Tag Archives: Biryani

Fish Biryani

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Fish biryani is not a delicacy but just another version of Biryani. After combining 4 recipes; 2 from my family, 1 from YouTube and 1 from a friend, and adding some of my own ingredients, I came up with my very own recipe which I am sharing with my Ayesha’s Kitchen family. This recipe is extremely easy, quick and yum if you follow whatever is written below…..

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

FOR FISH KORMA

  • 500 gms boneless fish cut into 3 finger sized chunks (I used gummy in Australia, you can use any fish which is not flaky) I like using gummy for my curries, soups & gravies as it does not have any strong odor and it does not break while cooking. My second favorite for this kind of cooking is Barramundi. Barramundi does not break as well but has a good fishy odor which I like.
  • 2 tbspns yogurt
  • ¼ cup lemon juice
  • 2 tbspns chopped coriander & mint
  • 1 tspn freshly crushed ginger, garlic & green chilli
  • A generous pinch of salt (to taste)
  • 1 tspn red chilli powder
  • A generous pinch of carom seeds (ajwain)
  • A generous pinch of caraway seeds (shahi zeera)
  • 1 tspn cumin seeds
  • ½ tspn paprika
  • ½ tspn turmeric
  • 1 tspn coriander powder
  • A generous pinch of amchur powder
  • A pinch of sugar
  • 1 tson garam masala (1 big cardamom, 2 green cardamoms, ½ tspn fenugreek leaves, a piece of cinnamon, 3 cloves, 4 peppercorns, a piece of mace and a dash of nutmeg)

FOR BIRYANI

  • ½ cup oil
  • 1 medium sized onion (sliced)
  • ½ cup fried onions
  • 4 – 5 lemon slices
  • 2 tbspns chopped mint & coriander
  • 2 sprigs of dill
  • 1 tomato
  • Water + 1 tbspn salt + 1 star aniseed + 3 cloves + cinnamon + 1 big cardamom + 2 small cardamom to boil rice
  • 2.5 cups basmati rice
  • Few curry leaves
  • 1 tspn ghee
  • Few drops yellow food colour
  • 1 tspn freshly crushed ginger, garlic & green chilli

Method:

  1. Combine all the spices given for fish in a bowl and add ginger, garlic and chilli paste along with lemon juice.
  2. Apply this paste to fish chunks and keep aside to marinate for 15 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile cut the veggies, soak the rice and put a pot on stove with water, salt, spices& dill sprigs to boil.
  4. Once the water starts boiling, add soaked rice and cook until the rice are 90% done.
  5. Add 2 tbspns of yogurt to the marinated fish and mix. (We add yogurt to fish 10 minutes before cooking so the fish does not break in the curry)
  6. Drain the water and keep the rice aside.
  7. In another pan, heat some oil and fry onion. Add crushed ginger, garlic & chilli to it and saute’ until the onions are golden. Add tomatoes & curry leaves and cook on medium heat until the tomatoes are done. Add a splash of hot water if needed.
  8. Reduce the flame to low and add fish chunks to masala in a single layer and cook covered for 10 minutes. Flip the side and cook for further 5 minutes.
  9. In the rice boiling pot, lay a layer of par boiled rice, then lemon slices, chopped coriander and mint and half of the fried onions, then fish masala, then rice and then another layer of lemon slices, chopped coriander and mint and the remaining fried onions. Splash some yellow food colour, add some ghee on top and cook for 10 minutes on low heat.
  10. Take off the lid and gently mix the biryani with a straight spoon or a spatula. Let it rest for 5 minutes with lid open and then take it out onto your serving dish and serve hot.

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Smokey Kofta Biryani

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This is LEGENDARY! It takes a lot of effort and time to make it but the result is amazing. People will love you for this and you will get paid for your effort in form of love and thank yous.

It is my own creation, made for some of my besties over a dinner party and they loves it. The tender, charcoal smoked meatballs and spicy potatoes with aromatic rice is a perfect combination to make anyone fall for you. ❤

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

FOR KOFTAS

  • ½ kg beef mince with fats
  • 2 onions fried
  • 1 tbspn ginger paste
  • 1 tbspn garlic paste
  • 7 – 8 green chillies (small)
  • A bunch of coriander
  • Few sprigs of mint
  • 1 tbspns Salt
  • 1 tbspns red chilli flakes (for extra hot)
  • 1 tbspn crushed anardana
  • 1 tbspn crushed cumin seeds
  • ½ tspn ground garam masala
  • 1 egg
  • Oil for shallow frying

FOR BIRYANI

  • 1 cup oil
  • 3 cups rice (soaked in cold water)
  • 3 onions sliced
  • 3 tomatoes crushed
  • 2 tbspns ginger and garlic (freshly crushed)
  • 6 – 8 dried plums soaked in hot water for 30 mins
  • 3 medium potatoes cut into big chunks
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 5 – 8 cloves
  • 1 tbspn black peppercorns
  • A small piece of aniseed
  • 2 large pieces of cinnamon
  • 2 black cardomoms
  • 2 green cardamoms
  • 1 tbspn cumin seeds
  • 1 tbspn coriander powder
  • Few drops of yellow food color
  • Few drops of kewra essense
  • Some lemon juice
  • 5 boiled eggs

FOR GARNISHING AND TEMPERING

  • 2 tbspns ghee
  • 1 fried crisp onion
  • Few lemon slices
  • Some chopped mint leaves
  • Some chopped coriander leaves
  • 3 – 4 curry leaves
  • Charcoal

Procedure:

  • For koftas/ meatballs, grind onion, chillies, mint, coriander and anar dana and add mince. Mix well on pulse and take out in a mixing bowl. Mix all the spices in egg and add it to the mincemeat mixture and mix well. Make small round balls, (size of golf ball) and refrigerate.
  • Meanwhile, boil biryani rice. Biryani rice should be cooked to 80% of the tenderness. This will help to maintain the shape of biryani rice. Remaining 20% will be cooked in dam.
  • Heat oil in a pan and fry onions, add ginger garlic and tomatoes. Mix well and when tomatoes are tender, add potatoes and all the spices and cook covered on low heat until the potatoes are tender and masala is made.
  • Meanwhile, fry koftas and temper them with coal. Keep aside until needed.
  • For tarka, fry 1 sliced onion until its crispy golden and add curry leaves. When the curry leaves begin to splatter, the tarka is ready.
  • In a separate pot, lay the 1st layer of rice, add tempered koftas, coriander, mint, green chillies, 2nd layer of rice, potato curry and the 3rd and the last layer of rice. Drizzle some yellow food color, kewra water, lemon juice and tarka. Cover and cook on dam for 10 minutes.
  • Take of the lid of the cook pot and very carefully mix the biryani. Serve hot with boiled egg. mint raita and fresh salad.

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Sindhi Biryani

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Sindhi Biryani is one of the mos popular type of biryani in town after Bombay Biryani and Karachi Biryani & I like it the most as it is not very spicy and it is very aromatic. It is a special delicacy of Sindh Province, Pakistan and one of the popular dish in Pakistani home cooking as well ……. Try and fall in love with it ..

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups basmati rice
  • 2 kgs mutton chops
  • 4 big potatoes cut into thick wedges
  • 6 onions
  • 2 cups water
  • 4 tomatoes
  • 250 gms yogurt
  • 4 bayleaves
  • 8 big cardamoms
  • 2 green cardamoms
  • 1 tbspn peppercorns
  • 1 tspn cloves
  • 2 tbspns crushed ginger
  • 1 tbspn crushed garlic
  • Salt to taste
  • 2 tbspns red chilli flakes
  • 1 tspn cumin seeds
  • Some mace and nutmeg
  • 8 dried plums soaked in warm water for 5 mins
  • 2 tbspns kewra essence
  • 1 bunch coriander chopped
  • 1 bunch mint leaves chopped
  • 4 pieces cinnamon
  • 1 tbspn heap full of garam masala
  • 3 lemons (cut into slices)
  • Some yellow food color
  • 1 cup oil

Procedure:

-Heat a cup of oil and fry onion until they are really golden and crunchy.

-Take them out in a plate for later use. ( reserve ¼ onion = 2 onions for later use)

-Turn off the flame and add all the spices except garam masala in the hot oil and let it splatter. Now add garlic and ginger and mix. Turn on the flame again and add meat.

-Stir fry meat and add salt.

-When the meat begins to get grey and a bit cooked add water and give it a boil.

-Meanwhile crush the larger portion of onion in mortar and pestle and mix the paste with yogurt. Mix in half of the chopped coriander and mint leaves and garam masala powder and add this to the boiling meat and let it cook on low heat for 30 – 35 minutes or pressure cook for 2 whistles and then add potatoes and cook on medium – high heat covered until the water evaporates, potatoes are tender and masala is formed. Now add soaked dried plums and mix.

-Boil rice to 3/4th strength and discard the starchy water or you can do what I do. Cook rice in rice cooker (very easy method).

-Now in a separate deep cooking pot lay a layer of rice then some sliced tomatoes, then half of the meat curry then some lemon slices some chopped coriander and mint leaves and then repeat the whole order of layering again putting coriander, mint and green chillies on the top. Drizzle some kewra essence and ome yellow food colour and cook covered on low heat for 5 minutes (if you have cooked rice in a rice cooker) and for 15 minutes (if rice are boiled in a vessel to 3/4th strength).

-Now gently mix the rice and curry layers and dish out.

-Garnish with some crunchy golden fried onion and serve hot.

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Smoky Chicken Kabab Biryani

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Smoky Chicken kabab Biryani is totally my own recipe…… It is tasty and the smoky BBQ smell make it more tempting and irresistible …..

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ingredients:

FOR KABAB

  • 500 gms chicken mincemeat
  • ½ bell pepper/ capsicum
  • 1 onion (medium sized)
  • 2 green chillies
  • 2 red chillies
  • 1 tbspn coriander
  • Some salt
  • Some red chilli powder
  • ½ tspn  Ayesha’s kitchen special garam masala
  • A pinch of nigella seeds
  • ½ tspn carom seeds
  • 1 tbspn kasuri methi
  • A piece of ginger
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • Some oil for grilling or frying

FOR BIRYANI

  • 1 large onion sliced
  • 2 tomatoes sliced
  • 2 green chillies
  • 2 tbspns yogurt
  • 1 tbspn curry leaves
  • recipe homemade biryani masala (1 packet of market bought biryani masala)
  • ¾ cup oil
  • Some yellow food colour (dissolved in water)
  • A charcoal piece

Procedure:

-In a food processor, add all the ingredients given for kabab and mix well. Make seekh kabab like kababs and grill them on a grill pan or shallow fry them in a frying pan. Take them out when they are red and keep aside until we need them again.

-Boil rice and discard the water. Keep aside the rice.

-Heat oil and fry onion slices until they are red. Add tomatoes, biryani masala and yogurt and mix well until the tomatoes lose their shape. Now add 1 cup of water and stir well. Add fried/grilled kababs and let it cook until a nice masala is formed and the oil comes out. Add curry leaves and mix well.

-Put charcoal piece on naked fire until it is white and smoky.

-Now add boiled rice and drizzle some yellow food colour mixed with water on top. Then place an onion peel or a piece of aluminum foil on it and place the smoking white coal on it. Now drizzle some oil on the coal and cover the dish with a lid.

-After 15 minutes, remove the coal and dish out the recipe.

-Serve with fresh salad and whipped yogurt.

Kabab Biryani (Kababeesh)

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Kabab biryani is entirely my own recipe. I have used my culinary innovative skills to invent this recipe and believe me its mind blowing ….

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ingredients:

FOR KABAB:

  • 750 gms beef mincemeat
  • 1 tspn salt
  • Some red chilli powder
  • 1 bunch coriander
  • 4 green chillies
  • 2 tbspn freshly crushed ginger
  • 1 tbspn freshly crushed garlic
  • 2 onions (medium size)
  • 1 onion sliced and fried
  • 2 tbspns gram flour/ chickpea flour
  • 1 tbspn garam masala
  • 1 tbspn cracked dry coriander
  • ½ cup oil for frying

FOR BIRYANI

  • 1 onion sliced
  • 1 onion sliced and fried firm
  • 2 chopped tomatoes
  • 2 tbspns yogurt
  • recipe homemade biryani masala (1 packet of market bought biryani masala)
  • ½ cup oil
  • ½ cup chopped coriander
  • 2 green chillies slitted
  • 1 lemon sliced
  • Some cumin seeds
  • 2 cloves
  • 1 big cardamom
  • 1 green cardamom
  • A piece of cinnamon
  • 1 tspn ginger paste
  • 1 tspn garlic paste
  • 1 tspn julienne ginger
  • Few curry leaves
  • A charcoal piece
  • A piece of aluminum foil
  • 3 ½ cups basmati rice
  • Water for boiling rice (1.5 – 2 litre)

Procedure:

FOR KEBABS

-Put all the vegetables, herbs and spices in the food processor and coarsely grind them.

-Add mincemeat and gram flour and mix well.

-Take this mixture out in a mixing bowl and make seekh kababs.

-Heat oil in a frying pan and fry these kababs until they are brown an firm.

-Take them out in a plate and keep aside.

FOR BIRYANI

-Now in a deep cooking pan (non – stick preferred), heat oil and fry whole garam masala. Add ginger, garlic paste and ginger juliennes and stir. Add onions and fry them until they are golden brown. Now add kebabs, tomatoes, biryani masala and yogurt. Stir once and then cook on low flame until the masala is formed.

-Now boil water and add soaked rice. Boil until the rice are ¾ % cooked.

-Strain, discard water and keep the boiled rice aside.

-Divide boiled rice and kabab rice in 3 portions.

-Meanwhile heat charcoal piece until its white and keep burning until it’s the time to use it.

-Now in a deep cooking vessel, heat some oil and add curry leaves and green chillies, when they begin to splatter add one portion of kabab masala and spread a layer of one portion of boiled rice. Repeat the process until all the portions of kabab masala and rice are done. Make sure the rice is the last layer.

-Sprinkle coriander leaves, fried onion, lemon slices and yellow food colour. Now place the aluminum foil on it and burning charcoal on the aluminum foil. Drizzle some oil on charcoal and immediately cover the pot. Remove from flame and keep it covered for 15 minutes.

-Remove charcoal and aluminum and serve.

-Serve hot with salad and raita.

Tips:

For fried onions, heat ½ cup oil and fry onion slices until they are brown and firm. Drain oil thoroughly.

Chicken Biryani

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Chicken Biryani is one of the famous dishes of South Asia, whenever you visit any South Asian restaurant, this is the main rice dish. However the original recipe of biryani is very mild but this is the South Asian Version …

Ingredients:

  • 1 chicken 16 pieces
  • 6 tbspns of vinegar/ yogurt
  • 2 cups basmati rice
  • 1 medium sized onion sliced
  • 2 tomatoes chopped
  • 2 green chillies julienne
  • 1 recipe homemade biryani masala (1 packet of market bought biryani masala)
  • Few drops of yellow food colour
  • Few drops of kewra (OPTIONAL)
  • ¼ cup oil

WHOLE GARAM MASALA

  • A big cardamom
  • Few cloves
  • 1 tspn cumin seeds
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 3 curry leaves
  • A pinch of kasoori methi*

Procedure:

-Marinade chicken in vinegar or yogurt and half of the biryani masala for 20 minutes.

-Heat oil and add whole garam masala into it. When cumin seeds begin to splatter add onions and stir fry them until they are golden brown. Add chopped tomatoes and mix.

-Now add rest half of the biryani masala and cook on low heat add chicken and then water. Cover it and let it simmer until the chicken is fully cooked and some gravy remains.

-Boil rice according to the procedure.

-In a thick bottomed vessel spread a layer of rice and then of chicken and then again of rice. Add few drops of yellow food colour and kewra essence, top it with some green chillies and cook it covered on low heat for 2 minutes.

-Mix and serve.

Outcome:

Tasty chicken biryani is ready to serve.

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha's Kitchen Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha's kitchen

Tips:

-You can make your own biryani masala by clicking this link or you can use market bought biryani masala.

-See tips for biryani rice on tips page.

Servings:

This will serve 4 persons easily.