Saturday, October 14, 2006

Chicken, Rice, and Saffron

In Spain, it’s called arroz con pollo; here, it’s called chicken biriani. In either case, it is normally prepared with saffron, turning the rice a pleasant yellow colour. Whether the Arabs brought the tradition to Spain, or picked it up from the Spaniards and carried it all over the Islamic world, or however it originated, arroz con pollo or chicken biriani is popular through a very large part of the world.

In particular, it was very popular with my mother and grandmother, who served it several times every week for as long as they were able to cook (and asked for it frequently after they were too old to reign in the kitchen).

Only neither my mother nor grandmother knew where to find saffron in a small village in an English speaking country, so they used a bright yellow mustard, which gave the dish the proper colour, but a rather different flavour from the original.

When I arrived in the UAE, I found that almost all the shops in Al Ain sell saffron, thought I’d try it, and discovered I prefer my chicken biriani with saffron rather than mustard (though the colour is about the same). A little saffron goes a very long way, so I didn’t need to buy more for several years, and then I couldn’t find any in Dubai.

I kept looking in the exotic foods section (which, for me, is almost the entire store for every supermarket in Dubai), and particularly in the spice section, but no saffron.

This is because it’s usually kept with the cigarettes, for reasons which escape me, and, as a non-smoker, that was the one place I didn’t think of looking.

4 Comments:

Blogger secretdubai said...

Saffron so expensive but comes in such tiny packets that it's probably a target for shoplifters, hence keeping it by the tills/cigarette counter.

The stuff sold in those little packets is supposedly quite high quality. You can buy much cheaper stuff in the souqs and at the Global Village, however it's often imitation. Rather than being made from whatever crocus saffron is made from, the cheaper stuff is made from a different flower. Different taste but same colour, as far as I can tell.

If you find that the other spices you use are overloading the taste of the saffron, it makes sense to use the cheaper version just for its colour properties.

10:28 pm  
Blogger Harsha said...

Isnt Biryani originally a sub-continental dish?

Atleast the name is.

10:09 am  
Blogger Dubai@Random said...

Secret Dubai: Thanks. I'm sure you're right. My recipe is quite subtle, mostly saffron.

Harsha: The only word I've heard used around here is biriani, and it's found (but not by that name) over a large expanse. My dictionary says it was originally Persian.

7:53 pm  
Blogger Keef said...

Crikey! English mustard instead of saffron - yes it would taste a bit different.

9:20 am  

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