Eggplant and Coconut, A Simple Vegetarian Biryani.

   
   Alan has gone mainly vegetarian in his diet with the exception of some pescetarian choices so I've used this change of food policy around the house to move things more in the direction of how I eat. This has enabled me to take full advantage of all the goodies I'm growing in our garden. I love the idea that I can go out pick, and cook a lot of what we eat everyday. This has brought me back to nearly daily Indian dishes. Fish or even meat if served,  is not the star but rather a side player. A little bit  goes a long way.
   
   Since  we have always worked out of our home office, I like things that I can make ahead or that come together easy depending on what's available in the garden on any given day, which brings me to eggplants. Every year we grow a variety of eggplants from the large classic Italian, to Japanese, to the tiny Thai, and Indian finger eggplants. I thought a nice vegetarian biryani would be good so I looked to a traditional Kerala recipe of eggplant and coconut biryani or layered rice as it's is sometimes called.
 
Looking in the garden I thought my eggplants might not be ready yet so a trip to the farmers market might be needed, but I took a look and whoa!!! Eggplants had arrived!!!

I cut three Japanese eggplants of a pretty good size...

 ...some chilies, and mint.

 I wanted tomatoes but mine have not ripened yet. It's been a relatively cool Summer for us this year so all the vegetables are behind schedule. I had most of the basics for the dish so the shopping and prep was pretty easy.

Eggplant and Coconut Biryani

Here's What You Need:

2 or 3 Japanese Eggplants cut lengthwise and into 1/2 inch chunks
2 cups of coconut milk (full fat)
1 and 1/4 cups of Basmati rice
1/2 cup of grated unsweetened coconut fresh or dried
1 cup of peas (fresh or frozen)
1 and 3/4 cups of water
5 thin round slices of ginger

1 onion chopped roughly
1 large shallot peeled and sliced thinly
1 to 3 chopped green serrano chilies (with seeds) depending on how hot you want this.
2  dried red chilies broken into pieces
1 large tomato chopped
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 and 1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbs chopped mint leaves
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 Tbs lemon juice
# ztbs vegetable oil

Here's What To Do:

Rinse the Basmati rice and place it in 1 and 1/4 cup s of water to soak for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile put the coconut in a cast iron pan along with the dried red chilies and dry roast them until they are slightly golden. This takes just a couple of minutes so keep an eye out.

Take the toasted coconut and red chilies, and cool them a bit.
Slice the eggplants in half the long way and chunk them up into 1 inch pieces.

Place  the chopped serrano chilies, ginger slices, sliced shallot, and onion  in a food processor or blender.

Add the toasted coconut and dried red chilies...

,,,and grind into a paste.

Than add in the coriander, garam masala...

...and turmeric.

Blend again then put everything in a large skillet or kadhai along with 2 Tbs of vegetable oil and stir over medium heat until it colors. This takes about 5 minutes.

Add in the eggplants, half the salt...

...and 1/2 cup of the coconut milk.

Stir everything around.

Turn the heat up to high for about 3 minutes, then turn down to medium.
Cover the pan and cook until the eggplants have softened about 15 to 20 minutes.
Check in on things every now and then to make sure nothing is burning or sticking.
When the eggplants are soft move them to a bowl and set them aside.

In a large pot add 1 Tbs of vegetable oil.
When the poil is hot add in the tomato...

 ...mint and cilantro.

Cook and stir until most of the moisture from the tomato has evaporated.
Now, add the rice and the water it was soaking in...

...along with the rest of the salt, and the rest of the coconut milk.

Bring to  a boil over high heat than slap a cover on the pot and turn the heat way down to the lowest setting for about 10 minutes. We are not going to cook the rice all the way through as it is going to finish in the oven.
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees and lightly grease an oven-proof dish. I usually use a clay pot but I used a pyrex casserole dish this time to get a good view of the biryani.

After the rice is cooked partly through (about 10 minutes) place half the semi cooked rice in the casserole dish.

Layer the defrosted or fresh peas on top of the rice.

Then add the eggplant mixture you've set aside. Layer the peas and eggplant together and mix them a bit.

Add the rest of the rice on top of that.

Then squeeze 3 Tbs of lemon juice over it all.

Cover the dish and place it in the oven.

Bake for 15 or 20 minutes.
Take the dish out and uncover it.
Sprinkle the top with a dash more garam masala, and a sprinkling of more chopped cilantro and mint.

Then  dish it out. See the layers?

I served mine in clay mini biryani pots, with a bit of cooling  cumin raita and some flatbread.

Chapatti would be great with it also.

There it is a simple vegetarian lunch right out of the garden. This can  be made ahead and reheated later, or the next day.  Mellowing only makes it better. This recipe will feed between 4 and 6 people.

 



   

   
    

Women Who Stare At (and cook) Goats! Pt 1

T.S.Eliot said "April is the cruellest month". Around our house it's December. But I'd have to change cruellest to partyingest. Is that even a word?? My husbands' birthday is on the 29th of December, our anniversary is on the 9th, of course there is also Christmas Eve, Christmas, Chanukkah, and New Years Eve. All in the same month. Which is why I enter January totally on overload.
This year I decided to combine New Years Eve and Alans' birthday with a feast of goat.



The goal here was to kill two birds with one stone. That is, have one celebration for two events. Every other year we do it this way. Last year we went out with friends to the late seating at a very good restaurant here in Sonoma. It was a great meal but when we looked around and saw we were the last ones at table and our server brought us our coffee with her coat on at 11:30, we took the hint and everyone went back to our house to ring in the New Year. They don't call this town Slowcoma for nothing. This year we decided to stay in and cook.
The meal was built around my jonesing to get my mitts on the goat in my freezer and cook it in an Egyptian clay bram that I'd been given by Alan as a birthday gift.
Paula Wolfert author of Mediterranean Claypot Cooking really got me interested in doing my Indian food in clay, and this year I've accumulated quite a collection of pots, some I bought, some I had but had never really used, some were given me by Paula.
Coincidentally, this year saw the opening of Bram Cookware here in Sonoma that I've got a link to here my blog. They have a great website and anything can be ordered online. Alan gave me a large traditional Egyptian Bram so that I could do a Biryani in it.
I built my dinner around that dish.
Normally when I've cooked a Biryani, that's a feast in itself. Very few extras are needed. I usually just offer a chutney, a vegetable dish (cauliflower with ginger and cilantro) and chapattis. But this was going to be special so I was going to do more dishes, and since there were people who weren't used to Indian food and some who had just returned from India and like things hot, I felt I should offer a range of dishes from north to south. Which is what I did. I started cooking a couple of days before the event.
I pan roasted and hand ground my spices then added them to the other ingredients for marinating in my food processor.



Onions were thinly sliced in half rings and fried up with smokey black cardamom and bay leaves.



One third of the onions were set aside for a later topping. The onion oil and the black cardamom and bay leaves were set aside for later.

Meanwhile the Wolf was on the look out for any stray bits that might fall her way. She was out of luck.



The remaining fried onions were then blended with the spiced yogurt mixture.


And I then submerged my goat into the spicy goodness to get a much deserved rest.


Nighty night Goatie pie!

Once this part is done, ones time is ones own. The goat will not need you for quite a while as it is unlaxing in an aromatic blend of herbs and spices. Just leave it alone.
I had other dishes to prepare, but since this is a goat-centric post I'll stick with that.
Once the goat had thoroughly marinated, it was gently simmered in the marinade. When it was cooked through, I set it aside then cooked down the remaining marinade to a thick paste. All of that marinade managed to cook down to about 10 Tbs of paste.
Meanwhile I took 13 cups of water and 3 tsp of salt and when it came to a rolling boil I added in 2 cups of basmati rice. Once the water came to a boil again, I let the rice cook for 5 MINUTES ONLY then immediately drained it in a strainer. The reason for that is the rice is going to cook slowly in the clay pot on top of the goat mixture.
When the rice was drained, I poured it on top of the goat and marinade paste mixture in my clay pot.
I had pan roasted 2 tsp of saffron, crumbled it, then soaked it in 2 Tbs of warm milk. I drizzled this mixture on top of the rice, then placed my 4 black cardamom pods and 2 bay leaves on top of the rice and sealed the clay pot tightly with foil and then a heavy lid on top of that to make sure it was sealed thoroughly.


Traditionally the clay pots were sealed with a lid and a rim of dough around the edge making it air tight. This is Dum style cooking. I was advised that I might have trouble breaking the dough without damaging the clay, so I opted for the foil alternative.
I popped my clay bram into a pre-heated 300 degree oven to cook for an hour. Meanwhile, other dishes were finished and prepared.
While the Bram was cooking in the oven, I took the onion/cardamom oil I'd saved and fried 2 Tbs of sultana raisins and 2 Tbs of slivered blanched almonds.



Finally it was time for the goat to emerge from the clay pot!! I unsealed the bram



and unmolded the whole thing onto a platter.

I scattered the remaining fried onions, raisins and almonds across the top


and set it on the table.


Soups on!!

Whew! Just writing that I feel as though I'd done it all over again. I'll be getting back to the rest of the feast but thought I should start with the piece de resistance. Oh, than there was cake too!