Sunday, April 04, 2010

Beef Briyani Rice/Nasi Briyani Daging

Carlos and I love Indian food but I hardly cook any at home. I always wanted to learn how to cook it but when I see the long list of ingredients that needed just to prepare this dish I decided not to. When I saw Aunty Lily posted this dish using Shah Brand ready mix I was so happy. Finally I found an easy way to make briyani rice. I went to the Indian Grocery store the very next day and bought a few boxes of it. I always trust Aunty Lily taste and when she said it is good, that means must be really good. I follow her recipe but instead of using chicken I used beef and I did drizzle a bit of saffron water on top of the rice just to give it a bit of color. And I also cook the rice on top of the stove as my rice cooker always switch to keep-warm mode half through cooking and burn at the bottom if I cook any savory rice in it.

Here is the recipe adapted from Aunty Lily’s with some minor changes

Ingredients:

1 ½ lbs beef – I used tenderloins for quick cooking
1 1/3 lb basmati rice - soaked for 30 minutes and drained
1 tbsp tamarind pulp - soaked in 1 cup water for 30 minutes, Then press and sieve the juice. (I omit this and used water instead)
2 medium onion - sliced(about 1/2 lb)
2 tbsp grated ginger
2 tbsp chopped garlic
4 tbsp oil
1 packet 'Shan' Chicken Biryani
A few strain of saffron – soak in a bit of warm water


For Garnish:

Some raisins
Fried shallots
Toasted cashew nuts (I replace it with pine nuts)
Cilantro

1. Marinate beef pieces with ginger, garlic and 2 tbsp of Shan Chicken Biryani mix for 1 hour. In the meantime mix the rest of the briyani mix with a bit of water to make into a paste.
2. Heat oil and brown the marinated beef pieces. Remove and set aside. Sweat the chopped onions, and then add in browned chicken pieces. Add in the paste and continue to stir-fry until the meat is well coated with the paste. Add in the tamarind juice (I just add 2 cups of water) bring it up to boil, turn down the heat and continue to cook and stir until the meat is tender and sauce thickened. Set aside.
3. Bring a pot of water to boil, add in 3/4 tsp of salt and add in the rice. Boil until the rice is three-quarter tender. Remove and drain the liquid.
4. To assemble the briyani, spread half of the cook meat at the bottom of a pot or your rice cooker and spread half of the rice on top of the meat.
5. Spread another layer of meat on top of the rice and follows by the rest of the rice. Drizzle the saffron water on top of the rice and top it with some raisins. Cover the pot and cook the rice on top of the stove on low flame for another 15 minutes. If you are using the rice cooking, press the cook function and cook until the cook function pop up.
6. Mix and fluff up the rice slightly before serving. Garnish with some raisins, fried shallots and cashew nuts.


Note: You might need more water if you are using a tough cut of meat

18 comments:

MaryMoh said...

I love briyani but the thought of cooking it just looks quite challenging. I must go and look for that briyani mix...smart way to go short cut! :D

Angie's Recipes said...

Tomorrow I am going to do some fried rice too! This one looks simple and yummy.

Zue Murphy said...

OMG! Your briyani look so delicious! Guess what I found in my last year vegetables pot in the back yard...the spring onion. I will blog it later. Happy Easter!

Sonia ~ Nasi Lemak Lover said...

I have wanted to cook Briyani but have yet to give it a try, using ready mix sound easy. Yours look so delicious and pro.. yummy!

tigerfish said...

Biryani, I love.

If you have those spices such as cardamon, cloves, star anise, cinnamon, cumin, fennel, turmeric, and curry powder; then some tomatoes and shallots, I believe you are on your way to making biryani...

I was always afraid of making biryani from scratch but not anymore after my friend's mom (Indian) said it was easy and taught me the vegetarian biryani version.

petite nyonya said...

Gertrude, even after my lamb pilaf, I could still have a plate of this biryani! I love, love, love biryani rice. The rice looks fluffy and grainy, which is just perfect!

Elin Chia said...

If I don't know you Gertrude, I would have thought you are staying in Malaysia. Your nasi briyani looks so authentic and delicious :)) I wish here again I was just next door when you cooked this :p

Cheah said...

Lovely dish, can even smell it from here!

Anonymous said...

Very good looking nasi briyani! Too bad I can't get this packet in Sydney.

Bren said...

My hubby likes to eat nasi briyani at the mamak shop. I never knew there's this instant briyani mix. I'm going to search for this. Thanks for sharing Gertrude. Your nasi briyani really looks good! :)

Quinn said...

Gert, you jahat la....now I dah ada cravings...tengok picture pun dah trigger my saliva gland. Must make!!!!!

Pete said...

The Biryani ready mix sure makes cooking easy! Nice!

ICook4Fun said...

Ellie, if you like I can mail a few packets to you.

Mysweetkitchen, if you can't find this brand in Singapore you can always use another brand.

Quinn, being far away from home makes us crave for Malaysian food even more, isn't it :)

Pete, yeap with the ready mix and paste, it makes cooking easy :)

Unknown said...

shan's the best for biryani but it is a bit too salty for me

gertrude said...

Lily, yea you are right. It was a bit salty.

Tuty @Scentofspice said...

Gert,
Thanks for sharing this. I'll try your version with Shan's seasoning and will keep in mind about the salt level :-)

ICook4Fun said...

Tuty, hope you can get Shah Briyani mix there. If not let me know and I will mail you some :)

Sharifah said...

That Shah biryani mix looks interesting, i have never seen it here in Old Bridge, NJ where I live, but I guess I can try looking for it in Indian grocery shops or Halal shops around the area. Do you have a made for scratch biryani recipe, i do have some of the spices around the house... thanks again!