I think I might be violating some copyright laws, or forum policy by adding this long quote. If so, I shall happily withdraw it or shorten it to conform to what is proper.
Moreover, this probably is in the wrong place in the forum.
However, this restaurant concept is so close to my own fantasies, that i had to excerpt this item from the DECCAN HERALD (exact reference lost):
"The Biryani Merchant there is no menu. They simply sit a customer down and pile the biryani on. And the fare changes every day. For starters there's Gazak, delectable kebabs. On a Friday, say, a guest is first served Ghosht ke Pasinda and Reshmi Kebabs. Then three different raithas: beetroot, cucumber and tomato, and Burrhani.
While the captain serves a helping of Calicut Fish Biryani, the guest, if so inclined, can hear The Biryani Merchant's 'Connoisseur in Residence', Vishy Shenoy, descant on the history and geography of all the world's biryanis.
The Kacchi Yakhani Biryani (Hyderabadi) that follows, though not spicy enough for this reviewer's unrefined taste buds, certainly does demonstrate that the 35 different biryanis the restaurant offers are distinctive. The Awadhi Murgh Biryani is probably the best, but the Bharwan Lauki, Nawabi Tarkari and Sabz Kheema Biriyani give vegetarians a very good reason to try what The Biryani Merchant calls the 'Quintessential Biryani Experience'.
After sampling the victuals on offer, the customer can call for more of what he likes best and as much of it as he wants. If, that is, he has room for more.
Dessert is traditional -- Sheer Kurma and Tomatar ka Salan -- before 'special' Sulaimani chai and hookahs in different flavours. The price for being treated like an epicure is a fixed Rs 300.
The chefs, Mr Shenoy says, are specialists from the communities of the biryani's origin and the ingredients they use are sourced with care. Only copper vessels and coal are used to dum the biryani.
For the founders of the restaurant, Bangalore is only the beginning. They plan to make the biryani experience global. Abhik Biswas, a director in the venture, says it will be something of a worldwide chain in the next three years. The insouciance with which Mr Biswas speaks of taking The Biryani Merchant to Paris, London and the US would beggar belief but for his candid admission that the entire endeavour is one big leap of faith.
The restaurant, on Castle Street, even has wireless internet connectivity for the unlucky who have to take work to lunch. Customers are invited to inspect the kitchen for proof of hygiene, but are well advised to desist. " DECCAN HERALD
I wonder how this place is doing.
More to the point, it would be great if the many professional chefs here were to write in and describe how they see biriyani to be evolving in the Hotel restaurant culture.
Traditionally, biriyanis were prepared for a large number of people, who all ate the same menu, at more or less the same time, allowing the use of the traditional vessels and dum pukht methods.
With the Hotels and restaurants becoming the repositories for grand feast type dishes for most people, how amenable are the old methods to serve people demanding different flavors over a long period of time. Will the biriyani still be cooked old-style and reheated on demand?
Even in the famous Muslim restaurants of Kolkata, the biriyani served is laughable compared to that prepared by an expet called in for that purpose alone. I have never had a satisfactory biriyani in any American restaurant, and the single time i experienced both Oberoi and Taj in Mumbai, in 1974, the biriyanis were more pulaos than the dum-pukht kind.
Anyway, enough of my big mouth. Waiting for your thoughts.
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#2
Posted 20 June 2005 - 01:29 PM
Biriyanis remind me of North African Pilavs or Pilafs. Many of these dishes were influenced by the Ottomans who were headquartered in Algeria (they never quite made it to Morocco) during their mostly hands off rule of North Africa.
I have my thoughts on pilavs/pilafs. But I will wait for the Indian chefs on this one, since this is Gourmet India forum afterall.
Quote
More to the point, it would be great if the many professional chefs here were to write in and describe how they see biriyani to be evolving in the Hotel restaurant culture.
Traditionally, biriyanis were prepared for a large number of people, who all ate the same menu, at more or less the same time, allowing the use of the traditional vessels and dum pukht methods.
Traditionally, biriyanis were prepared for a large number of people, who all ate the same menu, at more or less the same time, allowing the use of the traditional vessels and dum pukht methods.
I have my thoughts on pilavs/pilafs. But I will wait for the Indian chefs on this one, since this is Gourmet India forum afterall.
#3
Posted 20 June 2005 - 09:54 PM
Chefzadi,
Please jump right in; your expertise, your multi-cultural exposure and sensitivity makes your comments most valuable, at least as much as that of people who happen to be born Indian!
I am no expert on the historical development of Persian or Ottoman haute cuisine, and so from my ignorance, make the following observance. From what i have seen in India, for Biryanis, hydration +gelatinization of the rice grains outer starch layers is accomplished in several steps, namely, :
Washing
Soaking [I have heard Persian chefs use high pH water for this, but not seen such in India]
Drying to a moist dry stage
gelatinization of outer layer by dropping rice into boiling flavored broth [yakhni] and partially cooking
Sieve and drain par-cooked rice
layer with fatty meat with clinging sauce
add a little more ghee, liquid milk etc. to continue gelatination, and give dum, low steam heat
In kacchi or raw biryani also, the rice starch is partially gelatinized by precooking and ading to marinated meat, followed by sealed dum.
The chief difference I can observe [and here i can truly confess my very limited knowledge of the vast world of pilafs from Morocco to Awadh to Indonesia] in many Indian pilafs is that the washed, soaked, dried [i.e. hydrated] rice is gelatinized in hot fat, sauteed in any number of medium like ghee etc., then hydration being completed by the addition of stock/water, meats etc.
Anyway, i want to learn from other people's troves of knowledge, and specifically, about biryani, I experience it as a symphony, and in the Kolkata style, treasure the artistry that
creates the undertones of mace + white pepper + cassia leaf, undulating below halftones of saffron, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, ginger. I shall stop now, this is a masterpiece that is wrought at the hands of a great conductor who knows exactly how to modulate every component.
I fear the artistry required needs the patronage of aristocratic houses who support these artists with their grand feasts. Hotels and restaurants cannot [maybe?] sustain these levels of virtuosity, unless such single-theme biryani restaurants come into being. Even then, the contrast between the Muslim restaurants famous for their biryanis and the sublime creations i hae tasted in some of the wealthy Muslim households of Kolkata is surprising, even shocking.
Suresh Saheb wrote of discovering true Bombay Biryani in Bangalore by expert caterers, and i hear some are even exporting bulk quantities frozen to the US. Is this true? I would hope a larger market would lead to the preservation of these skills in their UNBLEMISHED TRADITIONAL forms. Kolkata style biryani travels well chilled,but not frozen.
So, anxious to hear from all.
Let us talk of the fat and its stage of doneness at another time
Please jump right in; your expertise, your multi-cultural exposure and sensitivity makes your comments most valuable, at least as much as that of people who happen to be born Indian!
I am no expert on the historical development of Persian or Ottoman haute cuisine, and so from my ignorance, make the following observance. From what i have seen in India, for Biryanis, hydration +gelatinization of the rice grains outer starch layers is accomplished in several steps, namely, :
Washing
Soaking [I have heard Persian chefs use high pH water for this, but not seen such in India]
Drying to a moist dry stage
gelatinization of outer layer by dropping rice into boiling flavored broth [yakhni] and partially cooking
Sieve and drain par-cooked rice
layer with fatty meat with clinging sauce
add a little more ghee, liquid milk etc. to continue gelatination, and give dum, low steam heat
In kacchi or raw biryani also, the rice starch is partially gelatinized by precooking and ading to marinated meat, followed by sealed dum.
The chief difference I can observe [and here i can truly confess my very limited knowledge of the vast world of pilafs from Morocco to Awadh to Indonesia] in many Indian pilafs is that the washed, soaked, dried [i.e. hydrated] rice is gelatinized in hot fat, sauteed in any number of medium like ghee etc., then hydration being completed by the addition of stock/water, meats etc.
Anyway, i want to learn from other people's troves of knowledge, and specifically, about biryani, I experience it as a symphony, and in the Kolkata style, treasure the artistry that
creates the undertones of mace + white pepper + cassia leaf, undulating below halftones of saffron, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, ginger. I shall stop now, this is a masterpiece that is wrought at the hands of a great conductor who knows exactly how to modulate every component.
I fear the artistry required needs the patronage of aristocratic houses who support these artists with their grand feasts. Hotels and restaurants cannot [maybe?] sustain these levels of virtuosity, unless such single-theme biryani restaurants come into being. Even then, the contrast between the Muslim restaurants famous for their biryanis and the sublime creations i hae tasted in some of the wealthy Muslim households of Kolkata is surprising, even shocking.
Suresh Saheb wrote of discovering true Bombay Biryani in Bangalore by expert caterers, and i hear some are even exporting bulk quantities frozen to the US. Is this true? I would hope a larger market would lead to the preservation of these skills in their UNBLEMISHED TRADITIONAL forms. Kolkata style biryani travels well chilled,but not frozen.
So, anxious to hear from all.
Let us talk of the fat and its stage of doneness at another time
#4
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Posted 20 June 2005 - 10:57 PM
Gautam,
Thanks for starting this thread, I think it will motivate me to give you all an insight into my favourite recipe. Thankfully the weather here has cooled down and a Biryani dinner (maybe next week)for my friends is long overdue. The invitation goes out to you all also.
The Biryani Merchant - Vishy Shenoy is just a 5 minute walk away and as is my custom I shall stroll across just like I did(nt) to the Chatti wallah until Gautam reminded me.
Come to think of it maybe I should order a wider Chatti (a Chatti is like a Tagine pot) and make the Biryani in it. BTW they are in the same street so maybe I can *kiln two biryanis with one stroll *
Chefzadi, your views on Pilafs are eagerly awaited and as you can see we discuss other cuisines also. If I can dig it out I'll post my recipe and pictures of Iranian berry pulao also.
Gautam will you please stop this embarrassing 'saheb' thing, else I shall install more filters and another word will be excluded from this board.
Thanks for starting this thread, I think it will motivate me to give you all an insight into my favourite recipe. Thankfully the weather here has cooled down and a Biryani dinner (maybe next week)for my friends is long overdue. The invitation goes out to you all also.
The Biryani Merchant - Vishy Shenoy is just a 5 minute walk away and as is my custom I shall stroll across just like I did(nt) to the Chatti wallah until Gautam reminded me.
Come to think of it maybe I should order a wider Chatti (a Chatti is like a Tagine pot) and make the Biryani in it. BTW they are in the same street so maybe I can *kiln two biryanis with one stroll *
Chefzadi, your views on Pilafs are eagerly awaited and as you can see we discuss other cuisines also. If I can dig it out I'll post my recipe and pictures of Iranian berry pulao also.
Gautam will you please stop this embarrassing 'saheb' thing, else I shall install more filters and another word will be excluded from this board.
#5
Posted 20 June 2005 - 11:25 PM
Quote
With the Hotels and restaurants becoming the repositories for grand feast type dishes for most people, how amenable are the old methods to serve people demanding different flavors over a long period of time. Will the biriyani still be cooked old-style and reheated on demand?
I seem to remember Suvir mentioning in his class how he tackled this problem at Devi. (I believe the biryani is portioned into individual dishes???). Suvir, if you're reading along, would you be able to share with us your technique.....
?? --jim
#7
Posted 21 June 2005 - 01:58 PM
Gautam
Now your description is making me hungry!
Duh, what's a SEE EEE OHH filter? :0
Quote
Anyway, i want to learn from other people's troves of knowledge, and specifically, about biryani, I experience it as a symphony, and in the Kolkata style, treasure the artistry that
creates the undertones of mace + white pepper + cassia leaf, undulating below halftones of saffron, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, ginger. I shall stop now, this is a masterpiece that is wrought at the hands of a great conductor who knows exactly how to modulate every component.
creates the undertones of mace + white pepper + cassia leaf, undulating below halftones of saffron, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, ginger. I shall stop now, this is a masterpiece that is wrought at the hands of a great conductor who knows exactly how to modulate every component.
Duh, what's a SEE EEE OHH filter? :0
O-Ren Ishii! You and I have unfinished business!
#9
Posted 22 June 2005 - 06:39 AM
In America restaurants patrons are used to waiting longer for rice dishes such as paella and risotto, 30 minutes to an hour. So they can wait for an excellent pilav (pilaf). Paella is also often times served for at least two only, so I think at least two for pilav would work.
The techniques Gautam describes for briyani are also used in Algeria for pilavs. For restaurant applications I would soak the rice in water for an hour or so. I would partially or seperately cook some of the other ingredients depending on what they are. For a pilav with lamb I would cook the meat a bit ahead of time. For a seafood pilav I would cook the seafood seperately and add them to the cooked rice.
Pilavs can be very simple or very elaborate. Techniques for the more elaborate ones are certainly in line with cuisine gastronomique techniques. The truc (trick) is create layers of flavors that come together harmoniously. Saffron and butter scented rice, tasty morsels of spiced meat, gently caramelized aromatics with a different spicing from the meat.
I can post a recipe tomorrow or the day after. I apologize for being slow with my responses, but I am a very busy work schedule these days.
The techniques Gautam describes for briyani are also used in Algeria for pilavs. For restaurant applications I would soak the rice in water for an hour or so. I would partially or seperately cook some of the other ingredients depending on what they are. For a pilav with lamb I would cook the meat a bit ahead of time. For a seafood pilav I would cook the seafood seperately and add them to the cooked rice.
Pilavs can be very simple or very elaborate. Techniques for the more elaborate ones are certainly in line with cuisine gastronomique techniques. The truc (trick) is create layers of flavors that come together harmoniously. Saffron and butter scented rice, tasty morsels of spiced meat, gently caramelized aromatics with a different spicing from the meat.
I can post a recipe tomorrow or the day after. I apologize for being slow with my responses, but I am a very busy work schedule these days.
#10
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Posted 22 June 2005 - 06:41 AM
Gautam, on 21 June, 2005, 01:08, said:
I started the 'saheb' thing on purpose to torment you, after the SEE EEE OHH filter was added!
Wondering what Epithets to graft on yon Gautam.
#11
Posted 22 June 2005 - 01:31 PM
chefzadi, on 22 June, 2005, 06:09, said:
In America restaurants patrons are used to waiting longer for rice dishes such as paella and risotto, 30 minutes to an hour. So they can wait for an excellent pilav (pilaf). Paella is also often times served for at least two only, so I think at least two for pilav would work.
The techniques Gautam describes for briyani are also used in Algeria for pilavs. For restaurant applications I would soak the rice in water for an hour or so. I would partially or seperately cook some of the other ingredients depending on what they are. For a pilav with lamb I would cook the meat a bit ahead of time. For a seafood pilav I would cook the seafood seperately and add them to the cooked rice.
Pilavs can be very simple or very elaborate. Techniques for the more elaborate ones are certainly in line with cuisine gastronomique techniques. The truc (trick) is create layers of flavors that come together harmoniously. Saffron and butter scented rice, tasty morsels of spiced meat, gently caramelized aromatics with a different spicing from the meat.
I can post a recipe tomorrow or the day after. I apologize for being slow with my responses, but I am a very busy work schedule these days.
The techniques Gautam describes for briyani are also used in Algeria for pilavs. For restaurant applications I would soak the rice in water for an hour or so. I would partially or seperately cook some of the other ingredients depending on what they are. For a pilav with lamb I would cook the meat a bit ahead of time. For a seafood pilav I would cook the seafood seperately and add them to the cooked rice.
Pilavs can be very simple or very elaborate. Techniques for the more elaborate ones are certainly in line with cuisine gastronomique techniques. The truc (trick) is create layers of flavors that come together harmoniously. Saffron and butter scented rice, tasty morsels of spiced meat, gently caramelized aromatics with a different spicing from the meat.
I can post a recipe tomorrow or the day after. I apologize for being slow with my responses, but I am a very busy work schedule these days.
Are you with a standalone restaurant or a Hotel ? I'm looking forward to your recipe for a Pulao as we call it here.
O-Ren Ishii! You and I have unfinished business!
#12
Posted 23 June 2005 - 06:42 AM
Quote
Chefzadi,
Are you with a standalone restaurant or a Hotel ? I'm looking forward to your recipe for a Pulao as we call it here.
Are you with a standalone restaurant or a Hotel ? I'm looking forward to your recipe for a Pulao as we call it here.
I started working in restaurants when I was 14. Currently I am a chef instructor at CSCA, Le Cordon Bleu Program.
#13
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Posted 23 June 2005 - 10:45 AM
chefzadi, on 23 June, 2005, 08:12, said:
Quote
Chefzadi,
Are you with a standalone restaurant or a Hotel ? I'm looking forward to your recipe for a Pulao as we call it here.
Are you with a standalone restaurant or a Hotel ? I'm looking forward to your recipe for a Pulao as we call it here.
I started working in restaurants when I was 14. Currently I am a chef instructor at CSCA, Le Cordon Bleu Program.
#14
Posted 23 June 2005 - 08:25 PM
Although we don't eat much rice in North Africa, the Algerians in particular (because of the Ottoman influence) do have a nice range of rice dishes rivaling that of Turkey and Persia. This is one.
1 tablespoon salt
1 cinnamon stick
4 whole cloves
6 peppercorns, cracked
1 teaspoon cardamom seeds
4 juniper berries (mashed)
2 cups long grained rice
2 tablespoons dried apricots
2 tablespoons dried cherries
2 tablespoons sultanas
1/2 medium onion chopped
5 tablespoons unsalted butter or smen (ghee)
2 pinches saffron
I like to serve it with Sumac and Thyme Roast Chicken or Chicken with Pomegranate Sauce. Although we don't use basmati in the Maghreb, simply because it's not traditionally available, at home I prefer to use it. There is something about the scent of basmati rice with saffron and butter that makes me crazy.
I have other preparations that I will post when I have time.
1 tablespoon salt
1 cinnamon stick
4 whole cloves
6 peppercorns, cracked
1 teaspoon cardamom seeds
4 juniper berries (mashed)
2 cups long grained rice
2 tablespoons dried apricots
2 tablespoons dried cherries
2 tablespoons sultanas
1/2 medium onion chopped
5 tablespoons unsalted butter or smen (ghee)
2 pinches saffron
I like to serve it with Sumac and Thyme Roast Chicken or Chicken with Pomegranate Sauce. Although we don't use basmati in the Maghreb, simply because it's not traditionally available, at home I prefer to use it. There is something about the scent of basmati rice with saffron and butter that makes me crazy.
I have other preparations that I will post when I have time.
#15
Posted 23 June 2005 - 09:07 PM
are they really juniper berries? or barberries, (are they called zirish?) I've not seen juniper berries before in such recipes.
cheers
Waaza
cheers
Waaza
without food, I'd just die
http://cumbrianfoodlab.blogspot.com/
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#16
Posted 23 June 2005 - 09:22 PM
Yes, really Juniper berries.
In Algerian cooking there are few fixed ways of spicing. There are regional tendencies, but variations within regions from cook to cook will often times be greater than regional differences.
Moroccan cooking for instance traditionally tends to be heavy with oil, lots of sauces with a rich onion base and the use of sweet spices such as cinnamon. We have this in Algeria, especially near Morocco, but we have so much more in terms of range of dishes, spicing and cooking techniques.
I've mentioned this on other boards, but I prefer to look at the Maghreb as a whole which it really is culturally and culinarily.
In Algerian cooking there are few fixed ways of spicing. There are regional tendencies, but variations within regions from cook to cook will often times be greater than regional differences.
Moroccan cooking for instance traditionally tends to be heavy with oil, lots of sauces with a rich onion base and the use of sweet spices such as cinnamon. We have this in Algeria, especially near Morocco, but we have so much more in terms of range of dishes, spicing and cooking techniques.
I've mentioned this on other boards, but I prefer to look at the Maghreb as a whole which it really is culturally and culinarily.
#17
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Posted 23 June 2005 - 10:02 PM
This is the Zirish I use in my Iranian Berry Pulao.
this shop stocks both http://adrianascaravan.com/
Must try Chefzadi's recipe with Juniper which I've never tasted outside a Gin.
this shop stocks both http://adrianascaravan.com/
Must try Chefzadi's recipe with Juniper which I've never tasted outside a Gin.
#18
Posted 24 June 2005 - 04:48 PM
thanks guys. Thats cleared that one up!
The berries look small and nearly round, I wonder what they are known as elsewhere, some suggest the berries from the berberis plant, in the UK this is really only ornamental, and I wouldn't want to test them. I'm thinking elderberries (I think that is surreau in French) might be a suitable alternative, and can be collected from the wild around here. I squash fresh ones and add to vinegar, along with red wine drags, great in vindaloo! (Also makes outstanding wine, infact elderflower and elderberry are better, IMHO, than grape wines, the ones I can afford, anyway!))
cheers
Waaza
The berries look small and nearly round, I wonder what they are known as elsewhere, some suggest the berries from the berberis plant, in the UK this is really only ornamental, and I wouldn't want to test them. I'm thinking elderberries (I think that is surreau in French) might be a suitable alternative, and can be collected from the wild around here. I squash fresh ones and add to vinegar, along with red wine drags, great in vindaloo! (Also makes outstanding wine, infact elderflower and elderberry are better, IMHO, than grape wines, the ones I can afford, anyway!))
cheers
Waaza
without food, I'd just die
http://cumbrianfoodlab.blogspot.com/
http://www.cumbriank...n.blogspot.com/
http://cumbrianfoodlab.blogspot.com/
http://www.cumbriank...n.blogspot.com/
#19
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Posted 29 June 2005 - 10:56 PM
Hi all.,
I have used juniper berries in cooking.. laid my hands on some in the hotel i worked. Then managed to get some JUNIPER BERRY OIL. Goes well with Chicken and Quail.
Tried a lot of stuff with them.. including a juniper flav chocolate Marquise..
I have used juniper berries in cooking.. laid my hands on some in the hotel i worked. Then managed to get some JUNIPER BERRY OIL. Goes well with Chicken and Quail.
Tried a lot of stuff with them.. including a juniper flav chocolate Marquise..
#20
Posted 30 June 2005 - 09:46 AM
Gourmet Street, on 29 June, 2005, 10:26, said:
Tried a lot of stuff with them.. including a juniper flav chocolate Marquise..
O-Ren Ishii! You and I have unfinished business!
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