Spicy Beef Biryani – South Indian Style

Biryani. One of the worlds most favourite dish, Biryani has its roots in India at the time of the Mughal Empire. According to Wikipedia, the modern Biryani developed in the royal kitchens of the Mughal Empire in India and is a mix of Indian spices and Persian Pilaf. Today there are so many variations of this dish depending on the region or even country

The Spicy Beef Biryani dish is quite famous in South India, especially around Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Patience is required while making Biryani, as there are few steps that should not be skipped to get the best taste. The repice should be followed as listed as they are in a pre arranged sequence and any deviation might give a different taste.

Prep

• Total prep time : 1 hour
• Marinate time : 2 hours
• Cook time : about 1 hour 20 minute

Coming to the ingredients, get the best quality basmati rice. This truly makes a difference to how the dish comes together at the end. The meat should be cut into 2 inch pieces, and you can use pretty much any cut of beef. This recipe uses the Dum Biryani technique, where the rice is 80% cooked separately and then mixed with the Biryani base and slow cooked for about 30 to 45 minutes

Even though the ingredients list is long and the process looks intimidating, it is actually not. Its just the amount of spices that the required steps to get the best flavour in the Biryani. It’s like the saying, no pain no gain.

Now let’s look at the ingredient list

Ingredients

• 2 lbs Beef, cut into 2 inch cubes
• 3 large red onions, thinly sliced
• 2 large fresh tomatoes, cut into pieces
• 10 whole green chillies
• 2 tblsp Ginger paste
• 2 tblsp Garlic paste
• 1 cup minced fresh coriander
• 1 cup minced fresh mint leaves (no stems)
• 4 cups white basmati rice
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup desi ghee
• 1/2 cup cooking oil
• Salt to taste

Spice Mix

• 1 tblsp green cardamom
• 1 tblsp cloves
• 1 tbslp star anise
• 1 tblsp shahi jeera
• 1 tblsp whole black pepper
• 1 large cinamon stick
• few bay leaves
• 1 tblsp garam masala powder
• 1 tblsp Shan/National Beef biryani powder (or any other brand)

One technique that I use is to grind all the dry spices before hand and store in an airtight jar. Then store in a cool dry place. The ground spices would stay well for few weeks.

Steps

• Wash and soak the raw basmati rice in plenty of water. Wash at least 2 times and soak for about 1 hour. I normally do this as the first step and then continue with preparing the other items
• In a large heavy bottom or aluminum utensil, add 2 tblsp of desi ghee and 3 tblsp of cooking oil.
• Fry the thinly sliced onions until golden brown. Use medium heat.
• When the onions are mostly fried, add green chillies, ginger garlic paste and fry for about 2 minutes, until all the raw smell is gone.
• Add chopped tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes. Increase the heat to high and cook completely.
• Add some oil and water to the utensil, if required, so that nothing gets burnt. Nothing should get burnt at any stage. If that happens start all over again.
• Now add the Beef pieces and mix thoroughly.
• Add 3 tblsp of the ground dry spice mix to the meat and cook well for about 5 minutes. You can add more if you want it a bit more spicy.
• Add yogurt and cook well for another 5 minutes.
• Add chopped mint and coriander leaves and reduce heat to medium again.
• Add half cup of water, if required.
• The Biryani base should look like below.

• Reduce heat to low and let it simmer.
• In another large vessel, add 5 tsp table salt and plenty of water.
• Bring this to boil in another stove on high heat.
• When the water is hot, add 1 tbsp shahi jeera, 2 bay leaves and 4 green cardamom.
• Drain all water from the washed and soaked rice and add only the rice to the boiling water.

• Cook for about 5 minutes and then turn off the stove.
• Now take the rice using a large slotted spoon or spatula and add it to the utensil with Beef Biryani base.
• Add all the rice to the other pan.

• Top with remaining desi ghee and cover with lid
• Now move the other vessel in which the rice was boiled over the lid and cook on very low heat for about 30 minutes.

• Once 30 minutes are done, turn off the stove and let it sit for another 15 minutes.
• Do not open the lid inbetween. The steam that builds in at this stage infuses the biryani flavour into the rice and should not be disturbed.
• After about 45 minutes from the time the rice was added, remove the utensil on top of the Biryani pan, and slowly and carefully open the lid.

• Mix the Biryani gently

• Serve hot

Awesome Biryani is ready. I know this is a long post and there are quite a bit of instructions to follow, but in the end it’s worth it. With this technique the Biryani is cooked just right and there is no chance of undercooked or over cooked rice.

The dish is a meal by itself and goes well with Beef Fry and raita. Enjoy