BIRYANI MIGHT BE AN EMOTION FOR MANY, MY RELATION WITH IT IS LIKE A FLUCTUATING GRAPH!
When I had it for the first time, I loved it to the heel! That might be in Aminia, in the New Market area sometime in 1988 may be! We stepped into the college in 1987 & got some freedom & pocket money! Since 1989, I did not even require pocket money, I used to give private tuitions! By 1992, September, I grabbed a job in a school! I enjoyed my job, the salary was meagre! Then, later in life I became a sit at home! However, Biryani was not the hottest sale then, rezala with rumali ruti was! After my first tryst with Biryani, I kept aside the mutton rezala & rumali roti and now store bought Biryani has taken a back seat! I prefer only homemade biryani these day! Today, I have learnt to cook biryani & rezala, but not a rumali roti! The Kolkata style rezala, light yellow or say almost white in colour seems the best tasted to me! At this stage in life, if I visit Delhi; I would have a variety of paratha, lassi, laddu, chaat! I do not have any interest in thick curries! Though the craze for biryani has gone down, I cannot stop having biryani, I have learnt to make it right! My family is a biryani lover except for the mother & perhaps Bidisha-Rameesha's mother too is off meat! Their father loves, my in-laws would order biryani for themselves on their birthdays & anniversaries! Their daughter would order for them biryani, fish fries! The son, man, sis-in-laws & brother-in-law all of them love it & Bhai? He is majorly on a biryani diet! How much you love, biryani cannot be in your regular menu! When in last April-May, I went to the New Market & Park Street area, I plunged into the past! Though the footpaths got overly crowded, the basic demography remained the same! Specially, inside the New Market, it's an old world charm, I can feel it, I can see the "shaheb-mem" walking as if! We need not go back that far, that area is full of our childhood, shopping started there two months prior to the Durga Puja! Only that, our father never got us a taxi ride, it was 30B from DumDum, neither he took us to an eatery, leave the restaurants! We only had ice-cream desserts at the Indramahal or Rally's! The mother had to cook "sheddo bhaat", make the help clean the home by 11:30 am before we caught the bus! At night while returning, they would pick up "tarka dal-ruti" from the neighbourhood dhaba! The mother had given a lot to this home, she would not have complaints if the father took her for movies or a dine out, that in a taxi once in a while! It was also not okay for her to expect him to be like her father; do gardening, arrange prayers, a complete family man! Our father was not the kind to clean utensils & do the bed, he loved his friends, chat, books, political discussions, certain genre of music! I am the elder child, I never did take side, every human would have several shades! I think they were too much of an opposite to get married & stay under one roof! Although marriage is an adjustment, yet one should look for some points in common before tying the knot! Later on, separation or divorces rips off the kids!
MY STATEMENTS WITH REGARDS TO BIRYANI ARE FLUCTUATING TOO!
Earlier, I did not accept a chicken biryani in my life, today I enjoy it! However, I would never accept vegetable & millet biryanis, I hail from Kolkata! I was thinking, when I visit Kolkata next & onwards, I would walk in these areas; New Market, Park Street, Bentinck Street, Wellington Street, Bowbazaar, Sealdah to the SN Banerjee Road, Chandni, Jatindramohan Avenue, the Ram Mandir area! The father used to get tissue saris for the mother from the Ram Mandir sari shops when most of the Bengalis did not know about those type! Thereafter, the mother started venturing alone, both of us prefer buying on our own, we have that freedom! Above were the areas, I used to go, I again have to walk there & off course sit & eat! I cannot digest moghlai porota but I have to sit at the Anadi Cabin once! I cook everything at home, I do not like having fish & meat fries, handmade breads whilst in Kolkata! At Aminia, outside of the New Market I am not comfortable to sit but I have to, I would start walking from Sealdah, crosspass Lotus Cinema Hall, stop at Bata's discount store if it's there still, stand in front of the YMCA for a while, the father was a member, then enter Aminia, thereafter would go to the New Market! In one day, you cannot cover that area, I used to enjoy Aliah's Biryani too, near the Amber restaurant it is may be! I do not wish to go back to Kolkata any sooner, but a yearly visit should take me to the lanes & by-lanes, without anyone accompanying me! I am not to hire the brother's car, I would prefer on foot, bus & metro, the past beacons me, only meeting the friends is not getting me to recall it! How I wish to take the son to these places, he has to know his birthplace well, not necessarily he has to stay there!
WHAT IS THIS EASY COOK STRESS FREE CHICKEN BIRYANI?
What else to name it? I cannot associate my Biryani Recipes to any particular place, I cannot ditto follow a recipe! Last month, I came across Barrackpore's Dada-Boudir Biryani recipe at the Hangla Hneshel Magazine's Facebook Page, then they removed the recipe! I tried to recapitulate & cooked it few weeks back, but I skip steps or just forget to add the necessary ingredients! In this case, I added an excess amount of milk & the rice got soggy, I do not like wet biryanis! I deleted all of the pictures taken! The day before yesterday, on a Saturday noon, I cooked a Biryani from my mind, added what I wished when, hence was relaxed the entire period of cooking! But we have to follow certain basic rules while cooking a biryani, staying within the biryani rule book, we can go ahead our way! Because I am a Bengali from Kolkata, I usually add potato & egg to the biryani I cook! This time, I wanted it to have the flavours coming from Nutmeg+Mace / Jaiphal+Javitri, I added some freshly ground to the chicken marination, also you have to add few mace to the rice making water! I named this extremely flavourful, non-vegetarian, gluten-free rice & chicken bowl EASY COOK STRESS FREE CHICKEN BIRYANI!
We thoroughly enjoy biryani, in my case, it has to be homemade! The man's face lit up when biryani is served! I couldn't make it for the son when I visited, biryani requires quite a few ingredients! Mumma is waiting for his visit to feed him biryani & pulao! Mumma is getting used to live far from him, I miss him but the worry about his health & security is thousand times more! Last night, my dinner was a love, whilst I served "dim sheddo-aloo sheddo bhat" to the man!
BASMATI RICE : 1 1/2 COFFEE MUG
CHICKEN : 7-8 BIG CUT
POTATO : 3
Egg : 4-5
SLICED ONION : 2 COFFEE MUG
SLITTED GREEN CHILLI : 4-5
CHOPPED CORIANDER : 1 SMALL TEA CUP
CHOPPED MINT : 2 TBSP
POWDERED MILK : 3-4 TBSP
CUMIN POWDER : 2 TSP
CORIANDER POWDER : 2 TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2 TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1 TSP
MACE POWDER : 1 TSP [PREFERABLY FRESHLY MADE]
NUTMEG POWDER : 1/2 TSP [PREFERABLY FRESHLY MADE]
MACE : 2-3
BLACK CARDAMOM : 1-2
GREEN CARDAMOM : 3-4
BAY LEAF : 3-4
CINNAMON STICK : 3-4 ONE INCH LENGTH STICK
CRUSHED BLACK PEPPER : 1 TSP [IF YOU WANT IT SPICY]
GINGER PASTE : 1 TSP
GARLIC PASTE : 2 TSP
ROSE WATER : 1 TBSP
LEMON JUICE : 2 TBSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 3 TBSP
GHEE : 2 TBSP + 3 TBSP
THE AMOUNT WOULD SERVE 4-5 PEOPLE!
PROCEDURE :
I think I forgot to click each step of the making! That would not be a problem! I would give you the simplest narration because I remained too cool whilst doing it!
Peel & wash the potatoes, half each & soak in salted water! We have sliced, slitted, chopped & washed the onions, green chillies, fresh coriander, fresh mint respectively!
I have ground together the nutmeg+mace for a stronger flavour! Boil some eggs, de-shell, wash & marinate with a little of oil!
Marinate the washed chicken with salt for an hour & wash thoroughly! Marinate with some salt, the turmeric, all of the spice powders, milk powder, ginger+garlic pastes! Keep aside for 40-45 minutes!
In a wok, heat the oil+ghee, fry crisp the sliced onion, take out half to be used later!
Add the marinated chicken to the wok, give a stir, cover cook at low heat for 5-6 minutes at minimal heat!
Remove the cover & add the potato pieces discarding the water! Fold in well & slow cook covered for 15-16 minutes! Add the slitted green chillies, give a stir & switch off the gas stove!
Do not keep too much of gravy!
Boil water in a heavy bottomed vessel; add the whole spices & salt to the water! When it comes to boil, wash the uncooked rice grains & add to it!
Once the rice is about 70% done, drain the water taking in a big strainer or a colander having smaller holes!
Now, it is time to layer the meat & rice! Grease a heavy bottomed vessel with ghee & add some gravy!
Add a layer of rice, atop it some chicken, potato, eggs! Sprinkle some rose water, some ghee & gravy! Again cover them with rice, add the rest of the chicken, potato, egg, a little of rose water, fried onion slices, gravy & ghee! In the last lap, add a layer of rice, fried onion, chopped coriander+mint, ghee, the rest of the gravy & sprinkle some rose water! Close with a lid, close the hole in the lid with a clove!
Place a pan atop the gas burner, heat it! Place the vessel on it tightly closed with a lid! I slow cook at the lowest heat for 45-50 minutes!
Note, if in the beginning, you add 3-4 tbsp of ghee, not a single rice would brown! I prefer using less of oil & ghee in a Biryani!
I always serve & have it with raita, salad, at times papad too!
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