Memoni Akhni

Memoni Akhni

Memoni Akhni … I believe this is the only biriyani , where we can see the use of turmeric in generous amount .Very spicy and the Memons can’t think of their biriyani without lots of potatoes of course . It is called “akhni” or “yakhni” , because the biriyani is cooked in stock . “Yakhni” means stock or broth . This special type of biriyani is very simple to make , where you put the meat and rice at the same time , in the same pot and cook in the broth or stock .

Ingredients:

750 gram beef with bone , cut in big size
750 gram aromatic rice , like kalijeera, basmati
1 tbl spoon ginger , cut in julian or matchstick
2 teaspoon ginger paste
3/ 4 garlic cloves , pounded
2 tea spoon garlic paste
2 small onion , pounded
1/2 ( half) a cup of fried onion or bereshta
1 tbl spoon of red chili powder
1 tbl spoon of turmeric
1 tea spoon of coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg-mace powder
Whole garam masala and spices ( 2 bay leaves ,2 stick of cinnamon . 12 green cardamom pods , 7/8 cloves , 1 tea spoon black pepper , 1 tea spoon cumin/ jeera , 1 tea spoon black cumin / sha jeera , 1 tbl spoon of whole corriander , 1 tea spoon of fennel , 3 black cardamom , 2 star anise)
Salt to taste
Oil + ghee
3 potatoes , cut in big cubes
5/ 6 Curry leaves ( optional)
9/ 10 whole green chilies
2 red jalapenos ( optional)

Procedure:

1. Make a bundle with 1 bayleaf, 1 stick of cinnamon , 7-8 green cardamoms , 2 small black cardamom , 7/ 8 cloves , 1 tea spoon cumin , 1 tea spoon black cumin , 1 tbl spoon of whole coriander , 1 tea spoon fennel , 1 star anise , 1 tea spoon of black pepper . Now Boil the beef in a large pot with this bundle in with enough water and 1 tbl spoon of Julian cut ginger , 2 small pounded onions and 3/4 pounded cloves and salt. We are making the stock . Don’t boil the beef fully . It should be just 70 % done .

2. Now Strain the stock from the beef and save for the latter part of cooking .

3. Heat oil and ghee in a pot , add 1 bay leaf , 4/5 green cardamoms , 1 small stick of cinnamon , 1 small black cardamom , 1 small star anise . Now add the ginger-garlic paste and the fried onion or bereshta . Add little water or you can use the stock you made and fry well , what we call in Bangla “koshano”. Add the chili, turmeric and coriander powder . Fry well adding water little by little . Add the 70% done meat and potatoes . Cook the meat adding water little by little , i.e keep doing ” koshano” . Add the curry patta ( if you like the flavor) . Now add 1 and half cup of stock and cover the pot with lid until the potatoes are almost done .The potatoes should not be fully done , or else they will break apart after the biriyani is completely done .

4. When the water dried out , add nutmeg-mace powder. Add the rice and mix well , add the stock and salt ( careful, the stock has salt too) . Cover the lid . For every cup of rice, you should take 1 and 1/2 ( half) cup of stock .

5. When the water dried out add the green chilies and jalapenos , stir for once without breaking the rice . The more you stir , the more gooey it will be , so don’t stir too much .Keep the biriyani on “Dom” . I use the double boiler technique , where you take a same sized pot like the biriyani pot . Fill the other pot with water and place your biriyani pot over it with lid on . The steam will do the work . The flame should be medium .

Notes:

1. Try to make the bereshta at home . It definitely makes the difference in taste.

2. Those who are not fond of curry patta , omit it . I , myself , don’t like any curry patta flavored biriyani , so I always omit . 🙂