Chicken fat is caramelizing in the bottom of the pot, while I write this. Yep, I’m cooking my second biryani, per my mother’s recipe. Jim and I will be schlepping the pot with side salad accoutrements [tomato with onion, cilantro, and chili salad, a plain cucumber salad and some Patak’s lime pickle!) to our dear friend’s, May and Duane’s, apartment for dinner. And I am going to offer the dish with an oxidized, sous voile, Tissot Savagnin and the Lemasson Poivre et Sel [gamay and pineau d’aunis].

In Mauritius, biryani is cooked in massive quantities for weddings, birthdays and any sort of special occasion. It is a Muslim specialty but any Mauritian housewife worth her weight in cloves and cardamoms, can cook the dish. I’ve long been intimidated by the process (marinate chicken, precook onions, potatoes, wash and chop a dozen different ingredients) until I had my mother demonstrate the drill step-by-step. And guess what? It’s easy peasy. Here’s the recipe – for four hungry mouths.

Ingredients

4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon of chopped ginger
2Ibs chicken (drumsticks and thighs preferably)
½ cup of plain yoghurt
1 ¼ tablespoon of cumin powder
3 tablespoons of Biryani Mix (I will soon master my own blend)
3 medium sized onions, sliced
5 medium sized potatoes, quartered
1 small bunch of mint
1 small bunch of cilantro
1 cup of peas
2 cups of Tilda Basmati rice
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp of cumin seeds
3 cardamoms
¼ tsp of saffron threads
Ghee
Canola Oil

Mix yoghurt, garlic, ginger, biryani mix and 1 tsp of salt to a paste. Coat chicken pieces and leave in the fridge for 1-2 hours.

In the meanwhile deep fry onions with a pinch of salt in canola oil until they are brown and crispy, but not burned. Remove with a slotted spoon. Add potatoes to same oil, with the addition of ½ tablespoon of ghee, a pinch of salt and a pinch of turmeric powder (to give the potatoes a yellow-golden color). Fry until potatoes are halfway cooked. Put to the side.

If you are using fresh peas, half cook them. If frozen, no need to cook.

Fill a large pan with about six cups of water. Bring to a boil. Salt the water and tip in cinnamon stick, cumin seeds and cardamoms. Add rice. Once water comes back to a boil, give the pot a stir. Let the rice cook only until halfway. Drain and leave to the side with spices still mixed in.

Put the marinated chicken and paste into the bottom of a thick, large pot. Tip in most of the coriander and mint (leave a little of both though). Add potatoes, Add ½ a cup of peas. Sprinkle in a little salt. Tip in all the rice with spices. Season with salt and pepper. Add remaining peas and remaining cilantro and mint. Add saffron threads to a little warm water and sprinkle into the pot. Add three knobs of ghee. Finish with a blanket of the crispy onions. Do NOT mix everything up; this should be built in layers.

Put a tight lid on the pot and leave it on a high heat, on the stove, for 5 mins. Then turn heat to low and let cook for half an hour, or until chicken fat is caramelized and rice is cooked.

Fluff it up, and serve with tomato and cucumber salad. The bottom of the pot is the BEST part.

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More to come tomorrow on how wine and chow make out together tonight.