Jackfruit Biryani (Vegan & Gluten Free)

Start with your rice so it can soak while you do the rest of your preparation. Wash your rice in plenty of water, changing the water every time it turns cloudy. Once the water is clear, leave it to soak in at least double the amount of water to rice. Preferably the rice should be left to soak for at least 3 hours but soaking for one hour should do in a pinch. (Optional; some chef recommend adding 1 Tbsp of salt to the soaking water to help ensure your grains stay fluffy and not at all sticky.)

When the rice has finished soaking, rinse and drain it well. Bring the stock to a boil in a large pan with the spices and rice.  Simmer for 8 minutes, or until the rice is half cooked. Drain well, cover the rice and set to one side.

Set a dry pan over a low heat and gently toast the saffron threads until they smell fragrant  and turn a few shades darker. Now crumble the threads into your warm milk and set to one side. Like the rice, saffron milk works so much better if you can leave it to soak for several hours. 

In the same dry pan, lightly toast your whole spices on a low heat. Once they have browned (not burnt!) all over and smell amazing, remove from the heat and set into a separate container to cool. Once cooled, grind your spices finely and set to one side.

Cut two of the onions into half rings and set to one side. The last onion can be roughly chopped and placed into the blender with the green chilli, ginger, garlic, and half the almonds. Add about 45ml of water and blend until a smooth paste forms.

Slice the jackfruit into bite sized chunks, about 1-2 cm square and put to one side. Now place a large, heavy bottomed casserole dish on a medium to high heat with about 90ml of oil. When the oil has heated, fry the onion rings until they turn brown and crisp. Remove the onions from the oil and set them to one side while they drain on kitchen paper. Add the sultanas to the same oil and remove once they turn plump. Now add the last of the sliced almonds and fry until they turn a light golden brown. Again, set these to one side to drain on kitchen paper.

Now fry the chunks of jackfruit, a few at a time, until they turn golden brown. Don’t be tempted to overcrowd the pan as this will drop the temperature of your oil and will stop the jackfruit from browning, just turning oily instead. Set the jackfruit to one side.

In the same pan, add another quarter cup of oil and drop the heat down to medium. Add the onion paste you made earlier to the pan and fry until it turns a deep brown. Now add the yogurt to the pan, a tablespoon at a time so as to not reduce the heat too much. Using just a touch of water, deglaze the pan, scraping up all the brown bits that have stuck to the bottom. Return the jack fruit to the pan with the chopped tomatoes, about half a cup of water, and a tsp of salt and simmer on low for about 30 minutes with a lid on.

Add all the spices to the pan apart from the garam masala, mix well, and continue to cook for another 30 minutes. Now remove the lid, increase the heat to medium high and simmer until the sauce reduces by half. Turn off the heat and stir through the garam masala. Top your sauce with the rice we cooked earlier in a nice sloping pile. Drizzle the saffron milk along the sides of the pile and evenly spread out the coconut oil in a few small dollops with just half the cooked onions.

Cover the pot, with foil and the lip if your lip doesn’t form a tight seal, and place into a preheated oven at 150 degrees. Bake for about 45 minutes. 

When you remove the dish from the oven, gently stir the rice and jackfruit together. Serve family style, garnished with the sultanas, almonds, coriander and remaining onions.