Bangladeshi Biriyani

Love for Biriyani!!

Who doesn’t love Biriyani??? In fact, I had friends who were Muslims and Christians and my other friends used to eagerly wait for their family weddings to relish and enjoy the aromatic delicious Biriyani served. It used to be so delicious, they couldn’t wait for the next occasion. I am a vegetarian, and these weddings always served chicken Biryani or mutton Biriyani, so couldn’t have them. But these occasions and looking at my friends’ love for Biriyani always created a curiosity in me to prepare the vegetarian version of Biriyanis, which would be equally mouthwatering. So in the process and over a period of time I learnt many vegetarian Biriyani recipes by experiments with spices and ingredients adding twists to its flavor..

They say to prepare a “Perfect Biriyani” you need time and practice. But for me, I got it just right at my first shot! It came out so yum, everyone liked it at home, and even my friends did. I prepare Biriyanis very often at home, especially on the weekends. To prepare a Biriyani, all you just need is to have the right ingredients and keep in mind the main components of this dish - rice, veggies, marinade, and spices. Basmati rice is definitely the most preferred rice for the main aroma of the ‘Biriyani’ . And of course, preparing this dish is a little tedious, but is totally worth it.

The origins:

There is much debate of how this dish came to be, but most agree that its origins began in Persia as a rustic rice and meat dish and then traveled to India. The various recipes of Biryani were later born, mainly where there was culinary influence from Muslim foods, particularly in the city of Hyderabad, in south India and also along the southern coast.

Biriyani is rich in taste, flavour and aroma, which makes it inevitably rich in calories as well!! So, how to make this dish a healthy one? As my recipes are vegetarian, most of the calories are reduced there, as meat usually contains extra fat and calories. I make Biriyanis out of paneer, soya, aloo, veggies, brinjal, bhendi, some with combinations giving it a healthy twist! I make sure I use less oil and add ghee, as ghee has a great source of vitamin D. It is advised that a person has to consume at least 1 ½ tsp of ghee in a day for a lot of health benefits. I use ghee as efficient as possible while cooking on an everyday basis.

Use jeera powder and saunf powder in the recipe for good digestion; spices hurt your stomach a little. You can also have it with raitha, by mixing curd with little water, salt and sprinkle some jeera powder. This soothes your stomach as well and adds a great taste to your taste buds.

A note on the recipe:

This recipe – Bangladeshi Biriyani, is made from eggplant, the big sized vegetable of the brinjal family, also called as "aubergine". I saw this recipe in TV, where a foreigner visits Bangladesh, studies the origin’s culture, tradition, and the diverse authentic foods; and finally at the end of the episode prepares his own dish after learning the techniques and the local ingredients. I have made a little alteration in the recipe to give a lighter twist.

Kids love this recipe. And having brinjals in the dish will be an added advantage to the little ones. Happy moms, healthy kids!!

Do try this recipe and let me know how it came out for you.

Bangladeshi Biriyani Recipe

Ingredients: (serves 2)

Mustard oil 2 tbsp

Paneer cubes ¼ cup

Basmati rice/ long grain rice 1 ½ cup to 2 cups

Water – 1 cup rice = 1 ½ cup water

Tomatoes –3 medium sized (chopped)

Onions – 3 medium sized (sliced)

1 big black brinjal (eggplant)- sliced evenly into big round circles.

Coriander leaves- 1 cup ( for garnishing )

Ghee - 2 to 3 tsp.

Spices:

Cardamom 3 pods

Cumin seeds (jeera) 1 tsp

Bay leaf- 2 leaves

Cinnamon – ½ inch stick

Cloves- 3 to 4

Saunf ½ tsp

Green chillies (chopped) – 2 chillies

Ginger garlic paste 1 tsp

Coriander powder ½ tsp

Turmeric powder ¼ tsp

Chili powder 1 tsp

Garam masala 1 tsp

Salt (as per taste)

Method of preparation:

Step 1:

Prepare rice. In pressure cooker add rice and add water as mentioned. Don’t add more water otherwise the rice will overcook and will lose its flavor. Close the lid and whistle it thrice. You can add 1 cardamom and 2 cloves for added aroma.

Spread the prepared rice on a plate. This will help the rice stay separated from its sticky texture.

You can also cook rice by soaking it in water for 20 mins. Then place the rice in a vessel, add sufficient water, turn on the heat, close the lid and let it cook till it is completely cooked.

Step 2:

In a pan add mustard oil, add in cinnamon, cloves, bay leaf, cumin, saunf and let it splutter. Now add ginger garlic paste, chopped green chillies.

Step 3:

Now add chopped tomatoes. Once the tomatoes turn mushy, simmer the flame, add in turmeric powder, coriander powder, chili powder. Fry for some time. Add garam masala and salt. This gravy should be of thick flowing consistency. To this gravy add paneer cubes. Switch off the flame and keep this aside. The paneer should soak well.

Step 4:

In another pan add sunflower oil to deep fry the sliced onions. Once the oil is heated for deep frying, add in the sliced onions and fry till they turn golden brown. Take them out and place them on a plate with tissue paper. The paper soaks in all the excess oil. Keep it aside.

Step 5:

Take a frying pan. You can also use tawa if you don’t have a pan, no worries. When the pan/ tawa is turning hot, simmer the heat and drizzle some oil.

Place the sliced brinjals onto the pan/ tawa. Sprinkle some salt. Close it with a lid and let it get fried in a low heat flame.

Every 5 mins turn the brinjals upside down so that it is cooked evenly on both the sides till it turns golden brown in color. Keep it aside.

Step 6:

Take another vessel. Smear a layer of ½ tsp of ghee at the bottom of the vessel. Spread a layer of rice, a layer of fried onions, a layer of fried brinjals and a layer of gravy, sprinkle some chopped coriander leaves. Again layer it with ½ tsp ghee, layer of rice, fried onions, fried brinjals and gravy, coriander leaves. Repeat again. A total of 3 layers must be done in the same process. Pour in the remaining ghee and close the lid, switch on the flame, and simmer for 5 to 8 mins. It should be heated at extreme low heat. This makes the biriyani enhance all the flavours of the aromatic rice, onions, brinjals and the spicy gravy enriched with mustard oil.

Your Biriyani is ready! Serve it with onion raitha or jeera curd for a greater taste.

Tips:

1. You can use even the small purple round eggplant/ brinjal instead of the big one.

2. Though there are many instructions to follow and takes some amount of time to prepare the dish, it is really worth it because of its high nutrition value. You can replace eggplant with aloo if you like to. Aloo and paneer makes a great combination indeed!!

3. Coriander leaves gives a desi flavor to the dish. You can skip coriander leaves if you don’t have at home. No problem.

4. I pressure cook my rice for a faster process. It still contains the aroma and taste. However, you can prepare rice separately in a vessel for an authentic biriyani taste if you like to.

5. As mentioned before, the marination is one of the components of preparing a Biriyani. Here the marination is indirectly done by soaking the paneer in the spicy gravy.