Chicken Biriyani (Sri Lankan)

I'm always a sucker for a good biriyani and, let me tell you, this one was amazing! Honestly, the rice alone was a delight and already incredible. The chicken curry, onion mixture, and boiled eggs just made it even more over-the-top delicious.

One small note: Do not do as I did and make this in a 6-cup casserole dish. It's not nearly big enough! Next time I'd make this in a 9"x13" (23x33cm) lasagne pan or something of similar volume.

Chicken Biriyani

Slightly adapted from Sri Lankan Flavours by Channa Dassanayaka

Ingredients

Chicken Curry

• 2 Tbsp. oil
• 2 green cardamom pods
• 1 Indian bay leaf
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 whole cloves
• 2 tsp. ginger paste
• 2 tsp. garlic paste
• 500g skinless boneless chicken thighs, cut into 2cm cubes
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp. roasted curry powder
• 1/2 tsp. sweet paprika, hot paprika, or chili powder (according to your taste)
• 1 c. chopped fresh or canned tomatoes
• 1 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 c. plain yogurt
• 1/2 c. chopped fresh cilantro

Onion Mixture

• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 2 onion, halved and sliced
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 10-12 fresh curry leaves

Assembly

• 2 Tbsp. water
• 1 tsp. oil
• 1/2 tsp. rosewater (optional)
• 1 recipe yellow rice
• 4 large eggs, hard-boiled and halved
• fresh cilantro (optional), to garnish

Directions

Note: Before you launch into the other steps, boil your eggs and prepare the yellow rice as directed and set it aside until you're ready to start assembling the biriyani.

Chicken Curry

1. Heat the oil over medium heat.
2. Bruise the cardamom pods and add them to the pan along with the bay leaf, onion, cloves, garlic, ginger, and chicken.
3. Cook for ~5 minutes.
4. Add turmeric, curry powder, paprika (or chili powder), and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
5. Add tomatoes and mix well.
6. Add salt and pepper and cook for another 5-7 minutes.
7. Remove from heat and stir in yogurt and cilantro.

Onion Mixutre

1. Melt butter over medium heat.
2. Add onion and cinnamon stick and cook for 3-4 minutes.
3. Add curry leaves and cook for another minute or so.

Assembly

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
2. Add the water, oil, and rosewater (if using) to your baking dish.
3. Spread ~1/3 of the rice into the bottom of the dish.
4. Spread ~1/2 the curry on top of the rice.
5. Spread another 1/3 of the rice over the curry.
6. Now add ~1/2 the onion mixture on top of the rice.
7. Spread the remaining curry over the onions.
8. Top with the remaining rice.
9. Use a chopstick or the handle of a spoon to make a few holes down to the bottom of your biriyani so that steam can escape during baking.
10. Cover the dish. If you do not have an oven-safe lid for it, you may cover it with aluminum foil instead.
11. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 20 minutes.
12. Remove from oven and garnish with remaining onion mixture, halved eggs, and cilantro.

I have always been a soft taco person. Specifically, soft tacos made with flour tortillas. In my experience, hard tacos are awkward to assemble and shatter as soon as you bite into them. And, although I love corn chips and cornbread and all manner of other "corn-y" things, soft corn tortillas just never quite taste right to me. They seem like they should taste good, but I always find the flavour just slightly disappointing and off-putting. So, for years, whenever we've had tacos, it's always been with soft flour tortillas. Occasionally I'll pick up a few soft corn tortillas for TF to use since I know he likes them. But hard tacos? Never.

Until now!

America's Test Kitchen has rocked my world yet again! The most recent issue of Cook's Illustrated delved into the origins of the hard taco and introduced "tacos dorados" (golden tacos). This is apparently what the crispy taco was meant to be before it got Americanized and boxed up into taco "kits" as a convenience food. And it's brilliant!

Rather than starting with a sleeve of pre-fried hard taco "shells", you do, in fact, start with soft corn tortillas. Tortillas that get gently warmed to make them extra soft and pliable, filled with flavourful spiced beef, and then fried to make them crispy and delicious.

Yes, that's right, you fry them after you fill them. Mind blown! Not only does this make them easier to fill, but the outside gets wonderfully crisp while the spine remains pliable enough to open (for adding toppings) and eat without the whole thing shattering and pouring meat and grease all over your hands! Tacos dorados aren't significantly more difficult or time-consuming to make than either hard or soft tacos and they're definitely both more delicious and less messy than either. I have found my taco happy place!

(Oh, and just in case you were wondering: the frying and crisping does seem to perk up the corn tortillas and do away with the disappointment I'd experienced with them in the past.)

Tacos Dorados

Slightly adapted from Cook's Illustrated July/August 2018

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. water
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1 lb. lean ground beef¹
• 7 Tbsp. peanut oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 1/2 tsp. chili powder
• 4 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1/2 c. shredded Cheddar + extra for topping
• 12-16 corn tortillas (6-8" diameter)
• shredded lettuce
• chopped tomato
• sour cream
• pickled jalapeños

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Combine water and baking soda in a large bowl. Add beef and mix well. Set aside.
3. Cook onion over medium heat in 1 Tbsp. of oil until softened.
4. Add chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, cumin, and sea salt and cook for 1 minute.
5. Add tomato paste and cook for an additional minute.
6. Add beef, breaking up into small chunks and mixing with onion and spices.
7. Although the recipe didn't call for it, I also chose to add a splash of water at this stage. I think I put ~1/3 c. I find it helps with getting the meat evenly coated with spices and adds a bit of moisture and sauciness without making it "sloppy" or overly messy.
8. Using 2 tbsp. of the oil, brush tortillas to lightly coat with oil on both sides. Bake at 400F for 5 minutes.²
9. Once meat is cooked through, remove from pan and add 1/2 c. shredded cheese. Mix to combine.
10. Wipe out pan and add 1/4 c. oil.
11. Fill the tacos. Use ~2 Tbsp. of filling for 6" tortillas or 3-4 Tbsp. for 8" tortillas. Spread the filling over half the tortilla and then fold it over (it will be open on the sides, this is fine and expected).
12. Gently place your filled tacos into the pan with the hot oil (you'll have to work in batches). Cook for 2-3 minutes per side until both sides are dark golden-brown, but not charred or burnt.³
13. Remove fried, crispy tacos from pan. You may now dress them up as you see fit. Thanks to the flexible spine you should be able to open them up like a book to add sour cream, extra cheese, jalapeños, or whatever else your heart desires!
14. Once topped and garnished to your satisfaction, close it up and enjoy the perfectly crisp, non-shattering goodness of a golden taco!

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¹ Recommended 90% lean. <sup>Back

2</sup> I think I'd try cutting this down to only 3 or 4 minutes next time. It might also be interesting to see if warming them in the microwave (either with or without oil) yields similar results. <sup>Back

3</sup> I had some trouble with the whole "not burnt" aspect. Don't worry! Even the burnt ones were delicious. The not-burnt ones were, however, slightly more delicious, so I do recommend not burning if at all possible. ;P ^Back

Murghi Korma (Chicken with an Almond-Yogurt Sauce)

I love kormas! Vegetable kormas are actually a favourite of mine, but I decided to give this chicken korma a go to see how it stacked up.

This is a lovely curry, but I found that it wasn't quite what I was expecting of a korma. Now, I'll be the first to admit that I've only ever had vegetable kormas and I've only ever had them at (Anglo-)Indian restaurants, so may expectations are probably a bit skewed. If you're really craving that very mild, nutty creaminess that characterizes many restaurant kormas, then this may not be the recipe for you. If, however, you're simply looking for a pleasantly aromatic chicken curry that still has some of that nuttiness, then this one is probably a good bet!

Murghi Korma

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. plain yogurt
• 2 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 1 Tbsp. garlic paste
• 1 (1.5kg) chicken, skin removed and cut into pieces
• 2 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1/2 tsp. whole cloves
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns
• 6 green cardamom pods
• 3 black cardamom pods
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 2 dried bay leaves (or Indian bay leaves)
• 1 onion, halved and sliced
• 1/2 c. slivered almonds
• 3/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne
• 2 Tbsp. fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Combine the yogurt, ginger paste, and garlic paste.
2. Coat the chicken with the yogurt mixture and refrigerate overnight.
3. Heat the oil over medium-high heat.
4. Add the cloves, peppercorns, green and black cardamom pods, cinnamon sticks, and bay leaves and cook until they sizzle and smell aromatic.
5. Add onion and cook until beginning to turn light brown around the edges.
6. Transfer onions and spices to a blender.
7. Add 1 c. water, almonds, salt, and cayenne and puree to make a slightly gritty paste.
8. Place the chicken (and any residual marinade) in the pan and cook over medium-high heat until lightly browned.
9. Add onion-almond paste.
10. Pour 1/2 c. water into the blender jar to rinse it out and add this to the pan as well.
11. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium-low and cover.
12. Cook for 15-20 minutes, turning chicken occasionally to allow to cook evenly.
13. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

If you want something that's a bit more subtle in its flavours and lets the nuts shine through more, I'd recommend leaving the spices whole and either removing them before serving or eating around them. They'll still infuse the sauce, but they won't have nearly as much of a presence as when they're ground up and incorporated into it. If you're going this route, just leave the onion and spices in the pan and puree the almonds with a bit of water. I'd recommend measuring out the full cup, but only adding half of it to start. If there's not enough liquid to successfully blend the almonds, add more water, a couple Tbsp. at a time, until they form a smooth puree. If there's any water left after the almond puree is done, add it to the water being used to rinse out the blender.

I haven't tested this recipe tweak, but I do think it will produce a much "quieter" sauce where the spices take more of a back seat. Try it if that's the sort of flavour you're after. I'll probably give it a go if I end up making this one again. (Maybe with some vegetables in place of the chicken this time.)