Biryani is a popular Indian dish made with biryani paste, which is a mixture of spices and oil. Meat, seafood, or vegetables are cooked with the paste and layered with saffron rice before being slow-cooked. The dish has various origins and is a staple in many regional cuisines.
Biryani paste is the flavor base of biryani, a popular and famous Indian dish. To make biryani, meat, poultry, seafood or vegetables are cooked with biryani paste and sandwiched between layers of aromatic saffron rice. The whole dish is slow-cooked in a closed pot, then served hot and crackling from the container it’s cooked in, or carefully unmold onto a platter. In many parts of the world, biryani is an integral part of regional cuisine and it would not be the same without biryani paste.
The Farsi root for biryani, birian, means “fried”. The origins of the dish are unclear, as multiple nations make a number of variations on it. In biryani, rice is traditionally fried in ghee before being cooked, creating a distinctive texture, aroma and taste. Rice is usually seasoned with saffron or other aromatic spices. Once the rice is mixed with the biryani noodle cooked food and the dough is slowly cooked, the result is a complex, multi-layered dish that is ideal for special occasions.
The ingredients of biryani dough vary widely, depending on where the dough is made. Some cooks like to make fresh pasta whenever they need it, while others make up a batch of biryani pasta and store it in a cool, dry place for periodic use. Either way, biryani paste is made by grinding spices like coriander, turmeric, cumin, cardamom, chilli, salt, pepper, garlic and cinnamon along with oil. The result is a greasy, oily paste which can be mixed with the foods used in the biryani.
To prepare a classic biryani, start by washing and soaking long grain rice while sautéing the vegetables and/or meats of your choice with garlic, ginger, onion and tomatoes. While the food is cooking, add the biryani paste. If you don’t feel like making your own, you can buy prepackaged biryani dough at many shops. Once everything is cooked through, use another pot to caramelize the onions and garlic in the ghee or oil before adding the saffron, cloves and a cinnamon stick. Add the rice and stir until the ingredients are completely blended.
In the rice pot, make a layer of rice and follow it with the pre-cooked food. You can create a series of stacked layers for a more Persian incarnation of the dish, or you can simply make a single layer of rice, followed by a single layer of food. Cover the mixture with chicken or vegetable stock, bring the mixture to a boil, then simmer, covered, for 20 minutes until the dish is done. Serve carefully so that the layers of the biryani are kept on the plate.
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