Rice and spice

Basmati is the rice to use for a traditional biryani, mixing comfort food with exotic flavour

I KNOW IT IS the season for grilling, barbecuing even, but on occasion there is nothing to quite beat a soothing bowl of rice. Soaring temperatures always bring back memories of exotic holidays in lands as far-flung as India and Thailand, and while their spicy protein and vegetable dishes inspire, the comfort is often found in the rice that accompanies these meals.

What is it about this grain in its many forms that soothes so perfectly? Risotto, too frequently seen on restaurant menus when it belongs at home, is quite the thing to calm and restore, while a bowl of plain basmati really feels like a gorgeous purifier. Fried rice comes in many forms, its instant, heady immediacy as attractive for lunch as it is post-pub, but it is the biryani, one of the unsung heroes of Indian cuisine, that really inspires.

A recent project had me cooking six different rices in six different ways. We ran the gamut from sushi to par-cooked, long to short grain, basmati to jasmine. But my tasting panel was unanimous on one thing – our inability to stop. It was late in the day and palettes were jaded but there was no stopping them hoovering up the tray of samples.

For all our Italian-obsessed enthusiasm for risotto, which I adore, the Indian biryani, with its one-pot versatility and meat, fish or veg approach, is a winner. While there are probably as many recipes for biryani as possible ingredients, my preferred route is to partially cook the rice and then combine it with the meat, vegetable or fish, aromatics and liquid. This results in a grain that is slightly chewy and separate from, but at the same time integrated with, the other flavours. You can also cook both elements separately and simply combine them at the end. But leaving them in a pot for five or 10 minutes doesn’t quite seem to do it for me. You cannot but end up with rice plus the other elements, much as you get on a plate, rather than the joining together a biryani implies. You can get all high and mighty with a biryani and pack it with luxury ingredients but, as with risotto, the essence lies in marrying flavours including that of the rice. Balance is everything.

Lucknow and Hyderabad are centres for biryanis, where whole communities specialise in its preparation and people define themselves as biryani professionals. This method of cooking rice stretches over much of the continent, however, and in Delhi, the tradition was to leave your pot with a chef who would cook it over charcoal for three or four hours, handing the cooked pot back to you on your way home for the ultimate in take-aways.

Basmati is the rice to use, its jewel-like flavour and delicacy offering the ultimate test in trying to exert balance in your biryani. You might use lamb or chicken, or perhaps this is a good time to consider the vegetarian route. If the latter tempts, then try Monisha Bharadwaj's inspiring India's Vegetarian Cooking(Kyle Cathie, £14.99). If I was ever tempted to be vegetarian I think it is Indian food I would eat most of the time. There is a not a dull recipe here; a collection of vegetarianism with all the interest and satisfaction you could ask for.

harnold@irishtimes.com

Marie-Claire Digby is on leave