Pakistani Chickpea Biryani

Ingredients

• 250ml (1 cup) rapeseed (canola) oil
• 2 medium red onions, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds
• 1 tbsp coriander seeds, crushed
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 4 green cardamom pods, bruised
• 2 black cardamom pods, bruised or 4 more greed cardamom pods
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 5 cloves
• 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder (more or less to taste)
• ½ tsp ground turmeric
• 3 medium tomatoes, diced
• 2 – 3 green chillies, finely chopped (more or less to taste)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 x 2.5cm (1 inch) ginger, minced
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 x 400g tinned (canned) chickpeas
• 3 tbsp natural plain yoghurt
• 4 small Pakistani lemons or two larger lemons, cut in half
• 400g (2 cups) long grain Basmati rice
• 750ml (3 cups) water, chicken or vegetable stock

Steps

1. Heat the oil over medium-high heat and when visibly hot, add the sliced onions. Fry for about 10 minutes or until they are golden brown. I fry the onions until they are a deep brown but be careful if doing this as there is only a couple seconds between deliciously browned and burnt!
2. Transfer to a paper towel to soak up any excess oil. Then pour all but two tablespoons of the oil into a container for future use. You don’t want to throw that away as it’s flavoured oil and can be used to provide another layer of flavour in any curry that calls for onions.
3. Over medium-high heat add the whole spices to the remaining oil in the pan and infuse their flavours into the oil for about 40 seconds. Now add the chilli powder, hot sauce, tomatoes, green chillies, garlic and ginger and fry for about two minutes, stirring well to make a thick sauce.
4. Stir in the yoghurt one tablespoon at a time. Stir in all but a couple of tablespoons of the fried onions followed by the chickpeas and continue stirring to coat the chickpeas.
5. Squeeze the juice from the lemons into the mixture and then throw them in too. Add the soaked rice and again stir to combine before adding the water or stock.
6. Bring this all to a rolling boil and then cook for 7 minutes. The rice will be almost cooked after that time and the liquid will be almost dissolved too.
7. Take off the heat and cover with a lid. It is essential that no steam escapes so cover the pan tightly with foil before adding the lid if you don't have a tight fitting lid. Allow to steam for 20 minutes.
8. Carefully stir the biryani with a fork. Don’t stir too hard or the delicate rice grains will split.
9. Taste it and season with more salt if desired. Sprinkle with the chopped coriander leaves and serve immediately with a good raita and some more lemon wedges.