How Quarantine Brought Out Skills I Never Knew I Had - Part 2

When April began, so did the holy month of Ramadan. Every year, during this time, Muslims around the globe fasted from dawn until dusk. Each day, we woke up for suhoor, the predawn meal, followed by fajr prayer. Throughout the day, we refrained ourselves from eating or drinking anything, including water. After sunset, we broke our fast with a date and some water. Once we offered maghrib prayer, we helped ourselves to a proper iftar, the sunset meal.

Oh, did I mention that we all get hangry and fatigued from fasting? Including my parents?!

When I saw my dad napping on the sofa and my mom soundly sleeping in bed, a wave of energy coursed through my entire body. I had an epiphany. Because my parents were drained from fasting all day, I decided to make them fish biryani for iftar for the first time ever. I was actually going to cook. Oh this is going to be good! Let's do this!

I grabbed five thick pieces of salmon from the freezer and placed them in a plastic bowl filled with hot water. I washed the rice pot and cooking pan I was going to use and placed each one on top of their designated stoves. I grabbed a chopping board, knife and an onion. After discarding the peel, I began to dice it. After a few minutes, my eyes began to water but I remained focused. I tossed the diced pieces of onion into the cooking pan and poured some vegetable oil. Using a wooden spoon, I stirred the onion on medium heat until the edges turned light brown. I grabbed the ginger and garlic paste jars from the fridge, removed their lids, scooped out thick lumps of the purée, added in three tablespoons of each and mixed it in with the onion.

While the mixture cooked on medium heat, I poured two and half cups of Basmati rice into a glass bowl and filled it up with water. I placed the glass bowl on the counter top and grabbed the rice pot. I filled it up rice with water. It was a little less than half. I poured in some vegetable oil, added in two pieces of whole black pepper, a few cloves, a cinnamon stick, bay leaf and squeezed some lime into the rice pot. I set the rice pot on medium heat and covered it up with a glass lid.

By this time, the salmon had been thawed out. But before adding the fish into the cooking pan, I added in half a teaspoon of salt, two whole black peppers, and a few cloves. One by one, I tossed the five pieces of salmon into the cooking pan, drizzled them with some Shan Pilau Biryani Masala followed by red chili powder. I almost forgot. I quickly chopped up a plump dark-green jalapeño, threw it into the cooking pan and covered it up with a lid.

By this time, the concoction in the rice pot was bubbling up. I poured in the soaked basmati rice along with the water into the rice pot and covered it up with the lid. Then, I lifted up the cover of the cooking pan and I caught a whiff of the Shan Pilau Biryani Masala. The powder had a pungent yet satisfying scent. I noticed the salmon's texture changed and the color was more rosier than before. I smiled. This is going to be great!

About 10-15 minutes later, the rice were done boiling. I hunched over and searched through the kitchen cabinet for a stainless steel colander. Found it! I put it in the sink, lifted the rice pot off the stove and slowly poured everything into the colander, draining out all the water. I turned off the stove. I removed the lid from the cooking pan, grabbed the colander and poured the rice over the masala.

I lowered the heat and checked the time on my phone. About 30 minutes left till iftar.

After a few minutes I sprinkled some food coloring over the rice, followed by a single drop of kewra water (a transparent extract used to enhance the flavor of South Asian foods) and half a cup of milk. I turned off the heat. About 15 minutes later, using a stainless steel cooking spoon, I thoroughly mixed the rice with the masala. The biryani was ready!

My parents were now awake. I told them I made biryani. Confusion was eteched on their faces. At least they weren't shocked.

It was finally time to break the fast. As always, we opened our fast with dates and some water.

After offering maghrib prayer, I darted back into the kitchen. My parents were eagerly waiting for the biryani and I was excited to serve them.

I took out two clean plates and forks from the dishwasher. I scooped out a large portion of biryani, poured some into both plates one by one and set them on the kitchen counter. I picked up the two plates and headed over to the living room. I handed one to my dad and the other to my mom.

As they both took their first bite I stood near the corner of the living room, impatiently waiting for their reaction. Well!

My dad was the first one to speak. He said, "this is actually really good." Then my mom spoke up. She said, "Not bad for your first time."

When both of my parents wiped their plates clean, I knew my biryani mission had been accomplished. I was officially Chef Arooba.

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