The first city the random generator selected was Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.
Here’s some stats:
| Country | Bangladesh |
| Founded | 1608 |
| Area | 270 km^2 |
| Elevation | 32 |
| Population | 10 million |
Let’s learn a bit about the cuisine. Wikipedia tells us the following about Dhaka cuisine:
Historically, Dhaka has been the culinary capital of Bengal for Muslim cuisine, particularly Mughlai cuisine. Restaurants in the city serve several types of biryani, including Kachi Biryani (goat meat), Tehari (beef), Murg Pulao (chicken), and Ilish Pulao (ilish fish). Chefs from Dhaka, the former Mughal provincial capital, served in the kitchens of the Nawabs of Dhaka and Murshidabad. They invented the Kachi Biryani, which is a variant of biryani with mutton steaks and potatoes. One of the longest surviving outlets serving authentic Kachi Biryani is Fakhruddin's. Kachi Biryani is highly popular in Bangladeshi cuisine, with food critic and former MasterChef Australia judge Matt Preston praising its use of potatoes.
After reading this the fact that Kachi Biryani was mentioned a humble 4 times means it’s probably the one to try.
The recipe I used was from But First Chai so shout out to them. While the recipie wasn’t difficult, it does involve quite a bit of prep. There’s a bit of planning requied, for example the marinade takes 6 hours to complete. Although as a benefit, apart from waiting you’re really just throwing things together in a pot.
Here’s a photo of the lamb with the marinade:
Here’s a photo of the pot before cooking:
….and after!
The finished product was really delicious. The main takeaways were as follows:
- I should buy lamb in Dalston more often, it’s really cheap.
- Biryani is easy to cook, but the prep takes ages.
- I didn’t know extra long basmati was a thing but I like it.