Nargisi Kofta Biryani

It's the holy month of Ramzaan and somehow I always crave Mughlai cuisine during this time. And we all know how laborious Mughlai cuisine is. Also, I managed to sprain my ankle a few days back and since then I have been cooking very easy dishes. myself, my cooking has taken a backseat.  

A few days back I experimented with this Biryani. I had gotten this idea some months back from a food group in Facebook, and had been meaning to try it. Instead of the regular chicken or mutton I made Nargisi Kofta, and layered the biryani as usual. Give this one a try.

 

You will realise that one of these koftas is a decent portion for one person. So this recipe serves 3-4 person, but you can easily double the recipe on case you want to have more. 

Serves 3-4

For the Koftas

4 boiled eggs

200 gms minced mutton/red meat

1 small sized onion, diced really small

1/2 tbsp chopped ginger

1 tbsp chopped garlic

1 green chill, finely chopped

1/2 tsp each cumin and coriander powder

1 tsp mint leaves, chopped

1 tsp Coriander leaves, chopped

1/3 tsp garam masala

1/4 tsp chilly powder

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

1/4 cup rice flour/breadcrumbs

Oil for frying

Method:

Keep the boiled eggs aside. Use your hands and mix everything properly to the minced meat. Now make 4 equal portions and cover the egg with the mince meat mix. Let it set in the refrigerator for sometime.

Roll the koftas with a bit of riceflour or breadcrumbs. Deep frying is advised. But I used a deep pan, and in medium heat I kinda shallow fried each individual side properly.

Now to make the biryani, prepare the masala as per my recipe below.

Biryani Masala for the gravy:

1 tbsp coriander seeds

1/2 tbsp cumin seeds

1/2 tbsp fennel seeds

1/4 tbsp pepper seeds

1/4 tbsp ajwain/carom seeds

2 dry red chilli

3-4 cardamom

3-4 clove

1  inch cinnamon stick

2 strands of dry mace (javitri)

Nutmeg /Jaiphal- about the size of a drop 

2 bayleaf

1/4 cup oil/ghee for frying

5 onions, sliced

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

1/3 cup curd/yoghurt

Method:

Roast the dry ingredients.  Remove the bayleaf and grind the rest to a dry powder.

Heat the oil, fry half of the onion to a nice brown crisp. Remove from oil and keep it separately.

Now fry the rest of the onions and then add the ginger garlic paste. Fry for sometime till it is nice and the raw smell goes. Put it in a grinder and grind to a paste.

Put it back in the pan with just a spoon of oil or ghee.

Now add a little warm water to the the dry masala and about half tsp of turmeric powder. Mix it well and add it to the onion paste. Cook well till the masala is nicely cooked and the raw smell goes off.

Once it's nicely cooked, add the yoghurt, and let it cook for about 4-5 minutes. 

Add the koftas and take care not to break them or turn too much.

Optional ingredient:

2 potatoes boiled to 80% with skin on. Remove the skin and halve them. Fry in oil sprinkling a little salt. Remove and keep aside.

Preparing the rice:

2 cups basmati rice, washed

Some spices like pepper, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon, for flavouring

Salt

Ghee

A few strands of saffron dissolved in one-fourth cup milk, keep aside

Water

Mint, to garnish

Method:

Boil the rice to 80% with the spices. Once the rice is 80% cooked drain the rice. You can then take 3-4 spoons of ghee and mix it with the drained rice. This will ensure the rice doesn't stick together and also add flavour.

Layering the biryani:

Now take a deep pot or utensil. 

Add half of the rice.

Top with potatoes, kofta and the masala, fried onions and a little of the saffron milk.

Finish of the top layer with the remaining rice. Add some fried onions and the saffron milk. 

Cover. Now seal the utensil. Take an iron tawa, heat it and then reduce the heat to minimum. Place your biryani utensil atop the tawa and let it cook like this for about 15-20 mins. 

Sealing the utensil: I usually put a very heavy weight on top of my utensil to prevent the steam from releasing. I see that this works for me everytime. But mostly the utensil is sealed with a flour dough. I am against wasting food and find this method really distasteful.

After 15-20 mins let it rest for about 5 mins. Open the utensil and serve making sure that everyone gets the middle layers too, since all the spices are in there. Enjoy with salad, mint or coriander chutney.