Biryani and Martabak - A Feast!

Jacinda, Jami and I made Biryani for dinner. The fragrance from the spices were heavenly! And then for dessert, Martabak - an Indonesian streetfood ambrosia sort of like stuffed pancakes. I love cooking with my family!

Biryani:
Peel and cube 5 or 6 potatoes and boil in water till tender about 20 minutes.
In another pan, make the sauce:
Chop 2 onions, mince 1 finger of ginger and 2 cloves of garlic, saute in 2 tsp olive oil. Stir in 1 tsp each chili powder, black pepper, turmeric, and 2 tsp each cumin and salt, and 1 can diced tomatoes. Bring to a boil. In a small dish, mix 1/4 cup plain yogurt, 4 T chopped mint, and 1 tsp cardamom. Stir this into the sauce with 1 cup of water.

At this point, you put the meat in and let it cook till the meat is done. We devided it into two pans so that my brother (a pescitarian) could have prawns and we could have chicken. The chicken pieces cooked 35 min, the frozen prawns cooked about 20 min.

In the meantime, make a pot of rice. Heat 2 tsp oil in the pot with a pinch of salt and saffron, 1/2 tsp each cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and powdered ginger. This is for 1 cup rice and 2 cups water.

Once the meat is done, remove it from the sauce. Stir the potatoes in. To serve it, layer the rice, potatoes, and meat.

 Even Zeph enjoyed the feast...

Filled with cheese, blueberry-vanilla goat cheese, or chocolate chips