Mughlai Apricot Biryani

Ingredients:

14 oz bismati rice
12 oz baby new potatoes, cut into quarters
11 oz onions, sliced into thin strips
2 oz dried apricots, chopped into 1/2 inch chunks
3/4 oz dried pineapple, chopped into 1/2 inch chunks
3/4 oz whole almonds
3/4 oz whole pistachios
.35 oz unsweetened desiccated coconut or 1 oz fresh coconut, grated
1 pinch saffron soaked in 4 Tbsp hot water
1 Tbsp kewra water
8 oz hot water plus more for boiling the rice and potatoes
4 Tbsp oil or ghee
Salt

For the spicy yogurt mixture:
4 Tbsp Greek yogurt
1 1/2 tsp minced ginger
2 tsp minced chiles
1 tsp cinnamon powder
4 whole cloves
1 tsp ground green cardamon seeds (flowery, aromatic flavor)
1/4 tsp ground black cardamon seeds (smoky, heady flavor)
1/4 tsp whole fennel seeds
1/4 tsp pomegranate seed powder (sharp, sour taste- available in most Indian shops)
1/8 tsp ground mace
1 small pinch ground nutmeg
1 tsp salt

Instructions:

Wash your rice 8-10 times in cold water. Allow to soak in a bowl of cold water for 30 minutes. Note: You’re washing the rice to remove the starch and promote fluffy grains when cooked. Soaking the rice helps even cooking of the rice through the tenderization of each grain.

Meanwhile, boil the potatoes in a pan of salted boiling water until half-cooked. Drain and set aside. Note: Don’t overcook your potatoes because they’re going to go through another two cooking processes – frying and steaming.

Soak the chopped apricots and pineapples in warm water and set aside. Whisk together all of the ingredients for the spicy yogurt mixture and set aside. Note: We’re using this as a sauce to cook our potatoes in to keep them delicious and moist.

Heat the oil in a large non-stick pan (I used a wok) and add the part-cooked potatoes. Fry until golden all over. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon, leaving the oil behind and drain on kitchen paper.

Mix the fried potatoes with the yogurt mixture and set aside. Note: Adding the hot potatoes to the yogurt mixture will allow them to soak up all of the spices.

Fry the slices of onion until golden in the same oil used to fry the potatoes. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon, leaving the oil behind and drain on kitchen paper.

Next, fry the almonds and pistachios until slightly golden (do not over brown) in the same oil used to fry the potatoes and onions. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon, leaving the oil behind and drain on kitchen paper. Note: We are using the same oil to get as much flavor into this biryani as possible – if you used new oil each time, the flavors would just be thrown away.

Boil the rice in water seasoned with plenty of salt for just five minutes or until half-cooked. Drain and set aside. Note: We do not want to cook the rice too much because we’re going to gently finish cooking it with all of the other ingredients later.

Add the potato and yogurt mixture back into the pan of warm oil and cook for 4-5 minutes or until aromatic. Remove half of the potatoes from the pan and set aside, leaving half behind. We’re now ready to start layering up the biryani.

. Turn the heat off before you begin layering. Place enough rice over to potatoes to cover them. Spread on half of the onions, drained apricots and pineapples, coconut, nuts and spoon over half of the saffron water and kewra water. Cover with more rice, then potatoes and more rice.

Again, spread on half of the onions, drained apricots and pineapples, coconut, nuts and spoon over half of the saffron water and kewra water. Add 250ml boiling water (salted with 1 tsp salt).

Cover the biryani with foil and place a tight-fitting lid on top. Cook on a low heat for approximately 20 minutes. Check the rice at the halfway point – it’s better to be safe than sorry. Note: We want the biryani to gently steam and a delicious golden (not burnt) crust to form on the bottom of the pan. This is a conventional way to cook biryani – not a traditional way. I will go through traditional biryani cooking another time.

Remove the lid and gently fluff up the rice with a fork, taking care not to combine it too much. Beautiful, uneven coloring is characteristic of a good biryani.

From korasoi.blogspot.com