Lamb biryani

If I had not spent several hours in the kitchen, it's would be hard to believe that such a modest looking plate of rice could involve so much work. . .

What you will need.

750g of diced lamb
500g of Basmati rice
3 small red onions
5 cloves of garlic
6cm knob of ginger
3 green chillies
0.5 tsp turmeric
700g natural yoghurt
2 cinnamon sticks
0.5 tsp of ground cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp of black peppercorns
14 cardamon pods
1 teaspoon of cloves
3 tsp of cumin seeds
0.5 tsp of ground cumin
1 tbsp Amchur powder
1 large pinch of saffron
2 dried red chilli
2 tbsp of Rose water
2 limes
4 tomatoes - diced
2 Tbsp tomato paste
15 dried apricot halves
A bunch each of coriander and fresh mint
12 chat potatoes
3 eggs - hardboiled

How?

1. Make an onion paste by tossing 1.5 small red onions, all the garlic, ginger and two seeded green chillies into a food processor. Pulse into a paste before frying in several tablespoons of olive oil for about 7 minutes.

2. While frying the paste - prepare the marinade. Tip 300mls of natural yoghurt into a large bowl, along with the juice of 1.5 limes and 0.5 tsp of ground turmeric. Then add the onion paste from step 1, stir and now add the diced lamb. Mix well, cover and let marinate (in the fridge) for at least 2 hours.

3. Make the mint raita - In another bowl - add 400mls of natural yoghurt (eg Greek), 1 seeded chilli - finely chopped, a handful of mint leaves - chopped, half a red onion - finely diced, the juice of 1 lime, 0.5 tsp of ground cumin and a pinch of ground pepper and salt. Stir and leave in the fridge till ready.

4. For the rice - Boil 2L of water in a pot, and once this is bubbling - add the rice, 2 quills of cinnamon, 7 bruised cardamon pods, 1 tsp of black peppercorns, 0.5 tsp of cloves, 2 tsp of cumin seeds and a pinch of salt. Stir and cook for about 10 minutes. Drain the water and let the rice cool on a large tray. Whilst it is cooling - sprinkle the rice with 2 tbsp of Rose water and the saffron, which has been previously soaked in a few tablespoons of warm water.

5. Fry. . . Slice the remaining red onion into very fine rings and fry in a few tablespoons of oil. After about 5 minutes remove and set aside. Now fry off the lamb and the remaining yoghurt/onion marinade. Once the lamb has coloured add the diced tomato, the tomato paste and the dried apricot halves and the lamb spices (which consists of 1 tsp cumin, 0.5 tsp black pepper, 2 dried chillies, 0.5 tsp of cloves, 7 cardamon pods, 0.5 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1 tbsp of Amchur powder - all ground in a mortar and pestle). Cook over a medium heat for a further 30 minutes. At the end add a handful of chopped mint and coriander leaves and stir through.

6. Peel and parboil the chat potatoes and hard boil eggs if you are using as a garnish.

7. Heat your oven to 180 degrees C and find a deep oven proof casserole dish. I used my red Le Creuset. Place half the lamb mixture at the base and then cover with a layer of half cooked rice. Top this with half of the fried onions and stud the rice with half of the semi cooked potatoes. Add another layer of lamb curry and top with the remainder of the rice, fried onions and potatoes. Cover well and let this cook in the oven for about 40 minutes.

Serve with the mint raita and top with fresh coriander and hard boiled egg fragments.

Wine? This is a fairly mild, though flavour packed dish. The apricots made my think of viognier and after some procrastination I opened a bottle of Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier. Not a brilliant match, but still quite functional and pleasing.

Post script: Though delicious, this could do with more meat and sauce. Next time I will use at least 1kg of lamb.

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