What do you do when Indiblogger asks you to create a picture of a mouth watering perfect meal served in borosil dishes? You dream of good food and good company. No good food without good serving dishes and good company for me and I fall back on the traditional foods whenever we eat with our loved ones.
Biryani is one of my favourite foods and I like it the way I know it best. The awadhi biryani. Biryani is the best balanced foods in it's original form. Deeply nourishing and mood uplifting food.
Awadhi biryani is subtle and aromatic, each grain of rice soaked in the flavours of the meat and the spices used and you crave for it badly whenever reminded of it. But baked biryani? Well, not exactly baked 100% but you know how we cook biryani on 'Dum' in the final stage? It is like preparing the half done rice cooked in mutton broth, cooking the mutton pieces with spices and then combining the two elements and cook them together in a sealed vessel on very low heat, almost like we bake things in an oven. Lately I have tried doing this final step in the oven and have been amazed by how easy it became.
I actually surprised my brother when he visited last time, the biryani was in the oven when he came and peeped into the kitchen as an old habit and did not find anything main course on the kitchen platform. A bowl of curry patta mutton liver, a huge bowl of salad and lauki ka raita, all cling wrapped, were there but no main course. He thought I am ordering food from outside when I served this grilled Apricot with sour cream that vanished instantly. And then I took out the large foil covered pot of biryani from the oven and removed the foil cover on the dining table. This is The moment for all biryani lovers as the aroma of a biryani being unveiled is something every biryani lover looks forward to. The wafting warm aromas of delicate spices mingled with a musty flowery basmati fragrance and an unmistakable almost carnal whiff of mutton. One tastes through the aromas first, more so in the case of biryanis I must say.
There were loud oohs and aahs and as soon as the biryani was plated, there was complete silence. Mmmm...yumm..that's it. We eat biryani with our fingers.
That day as everyone dug right into the biryani, I got thinking of a large borosil biryani pot that I could use just for the biryanis now that I have started baking the biryani in the final step. I have been using borosil utensils over gas flame too but using them in the oven is a very convenient option. The timer of the oven brings a lot of freedom in the kitchen and the transparency in the borosil dishes makes it easy to see if the food is cooked desirably. But for a biryani, a large borosil dish would also mean serving the biryani both to visual and olfactory senses, the see through dishes would showcase the long grain of rice well and a fitting lid would ensure the aromas are sealed well till the biryani bakes.
Yes, the biryani bakes. And then spreads the delectable fragrance of well cooked bouquet of textures and flavours, redolent with cardamom, cloves, nutmeg and hint of mace, the first note to hit the nostrils would be a mix of mint and saffron as always. I add a hint of nutmeg to my biryani along with browned onion slices. An invigorating bouquet of aromas and flavours served in a see through pot like this gourmet cook and serve. A pot that can be used on a gas stove, in the oven as well as microwave, lets me cook my biryani as my whim decides.
You know I take pleasure in cooking more than eating the meal and my utensils should be able to inspire me as well as the ingredients, herbs and spices I breath in and infuse into my food.
Now come to the serving, the raitas and kachumbers will be served in these bowls and square dishes that I already have. I have been eyeing this celebration platter for my salads and crudites for long, my salad platters are normally huge and occupy a lot of space on the dining table, this stemmed platter saves space for the plates and glasses.These lovely bowls with lid will be very apt for a dessert like mango shrikhand. For shrikhand we eat with the spoons first and then lick everything clean... slurp slurp...
Does that sound like a complete mouth watering perfect meal? It will be followed by rounds of green tea as we soak in the sound of birdsong that my garden plays. Eating together is like relaxing after a long tiresome journey.
You would get to see a picture of the entire meal very soon hopefully. High hopes of a biryani meal :-)
Biryani is one of my favourite foods and I like it the way I know it best. The awadhi biryani. Biryani is the best balanced foods in it's original form. Deeply nourishing and mood uplifting food.
Awadhi biryani is subtle and aromatic, each grain of rice soaked in the flavours of the meat and the spices used and you crave for it badly whenever reminded of it. But baked biryani? Well, not exactly baked 100% but you know how we cook biryani on 'Dum' in the final stage? It is like preparing the half done rice cooked in mutton broth, cooking the mutton pieces with spices and then combining the two elements and cook them together in a sealed vessel on very low heat, almost like we bake things in an oven. Lately I have tried doing this final step in the oven and have been amazed by how easy it became.
I actually surprised my brother when he visited last time, the biryani was in the oven when he came and peeped into the kitchen as an old habit and did not find anything main course on the kitchen platform. A bowl of curry patta mutton liver, a huge bowl of salad and lauki ka raita, all cling wrapped, were there but no main course. He thought I am ordering food from outside when I served this grilled Apricot with sour cream that vanished instantly. And then I took out the large foil covered pot of biryani from the oven and removed the foil cover on the dining table. This is The moment for all biryani lovers as the aroma of a biryani being unveiled is something every biryani lover looks forward to. The wafting warm aromas of delicate spices mingled with a musty flowery basmati fragrance and an unmistakable almost carnal whiff of mutton. One tastes through the aromas first, more so in the case of biryanis I must say.
There were loud oohs and aahs and as soon as the biryani was plated, there was complete silence. Mmmm...yumm..that's it. We eat biryani with our fingers.
That day as everyone dug right into the biryani, I got thinking of a large borosil biryani pot that I could use just for the biryanis now that I have started baking the biryani in the final step. I have been using borosil utensils over gas flame too but using them in the oven is a very convenient option. The timer of the oven brings a lot of freedom in the kitchen and the transparency in the borosil dishes makes it easy to see if the food is cooked desirably. But for a biryani, a large borosil dish would also mean serving the biryani both to visual and olfactory senses, the see through dishes would showcase the long grain of rice well and a fitting lid would ensure the aromas are sealed well till the biryani bakes.
Yes, the biryani bakes. And then spreads the delectable fragrance of well cooked bouquet of textures and flavours, redolent with cardamom, cloves, nutmeg and hint of mace, the first note to hit the nostrils would be a mix of mint and saffron as always. I add a hint of nutmeg to my biryani along with browned onion slices. An invigorating bouquet of aromas and flavours served in a see through pot like this gourmet cook and serve. A pot that can be used on a gas stove, in the oven as well as microwave, lets me cook my biryani as my whim decides.
You know I take pleasure in cooking more than eating the meal and my utensils should be able to inspire me as well as the ingredients, herbs and spices I breath in and infuse into my food.
Now come to the serving, the raitas and kachumbers will be served in these bowls and square dishes that I already have. I have been eyeing this celebration platter for my salads and crudites for long, my salad platters are normally huge and occupy a lot of space on the dining table, this stemmed platter saves space for the plates and glasses.These lovely bowls with lid will be very apt for a dessert like mango shrikhand. For shrikhand we eat with the spoons first and then lick everything clean... slurp slurp...
Does that sound like a complete mouth watering perfect meal? It will be followed by rounds of green tea as we soak in the sound of birdsong that my garden plays. Eating together is like relaxing after a long tiresome journey.
You would get to see a picture of the entire meal very soon hopefully. High hopes of a biryani meal :-)
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