INDIA
When I was in Calcutta, now known as Kolkota, my friend Bipasha Ghosh, who is Bengali, recommended we take a culinary walking tour of the city’s food, both on and off the street, with the lovely Iftekhar Ahsan of Calcutta Walks. We explained to Iftekhar that I was mainly interested in Muslim foods and he took us on a spectacular tasting tour, culminating at the Royal India Hotel (hotel in India means “restaurant”) to taste both their biryani and chaap (smashed mutton—which actually means goat—chops half braised, half fried in their own fat). It was the first time I had tasted a biryani with next to nothing in it, just potatoes, but it was so flavorful that we had to order another plate even though we were already pretty full. There are several stories behind the Calcutta Biryani and why it is made with potatoes. All refer to the last ruler of Lucknow, Wajid Ali Shah, who found himself in exile with his court in Calcutta. On that same trip, I met with the last ruler’s great-great-grandson Shahanshah Mirza and his lovely wife, Fatima, and Shahanshah’s version was that the Nawab liked to experiment with food and had given his chefs carte blanche as to how they made biryani, so they added potatoes, which he liked. Another theory is that the chefs used potatoes instead of meat because the ruler was impoverished. Either way, the “potato” biryani at Royal India is absolutely superb. At the Royal, they don’t cook meat with the rice. Instead, you order their “potato” biryani together with chaap. It was one of the best biryanis I had while in India, together with that cooked by chef Gulam Qureshi at Dum Pukht restaurant in New Delhi where I was taken by Vir Sanghvi and his wife, Seema, for an extraordinary tasting menu.
SERVES 6 TO 8
⅓ cup (80 ml) vegetable oil, plus more for browning the lamb
3 medium onions (1 pound/450 g total), halved and cut into thin wedges
6 whole cloves
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
2 bay leaves
1 inch (2.5 cm) fresh ginger, peeled and minced to a fine paste
4 cloves garlic, minced to a fine paste
2¼ pounds (1 kg) boneless lamb shoulder or leg, cut into medium chunks
1 teaspoon Kashmiri chili powder
Sea salt
3 medium tomatoes (10½ ounces/300 g total), peeled and finely chopped
1 cup (250 g) yogurt
8 medium new potatoes (1 pound 2 ounces/500 g total), scrubbed clean
2½ cups (500 g) long-grain rice
2 good pinches of saffron threads
1 tablespoon (15 g) ghee or unsalted butter
1. Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until lightly golden, about 5 minutes. Add the cloves, peppercorns, cinnamon stick, ½ teaspoon of the caraway seeds, and 1 of the bay leaves and stir for a minute or so. Add the ginger and garlic and sauté until fragrant.
2. Heat a little oil in a pot over medium heat. Add the chunks of lamb and cook until browned. Add to the onion and spices together with the chili powder. Season with salt to taste. Add the tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes, or until the tomatoes have softened. Add the yogurt and cook, stirring continuously, until the yogurt starts bubbling gently. Add ½ cup (125 ml) water, cover the pan, and cook over low heat for about 30 minutes, or until the lamb is just tender.
3. Add the potatoes and cook for another 20 minutes, or until both meat and potatoes are done. Check the liquid in the pan. There should be a little sauce left by the time both meat and potatoes are done as you will be adding it to the rice.
4. Meanwhile, rinse the rice and soak it for 20 minutes in lightly salted cold water. Drain the rice and put in a separate pot. Add the saffron, ghee, and 2 cups (500 ml) water. Season with salt to taste and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and let the rice simmer for 6 to 8 minutes, or until it has absorbed the water and is almost done.
5. Spread the remaining ½ teaspoon caraway seeds over the bottom of a clean pot and add the remaining bay leaf. Add the parboiled rice to the pot, and cover with the meat, potatoes, and sauce. Wrap the lid of the pot with a clean kitchen towel and place snugly over the pot. Place over medium-high heat and let cook for 3 minutes, then reduce the heat to as low as you can and let steam for another 15 minutes, or until the rice is completely done and fluffy and the meat is very hot. Serve immediately.