple of times. Just mix the masala through, with the rice. Don’t mix too much at this stage as there is still a lot of steam and overo-mixing with cause the rice to go mushy.  Once the masala is uniformly mixed through. Cover and allow the moisture to dry out a little bit, then your Biryani will be perfect and ready to serve.
24. Serve with any salad, mirchi ka salan or yoghurt.

Sindhi Biryani

Notes:

• Aloo Bukhara or Dried Plums are available in the dried fruit section of your supermarket, or stores, stocking Speciality Indian spices. Don’t use the sweetened variety or those in syrup.
• Dried meat tenderizer is available near the Indian / Pakistani spice MASALA sections, where available. This is optional if making Chicken Biryani, but I usually add it.
• You can use your pressure cooker, (without using the pressure cooking function/ regulator ) for this recipe, IN PLACE of the Heavy based pot (with lid), for cooking the dish.

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Key Ingredients for Sindhi Biryani: Meat/Chicken, Basmati Rice, Aloo Bukhara, Spices, Oil, Onion, Garlic, Ginger, Tomato, Herbs, Yoghurt,  Green Chillies, Salt

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Sindhi Biryani

Author: Shana Shameer