Bohri beef biryani

Main course /Bohri Beef biryani /non veg/ Beef recipe              

Bohri biryani is one of the various delicious biryani of Pakistan made by bohra community. What makes bohri biryani different is that, it is comparatively less spicy than hyderabadi biryani or mughlai biryani. 

Journey of biryani 

Biryani is a mixed rice dish, mostly made with chicken, beef or lamb. Its originated in persia and was brought to South Asia by Muslim merchants to the mughal empire. 

And it's popular among the Muslims of the indian subcontinent -  part of the  'mughlai cuisine' for which India is famous for. The word comes from the Persian word "birian"  which means "fried before cooking". The current Indian subcontinent versions of biryani were developed from the 15th century to about the 19th century, during the reign of the mughal empire. 

Story of bohri

The bohra community originated from a Muslim sect in Yemen & Egypt, later spreading to India and Pakistan. Hence, the food influences  have been heavily adapted from the middle east. The initial settlement of bohra's in surat, gujarat have led to major gujarati influence on the cuisine as well. That is why you can find that bohri cuisine is much lighter in spicy than mughlai food. 

Back to the bohri beef biryani, it's very tasty & juicy, that meat is marinated in yoghurt and fried onions then Cooked, later steamed along with the rice. And also its packed with the flavour of aromatic spices. Again, the boiled & fried potatoes along with the rice tastes divine....

This is easy to prepare, though we need to spend time for this. That, for frying all the onions & marination of the meat for 1 hour. Rest of the steps are simple. 

However, I always love cooking varieties than preparing same dish on special days, so,  this is one of my special recipe in my food list to prepare on Fridays, that Fridays are very special for us. 

Do try this on your special occasion, and definitely it will be a fabulous day. 

Preparation time :25 minutes
Cooking time : 1 hour & 40 minutes
Marinating time : 1 hour

Ingredients

• Beef - 1 1/2 kg (with bones)
• Onion - 6-8 sliced thinly
• Yoghurt - 2cups
• Oil - 1cup
• Potatoes - 3 large (boiled & cut into big chunks)
• Green chilly - 8-10 finely chopped
• Ginger - garlic paste - 4 tblsp
• Tomato -  3 medium sized chopped
•  Crushed red chilly -  1 tblsp
• Coriander leaf -  1/2 bunch
• Mint leaf -  1/2 bunch

For garam masala powder :

• Cumin seeds - 1tsp
• Star anise - 2
• Green cardamom - 1tsp
• Cloves -  6-8
• Cinnamon sticks - 2
• Nutmeg (jaifal) - 1/4 tsp
• Mace (javitri)  - 1/ 4 tsp
• Black pepper corn -  1/2 tsp
• Bay leaves -  2- 3

For rice  :

• Basmati rice (long grain) - 1 1/2 kg( soaked for 20 mins)
• Cinnamon stick - 1/2 inch
• Black pepper corn - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin seeds -  1 tsp
• Star anise - 1
• Green cardamom - 5
• Cloves -  3- 4
• Salt  to  taste
• Water for boiling rice

Preparation method

Heat oil in a wok, deep fry the sliced onions until it turns Brown &  crispy.
Meanwhile, take a  pan and dry roast all the whole spices for the garam masala, then grind it into a fine powder.
When the onions are done, spread on a plate, let it cool for a while. Then take half of the fried onions &  crush well. Keep other half  for using later.

Marinating beef:

1. Take beef in a bowl, add yoghurt, red chilly  flakes, ginger - garlic  paste,  green chilly, 1/2 of the garam masala powder, crushed fried onions, salt &  coriander leaf,then marinate well and rest it for 1 hour.

Frying potatoes :

1. Heat some oil in a frypan, sprinkle some turmeric pwd on potatoes and shallow fry, till it turns golden brown on all sides.

Cooking beef :

1. Heat a pressure cooker, add the beef marinade and fry for  a while. Let it cook for  5 mins.
2. When the beef become tender, add tomato,  close the lid and cook for 1 whistle on high fame then 10 minutes on low flame.
3. When the beef is done, open the lid &  cook on medium flame until all the excess water dries up. Don't forget to give a mix in between that it may not stick on bottom.                                  And now our beef mix is ready.

Cooking rice  :

1. Take water 3 times of the rice in a pot, add salt and whole spices, then cook the rice till 75 % is done. Then drain all the water &  keep it aside.

Making dum (steaming) :

1. Put the beef mix in a vessel for making dum. Spread some leftover fried onions, left 1/2 of the masala powder, some chopped coriander & mint leaves.
2. Then goes half rice on top of it.  Spread some fried potatoes &  chopped leaves.
3. Then again the rice on top, spread leftover fried onions, potatoes, chopped leaves. Cover it tightly, place a tawa under the vessel and slow cook for  15 minutes.

Mix rice &  beef, then serve hot, enjoy along with your favourite raita.....