Daawat e Biryani

Growing up in tight knit community of Mankapur a small industrial unit ahead of Gonda district ,my childhood was filled with so many beliefs, culture and colors which was all so engulfing. there were no visible markers that our parents told us kids ,as to who to play with and eat with, one for all, all for one. one row of houses had one color TV and Sunday mahabharat was fixed for that. irrespective of whose it was.

 I remember whenever our school exams would get over, we kids would try calling up electricity department of unit to say "uncle light kat do, raat mein khelna hai".

Christmas time was reserved for my music and swimming teacher Donna ann filose's plum cakes and ginger bread cookies. she also instilled fear of God in us while teaching us how to swim.  the lady was statusque and was a machine in the pool doing her lengths and laps before catching hold of us flapping in the shallow side. god help us if our hair had some champi done the night before on it. we would get an earful.

 Holi was the time of our lives. Twisting our clothes to see who needs to be dunked more in the colors tub. parents used to roam around oil paint tin and brush so that their bestie had the real "bura na mano holi hai". Diwali was about Diyas, Rangolis and the amount of feasting we did a week before and week after was what why many aunties went on regular walks after Badi Diwali. 

For me Eid holds a soft spot, since Hassan uncle and family, who we grew up with are to be credited with my first experience of aroma on the plate. Not that my ma isn't an amazing cook, but the first introduction to the whiff of masalas getting roasted and or onions being fried to perfection was in Zebi Aunty's kitchen. 

Ramzan time was the best when we crashed over their roza opening time. by God...the food was always to kill for. The kebabs which aunty would lovingly make fresh for us is something I can never forget the taste because of of what i suspect was a secret ingredient.That one secret which the chef holds and doesn't disclose ever. Between the mouthfuls of biryani,  dad would always ask "arre bhabhi kaise banaya aapne itna umda khaana?" aunty would lovingly with a smile on her face open up her palms and say "In haathon se". The sewai she made, I would not even try to attempt because some things are left pristine as they are. 

Almost every Eid, I try to make biryani, to rejoice over these lovely memories and fill up the nostalgia with food on the plate. Mine is definetly not as intricate when it comes to flavour as aunty's but chalega. This recipe does not call for measured masalas in my opinion but I have tried my best to given an idea to the reader. 

Most of the ingredients are readily available and if you don't have star anise don't fret, use chat masala in worst case, and fresh pomegranates in manageable case. This biryani relies mostly on one thing....FRIED ONIONS. loads of them.  To marinate the chicken in that, to make the curry and then to garnish each layer of Biryani with that. 

Ingredients-

Jeera/ Cumin seeds

Dalchini/ Cinammon

Methi dana/ Fenugreek Seeds

Laung/Cloves

Tej Patta/ Bay leaf

Adrak/ Ginger

Lehsun/ Garlic

Elaichi/ Green cardamom

Badi elaichi/ Black cardamom

Ready to use meat masala. 

(I prefer shan, you can go with anything that works for you.)

300gms Basmati Rice

200gms ghee (yes we are not skimping on that)

A kilo of curry cut chicken

4 big Potatoes

6 boiled eggs

2 kilos Red onions 

Green chilly for garnish

Dried red chillies

Coriander leaves for garnishing

Saffron if available else no can do.

Roasted almond powder

salt to taste (make sure the rice and chicken get it in proportion as mixing later means biryani becomes pulao)

Time- 2 hours to make. 

           30 minutes for the dum 

quantity is enough for 6 adults. 

Peel the onions and thinly slice them, toss them so they are separated. Once done pat them dry with towel. I use an air fryer to fry mine at 150 degrees for 15 minutes, but you can go with frying them in hot kadhai/ wok till they turn golden brown.  Make sure they are dry before you dunk them in oil else the spatter will be all over the kitchen. For frying up on oil, use mustard for its pungency which will add some of acidity to them.

Once done, separate the onions in half and use one batch to make curry paste after adding ginger garlic,  leave other for adding in the biryani. Dry roast the masalas along with almond powder for the smokiness and add that to the paste.This marinate is the one that makes your curry for the chicken that will be used up for layering the biryani. Now if you have time to make the chicken curry (I add aloo to that...dont shoot me, but aloo is bae)  in the kadhai it would add 45 minutes to the cook time. To save time, I pressure cook the chicken after frying up the marinade in ghee, so that the saalan ( gravy)  is more for the biryani. In the meanwhile I also make rice but leave it slightly al dente , so that when I layer up biryani for dum, it cooks up finally and aroma is something else. 

Assembling the whole sonnet is fun treasure hunt for aloo, eggs and chicken pieces. I take out all the pieces of chicken and keep the gravy in one pot. Layer the whole pot with ghee, and then one layer of rice, few pieces of chicken, one aloo and fried up onions on the side. I create three layers with final one being rice so that I can garnish some fried onions with coriander and fried cashews on top. Once done seal with atta dough and 30 minutes for the dum which is basically leaving the pot on low flame .Sealing the pot and applying the dum is what helps biryani retain the flavour. 

This Eid during lockdown was grim reminder of a time when the loved ones could savour a feast together, so am filing this under nostalgia, for the times that went by and for the memories we will make someday soon together..here's to the future. 

Abhi toh sirf aankhon se bismillah kijiye

Eid mubarak Zebi aunty.