The Biryani madness simplified...

The last day, we thought of trying on something we have never tried at home ever. Actually after eating it, I can safely say that we had never eaten it before as well (though here one must confess that I have never ever set my foot in Hyderabad before!!!). We tried to conjure up the right ‘Hyderabadi Katchi Mutton Biryani’ in our kitchen. For people who are not very sure of the difference between a katchi biryani and a pakki biryani, let me tell you that a pakki biryani is nothing but steaming already cooked mutton and rice together so that the flavour gets mixed up. On the other hand the katchi biryani is cooked with raw meat and half cooked rice. Needless to mention that yes the later tastes much better but is a little difficult and time taking. But what I need to mention is that the katchi variety is more refreshing and less fattening (not a single drop of ghee!!).

We referred to a site called vahrevah.com to get the recipe. It’s actually a total comedy show with an over animated chef (the recent Bingo guy) who actually cries saying that good food makes him cry (sheesh!!@#$!!). Despite the histrionics, the recipe mentioned and the tips provided in the video is worth watching. You can see the full video on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOvFCGjGp1A

But before you start making the great biryani, let me give you some tips. It is a good idea to actually marinate the meat overnight with a raw papaya or any other tenderiser you use. Before the final marination, try to take out the papaya so that you don’t compromise with the taste. Also add a bit of freshly ground ginger garlic paste in both the kinds of marination. It tastes better with it. When frying onions, don’t deep fry as shown in the video. Shallow fry it and add that oil in the mutton for marination.
Instead of maze (javitri) as the whole spice, I used cinnamon (dalchini). You may try it or use maze if you have. Last but not the least, if you don’t have good saffron, don’t use it. It is ridiculously expensive and the variety you get in normal kirana stores in Mumbai don’t add any flavour to it. Don’t worry about the colour of the biryani because it will take up the meat’s colour

So then, what are you waiting for? Once done, serve it with some chilled white wine and anar dana raita. Bon appétit!!