After the superb paella at Tarsan i Jane recently, I was bowled over by another world-class rice dish, this one originating from Hyderabad in India. The city is known for its special kind of biryani. Dum biryani involves a painstaking process of layering basmati rice and meat (usually goat or chicken) that has been marinated in a complex blend of aromatics, curd (dahi), herbs and spices. The whole cooking vessel is tightly sealed and gently cooked over a stove until meat and rice are tender. This description doesn’t begin to explain the steps involved in the actual preparation and the long list of ingredients that can go into the dish. I would likely never attempt it.
Dum, meaning something like ‘breathing in,’ refers to the gentle steaming to cook the rice and meat. Since this is an entrée with lots of rice over the meat, in order to ensure consistency of texture, cooks first parboil the rice in seasoned water. They top the meat with a layer of half-cooked rice and successively add more layers of rice at increasing levels of doneness so that the top grains don’t finish firmer than those at the bottom.
Our chicken dum biryani was beautiful to look at. With some culinary sleights-of-hand, the rice appeared in shades of yellow, brown, white and orange, the first from turmeric and the last so vivid that food coloring must’ve been used. And the fragrance was equally splendid with aromas of garlic, ginger, fried onions, basmati, and warm spices, especially cardamom and cinnamon. The dark meat pieces of chicken couldn’t have been more fork-tender nor flavorful. The dish also had a kick from red chile powder.
On the weekends (including Fridays), Mirchi offers biryanis made with goat (called mutton on the menu) and a larger sized combination (chicken and goat). Dum biryani is Mirchi’s specialty and the restaurant makes one of the best. (☆☆☆☆)
I had my first manchurian at Spice Route in Bellevue, a name that describes a kind of dish with Chinese flavors of sweet and sour and Indian spices and chiles. Spice Route’s gobi manchurian is one of my favorite appetizers there. Although manchurian is not a common item on an Indian menu, at least here in the Seattle area, Mirchi does have it on theirs, made with cauliflower (gobi), paneer, baby corn, chicken or fish (which we ordered). Theirs has a nice balance of sweet and tart with a serious burn, a true makeover to adapt to fiery tastes if there ever was one. (☆☆☆)
The eggplant dish that I’ve seen most on local menus is baingan bharta. So it came as a surprise that Mirchi’s only offered eggplant curry (gutti vakanya), which piqued my curiosity. Nestled in a gravy were little eggplants slit lengthwise to the stems in a cross. The masala was a rich flavor combination of peanuts, coconut flakes, tamarind, sugar (jaggery), aromatics and spices, which begged to be eaten with rice or naan. (☆☆☆)
In an interesting twist to Indian buffets at lunchtime, only on Mondays Mirchi substitutes the buffet with a thali meal, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian.
Mirchi Indian Restaurant
5625 221st Pl SE, Ste 100
Issaquah, WA 98027
425.651.4343
zoomeboshi 
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