Biryani

The last couple posts became a little serious, so I decided to lighten the mood (my mood, mainly) by writing about biryani. For those who don't know what this is, here is the Wikipedia link - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biryani

I am not going to tell you the history of this dish, neither am I going to write the recipe. Firstly, because this was my first attempt at cooking it and also because I can't write recipes (plus, this is not going to be a food blog). Here is an amazing step-by-step recipe that I followed - http://www.sharmisthadey.com/2014/10/kolkata-style-chicken-biryani/ If you follow the measurements and use the right spices, you would have a great pot of biryani too!

Dry roasted spices ready
for crushing

Basmati rice

Here's the story. I love to eat (though it doesn't show on me) and I figured out that if you know how to cook, it basically means you can eat whatever you want to, whenever you want! It is very empowering. I also don't understand why people think cooking is tough. It isn't. It is just like chemistry experiments. You add certain chemicals (spices) and they behave in certain expected ways to create an end result, which is (or should be) edible. That's all there is to it! I started treating recipes as instructions and followed them step-by-step, quite an easy task for my analytical brain, and figured out that cooking a new dish can boost one's self confidence a lot. Especially, if those are foods you have not eaten before, like French food for me. Even though I cook regularly and was getting more and more confident, I still had no idea how to cook biryani. But I love biryani. Then I searched, came across the above link and gave it a try yesterday. I realized certain things about biryani, and in the same way, about life.

Saffron strands in milk

Holy trinity - onion, garlic
(paste), ginger (paste)

People assume that biryani is a very rich dish, full of spices, ghee, and hard to digest combination of onion, garlic, and ginger. While it is true that all of those are indeed used, the end dish is way lighter than say, a spicy curry. Also, the flavor is more important than the taste. If the flavor doesn't seem (rather smell) right, you will lose your appetite. I kept on doing a smell check at regular intervals, and also after adding the spices, or after adding rose and keora water to make sure I am on the right track. Use of saffron is another vital thing. I have never seen saffron before, let alone use it. So when I put a few strands of saffron in warm milk yesterday and looked at the changing color of milk, I was amazed. I smelled and tasted that milk, oh, it was heavenly! It has become my most favorite spice now. Please don't use turmeric as a substitute of saffron ever, neither would it bring the delicate color, nor would the flavor be right. Also, turmeric will cover the flavor, or at least get in the way of the other spices.

The interesting part of the dish is about its subtlety. Like an aristocratic lady, who would never wear flashy or bright colored clothes, but would wear the choices diamonds, biryani doesn't have a color like curries, not does it have oil floating on top, chunks of onion, or worse still tomatoes sitting in a gravy. It has just the color imparted by saffron and a little bit by fried onions. The rice grains are all separate, you can pick them up individually if you want. It is a delicate dish made with the choicest spices and I was very happy with the end product.

PS: This was a dish cooked with ingredients from the world over. Basmati rice from India (or Pakistan), chicken and eggs from local Washington farms, Yukon gold potatoes from Canada, saffron from Spain, keora water from Arnab's local grocer at Calcutta, rose water from Morocco, and spices from all over South Asia!