Yeah i blame the credit crunch, no more pricey takeaways!

Heres a lamb tikka biryani made to the recipe above

To get a decent BIR curry to compare our own with you really need to go for the take away, eating in I think mentally tricks you, all the pappadoms,chutneys, bottles of cobra and pan pipes certainly adds to that missing 5% somehow and lulls you into thinking anything tastes great,especially when you've had a few drinks.

A decent TA lamb Madras is the benchmark for me,maybe i've just been going to the wrong places but all the recent BIR's i've visited seem to be going away from the kind of curries I grew up loving and have gone really upmarket, I had a chicken patia the other day and it had shredded lime leaves in it and garnished with loads of spring onion,tasted a nice but a million miles from the usual BIR flavours/methods that i really enjoy.

I've changed this recipe slightly and I think its even better and now contains no artificial colourings! Try it you won't be dissapointed.

Recipe for Pilau rice(Serves 3-4)


250g Basmati rice(I used KTC but any decent basmati will do)

30g Unsalted butter

500ml Water

3 Cardamon Pods

1/2 tsp Salt

1 Bay leaf

2 large pieces of blade mace

1/2 tsp ground cumin.

1 tsp Garlic ginger puree

1 finely grated carrot



Wash rice thouroughy in a bowl until water runs clear,this takes a while then leave to soak in cold water for 30 mins.

Drain rice really well and shake off as much water as you can.

Melt butter in a largeish saucepan and add salt,spices,bay,Mace,Garlic/ginger paste,carrot for a few seconds,add rice and fry gently for a minute or two on a medium heat. Add the water and bring to the boil stirring just once.

*Don't worry about the carrot clagging together at this point it will separate later in the oven

Cover the pan with a A3 size piece of foil and place the lid on top, Turn the heat down to no2 electric or halogen,if gas use simmer,and cook undisturbed for 8 mins.

Turn off the heat and remove lid and foil, add let sit for about 5 mins.

Preheat oven to 60-70c ,gently transfer into a lightly oiled oven proof dish and cover well with the foil you used earlier,making a few steam holes.

Put in the oven,the longer the better gently(I go for 1hr in total) folding every 20-30 mins and the rice grains will be lovely and separate, at some point remove the mace,shred really fine and fold back into the rice.

As it dries gently in the oven,the result will be a fantastic BIR flavoured rice with a lovely colour from the carrot/cumin and flavour from the Shredded mace.

Enjoy

Which madras recipe would you  recommend?

Uncle Bucks Madras has had some good reviews,I'm gonna try it next, I've only made Rajvers Madras from this site but it is very nice.