Beef biryani with caramelised onions and almonds
The time spend on preparing this biryani is well worth it. Festive, fragrant and fabulously good.
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Loading... Ingredients
- 4 medium brown onions (3 onions thinly sliced and one quartered)
- 1/4 cup olive oil (or cooking oil)
- 50 g butter
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 10 ml (2 tsp) brown sugar
- 1/3 cup raisins
- 1 head garlic, cloves separated and peeled
- 4 cm piece fresh ginger, peeled, sliced
- 2 small red chillies
- 15 ml (1 tbsp) coriander seeds
- 30 ml (2 tbsp) tomato paste
- 1/3 cup whole blanched almonds, toasted (or nuts of your choice)
- 1 ½ tbsp water
- 1 kg stewing beef, trimmed, diced
- 15 ml (1 tbsp) garam masala
- 10 ml (2 tsp) turmeric
- 5 ml (1 tsp) ground cumin
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 625 ml (2 ½ cups) Spekko India Gate Classic Basmati Rice
- 1 dried bay leaf
- 2 cardamom pods
- 875 ml (3 ½ cups) chicken stock
- fresh coriander leaves
- caramelised onions
- toasted flaked almonds
Garnishing and serving
Method
- Halve and thinly slice 3 onions. Heat 1 tablespoon oil and half the butter in a large, heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and salt. Stir to combine. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden. Add sugar. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until onions are caramelised. Stir through raisins. Transfer to a bowl. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, quarter remaining onion. Process onion, garlic, ginger, chilli, coriander seeds, tomato paste, 1/3 cup almonds, and water until smooth. Set aside.
- Heat 1 tbsp oil in pan over high heat. Cook beef in batches, for 2 to 3 minutes or until browned. Transfer to a bowl.
- Heat remaining oil over medium heat. Add tomato paste mixture. Cook, stirring, for 4 minutes. Add garam masala, turmeric, cumin and cinnamon. Cook, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes or until fragrant. Return beef to pan. Stir to combine.
- Add stock. Reduce heat to low. Cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until beef is just tender. Spoon into a 4, 5 litre-capacity baking dish. Top with onion mixture.
- Preheat oven to 180°C. Heat remaining butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add rice, bay leaf and cardamom. Stir to coat. Add stock. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low. Cook, covered, for 8 minutes or until stock has absorbed. Remove from heat. Stand, covered, for 10 minutes.
- Spread rice over onion mixture in pan. Cover with greased baking paper. Bake for 40 minutes or until rice is tender. Stand, covered, for 10 minutes. Top with fresh coriander leaves, caramelised onions and toasted almonds. Serve with raita and tomato salsa.
- This dish can also be prepared with Spekko Long Grain Parboiled Rice.
- To stock up your spice and curry pantry, buy once off the following spices:
- ground cumin
- ground coriander
- coriander seeds
- cinnamon sticks
- cardamom pods
- bay leaves
- masala spice
- chilli flakes
- You only use a little bit of each spice at a time – and you will be prepared to cook up aromatic dishes without shopping every time.
- If you are on a very tight budget, all of the above spices can be replaced with for example Cape Malay curry powder or Spicy curry powder.
From the Spekko kitchen