Hyderabadi biryani
Photo: Mahi Tatavarty · CC BY-SA 4.0

History

Houston's biryani tradition runs through the Mahatma Gandhi District, the Hillcroft corridor anchored by Pakistani and Indian immigrant communities since the late 1980s. Kaiser Lashkari's Himalaya, opened in 2004, codified the Hyderabadi-and-Karachi style: a kacchi (raw-marinated) lamb biryani layered with rice and slow-cooked over coals, with saffron, fried onions and mint. Hyderabad House, London Sizzler and Bombay Pizza nearby all run their own variations. The Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown feature on Lashkari in 2016 made Hillcroft a national destination; the strip now holds Pakistani, Gujarati, Hyderabadi, Tamil and Bangladeshi rooms within a half-mile.

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Common allergens: Dairy

Make it at home

Yield 6Hands-on 1 hrTotal 4 hrDifficulty Advanced

Ingredients

  • 1kg goat or lamb shoulder, on the bone, cut into 5cm pieces
  • 400g basmati rice
  • 300ml plain yogurt
  • 4 large onions, sliced thin
  • 100ml ghee, plus more for layering
  • 1 tablespoon ginger paste
  • 1 tablespoon garlic paste
  • 2 tablespoons biryani masala
  • 1 teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric
  • 2 teaspoons fine salt
  • Pinch of saffron, soaked in 50ml warm milk
  • 30g fresh mint, chopped
  • 30g fresh coriander, chopped
  • 4 green cardamom pods
  • 2 black cardamom pods
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 4 cloves
  • 2 bay leaves
  • Plain flour and water for sealing the lid

Method

  1. Deep-fry the sliced onions in ghee until deep golden brown. Drain on paper. Set half aside for layering.
  2. Whisk yogurt with ginger paste, garlic paste, biryani masala, chilli powder, turmeric, salt and half the fried onions. Toss the meat in the marinade; rest 2 hours.
  3. Wash the rice 3 times, soak 30 minutes. Boil 4 litres salted water with cardamoms, cinnamon, cloves and bay leaves. Add the rice; cook 5 minutes only, until 70 percent done. Drain.
  4. In a heavy pot, layer half the marinated meat, half the par-cooked rice, half the saffron milk, half the herbs, half the reserved fried onions. Repeat once. Dot the top with extra ghee.
  5. Seal the lid with a flour-water paste. Cook over a medium flame 5 minutes to start the steam, then lowest heat for 45 minutes. Rest 15 minutes off heat before opening (the dough seal pops; the aroma is the reward).
  6. Open at the table. Fluff with a flat spoon from the bottom up, mixing meat and rice. Serve with cucumber raita and a sliced onion-and-mint salad.

Tip from the editors. 70 percent rice is the secret. Fully cooked rice on the boil turns mushy in the second steam. Underdo it on the boil, finish in the dum.

Where to eat hyderabadi biryani

Hyderabadi biryani in Houston

Himalaya Restaurant ★ 4.8

$$ Pakistani

Himalaya Restaurant in Houston is Kaiser Lashkari's Pakistani-Indian Hillcroft strip-mall kitchen, a James Beard semifinalist room hiding in a freeway.

OrderLamb biryani slow-cooked dum, hunter's beef.

Why locals goA Pakistani strip-mall room on the Southwest Freeway, with chef Kaiser Lashkari running the most precise biryani in Texas since 2004.

TipOrder the slow-cooked dum lamb biryani and hunter's beef. BYOB; corner liquor store across Hillcroft is the run.

Directions

London Sizzler ★ 4.4

$$ IndianHillcroft

London Sizzler in Houston is the British-Indian-Pakistani room in the Olympic Center on the Southwest Freeway, with mixed-grill sizzlers, tandoori lamb chops.

OrderMixed-grill sizzler for two. Tandoori lamb chops. A sweet lassi.

TipKitchen runs late on weekends, to 11pm. Closed Mondays Walk-ins usually OK.

Directions Book

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