Nandu Dum Biryani

Name: Nandu Dum Biryani
Total time: 3600 s
Yield: 5 servings
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: For Nandu / Crab Masala:; 2 Soft Shell Blue Crab : large size, cleaned and cut in big pieces and 1 large crab cleaned and only the legs cut into pieces; 3 Tomato sliced; 2 inch Ginger; 4 cloves Garlic; 1/4 cup Yogurt; 1/4 tbsp Turmeric powder; 1 1/2 tbsp Kashmiri Red chilli Powder; 3/4 tsp Turmeric powder; 3/4 tbsp Cumin powder; 3/4 tbsp Garam Masala; 1/4 cup (chopped) Mint leaves; 1/2 cup (chopped) Cilantro/Coriander leaves; 1 tsp Lime juice; 2 tbsp Ghee /Oil; 2 cups For Rice : Basmati rice; 4 cups Water; 4 Cloves; 2 (1" pieces) Cinnamon stick; 1 tsp Lemon juice; For Garnishing :; 1 cup Carrot chopped; 1 cup Carrot chopped; 1 cup Capsicum chopped; 1 cup Capsicum chopped; 1/2 cup Fried Onion slices; Handful Cashew nuts; Handful Raisins; Saffron : coupled of pinches, mixed in 3 tbsp warm milk / Food colour; 1 no. Tomato sliced

Inish Issac @InishKitchen

#indiankitchen
Heaven on my plate.

Nandu means "Crab". How can one miss out on the Malabar seafood? Nandu Dum Biryani turned out well beyond my expectation, surely different from any other biryani’s… The flavour of Crab and typical malabar spice enhance the flavour of Biryani to a next level. Trust me friends it’s gonna be heavenly.

Inish Issac @InishKitchen

Saved

Ingredients

60 minutes

5 servings

For Nandu / Crab Masala:
2Soft Shell Blue Crab : large size, cleaned and cut in big pieces and 1 large crab cleaned and only the legs cut into pieces
3Tomato sliced
2 inchGinger
4 clovesGarlic
1/4 cupYogurt
1/4 tbspTurmeric powder
1 1/2 tbspKashmiri Red chilli Powder
3/4 tspTurmeric powder
3/4 tbspCumin powder
3/4 tbspGaram Masala
1/4 cup(chopped) Mint leaves
1/2 cup(chopped) Cilantro/Coriander leaves
1 tspLime juice
2 tbspGhee /Oil
2 cupsFor Rice : Basmati rice
4 cupsWater
4 Cloves
2(1" pieces) Cinnamon stick
1 tspLemon juice
For Garnishing :
1 cupCarrot chopped
1 cupCarrot chopped
1 cup Capsicum chopped
1 cup Capsicum chopped
1/2 cupFried Onion slices
HandfulCashew nuts
HandfulRaisins
Saffron : coupled of pinches, mixed in 3 tbsp warm milk / Food colour
1no. Tomato sliced
1no. Lemon sliced
2Drops Rose essence
For sealinig
For sealinig
1 1/2 cups Wheat flour / All purpose flour
Water as required

Saved

Steps

60 minutes

1

How to cook Crab Masala :
In a large vessel, mix the yogurt along with half of the above listed spice powder (chilli, turmeric, garam masala, cumin and salt) and marinate the crab. Allow it to rest for sometime.
2

Shallow fry the crab or low flame, because we want the flesh to cook well.
3

Heat a Ghee/Oil in the frying pan and add thinly sliced garlic and ginger, when the aroma starts to come add in the sliced onion, saute until it is translucent. Now add the sliced tomatoes and salt to taste, until the tomatoes completely smashed up and dark. Make a paste of garlic, ginger and set aside.
4

Add the ginger, garlic,green chilli paste and saute. Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, cumin powder, garam masala and combine well until the raw smell is gone. Add little chopped mint and coriander leaves, saute until it give off their aroma and begin to get slightly darker.
5

Add yogurt and mix well and cleaned crab. Combine everything together by adding ½ cup of water to avoid the masala turns dry or burning. Check the salt and adjust it.
Cover and cook on low-medium flame for 15 minutes or until the gravy becomes little thick and crab cooked through. Finally add the lime juice and set it aside for all the flavors to amalgamate.
6

How to cook the Rice:
Soak the rice for 20 - 25 mins and drain keep it aside.
7

In a thick bottom vessel, add the ghee/oil to it. Add the whole spices; cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and bay leaves to the pan and saute for a min.
Add the drained rice and saute for few minutes. Add the required warm water to the rice and season with rock Salt.
8

Now reduce the heat to low and par- cook till for 8-10 mins. The rice should be 80% cooked and rest will get cooked during dum. (Note : Do not over boil the rice. To check if the rice is done you can take a grain of rice out and press in between your thumb and forefinger. If the grain breaks into 3 parts, it means your rice is cooked just right.)
When ¾th rice cooked; drain the excess water immediately and spread it out on a flat tray/plate and set it aside.
9

For Garnish : Heat ghee and fry the thinly sliced onion till golden colour and crispy for about 15 minutes; sprinkle little sugar to caramelize, remove and drain on to the paper towel.
Now fry cashews and then raisins until they turn golden colour, drain and remove on to the paper towel and keep it aside. (Note : Save the leftover ghee for layering the biryani). Now fry the carrots and capsicum and set aside
10

Now it is time for Dum. Dum is the process of layering the crab and rice, then slow cooking it by sealing the vessel with a layer of dough, and is cooked on.
Meanwhile make a dough out of the wheat flour/maida with little water, the same way you would do it for chapati and set it aside.
11

In a Non – stick heavy bottom pan, grease it with ghee. Now start the layering process; spread very little bit of crab masala, top it with cooked rice. Now put layer the crabs with masala (try to spread out the masala over the rice), tomato, lemon sprinkle some fried onions, nuts, raisins, mint, coriander, saffron milk, some lemon juice and drops of rose essence over it.
12

Repeat the same layer process and finally on the top place the giant whole crab meat, sprinkle some fried onions, nuts, raisins, mint, coriander, saffron milk, some lemon juice and drops of rose essence over it. Spoon around the pan the left over ghee after frying the nuts and few drops of saffron milk and 1 tsp of the rose essence over the rice.
13

Close with tight fitting heat resistant lid; seal the edges of the lid with above prepared dough or seal it with aluminum foil, crimp along the sides and let it be on the lowest possible heat and cook it for another 15-20 mins. Usually I use my a flat iron skillet or pan as base and then on top I place my Briyani pan, I just want to be cautious to avoid any burnt flavors
14

Break open the seal just before serving, give a generous mix and before serving garnish with fried cashews, raisins, fried onions, chopped coriander leaves and mint leaves.
Serve hot with Raita, Pickle and Pappadam on the side and Enjoy!