SPICE ROUTE

If you walk into the food bazaars of Tashkent and Samarkhand,you will come across an impressive variety of this dish. However,Mughal cooks added a personal touch to it and layered the rice and mutton. In pulao,usually all ingredients are cooked together which is not so in biryani, she says.

Meat masala
Husain first shows us how to get the lamb korma,the masala of the biryani,right. She heats refined oil in a pan and adds cloves,cardamoms,bay leaves and cinnamon. She then adds the chopped onions quickly followed by freshly-washed pieces of lamb she insists that you add some bone pieces as well and not just fleshy cuts. Reduce the flame when you add lamb and stir it occasionally till all of it turns brown, she says. When thats done,she adds the chilli powder,cinnamon powder,green chillies,salt and half a cup of water to the mixture. She says,Well add the beaten yoghurt and let the lamb cook on low flame for half an hour,till the meat is tender and soft.

A garnish of history
There are numerous recipes for the biryani in India. We can safely say that Korma ki biryani is a hit in north India,Kachche gosht ki biryani is popular in Hyderabad,Yakhni biryani in Lucknow,and Kolkata adds its own special touch with boiled potatoes in a biryani, says Husain while we wait for the korma to cook.
The Hyderabadi cooking style has a strong Iranian influence, Husain says. The dishes are robustly spiced and when the Portuguese arrived in India,they brought sacks of chillies,which was added to the dish. In the Yakhni biryani,chillies are barely used. The reign of Wajid Ali Shah and Tipu Sultan majorly influenced the cooking style in Kolkata. We also have Moplah biryani which is cooked with fish and dry fruits an Arab influence,and there is also a vegetarian biryani made with jackfruit,seasonal vegetables and soya chunks, says Husain.
While we try to wrap our head around how the different biryanis originate,the kitchen is filled with the aroma of cooked lamb. Husain then gets ready for the next stepthe rice. Always remember that for biryani,never boil the rice to its fullest. It has to be parboiled along with whole spices,rose water and drops of oil, says Husain. If you want the dish high on flavour,you can boil the rice in some chicken stock along with the other spices.

Full steam ahead
Layering is of utmost importance in a biryani. You layer the sheets of white rice with the cooked korma, says Husain. Also make sure the korma is not watery; to dry it out you could leave it a little longer on the flame.
Take another deep-bottomed pan and line it with ghee. Then put in a layer of rice,followed by the cooked lamb,then another layer of rice. You can dust cinnamon powder and a few drops of saffron milk see ingredients on each layer of rice. The pan is covered with a lid and sealed with dough. It is kept on a low flame for the next 10 minutes. You can also cover the lid with a wet towel. Its a traditional way of dum cooking. Break open the seal and garnish the biryani with crispy brown fried onion. Husain says,Serve it with some raita a blend of yoghurt with a pinch of garlic and salt.
Verdict: 8 out of 10. The dish is high on fragrance and flavour. The meat is tender and juicy.

You will need:
Serves 4
For Korma:
Lamb with bone: 1kg
Refined oil: 1/2cup
Cloves: 6
Green cardamom: 6
Brown cardamom: 2
Cinnamon stick: 1inch
Bay leaf: 2
Onion sliced: 4
Ginger paste: 2tsp
Garlic paste: 2tsp
Red chilli powder: 1tsp
Coriander powder:1tsp
Green chillies: 2-3
Whipped yoghurt : 1cup
For RICE:
Basmati rice: ½ kg
Rose water: 2drops
Ghee: 2tsp
Salt
For Layering and Garnish:
Saffron dry roasted: ¼ tsp,dissolved in
1 tablespoon milk
Cardamom powder: ½tsp
Desi Ghee: 1 tablespoon
Fried slices of onion for garnish