Bombay Beef Biryani

Making a biryani from scratch is a long process with many steps, but with this recipe you can get 80% of the taste with 20% of the effort. Learn the REAL SECRET of a good biryani 🙂

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Serves: 8 Print

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Ingredients

1 kg (2 lb) stewing beef
650 g (22 oz) basmati rice
400 g (14 oz) plain yoghurt
400 g (14 oz) onions, sliced
400 g (14 oz) potatoes
4 tomatoes, chopped
4 tbsp garlic & ginger paste

Spice Mix

6 cloves
3 green cardamoms
2 bay leaves, crushed
2 tbsp coriander powder
2 tbsp dried mint
4 tsp chilli powder
4 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
½ tsp turmeric
6 tbsp ghee or vegetable oil

Instructions

Heat the ghee in a pan and fry the onions until golden.
Add in the tomatoes and cook on a medium high heat until the tomatoes have turned to sauce.
Add in the beef, yoghurt, garlic& ginger paste, and the Spice Mix. Simmer gently until the beef starts to become tender (1 to 2 hours, depending upon your meat).
Add in the potatoes and 500ml (16 fl oz) water. Bring to the boil and continue simmering until the potatoes are tender and the oil starts to separate from the mixture.
Soak the rice in cold water for 20 minutes, then drain.
Add the rice to a pan of cold water and bring to the boil. Simmer the rice for 1 minute then drain quickly.
In a clean pan, spread one third of the partly cooked rice on the base. Add a layer of half the meat. Add half the remaining rice on top of the meat. Make a layer of the remaining meat, then cover with the remaining rice.
If you wish, place some spots of food colouring or saffron on the top of the rice. This will create rice grains of different colours in the final biryani.
Cover and cook over a very, very low heat for 15-20 minutes.
Mix the contents of the pan gently and serve. Garnish with some fresh coriander leaves.