Elmo showed up in my biryani (ala the Jesus pancake)! 4 April 2006

Did you read about the Jesus pancake? The couple “worthy” of witnessing this “miracle” are even selling the pancake in E-bay. They were accused of fraud, but the listing is up again. Bids are now up at P15,000 … insane! This incident spawned a copycat. Fraud or not? Well, Mr. Breakfast says so.

I wonder what people would have to say about Elmo showing up in our lunchplate? Do you think I could make money off Elmo (think the red monster in Sesame Street) showing up in my biryani?

This biryani is one of our family’s “fast” foods. Contrary to what many believe, preparing a home cooked meal is not tantamount to slaving over a hot stove for hours. After all, clean up is more or less the same. Jamie Oliver’s Pukka Tukka demonstrates that those prepacked fast foods sometimes take even longer to cook than from scratch.

This biryani takes about 10 minutes, requires few ingredients, little preparation, generates little waste, and little experimentation in terms of tasting. Oh, and it’s quick, tasty and filling. It’s faster than ordering in!

Recipe after the break …

You need:
For your rice (serves about 2):
Good quality rice (if you can get basmati, even better), 1 1/2 cups
Hyderabadi biryani masala (or any masala mix – contains cassia, black pepper, cardomom seeds, red chillies, cloves, caraway, cardomom green, mace), about 2 teaspoons (but this is according to taste)

For your meat:
Olive oil, about a tablespoon
Red onion, large, chopped or finely sliced
Garlic, 2 cloves, crushed
Beef, sukiyaki cut (ultra thin slices), ¼ kilo
Fish sauce, for seasoning
Black pepper, freshly ground, for seasoning
Lemon juice, about ½ a lemon will do

To garnish:
Tomatoes, 2-3, halved
Coriander, 1 bundle, chopped, with stems included

Here’s how:

1. Cook up your rice like you would regular steamed rice* but mix in the masala. (Note: *Unsure how to make steamed rice? In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, measure out your rice. Wash your rice once in cold water. Add about an equal amount of water to the rice. {Add the masala here and mix in well}. Leave to boil and when the water is almost dried up, switch to lowest heat and cover, allow to steam for a few more minutes.
2. Now, cook up your beef while the rice is left to steam.
3. Add your olive oil to the pan (non-stick but a heavy griddle is better). Fry up your garlic and onion. Set aside.
4. Season your beef with fish sauce and black pepper.
5. Lay out the individual slices of beef and fry for about a minute, turn over. I like some slice to be a little browned as they taste like bacon (minus the fat)! Repeat until all your beef is cooked. Put aside.
6. While frying the beef up, put your halved tomatoes to one side of the griddle and allow to brown and absorb some of the beefy flavor. (Note: don’t forget to switch off your rice!)
7. Assemble! With the tomatoes on the side, put all of that steaming rice on the griddle you used to cook your beef. Put the garlic, onions and beef on top, add the coriander, drizzle everything with lemon juice. Give a good toss and serve up.

Ok, should I post this in E-bay? Unsolicited advice most welcome … (should I be laughing off to the bank?)