Lamb Biryani

Biryani is a layered rice and meat dish from Bangladesh. Rick Stein used lean lamb loin chops in this version. The chops are marinated in a ground spice mix of cardamom pods, cloves, cinnamon, mace and dried Kashmiri chillies mixed with garlic, ginger, salt, pepper and yoghurt. You then melt some ghee in a large casserole dish and place the lamb and marinade on top with sultanas and aloo bokhara (small dried punes).

Basmati rice is cooked for 3 minutes in water containing cumin seeds, cardamom pods, cloves and salt. You put half of the rice on top of the meat, spinkle with a mixture of ground saffron strands and rose water, top with remaining rice and sprinkle with remaining saffron and rose water. Finally you pour over some milk, cover tightly and cook for 2 hours in the oven. To serve you spoon it onto a platter and top it with roasted almonds and crisp fried shallots. The meat was incredibly tender and the flavours were nice but I don't generally enjoy fruit in curries and savoury meat dishes so this wasn't a top hit for me.

I served it with Rick Stein's Kachumber Salad and some nice date chutney I found at the Indian supermarket. The Kachumber Salad was a layered salad of tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, green chillies and coriander leaves flavoured with ground cumin, kashmiri chilli powder, pepper, salt and lime juice. It was simple and delicious and would work well really with barbecued meats.

Rating for salad 8 out of 10.
Rating for Biryani 6 out of 10.