Mushroom Biryani
(serves 8 brown people for dinner, or 16 white people :-)
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Pilaf Ingredients:
- 4 c. rice (whatever kind you like; I used Japanese 'cause I like it sticky)
- 4 c. vegetable broth
- 4 c. water
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1-2 tsp. saffron
- 1/4 tsp. rose essence (much more concentrated than rose water, if you can't find it, use rose water and reduce regular water appropriately)
Mushroom curry ingredients:
- 3 yellow onions, chopped
- 4 T unsalted butter
- 2 T oil
- 1 T minced or grated ginger
- 3 large cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 lbs. mushrooms, quartered
- 14.5 oz. can chopped tomatoes, drained
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2-3 tsp. Ceylon curry powder
Optional ingredients:
- 3 yellow onions, sliced
- 3 hard-boiled eggs, halved
- Combine pilaf ingredients in pot. Bring to a boil, turn down heat to low and cover. Simmer 20 min. or so until rice is cooked. Set aside.
- Saute yellow onions in butter and oil until golden. Add ginger and garlic, saute a few minutes more. Add mushrooms, tomatoes, salt, curry powder. Cook at medium-high, stirring periodically, until liquid is reduced to almost nothing, and the mushrooms are slightly browned and delicious. Taste and adjust salt as required.
- Add mushrooms to pilaf in a large baking dish, mixing thoroughly. Optional: add three sliced onions, which have been fried in oil with a bit of salt until crispy. Decorate if you like with six hard-boiled egg halves, arranged in a circle, pressed into the biryani mixture. Bake covered 30 min. at 350 degrees (you can skip this is if you're in a hurry, but it melds the flavors a bit more). Serve hot.
Do white people eat less than brown people?
White people consistently eat about half as much rice as brown people do at my dinner parties. Really used to throw off my calculations until I got used to it.
I’m still astonished, after thirteen years, at how little rice Kev puts on his plate; we always made a bed of rice and then put small amounts of different curries on the bed.
This looks really delicious, Mary Anne, and I’ve just printed this out. Janet loves biryani, and I think we’re going to try this soon.
Btw, what type of mushrooms do you use?
Just plain button mushrooms…
This white person used to eat a lot of rice, before he became a low-carb dieter. Now, very little.
There are always exceptions. 🙂 My sister hardly eats rice at all…
My white husband eats much less rice than I do. Of course, I like most Asian food better and lover the rice soaked with sauce, where as he’s like “where’s the meat?”
Makes for interesting dinners. This looks good. I’ll have to try. What is Ceylon Curry Powder? Something you made or a specific type of powder? I usually make my own curry powder so I’m wondering what recipe to use…
I make my own (it’s in my cookbook), but Indian stores with a Sri Lankan section sometimes sell a version of it.