I'll be honest, Indian food scares me. I don't normally find the sensation of heat, Chili Heat, in my food all that appetizing. It burns the more you eat it, and pretty soon you can't taste anything but pain. Then there's the added indignity of what happens to you twelve hours later.
MONTEZUMAAAAAA!!!!
But even I couldn't ignore the smells of Indian restaurants I passed. The sheer loudness of the scents are undeniably captivating. Several Indian Canadians have recently come into my life, and the scent of their food got me thinking.
Have I ignored one of the planet's greatest cuisines because of a little heat? There has to be more than spiciness to Indian food, right? Then I thought, if I make it myself, it doesn't have to be so spicy.
And this brings me to Biriyani. My Indian friends know of my interest in cooking, and the subject of what Indian food I had tried came up, and they mentioned Biriyani. I'd had some President's Choice frozen Biriyani, but I suspected it was about as close to real Biriyani as spray cheese is to smoked gouda. I watched some online videos of recipes and my mouth watered at the vast coming together of spices, herbs and seasoning. I had to make this dish.
This recipe is my gateway drug to Indian Food, and I've learned a valuable lesson. Indian food is a symphony. It is the coming together of a vast array of spices and herbs to create entirely new flavours that can get as loud as you want. It often isn't subtle, and it's proud of it.
Okay. I get it now, and I have no idea where I will go next, and that's a good thing.
