Not familiar with biryani? It is a world-renowned Indian dish that takes time and practice to make but is worth every bit of the effort. It consists of long-grained rice (like basmati) flavored with fragrant spices such as saffron and layered with lamb, chicken, fish, or vegetables and a thick gravy. The dish is then covered, its lid secured, and then the biryani is cooked over a low flame. This is definitely a special occasion dish.
However, this “cheater” version of biryani allows you to enjoy the wonderfully fragrant and complex dish on a busy weeknight. The shortcut method here gives the rice a head start in a Dutch oven, while a ground beef mixture comes together quickly in a skillet.
Don’t be deterred by the long ingredient list, as most of the ingredients are dried spices that don’t require any prep work. Aromatic garlic, ginger and spices are bloomed in ghee to extract as much flavor as possible, and there’s a slight hit of heat from the chile powder (more to taste). A tangy cumin raita is a lovely finishing drizzle that brightens the meal.
NOTES: Our alterations included using the entire onion, and increasing the ground beef to 1 1/2 pounds. With these additional amounts, you could get up to six servings. And next time we’ll increase the Kashmiri chile powder or cayenne because we could barely detect it. The original recipe indicates it is a total time of 30 minutes, but it took us at least 45 minutes to prep and cook.
Cheater Beef Biryani With Cumin Raita
Ingredients
- 1½ cups basmati rice, rinsed
- 5 cardamom pods
- 1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick
- 2 whole cloves
- 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- ½ tsp. Kosher salt and pepper
- 3 Tbsp. ghee
- 1 large white onion, thinly sliced
- 1 Tbsp. tomato paste
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 Tbsp. minced fresh ginger
- 2 tsp. garam masala
- ½ tsp. ground Kashmiri chile powder or ¼ teaspoon cayenne (more to taste)
- ¼ tsp. ground fennel
- ¼ tsp. ground turmeric
- 1 star anise
- ½ tsp. cumin seeds, divided
- 1½ lbs. ground beef (preferably 20 percent fat)
- ¾ cup Greek-style plain yogurt, divided
- ¼ cup whole milk
- ½ cup coarsely chopped cilantro leaves and tender stems, divided
Directions
- In a large Dutch oven, combine rice, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, broth and ½ teaspoon of salt over medium-high heat; cover and bring to a boil. Once it boils, reduce heat to low and cook for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons of the ghee in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium. Add onion, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 2 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook, stirring, until fragrant and well blended, 2 minutes.
- Push onion mixture to one side of the skillet and melt the remaining 1 tablespoon ghee in the empty side. To the melted ghee, add garlic, ginger, garam masala, chile powder, fennel, turmeric, star anise and ¼ teaspoon of the cumin; stir until well blended, 30 seconds.
- Mix the spices into the onion mixture until well combined, then add beef and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring and breaking up the meat into small pieces, until no longer pink, about 3 minutes (it will finish cooking with the rice). Turn off heat and stir in ¼ cup of the yogurt until well incorporated.
- Drizzle milk evenly over the rice, then add the beef mixture on top in an even layer. Scatter over half of the cilantro, cover and cook until the beef is tender and rice is cooked through, 8 minutes longer.
- Meanwhile in a small bowl, combine the remaining ½ cup yogurt, ¼ teaspoon cumin and 2 tablespoons of water and season with salt and pepper. Mix well.
- Gently fluff the rice with a fork and discard star anise and any other visible whole spices. Divide biryani among 4 bowls and garnish with the remaining cilantro. Serve warm, with the cumin raita on the side.
Adapted from a recipe by Kay Chun for NYTimes Cooking
Accounting for Taste 