So I know that this dish looks complicated, but I promise it isn’t! It’s actually super easy to make if you divide the recipe into parts, like marination, cooking and assembly. You can even marinate the beef overnight, cook it the next day, leave the curry in the fridge and assemble it the day after! You’ll have a delicious meal on your hands that took almost no time to make.
I tend to use a pressure cooker to cook any red meat; it takes less time for the meat to fully cook, but the flavor stays the same even if you use a normal pot. If you aren’t using a pressure cooker, keep adding hot water every time the curry reduces too much, until the beef is cooked, or it might get a little burnt at the bottom.
Ingredients
For the beef
- 900g boneless beef, cut into small chunks
- 2 tbsp coriander powder
- 2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp roasted curry powder
- 1 tbsp chilli paste
- 340g yoghurt/curd
- 2 heaped tbsp each garlic and ginger, minced
- 1 tsp coconut vinegar (optional)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 2 1/2 cups jeera rice, cooked (measured before cooking)
- 3 large onions, thinly sliced
- 2 medium tomatoes, sliced
- 4 large green chillies, cut into 1inch pieces (the non-spicy chillies)
- 85g mint leaves, roughly chopped
- 150g coriander leaves, roughly chopped
- 600g potatoes, cut into the same size as the beef
- Whole spices (6 cloves, 5 cardamom pods, 3 small bay leaves, 2 pieces 1inch cinnamon sticks, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds)
- 1 cup sesame oil
- Orange food coloring
- Chaat masala powder
Method
Mix the beef with all the marinade ingredients, and leave for at least 2 hours.
Heat the sesame oil, and add the whole spices. Fry until the spices are fragrant and the fenugreek has become slightly darker, then add the onions. Saute until the onions turn into a light golden color, then add the tomatoes, green chillies and a little extra salt.
Once the tomatoes have softened, add the marinated beef with 1 cup of hot water, and cook until tender. Once the beef is done, cook uncovered on high flame until the gravy becomes very thick. Add salt to taste, then mix in all the leaves.
Deep fry the potatoes, toss in a little salt, then leave aside.
To assemble the biryani, start with a layer of rice in a big pot. Then add a few drops of the orange food coloring, the potatoes and sprinkle a little chaat masala over that. Top with a layer of the beef curry and then some more rice. Repeat until the pot is full, the last layer should be rice, with a little orange coloring sprinkled on top. Cover with foil and the lid, and leave for 20 minutes before serving.
Notes:
I mixed some cucumber, onions and mint leaves with some greek yoghurt, lemon, salt, pepper and a little chaat masala to serve alongside the biryani.
If I were to make this dish a little more special, I’d fry some raisins and cashews in ghee, and sprinkle that on top of each rice layer, along with some fried onions.
Also, the day I made this biryani, I’d run out of food coloring so I ended up using a lot less than I normally do. Use a lot more than the amount shown here!
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