I was unable to find a definitive formal description but rice with stuff is a popular format and consistently a top performer across the major cuisines of the world. A perfectly spiced biryani is a top 5 eating experience.
The two primary styles are Dakhni and Yakhni with Dakhni typically considered the superior approach. Regionally this maps to:
- Lakhnawi: Yakhni style (is the Kashmiri word for mutton stock)
- Hyderabadi: Dakhni style
Dum pulao also exits and closer to the middle eastern style
The process involves making an appropriately spiced stock, par-cooking the rice in said stock, making a korma sauce with the headline ingredient, layering the par-cooked rice with the ingredient and optionally a contrasting one, adding the aromatic finisher, sealing and finishing the final mass. The end goal is rice with separate grains, lubricated with fat, an aromatic hit that saturates the nose and a discreet boundary between the rice and the headline ingredients that have lumped and bound together to provide contrast between it and the surrounding rice. This is different to, for example, the relatively homogeneously dispersed layout of a fried rice dish.
Below follows a few guidelines for creating a biryani. It is typically assembled with 5 groups of ingredients. Rice as one would expect, fat, the headline ingredient, a contrast that is layered into the dish and an aromatic element.
| Note | Rice | Fat | Headline | Contrast | Aromatic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Typically | Long grain basmati rice | Clarified butter | Mutton, Lamb, Chicken, Vegetables | Fried onions, Yogurt, Nuts | Saffron, Rosewater, Kewra |
| Options | None, just don't do it. You want the long separate grains and the aroma that comes off a properly aged high quality basmati. | High fat meats can contribute to this through the natural rendering but you may have a cleaner taste if you separate it and just rely on clarified butter. | It would be odd to me to use anything but the options above. Mutton to me would be the default choice but lamb also works well. You want a cut that includes bones to contribute to the richness of the stock and high connective tissue cuts work well if you are appropriately cooking the meat. Obviously pork and beef don't feature as normal options give the religious preferences of the cultures that originated this dish. | May not be present depending on specifics of the rest of the dish. | Saffron is a must but is often replaced with food colouring in cheaper restos due to cost. I have also seen powered turmeric blasted through the rice which fundamentally changes the dish so don't do that. Kewra essence is a Indian and Pakistani flavouring agent distilled from flowers of Pandanus tectorius, a palm tree. |
| Notes | Longer grains of rice are better. You want the final product to be made up of separated al-dente grains. 4 cups of dry rice is enough for ~6 people. | For a great experience with this dish, you are going to need fat. 4 cups of rice to 3/4th cup ghee is the appropriate ratio. | You may cook this as part of the stock making process if the cut is large or high in connective tissue or as part of the sauce making if relatively lean. Generally the headline ingredient is prepared in a yogurt based sauce though yogurt may be moved to the Contrast section | Typically just layered into the final assembly. It is prepared distinctly and isolated from the headline to provide a distinct flavour or textural variation. | Muddled and added before sealing the final assembly. If used, the saffron imparts the initial aroma hit with the dish is finally opened and the streaks of colour across the grains of rice that are in contact with the threads. The saffron may instead be incorporated into the contrast or the headline. |
Below are a few examples of how this structure maps to specific recipes from across the region and the rice/fat ratios used in them.
page 186 cooking for the MH. Indore.
4 cups rice, 3/4th cup ghee
| Section | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Stock | onion, ginger, garlic, coriander |
| Rice | onions, cloves, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, milk |
| Headline | Potato, carrots, turnip, cauliflower |
| Contrast | Pistachios |
| Aromatics | Saffron, rose water |
page 199 cooking for the MH. Hyderabad.
5 cups rice, 1 cup ghee + 2/3 cup ghee + 2 tbs butter, 1.5 cups milk, 1/4 cup cream.
| Section | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Stock | chicken, onion, ginger, garlic, cardamon, chilli |
| Rice | plain |
| Headline | chicken |
| Contrast | yogurt, almonds, Saffron |
| Aromatics | rose water |
page 142 cooking for the MH. Rajasthan.
1lb rice (2.5 cups), 1/2 cup ghee + 2lb vs of shank fat
| Section | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Stock | lamb shanks, coriander, garlic, onion |
| Rice | plain |
| Headline | lamb, yogurt |
| Contrast | - |
| Aromatics | - |
page 270 cooking for the MH. Delhi
2 cups rice, 5 tbs Ghee
| Section | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Stock | chickpea/peas |
page 141 cooking for the MH. Rajasthan / Palanpur.
1 cup rice, 3tbsp ghee
| Section | Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Stock | none |
| Rice | cinnamon, cloves, onion, cardamon, coriander |
| headline | spinach balls |
| Contrat | cashew nuts |
| Aromatics | rose petals |
page 25 Vedic cooking.
1 cup rice, 3tbsp ghee
The one that suits my taste the best a something I took from a number of sources. The outline is similar to other generally available approaches with the likely exception of the vast quantity of garlic employed in the broth. The cooking mellows it down.
The regal preparations are usually very light on chilli but I am unable to enjoy something that I will inevitably mentally compare to a Hydrabadi biryani without any chilli heat so I have added some.
I use the Modernist approach to getting the most out of the meat with a pressure cooker and a separator for the meat fats. The flavour of the rendered fat is not as clean as the clarified butter.
I also add saffron as my mental image requires the scent.
Qila Excel Extra Long Grain rice is likely the best option but hard to find. Tilda blue is an ok alternative.
Shank, shoulder, neck. Lots of connective tissue.
This needs something to offset and complement the meal. While less heavy than a 'real' biryani, it is still a lot of rice and meat. Traditionally a raita or onion/tomato mix is presented.
My shard approach is a simple salad of cucumber, radish, dal and black salt.
The black salt will give you quite a pungent sulphorus hit at first application so give it a few minutes to breathe before presenting it.
Simpler alternatives would be raita or crudites.
- 500gm basmati rice
- 1kg lamb
- 2.5 Tbs salt
- 2 Tbs powdered coriander, 10g
- 5 whole large heads of garlic, 210g trimmed
- 2 cups thickly sliced unpeeled onion, 280g
- 1.5 Tbs thinly sliced ginger root, 35g
- 8 green cardamom pods (d: 10-12 green cardamom)
- 1/4tsp caraway seeds
- 1inch of cinnamon stick, 2gm
- 5 cloves
- 4 peppercorns
- 1.25L water
- 1/2 cup clarified butter
- 1 cup onion, 1 eu onion or 140gm
- 6 cardamom pods
- 4 cloves
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 2 inch cinnamon stick, 10gm
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1 cup greek style yogurt
- 1/4tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
- 3 birds eye chilli
- 4 bay leaves
- 4 black cardamom pods
- 2 nutmeg
- 2 large pieces of mace
- 10-12 dry plums
- 1Tbs Kewra water
- 1tsp saffron
- 1Tbs milk
- 4Tbs chopped mint
Soak the rice for 30 mins to 2 hours after washing clear. At the end, drain and lay out to dry.
Cook lamb in salted water with cheesecloth spices for 40mins. Separate and reserve broth decanting the fat.
Melt ghee, fry onions until just turning brown, add chilli and whole spices and sauté on a low heat for 5 mins. Add the meat and brown. And yogurt and stir till liquid has evaporated. Finally, add the dry plums and kewra water.
Add drained rice and stir.
Add liquid broth corrected to 1.25L and boil hard for 5mins. Add mint and gently stir through. Pour milky saffron on top.
Cover with towel on top and lower heat to minimal for about 30mins or place in a low oven.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aseU9t8-028 (marked as D:)
http://bfoodicle.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/the-ultimate-daig-biryani.html
Update recipe to layered version.