Oh, woe is me, this was such a bland recipe. The ingredients:

• Beef, 2.5 pounds, cubed
• Onions, 4 large
• Garlic, 4 cloves, chopped
• Ginger, 2-inch piece, peeled and chopped
• Jalapeno, 2, chopped
• Cilantro, 1 bunch
• Almonds, 8 tablespoons
• Water, 6 tablespoons
• Ghee, 2 tablespoons
• Vegetable oil, 6 tablespoons
• Coriander, 2 teaspoons
• Cumin, 1 tablespoon
• Turmeric, 1 teaspoon
• Fenugreek, 1 teaspoon
• Cinnamon, 2 good pinches
• Yogurt, plain, 1.5 cups
• Basmati rice, 3 cups
• Chicken stock, 10 cups
• Salt
• Black pepper

It took a while to make, too – though I do have a few ideas for how it could be improved.

The ingredients.

The first step is to blend! Roughly chop two of the onions, and combine them with the cilantro, hot pepper, garlic, ginger, water, and half the almonds.

Blending can be fun.

Blend to a smooth paste, transfer to a bowl, and set aside.

The aftermath.

Next, heat half the ghee with half the oil and fry the rest of the onion (after you slice it, of course) until it’s golden brown. When it is, transfer to another dish – yes, another one!

Onions are yummy.

Browned!

Then fry the remaining almonds briefly until they’re golden, too. Or more golden, at any rate.

Browning almonds.

Transfer them – yes, you guessed it – to another plate, and then start searing the meat, in batches. Add more oil/ghee if you need to.

Browning meat.

The meat, seared.

Once all the meat is browned and moved out of the way – perhaps to another plate – you can put the blended mixture into the pot, and cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Then stir in all the additional spices, as well as salt and pepper to taste.

Re-heating the blended mixture.

Plus spices.

Next, lower the heat and slowly mix in the yogurt. Then return the meat to the pot, cover it tightly, and simmer over a gentle heat for 45 minutes to tenderize the meat.

Simmer.

Meanwhile, you can begin working on the other part of the biryani mixture – the rice. You should soak the rice in a bowl of cold water for 15-20 minutes, and begun heating your chicken broth.

Chicken broth!

Heat to a boil, then add the rice (along with a little salt) and bring it back to a boil. Then cover and cook for 5 minutes.

With rice!

After that, it’ll look like this: the chicken broth has magically disappeared, and the rice got a lot bigger. I wonder what happened?

And now, just rice.

Add the rice to your chicken mixture (I used a slow cooker because I didn’t have a dutch oven big enough), and add the onions and almonds as well. Cover securely, and bake on high for about an hour (or 45 minutes in an oven pre-heated to 325).

Biryani-ing.

Voila! It can be spruced up with more spices – in particular, more salt and cayenne – as well as some fried eggs and possibly some Sriracha.

The finished product.