Beef Biryani With Cumin Raita

Beef Biryani With Cumin Raita

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 nice hit of heat from the chile powder (so use half the amount if a milder dish is desired). A tangy cumin raita is a lovely finishing drizzle that brightens the meal.

Yield: 4 servings

1 ½ cups basmati rice, rinsed

5 cardamom pods

1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick

2 whole cloves

2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

Kosher salt and pepper

3 tablespoons ghee

½ large white onion, thinly sliced (about 1 ½ cups)

1 tablespoon tomato paste 

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

2 teaspoons garam masala

½ teaspoon ground Kashmiri chile powder or ¼ teaspoon cayenne

¼ teaspoon ground fennel

¼ teaspoon ground turmeric

1 star anise

½ teaspoon cumin seeds, divided

1 pound 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

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.

TIP: I have spent a lot of time making biryanis over the years. This recipe results in an excellent version in a quarter of the time (assuming you have the spices on hand).

*This was lovely. Cut recipe in half because there are just two of us but kept spices for full recipe.

Changes I made beside the spices were to infuse the milk with some saffron treads ( warm the milk and add 1/4 teaspoon or so of threads and let sit for 10 min)

I also sauted some Chopped cashews and currents ( you could use raisins) in some ghee until well browned/reddish and added it to the top before serving

*Small changes I made:

- I used ground lamb as this is closer to my old fashioned lamb biryani.

- I doubled the spices. I’ll admit to loving spice-filled biryanis.

- I doubled the garlic and ginger. To save a lot of time, you can buy garlic / ginger paste from Amazon (I like Rani brand). It keeps forever and is useful in many recipes.

- it’s an extravagance, but to add a little crumbled roasted saffron in the milk that’s poured over the rice at the end makes it even more authentic