Iraqi Biryani
A rice dish tracing to ancient Mesopotamia and Persia, its name from Persian 'birian,' meaning fried before cooking, representing a more direct continuation of the old Persian pilaf lineage. It's genuinely distinct from the site's existing Indian and Sindhi biryani, which arose later as a Mughal-era fusion of Persian technique with South Asian spices, a real, different historical branch rather than a derivative version, worth stating precisely rather than implying Iraqi biryani descends from the South Asian dish. Real Iraqi biryani leans on allspice, paprika, cardamom, and cinnamon rather than a garam-masala-and-chili-forward profile, and is commonly finished with vermicelli, hard-boiled egg, fried potato, and raisins layered on top of saffron-perfumed rice.
⚠ Contains: Egg, Tree Nut, Gluten. Always check your own ingredients — this isn't a guarantee for severe allergies.
Ingredients
- 3 cups basmati rice
- 600g chicken or lamb, cubed
- 1/2 tsp saffron, bloomed
- 1 onion, sliced and fried crisp
- 2 potatoes, cubed and fried
- 1/4 cup vermicelli, toasted
- 3 eggs, hard-boiled
- 1/4 cup raisins and pine nuts or almonds
- 1 tbsp allspice, 1 tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp cardamom, 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Steps
- Season and brown the chicken or lamb with the allspice, paprika, cardamom, and cinnamon.
- Simmer the meat in water until tender, reserving the broth.
- Cook the rice in the reserved broth with the bloomed saffron until tender.
- Fold the toasted vermicelli, fried potato, and half the fried onion into the rice.
- Serve the rice topped with the meat, hard-boiled eggs, raisins, nuts, and remaining fried onion.