A day in the life: Malaysia
Asking my Indian Malaysian Aunties to teach me the tricks and the trade of biryani. 5 hours and too many notes later I gave up and made a gin and tonic. Ain’t no body time for that even if it was the best thing I’ve ever tasted.
A day in the life: Australia
I got one hand, 15 minutes until I reach hangry, nothing of major substance in the fridge and the desire to eat a feast that’s 0 annoyance and absolute yum.
Insanely Quick & Easy Vegetarian Biryani
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
- 2 cups basmati rice – don’t substitute for another rice
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 4 cloves of garlic, sliced
- 2 cinnamon quills & star anise
- 1tsp each cardamom, cumin, paprika, turmeric, garam masala
- Large bunch of coriander, root & leaves chopped
- 1 carrot, diced
- Handful of green beans, diced
- 1/2 cup almonds or cashews, chopped
- 1/4 cup currants or raisins
- 1teaspoon salt
Method
Pop your 2 cups of basmati into a big bowl and cover with water. Stir around with your hands then rinse and repeat this 4-5 times or until the water is clear.
Before you get going, make sure your onion, garlic, carrot, beans and coriander are chopped up and ready to go. Now grab the spices you need and pop them on your bench. FYI you will need a skillet/pan/pot that has a lid.
Pour the 1/4 of oil into a large non stick skillet or deep pan and heat it up over the highest heat you have then add your onion and garlic. Fry off until the garlic gets golden brown and your kitchen smells amazing then transfer the pan over to your lowest heat. Now over a really low heat, add all the spices and coriander root and stir around until you can smell the fragrance – around 2-4 minutes.
Now add your rinsed and drained rice, carrots, beans, nuts, currants and salt and stir before pouring in enough tap water to cover the dish + 2cm at the top. This was 3-1/2 cups for me.
Pop a lid on, check the heat is at its lowest and put a timer on for 15 minutes. When your timer beeps, turn off the heat, stir around then cover again and leave to sit and steam for another 5 minutes – off the heat.
Serve with the coriander leaves. So so so good.
