Blurring the boundaries..

Passport & Plate - Grandmother's Biryani and Korma

India | Friday, January 31, 2014 | 5 photos

Ingredients:
- vegetable oil
- 6 cloves Garlic
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 2 bay leaves
- fennel seeds
- black peppercorn
- 2-3 cardamom pods
- 2 cloves
- 3 onions, chopped.
- 3 tomatoes, blanched and grated.
- 1 kg of chicken with bones.
- garam masala ( shop bought or home made)
- 4 cups rice
- salt
- chilli powder
- turmeric powder
- yogurt
- mint for garnish
How to prepare this recipe
1. Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large wok.
2. Once the oil is hot, add the fennel seeds, the cinnamon sticks, the bay leaves, peppercorns, cloves, cardamom pods and garlic.
3. Once the spices start crackling add in the onions.
4. Keep stirring till the onions reach a translucent stage (the onions must not turn brown)
5. Next, add in the tomatoes. Also add in salt, turmeric and chilli powder at this stage according to taste.
6. Add in the garam masala mix ( I use my Grandmothers home ground mix)
6. Let the tomatoes reduce at a medium to high heat for 7-10 minutes.
7. Add the chicken to the mix and brown the chicken for 10 minutes on high heat.
8. Pour in 3 cups of water and cover the chicken to cook for around 45 minutes on low.
9. Once the chicken is cooked, preserve some of the gravy in a bowl, to be used as 'Korma' later.
10. In a separate deep dish, add 4 cups of washed basmati rice.
11. Add the rest of the cooked chicken to the rice dish.
12. Add 4 cups of water and 4 teaspoons of salt to this mix.
13. Cover the dish with a heavy lid that applies weight on it to keep in all the steam.
14. Cook the rice for approximately 30 minutes, until the rice is fully cooked and absorbed all the liquid.
15. Finally, serve the Biryani with a bowl of yogurt and with the Korma, garnished with Mint and chilli.


The story behind this recipe:

The year 1947 has a great significance in the lives of all Hindus and Muslims. This was the year that India was divided on the basis of religion into what we now know as India and Pakistan. Ethnically I belong to West Punjab, now in Pakistan. As a result of the Hindu- Muslim riots, my grandparents fled to India and found refuge in New Delhi. This phase of their lives provided me and my siblings with a treasure of some epic tales. My grandmother was generally the one telling the stories and I couldn't help but notice how much her eyes lit up when she spoke fondly of her childhood friend, Shuba, in Pakistan and the food they used to eat together. One afternoon I asked my Grandmother what she missed most about the time she lived in Lahore, she answered quicker than I expected, with no hesitation, she said "The spicy biryani at Shuba's house".
Now my grandmother, like most grandmothers loves to cook and feed us food rich in culture and ofcourse, butter. The mention of the Biryani took her back in history and she wanted nothing more but for us to taste her friend Shuba's special biryani. The same evening I found her digging for the recipe in old diary's trying to locate that special recipe. After hours of searching my grandmother finally found an old, folded, torn up piece of paper. The writing was barely legible and the recipe incomplete, but it was enough for her to recall all the ingredients. My grandmother got straight to work while I sat next to her and watched delightfully. I was mesmerised by the joy on her face while she chopped the onions, blanched the tomatoes and prepared the rice. I could see she was reminiscing of her days in Lahore while cooking for us. Needless to say, the dinner that night was absolutely divine. It transported us to the land we all are attached to even though we are now separated from it. It taught me the power food has of reuniting people across time and boundaries. Food,for me, became the ultimate expression of love.