She is a wandering spirit and she glides through the grass as the brisk wind,
The more you calm her down, she will echo her voice out,
She is born a wild and she is attached to none,
She hides a thousand rainbows only to paint them when the sun dazzles,
She is a phoenix of the sky,
Oh! so precious to hold,
So try anchoring her and into her ashes she will fold.
– Roy
Many of us are free spirited we cannot fit in and mostly end up being awkward. It’s sometimes limiting to be within the parameters of convention, normal and paradoxical.
Holi each year fills me with infinite memories. I have had such glorious days in a small town where everyone knew each other and once coloured you could enter one house and come out from the other. It all started days before the real festival fervour begins, you run around gathering firewood for the pyre of Holika and saving money to buy copious amounts of colour to paint the entire town.
Today my life exists in this micro Urbane society which believes in walking fast and celebrations seems superfluous owing to its plummeted magnitude. New places with newer faces you can bring a slice of your yesteryear life into the current reality but changing it would be foolish.
Thalessary Biryani
Thalessary which was once known as Tellicherry in the Malabar region of India is now hailed as Thalessary. Having great spice trade from the British era. That is synonymous with its cuisine. If you have heard of Thalessary then the first things which comes to your mind is Thalessary Biryani which is synonymous with spice and flavour. People love the aroma of spices which is omnipresent in its food and that is what you will find restaurants boasts about in this region.
- For the Chicken
- 5-6 onions, finely sliced
- 1 cup oil, frying and cooking
- 2 large tomatoes, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
- 1 tbsp green chilli paste
- 1 kg chicken, cut into biryani pieces
- Spring of mint leaves
- Salt to taste
- 1 tbsp Special Thalessary Garam masala
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 3-4 tbsp refined oil
- For the Rice
- Kaima Rice or Jeerakasala rice- 2½ cups ( or use Basmati rice) soaked in water
- Whole cardamom- 2
- Whole cloves- 2
- Whole cinnamon- 2 inch slice
- Bay leaves- 3
- Whole black peppercorns- 1 tsp
- Ghee- 2 tbsp
- Salt- a few pinches
- For the Garnish
- Cashew nuts and raisins,
- Fresh Mint leaves, chopped
- Saffron strands soaked in ¼ cup milk
- 2-3 tsp ghee
- For the Rice
- Take a deep and heavy bottomed vessel and add ghee and slightly roast the garam masala mentioned above. Add salt to taste and then add the soaked rice. Fry the rice. Then add 5 cups of boiled water and cover and cook it over low flame.Ensure that all the water is absorbed and almost cooked. Then spread the strained rice over a flat plate and allow it to cool. Fluff it with a fork.
- For the Chicken
- Heat a skillet with oil for deep frying.Fry the onions to golden brown. It is very critical step as this is one of the main ingredients of the biryani. My mother in law would generally soak the onions in salted ice cold water and squeeze all the water before putting it for frying. There is one very important tip to take the onion out one shade lighter as it cooks further once its out of the oil as well. Take the onions out and put them on some kitchen towel.
- In the same oil give a quick fry to the cashews and raisins.
- In a kadhai add 3-4 tbsp of oil. I use it from the oil used for frying the onions. Then add your ginger garlic and green chilli paste. Once fried for 2-3 minutes follow it by cooking the tomatoes until they turn pulpy. Then add your mint leaves followed by the chicken give it a good mix. Then add half of your fried onions and 1 tbsp of the special thalessary garam masala. Give it a good mix and let the chicken cook.The gravy should be thick and not runny.
- After the chicken is cooked, add your lemon juice and salt taste. I always add my salt at the end because it ensures the chicken pieces remain moist and tender.
- Assembling the biryani
- Now take the same vessel you used for cooking the rice, layer it a layer of Kaima rice cooked above. Then spread the Chicken over the rice. Sprinkle some mint leaves. Then top it up with remaining rice. Sprinkle some garam masala. The remaining fried onion, cashews and raisins on top the rice. Then for the signature yellow streaks sprinkle the saffron milk over the rice and add the ghee over the rice.
- Now make a hole with a spoon in the middle of the layered rice to vent out the steam just like a pie. Now cook it over Dum for 10-20 minutes on low heat.
- Serve it hot with Raita and papad.
Your Thalassery Biriyani looks really tempting… The thing with every biriyani is that it differs slightly from house to house depending upon their taste. Most of the time, I have seen that the rice is not cooked and drained, instead it is made like ghee rice, but slightly undercooked and then put on dum. For this reason, umma doesn’t really like this biriyani but I love how my MIL makes it so I do it that way… a little variation here and there, but then biriyani is biriyani, it tastes good if you put your heart and soul into it and it definitely shows up on that plate!
Hello Rafeeda,
Thank you for stopping by and i am really glad wth your detailed comment. I learnt this from my 80 year old neighbour who hails from tellichery. But just as you said your ummu doesn’t like it with ghee rice or ney chorI too do not like the copious amount of ghee in the rice. I love a decent biryani and hate overcooked rice or undercooked rice it should be just right.
I was writing a blogpost and stopped in between to come and checkout your latest post. Wonderful writing as usual left with a desire to read more. One of the photographs has the foreground in soft focus and the background in sharp focus, while I myself do this all the time and there is no right and wrong, I have been criticized in the past for doing this. Great Photography and take regards from Madhushree and me for the wonderful work
Hello Anindya and Madhushree,
I have realised that the silent force needs to be acknowledged more (now that I have learnt her name by heart). I think photography rules for blogging could be deferred a bit. Photography is like a birds eye view, each one is entitled to an opinion but finally we should do what we like at that point of time. There could be a complete haze, painterly effect, out of focus, in focus. Also when we do editorial or product shots I think these liberties or photographers imagination will not work.
I am always humbled because if I disturb you to stop by this blogpost then I am flattered.
By the looks of it – we both have biryani on our minds. I think this one I will try next. It looks beautiful! Free spirited people that we are will never be tied down by rules – rituals like holi are meant to be celebrated and this biryani celebrates it in the best of fashion!