When biryani rice breaks, cooks often blame the rice. Mobasir Hasan, a chef with long experience at a well-known Kolkata hotel chain, says the fault lies in technique, not the grain.
He gives three reasons. Rice left to soak too long absorbs too much water, so soaking should be kept short. Stirring with a ladle while it boils can rub the grains and break them. And rice is often cooked through before it goes on dum, the final slow steaming.
His fix: take the rice off the heat when it is about 70 percent cooked and let the dum finish it.
The key to separate, unbroken grains is controlling the starch, he says, and for that he adds lime juice and a neutral white oil to the boiling water. This keeps the starch in check so the grains do not stick together.
Fluffy rice alone does not make a good biryani, he adds: the spices, salt, onions and other ingredients must be in the right measure, and the meat must be cooked through.
Photo: Biswarup Ganguly / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Source: Anandabazar
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