Name: Breyani (home recipe)
Prep time: 45 min
Total time: 2 h 15 min
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: South Africa
Ingredients: 1kg lamb or chicken pieces on the bone; 250ml plain yoghurt or buttermilk; 2 tbsp breyani or Bombay masala, 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp ground coriander; 4 garlic cloves and 3cm ginger, grated; 4 cardamom pods, 4 cloves, 1 cinnamon stick; 1kg basmati rice; 200g brown lentils; 8 medium potatoes, halved; 5 onions, thinly sliced; Large pinch saffron in 100ml warm milk; Sunflower oil, salt

History

Breyani is the Cape's name for biryani, the layered rice dish that reached South Africa with enslaved and indentured people from the Indian subcontinent and the Indonesian archipelago. What separates the Cape version from its South Asian parents is the brown lentils layered with the rice, the fried potato and the local masala blends sold by the scoop in Bo-Kaap and Rylands. The meat is marinated in yoghurt or buttermilk with ginger, garlic, cardamom, turmeric and cloves before layering, and the pot is sealed so nothing escapes. Lamb, chicken, frikkadel, mince and tuna versions have all been added since.

Common allergens: Milk, Egg

Make it at home

Yield Serves 6Hands-on 45 minTotal 2 hr 15 minDifficulty Intermediate

Ingredients

1kg lamb or chicken pieces on the bone
250ml plain yoghurt or buttermilk
2 tbsp breyani or Bombay masala, 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp ground coriander
4 garlic cloves and 3cm ginger, grated
4 cardamom pods, 4 cloves, 1 cinnamon stick
1kg basmati rice
200g brown lentils
8 medium potatoes, halved
5 onions, thinly sliced
Large pinch saffron in 100ml warm milk
Sunflower oil, salt

Method

Marinate the meat with the yoghurt, masala, turmeric, cumin, coriander, garlic, ginger, whole spices and 2 tsp salt for at least 1 hour.
Boil the lentils in salted water for 20 minutes until just tender, then drain. Parboil the rice in heavily salted water for 6 minutes so the grains are still firm, and drain.
Fry the onions in 100ml oil over medium heat for 15 minutes until deep brown, lift out, then fry the potato halves in the same oil until browned on the cut faces.
In a heavy pot, layer in this order: lentils, potatoes, marinated meat with all its marinade, half the fried onion, then the rice.
Pour the saffron milk over the rice, cover the pot with foil and press the lid down so no steam escapes.
Cook on high for 10 minutes, then on the lowest heat for 1 hour. Rest 15 minutes, then turn out in wedges rather than stirring, and scatter the rest of the onion over.

Tip from the editors. Parboil the rice for six minutes and no more: it finishes in the steam of the sealed pot, and rice cooked through before layering comes out as porridge.