Nasi Biryani/Briyani

Fragrant and tasty Nasi Biryani/Briyani flavored with spices and rose/kewra water. This aromatic rice is the base for all your meat biryanis.

Several weeks back, I posted my Beef Rendang recipe. At that time, I mentioned that I will also be sharing my Nasi Biryani/Briyani recipe. Shortly after that we suffered a personal loss in the family and my postings were delayed. I finally finished editing this video and I am pleased that I can share it with you today.

A Base for Meat Biryanis

Nasi Biryani/Briyani is a rice dish flavored with spices and rose water. The word “nasi” is rice in Malay. This aromatic rice is the base for all your meat biryanis. You can also serve it separately, topped with your choice of curries. I much prefer the latter as I can save any leftover rice and curries separately in the refrigerator.

Nasi Biryani Color and Flavor

Nasi Biryani/Briyani is often tinged with specks of red and yellow. I much prefer to use turmeric in place of food coloring. I can do this quite easily by mixing a little ground turmeric with hot water and sprinkling it onto the rice to give it that mottled look.

Towards the end, add some rose water to give the rice even greater fragrance. I have some rose essence in the pantry and so I used that instead. Simply mix a teaspoon rose essence with a tablespoon of hot water. You can use more for a stronger fragrance. An alternative to rose water is kewra water and you can find that at most Indian grocery stores.

Similar Tools Used in Making This Nasi Biryani/Briyani

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9″ Coconut Shell Long Handle Wooden Ladle, Set of 2
Handmade All Natural 4 Coconut Spoons
Pyrex Prepware 1-Cup Measuring Cup

4.75 from 4 votes

Nasi Biryani/Briyani

Fragrant and tasty Nasi Biryani/Briyani flavored with spices and rose/kewra water. This aromatic rice is the base for all your meat biryanis.

Author : Linda Ooi

Course : Side Dish

Cuisine : Malaysian

Keyword : biryani, briyani, nasi biryani, nasi briyani

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 25 minutes mins

Servings : 8

Calories : 355kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 3 large shallots (peeled and thinly sliced)
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 star anise
• 3 cardamom pods
• 6 cloves
• 2¼ cups basmati rice (450g)
• ½ cup golden raisins (80g)
• 2½ cups water (600ml)
• 1 tsp salt
• ¼ tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp rose essence or kewra water
• ½ cup cashew nuts (toasted) (70g)

Instructions

 

• In a medium sized pot, heat vegetable oil. Add sliced shallots. Fry until golden. Remove and drain on paper towels. Discard or reserve oil for flavoring other dishes.
  
• In the same pot, melt butter. Add cinnamon stick, star anise, cardamom pods, and cloves. Fry for 1 to 2 minutes until fragrant.
  
• Add rice and stir to combine. Then add golden raisins.
  
• Pour in 2½ cups (600ml) water. Bring it to a boil. Season with salt. Cover, reduce heat to medium and allow it to cook for 8 to 10 minutes until all water is absorbed. Reduce heat to the lowest setting and let cook for another 5 minutes. Turn off heat.
  
• Mix ground turmeric with 1 tablespoon hot water in a small dish. In another dish, mix rose essence or kewra water with 1 tablespoon water. Sprinkle both mixture onto rice. Fluff rice gently with spatula.
  
• Cover and allow rice to sit for 10 minutes.
  
• Garnish with fried onions and cashew nuts before serving.
  
• Alternatively, nasi biryani may be layered with your favorite meat curries before serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 355kcal

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Vegetarian Alternative

You can omit the butter and use just vegetable oil to make this rice vegetarian. There are two vegetarian curries on this blog that you can serve it with – Beans and Vegetable Curry and Pineapple Curry.