Biryani is my favorite Indian dish! I never skip ordering it whenever we are at an Indian restaurant. For years I kept trying to prepare it at home with recipes provided by friends or books, but they never tasted like the Biryani I love! But I was determined I will learn how to do it; I am not a person that gives up easily.
My strategy was to find an Indian woman and learn it from her. Living in the United Arab Emirates, which has a large number of Indians, I thought that was an easy task. So I set about asking my friends if they had an Indian friend who could teach me… my efforts were useless, I couldn’t find anyone. My next attempt was to try to find an Indian lady in the market, I would go to the supermarket or grocery and start scanning all visitors… result? Unsuccessful. I couldn’t believe it, this was turning into mission impossible!
Then one evening as my husband and I were returning from dinner, we were greeted by our Indian guard and I had an idea… just by the look in my eyes, my husband knew what I was about to do and told me “you are crazy!” But my mind was set, and I asked him “do you know how to cook biryani?”
You cannot imagine my feelings at that time. This action may seem very normal in many parts of the world, but in our culture it is very much out of the norm. Every cell in my body was flushing with anxiety, if I was a Christmas Tree I would probably have lit the whole neighborhood. But all my anxiety disappeared when he answered “sure madam.” Upon hearing that I quickly asked him (before my courage disappeared) “will you teach me?”
This is how I learnt to cook the best biryani ever, even better than the one you get at restaurants. He even thought me how to cook many other Indian dishes that we enjoy at home. As you are preparing this dish you will be taken by the aroma of the spices that will fill your house… heavenly, especially if you ground your spices just before using them.
I hope you try this recipe, you will love it!