Friday, April 4, 2008

Beef Briyani


Briyani is among the food that can be eaten for lunch and/or dinner. Its primarily a South Asian dish made from a mixture of spices. that is according to wikipedia. Malaysia being a multi-cultural, multi-racial and all kind of multi is blessed to have this as one of our staple meals. ;) It is not that cheap though if you compare it to let say, Nasi Lemak or Char Keoy Teow. 4 years ago, a plate of briyani rice with a piece of chicken, 1 papadom and cucumber salad cost RM8-9 (USD2.5-2.8) while you can get NL or CKT for around RM4-5 (USD1.25-1.6). I think that is because for briyani, you must use basmati rice which is pretty expensive in Malaysia.


My personal favourite briyani joint back home would definitely be Restaurant Mahbub in Bangsar, KL. Like any other briyani places, they have varieties of dishes to go with the briyani rice which is just plain (no meat) from varieties of chicken to beef to mutton to seafood.

For a creature of habit like me, everytime I go, my choice would always be briyani rice with honey chicken (theirs is just to die for!), papadum, cut green chili and extra sauce! I have posted Malay Chicken Briyani in my previous post so now I am posting the beef version. (according to me, of course!). The real briyani required the using of yogurt but since we hardly have any at home, I just dont use it and they still turned out good.
Beef Briyani

1 cup basmati rice (rinsed)
1 3/4 cup water
Salt and sugar to taste

2 tablespoon ghee oil (or vegetable oil)
Half of an onion & 2" ginger (finely chopped)
4 spices - 3 cardamom seed, 1" cinnamon stick, 2 star anise seed, 3-4 cloves (rinsed)
1/4-1/2 lb beef (cubed then thinly sliced/cut)
2 tablespoon shan's beef briyani mix (they're pretty spicy so dont go crazy over the amount ok?)


1. Marinate the meat with the briyani mix for at least half an hour.
2. Heat up the ghee oil in a pot and add the 4-spices until aromatic.
3. Add in the chopped onion & garlic and meat. Keep stirring for about 3-4min.
4. Add the rice, water, salt and sugar. Stir and let it boil.
5. Cover and simmer for 25-27min.
6. Served hot, garnish with fried shallot/onion

p.s. The pictures showed how I normally enjoy my briyani. Not shown is a dash of sweet soy sauce (kicap manis). Yes, I admit that im such a soy sauce addict. lol!

16 comments:

pearly said...

I love it but in UK we can't get the briyani mix , I remember once my kitchen's assistant from Africa she cook chicken Briyani is really good .
if I don't have this briyani mix wat
els can I use to mix up ?

NorthBorneoGirl said...

Sedapnya! .. I can even taste it over here .. ever thought of starting a small catering business ? .. you've got the talent there :)

Salt N Turmeric said...

Pearly, i woudn kno how t make the rempah fr scratch. lol. but fr wht i heard, its even easier to get these kinda spices in the UK or any other kinda msian food. You might wanna try the indian or pakistani stores in your areas. i googled and found this website based in the UK http://www.spicesofindia.co.uk. give it a shot ok?

Salt N Turmeric said...

Envy, thank u. cater for friends oklah. lol.

pearly said...

thank dear will try on to that see I can get any mix and try on this I love it .
have alovely weekend xxxx

ICook4Fun said...

I bought a packet of Briyani mixed from the Indian store here. Looking at your yummy rice I think is time to cook mine :)

Dayang said...

mtk lah ckit nasik tuuuuuuuu,sedap lerrrrrrr

Salt N Turmeric said...

Gert, does Carlos eat briyani?

Dianne, boleh. datang lah sni. ;)

Retno Prihadana said...

Waw...you make me drooling.

Salt N Turmeric said...

Thanks Retno. I wonder, can u get those kinda spices in germany?

Jun said...

Hmm..sedap tu farina..teringat plak, lama x masak nasi beriyani..hehe

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown said...

i love briyani...my favorite so far is the one i had in...funnily...dubai! it comes with yummy chicken drumsticks! yum yum yum

Salt N Turmeric said...

Jun, ala u apa susah. pejam mata pun boleh buat. :P

Rita, all the way in Dubai ya. can u find it in HK?

tigerfish said...

I was just craving for briyani over the weekend when I visited an indian restaurant. I ate too much naan and forgot about the briyani. Now I see yummy briyani again yet can't have them. What a torture!

Came from Rasa Malaysia's blog.

Salt N Turmeric said...

Hi Tigerfish. thank u for dropping by. U kno wht? if ur too full, u can always tapau some briyani. ;)