City of Spice-Calicut, so called due to it being a major trading spot for the Portugese, Arabs and more.Father spent his last few retirement years at a hospital in this Northern Malabar coastal city.I used to visit my parents once every year, young kids in tow.There wasn’t much for Delhi kids to do there at vacation time-but they went happily nevertheless.And they still reminisce about Calicut days-about the sunset on the Sandbanks .About monopoly and checkers .Of holiday homework. Memories made with grandparents in all its simplicity.
Other than the spices, Calicut is famous for the wafer thin banana chips, the Calicut Haluva and the Biryani.The aroma wafts across every street in Calicut.Every hotel-big and small makes it.It was uncommon for women to sit at a hotel and eat a meal.Biryani was parceled in a banana leaf to take home.
Mother’s social activities were almost at a standstill .There were no clubs or ladies groups so to speak.Her neighbor ,a young Rehana and her mother (the Moplahs are a matriarchal society) were her companions in our absence.Moplahs-Malabar Muslims, a beautiful gentle folk-distinct in their dress and jewellery.
Rehana proudly demonstrated to us how the local biryani was made.She cooked on an open fire which was fueled with dried coconut shells.
It’s a fragrant rice (jeerakasala) and mutton/chicken biryani,cooked in ghee, served with date chutney, papad and a raita which has sliced onion tomato and green chillies-with very little watery yogurt.Served at festivals and weddings on a banana leaf and washed down with hot Sulemani Chai-a lemon flavored hot chai.

Jeerakasala rice is typically available in the Kerala –Tamilnadu belt-so called because the grains look like cumin seeds (jeera).It has a distinct fragrance.I have often substituted it with broken basmati rice…

Golden fried onions are called “bista” in Kozhikode (Calicut)-forms an integral part of the preparation.

Malabar Biryani

Mutton ½ kg washed

For the marinade

Curd 1 cup
Ginger crushed +garlic crushed 1 tablespoon
Marinate mutton and set aside for a couple of hours in the refrigerator (I kept it overnight)

Ingredients

Dry roast and crush: Green elaichi 4, cloves 6,cinnamon stick about 1” piece,nutmeg ¼ piece,mace-1,cumin 1 teaspoon,black cumin* ½ ,teaspoon,fennel seeds 1 teaspoon

Rice 2 cups, washed, drained and left on a colander
Water 3 ¾ cup in which the following have been added: 2 green cardmoms, 2 cloves, a small piece of cinnamon, juice of 1 lime, 1 ½ teaspoons salt
Onion 6, very thinly sliced
Tomato 5 diced
Chopped coriander and mint leaves 1 cup
Crush together in a mortar and pestle:10 cloves garlic,about 2” piece of ginger,8-10 green chillies
Salt
Ghee 8 tablespoons
Few drops of rose water
Fried cashews for garnish
½ cup raisins soaked in water

1)In a heavy bottom pan, heat 6 tablespoons of ghee.Caramalize-a light golden brown- the sliced onion-keep aside on absorbent paper.Reserve the ghee.

2)In a pressure cooker, add tomatoes and cook till soft (no oil/ghee added).Add the ginger-garlic-green chilli paste and sauté.Put in the marinated mutton , the roasted masala and salt.Add water to just cover the meat.Cook till done-approximately 15 minutes.Cool,open lid, add ¾ of the browned onions and mix.Simmer till gravy thickens.Do not dry it out!

3)Boil the water which has the whole spices in it

4)Heat the remaining ghee, sauté the washed rice in it for 2 minutes.Lower heat and add the boiling water after removing whole spices from it.Cook on low heat.We have added a little less than double the water, because we don’t want to overcook the rice-it should be a little “undone”before we remove it from the heat.

4)Add 2 tablespoons ghee to a heavy bottom pan.Make layers of the rice and mutton, starting and finishing with rice.Add raisins, cashews and remaining browned onions between each layer. Garnish top layer with browned onions, cashews, raisens.Sprinkle the rose water over it.

Cover pan with aluminum foil and a well fitting lid.

5)Place on dum on very low heat for 10-15 minutes.

6)Serve hot with papaddams,date chutney and raita

* I omitted black jeera as I didn’t have it on hand.

Date Chutney

15 pitted dates, 10-12 raisens, 2 whole dry red chillies soaked in ½ a cup of vinegar for about an hour
4 cloves garlic and ½ inch piece ginger grated and sauted in 1 teaspoon til oil
Salt
Blend all in a mixer-no added water!