So for someone who works a 9-5 job (well, okay, it’s really 8:30AM to 5PM) with a 2-hour commute (return trip, of course), giving up ordering takeaway for Lent can be quite disastrous because there are days when you simply don’t want to cook and you’d rather have pizza or chicken or a Chinese or Indian. But there you go. I have given up takeaways for lent.
Alan, bless him, has found something interesting in the aisles of Asda though. He found a biryani spice mix for under £1. There were instructions on the box about how to prepare the biryani. I was excited. If I couldn’t order a biryani, I would make it myself. Granted it wouldn’t be my spice mix…but how spicy could it be (surely not as spicy as that biryani I ate in New York – that was like a volcano exploding in my mouth).
So I followed the instructions on the box. The cooking process was quite fun, actually.
Once the biryani was cooked, I plated up. I artfully topped the bowl with mint and coriander. I was so excited!
Then it felt as if I had bitten into a birds eye pepper. I tell you, I was thankful we had mango lassi with our biryani and leftover yogurt because I have never made raita that quickly!
The next chapter of this biryani story is me trying to make biryani completely from scratch. I don’t want to not feel my tongue when I eat one of my favourite Indian meals.
Watch this space! Recipe testing is on the horizon.
Yellywelly 