Thursday, August 30, 2012

Egg Biryani

Dinner time..!!!! I was clueless what to make. My little one wanted something with rice, the man asked for some curry. But I was in mood for some eggs. So combined everything to an one dish meal.
Yes you are right, I made this Egg Biryani for dinner last night. The name 'Biryani' means a long elaborate process to many. But you can always cut it short, and  yes of course without compromising the taste. As I was in hurry I chose eggs as the main ingredient, any meat would take much more time. There are several steps of making biryani but if you plan wisely it will be very easy.

First let's note down the ingredients for biryani;


  • Basmati rice:1cup
  • Eggs:4
  • Potato(peeled and cubed):1medium
  • Onion(thinly sliced):1cup
  • Ginger paste:1tsp
  • Garlic paste:1tsp
  • Yogurt:3tbsp
  • Milk:1/4cup
  • Saffron strands: 1/4tsp
  • Salt
  • Oil
  • Ghee
  • Rose water:1/4tsp
  • Kewra essence:4-5drops
  • Cinnamon:1inch stick
  • Cardamom:2
  • Cloves:4
  • Star anise:1
  • Bay leaf:1
  • Mace: Few blades



Ingredients to make the biryani masala:


  • Cinnamon:1inch stick
  • Cardamom:3
  • Cloves:4-5
  • Shah jeera/black cumin:1tsp
  • Mace:1 floret
  • Nutmeg:1/8tsp
  • Black or white peppercorn:6-7
  • Star anise:1
Steps of making Egg Biryani:
1. As this is egg biryani, first you need boil the egg.


For a nicely done hard boiled egg, take water in a deep pan and add the egg. Put the pan on oven on a medium flame and let the water boil. When the water will rolling boil, switch off the heat and let the egg stand on that hot water for 7-8min. Drain the hot water, and run the hot eggs through cold water for 2-3min. Now crack and shell the eggs. Voila you are done with your hard boiled eggs. Rub a pinch of salt and saffron on the egg and keep them aside for 10-15min. Also soak few strands of saffron in lukewarm milk, cover the milk and keep aside.
2. As the eggs are getting ready, soak the rice. Use any good quality Basmati rice. Soak it for 30min. After soaking the rice for 30min, wash the rice. Be careful when wash the rice, no grains should break. Wash the rice in cold water till the water runs clear. Drain all the water. If needed strain the rice on a strainer.
3. Next is to cook the rice. Take a pot with lid, like a pasta cooker. Take lots of water, add salt and dry spices to the water and let it boil. The dry spices I used, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, bay leaf, mace, star anise. When the water boils add the washed rice, cook till 3/4 done. Drain water and spread the rice on a tray, this would stop it from getting cooked on its own heat.


4. Now it comes to make the biryani masala. For the masala, I always make it fresh. It is 100% homemade, but to save time whenever you make biryani masala make a little more than required and store it in an air tight container. It stays good for 2-3weeks. But again it takes hardly 15-20min to make the fresh biryani masala. I also sometimes use the extra biryani masala to marinate chicken or sprinkle a little on dum aloo(potato curry).

How I make my Biryani masala is simple. I dry roast cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, mace, nutmeg, shah jeera, black or white peppercorn, star anise, cool them and grind to powder. When dry roasting the spices keep the flame to low or it may burn. It is preferable to roast each spices separately, but I was in a hurry so a little shortcut is allowed.

5. By this time the eggs would have taken a nice yellow color, take a pan, heat some oil and fry the egg till it turns red. I also fried some cubed potatoes. For me biryani without potatoes are not quite complete. The potatoes I used was boiled previously then fried, to reduce the cooking time.



6. Take a pan heat oil and fry the sliced onion till nicely brown. Separate the onion slices before adding to the oil and cook on a medium flame for even browning of the onions. Stir continuously while frying the onions. these fried onions are called Barista. Take out half of the onion for later use. To the rest in the pan add ginger-garlic paste and cook for few minutes. Add the yogurt and mix well. Add salt, fried eggs and 1/2tsp of biryani masala. Cook till oil separates. The eggs should well coated with the spices.


7. Add rose water and kewra essence to the saffron soaked milk and mix well.

8. So everything is done. You need to arrange the biryani. Take a heavy bottom pan, add ghee(clarified butter) to coat the bottom. Make a layer of rice, add two fried potato cubes and two eggs along with some onion-yogurt gravy, fried onions, sprinkle biryani masala, rose-kewra flavored saffron soaked milk,  Again add some rice to make a layer, then again egg, fried onion, biryani masala, rose-kewra flavored saffron soaked milk.You can more layers depending on the amount of biryani you are cooking and the size of the utensil you are using. Just keep one thing in your mind the top and bottom layer will be always rice. Cover the pan with aluminium foil, put the lid on and keep heat to lowest and let it cook for 20min. The aluminium foil is used to prevent the steam to escape, the biryani will be cooked in its own steam. Instead of using aluminium foil you can make a dough of flour and seal the lid, so no steam can escape. After 20min remove the pan from heat and let stand for 10-15min.

Serve hot with some raita or green salad.

5 comments:

  1. Hi Chitrangada

    I really love your name, so sensuous, I tried this recipe along with Chicken Kosha and everyone praised me for this, thank you so much, first time I got the courage to make this recipe seeing the simplicity of the ingredients.

    Was hit in the family, thanks again
    Tk Cre
    Sunita

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    Replies
    1. Thanks...good to know that you and your family liked it.

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  2. I don't usually comment but I was compelled to comment on this. I love Indian, Pakistani, Bengali food. Not only they are tasty but also they appeal to the eye. I usually tend to go overboard with the spices. This recipe is the first recipe ever that I feel I really nailed. Spices weren't overpowering, just right, just perfect. I followed the easy-to-follow directions almost exactly. My only deviation was that after layering my biryani, I covered it with foil and cooked it in 250 degree oven for 30 minutes. Because I never cooked rice without water before and I feared I'd burn it on the stove. Oven felt safer. When I uncovered the foil, I was like "did I make this?" It looked amazing. It tasted amazing. That was yesterday dinner. Today, I came back to compliment the chef and browse more recipes to try. You are an amazing cook.

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  3. I love how you present your food and photograph them. It really is like food sea.... They look great. and I do love the sound of biriyani.. mmm nom

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