IMBB? – Around the World in a Bowl of Rice: Nasi Briyani

Last weekend, some friends came over for dinner, and I cooked up some Indian nasi briyani. This allowed me to achieve two purposes: one, a highly enjoyable evening in the wonderful company of close friends, with food that everyone thoroughly enjoyed, and two, the fulfillment of my entry requirements for this fourth installment of IMBB? “Around the World in a Bowl of Rice”.

[For those who are wondering, “Is My Blog Burning?” (IMBB) is a distributed cooking event, inspired and launched by Alberto back in February, with the inaugural edition featuring soups. The baton passed to Clotilde in March with her tartine edition, and yours truly picked up the cake in April. And now we are into May, and Pim has kindly offered to host today’s “rice-y” affair.]

Nasi briyani is Indian by birth, but has been warmly welcomed and adopted by South East Asians. This rice dish now forms an integral part of the Singaporean and Malaysian epicurean landscape, and is highly popular amongst not only the local Indians but also the Chinese and Malays as well. There is even a Malay version of nasi briyani (sometimes spelt as "biryani" or “beriyani”).

What is nasi briyani? In a nutshell, it is a fragrant and spicy delicacy of saffron-flavored basmati rice layered with an equal or greater proportion of spicy meat, with each layer sprinkled with nuts and fresh herbs, then sealed and steamed to finish. The “meat” can be chicken, lamb or mutton, and in modern times, prawns too. The key to a good nasi briyani is the basmati rice. High quality long-grained rice is of the utmost importance in the creation of delicious nasi briyani. Basmati rice is usually graded by its length and the quality of its cashew-like aroma.

I first learnt to cook this dish some 9-10 years ago. At the time, I was going through a “fixated with Indian food” phase and took some cooking classes from a lovely Indian lady. Her name was Lucky (yes, really, that was her name), and she was a wonderful, warm, highly personable grandmother, who was then already in her 60s. With children grown and grandchildren in school, she had decided to turn her great love for Indian food and its culinary culture, and her over 40 years of experience cooking for her family into a profitable hobby – teaching people how to cook authentic, tasty Indian dishes.

Hers was a blend of home-style cooking that had been honed and refined over four decades of cooking two meals a day for her husband and family, and a worldly-wise savvy about Indian restaurant cooking and the “tricks of the trade” so to speak. She loved food and eating. She would go and eat at Indian restaurants in India, Singapore and abroad, and just from tasting the food, she would pick up tips on how to further refine her own cooking style. So, lessons in her home kitchen were filled with insightful housewife tips as well as little nuggets of restaurant secrets for tasty Indian cooking. Her recipes were a wonderful combination of the honesty of home-cooked food (the best, and probably the most authentic, sort of food in any culinary tradition, in my opinion) and a certain restaurant-style refinement. Each cooking lesson culminated in a delicious lunch of 4-5 Indian dishes, enjoyed as we sat around her dining table, eating and swapping cooking and food stories.

Since learning this dish almost a decade ago, I’ve made it a few times, but not in the last 5-6 years. It was only after a recent discussion among friends as to where good authentic nasi briyani could be found in Singapore that I remembered this recipe, and decided to re-visit it and invite the friends over to enjoy it.

I’ve tweaked the original recipe slightly, adding one or two additional spices plus other ingredients, and in some cases adding greater quantities of some of the spices than originally called for.

Right, I shan’t yabber on for much more. I have been told I was too long-winded in my previous IMBB entries. So, without much further ado… here is my chicken nasi briyani (saffron-flavored rice with chicken).

Chicken Nasi Briyani
(serves 4)

The Rice
400g (approximately 3½ rice-cooker cups) basmati rice
1 litre water
1 tablespoon whole coriander seeds
1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
2 pieces bay leaf
4 whole green cardamons – lightly broken
2 whole brown cardamons – broken and shell removed *
1” cinnamon
5 pieces cloves
½ teaspoon whole black peppercorn
½ teaspoon salt
few strands of saffron **
3 tablespoons of warm milk

* These may be substituted with green cardamons, if the brown ones are not available. In this instance, I actually used all green cardamons, as I was out of the brown ones.

** Instead of using saffron, some orange food coloring may be used. Simply dilute a couple of drops of the coloring in a little bit of warm water and sprinkle judiciously over rice.

• Wash the rice, and soak in the 1 litre of water for at least 30 minutes.

• Wrap all the spices (except the salt and the saffron) in a piece of muslin cloth and tie to form a spice bundle.

• Add the spice bag and the salt to the rice, and cook, using the soaking liquid, in a rice cooker or a large saucepan.

• In the meantime, soak the saffron strands in the warm milk and set aside.

The longer the saffron is soaked the deeper the color infusion and the more intense the fragrance.

Natural saffron will not give the intense orange coloring often seen in restaurant-versions of briyani. So, for more eye-appeal, it is also possible to use a little orange food coloring in addition to the natural saffron coloring.

The Crispy Shallots

• Peel and thinly slice 6-8 shallots.
• Fry in hot oil until crispy and a deep golden brown.
• Drain on kitchen paper towels.
• Set aside two-thirds of the shallots for the assembly of the nasi briyani, and the remaining one-third for garnish.
• Reserve about 2 tablespoons of the oil that was used to fry the onions.

The Chicken
1 kg chicken – bone-in, skinned ^

9 cloves garlic – skinned
2” piece fresh young ginger – skinned

Marinade:
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
½ teaspoon salt
180ml natural unsweetened yogurt

Gravy:
1 big red onion (or 3-4 shallots) – finely chopped
1 teaspoon chill powder ^^
3 teaspoons coriander powder
1½ teaspoons cumin powder
½ teaspoon garam masala
salt to taste
1-2 green chillies – chopped ^^^ (optional)
3 medium tomatoes – peeled, seeded and diced
4 fl oz (½ cup) evaporated milk ^^^^
1 big bunch coriander leaves – chopped
½ bunch mint leaves - chopped

[all measurements are by the rounded spoonfuls]

^ I used 6 large whole chicken legs (with each cut into two - thigh and drumstick), and this came to about 850g.

^^ I used our own home-made chilli paste instead of the chilli powder, as I wanted a more complex flavor and more intense heat (our home-made chilli paste includes some bird chillies among other ingredients).

^^^ Seed and de-vein the chillies if a milder heat is desired.

^^^^ Evaporated milk seems to be the standard used by most Indian housewives, and most of the recipes I’ve seen also call for evaporated milk, although a few use fresh milk instead, with one or two recipes even using just water.
[On a side note, I’ve very recently discovered cooking curries with thick soy milk (Singapore local brand, Sobe, unsweetened version) and found that it actually gives a more “lemak” (rich) texture and mouth-feel than milk, with no soy milk taste at all. And it’s become one of my favorites now for cooking healthier versions of lemak curries. I think it would work just as well in this briyani. However, having said that, the soy milk sold in cartons in Europe and the US probably would not work, as they have a completely different consistency and, if I may be honest, do not really taste like soy milk! Sorry… but it’s true. So, in which case, evaporated or fresh milk would be the way to go.]

• In a food processor, grind together the ginger and garlic to form a paste. There should be roughly four tablespoons worth of ginger/garlic paste. Set aside.

• Clean the chicken and remove excess fat.

• Marinate the chicken with the marinade spices, salt, yogurt and half the ginger/garlic paste. Leave to macerate for at least an hour, but preferably for 4-6 hours.

• In a wok or large deep frying pan, heat the reserved shallot oil. Add the chopped onions and the remaining garlic/ginger paste, and sauté until the onions are soft and translucent.

• Add the marinated chicken.

• Once the chicken has changed color, the chilli powder (or paste), coriander powder and cumin powder goes in. Mix thoroughly.

• Throw in the green chillies.

• The tomatoes go in next. Stir to combine, and leave to simmer for a few minutes.

• Pour in the milk, and mix well.

• Cover the wok and allow to simmer, on low heat, until the chicken is almost cooked (about 20 minutes), stirring occasionally.

• Sprinkle half of both the coriander and mint leaves.

• Season with the garam masala and salt to taste. Mix well.

• Cover again, and leave to simmer on low heat until the chicken is cooked (approximately another 10 minutes), stirring occasionally.

• Remove from heat.

The chicken can be cooked ahead of time up to this point, and set aside. The rice can also be cooked in advance. And both can then be assembled half an hour before dinner is served.

The Assembly
Banana leaves (optional) *
Cooking spray
Deep fried crispy shallots (prepared earlier – see above section “The Crispy Shallots”)
Remaining coriander leaves (see above section “The Chicken”)
Remaining mint leaves (see above section “The Chicken”)

* This is usually not called for in recipes, and is purely optional. I’ve included it in my version of the recipe simply because I like the aromas that the banana leaves impart to the rice.

• Preheat the oven to 190-200C or 375-390F.

• Line a deep casserole dish with banana leaves. Allow enough excess “height” so that the leaves can be folded over to fully cover the assembled rice.

• Put half the chicken, without the gravy, in a single layer at the bottom of the casserole.

• Sprinkle half of the crispy fried shallots and half of the remaining amount of coriander and mint leaves.

• Spread half of the cooked rice over the chicken and herbs. Sprinkle half the amount of saffron-infused milk over the rice.

• Repeat with the remaining chicken, crispy shallots, coriander leaves, mint leaves, rice and saffron-milk.

• Fold the banana leaves down to fully cover the rice. Replace lid of the casserole dish.

• Place into the oven for 20-25 minutes, to allow to the rice and chicken to fully heat through and for the flavors to meld together.

The Gravy

In the meantime, prepare the gravy.

• Return the wok, with the residual chicken gravy, to the stove. Add between ½ to 2 cups of hot water, and simmer on low heat for about 8-10 minutes or until the gravy is reduced to the desired consistency.

[We love having quite a bit of gravy to go with the chicken and rice, and we also like the gravy slightly thick, so I add about 1 cup or so of water. The amount of water added can be varied depending on the amount of gravy desired and the consistency preferred.]

The Chicken Nasi Briyani

• Serve the rice with some raisins, the remaining reserved crispy shallots and toasted cashew nuts sprinkled on top.

If available, I highly recommend serving the nasi briyani on fresh banana leaves (as I did that evening). The entire eating and taste experience is considerably enhanced, and the aromas and flavors are just that little bit more complex and enticing, when the rice and chicken are eaten off banana leaves, instead of plates. Going further still, nasi briyani tastes absolutely divine when eaten not only from banana leaves but also with your fingers! (And not only is it a lot more enjoyable, there is a whole lot less washing up to do!)

That night, I also made up a very simple sweet, sour, spicy cucumber and chilli “salad” (something that I make very regularly) as a light and refreshing accompaniment to the rice and chicken.

Other nice side dishes would be raita (yogurt and cucumber salad), or spicy pickled vegetable salads.

The nasi briyani was a hit! Everyone ended up eating double the amount of rice they would normally eat. The only disappointment was that there wasn’t enough rice and chicken to go around! Everyone was still hankering for more!

My guests demanded to know why I’ve kept the recipe a secret for so long. I haven’t, and it wasn’t intentional. I had just forgotten the recipe existed. But now that it has been re-discovered, I’ll definitely be cooking it more regularly. Already my friends are planning the next “briyani night”…

Copyright © 2004 Renee Kho. All Rights Reserved.
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