Shrimp biryani.
Last night, I attempted shrimp biryani.
Part of my ongoing attempt to learn reasonably authentic Indian food, this was maybe my worst execution yet. I made too many tiny changes as I went (story of my life) and while the flavor was fantastic, the overall result was blah.
The main problem was the rice. It just went straight to mush. Maybe the problem was using jasmine instead of basmati. In the past, I might have used jasmine for everything, one of my regular shortcuts. No more. That was absurd. Look, kids, these are different rices.
I started with a recipe off food52. I soaked the rice in cold water (I don’t know why. Any idea what this does?). I peeled the shrimp and let them marinate in turmeric and kosher and a splash of cinnamon (my add).
I took a huge lump of ginger, diced it up, did the same with three enormous cloves of garlic, and pulsed the food processor. I didn’t have Serranos because I was trying to use up jalapenos in my freezer from last summer, so I tossed in two of those, which worked out fine. Oh, and a handful of cilantro, maybe a third a cup. This I pureed but it didn’t get very fine. I added a splash of olive oil and water.
Then I sauteed the spices: cardamom pods, peppercorns, bay leaves, and cloves. I should have used a cinnamon stick, but APPARENTLY I am all out. I subbed powdered cinnamon, which didn’t really work, and a star anise. Note: that shit spits. I think it was the pods. Like popcorn.
Then I added diced onion and carrots. I also chopped up a metric ton of broccoli rabe, which was not a good idea. It tasted great, but turned the rice green. And the chop was not fine enough to mix well with the rice. But I just HAD to have something green in the meal, didn’t I? (Next time I will try finely chopped spinach. It will work.)
To this I added half the green paste, then rice and apparently too much water, plus butter and mint. I should add more butter and more mint. Then it all went into the oven to bake.
After the designated time (20 minutes), the water wasn’t yet gone, so I put it back in for another 10 minutes. I guess this had something to do with the rice mush.
I sauteed the rest of the green paste with the shrimp. I wonder if the paste would have made a better marinade?
I pulled out the rice, mixed it all together—oh, and made raita, based on this recipe. This actually turned out great; I added two radishes that I had sitting around, and also the rest of a small container of ricotta. The ricotta was dumb—all grainy to the otherwise smooth Greek yogurt.
And that was dinner. The flavor was great, but the texture was awful. So essentially I am bummed, but not fully discouraged—I’ll make this again with some modifications, like basmati rice, and careful cooking times, and no broccoli rabe.
Also it lasted three dinners. From a thrift perspective? Niiiiice.
