Vegetarian Dum Biryani Night

Biryani is a dish that is steeped in history from Persia. It found its way into the Indian subcontinent 1000’s of years ago where the technique of slow cooking rice with a skewer or curry at the bottom and infusing it with saffron and herbs under a really slow cook method called dum or cooking under steam. Now cooking under steam happens when you add a tight fitted lead and traditionally always one made the dough, and it seals the top of the pot, and it is then slow cooked under coals so there is a real technique of infusion of flavour and slow cooking of the meat and the rice itself. Now of course modern-day life means that we don't always have time to make biryani the same way. There's so many different types of biryani’s around the whole of the subcontinent in India and Pakistan all sorts of different flavours and techniques, but the ultimate flavour comes from the infusion of saffron into this dish. The way that I have made this dish is to make it really quick and still not cut out on the drama of the dish. And the drama is all about when you lift that lid and the steam rises on top and you see that saffron, the essence of saffron infusing your air around you. Now ‘gajar’ and ‘dhania’ are, ‘gajar’ meaning carrot and ‘dhania’ meaning coriander are two really classic combinations in Britain anyway with soup and I thought it'd be a great way of making a quick vegetarian biryani. I love the infusion of whole spices in this because this is what really gives it that ultimate authentic flavour. So coriander seeds of course but then there's star anise and cinnamon that also adds a real earthiness and floral flavour to the final dish. I like to serve this with this beautiful aubergine borani, which is again a real influence of Afghani cooking in our food in Pakistan. And borani is usually always served room temperature and borani is not to be confused with biryani. It is a yoghurt and aubergine dish with softened tomatoes which adds a gorgeous combination and goes beautifully as an alternative to raita on the side of your biryani. Now this is a dish for celebration. That's what biryani is all about celebration and most of all our celebratory meals always have the dish biryani so I hope you use it for celebrations but also for everyday cooking.