We all have our rituals for lazy weekends. On these short winter days I’ve been getting up earlier than I used to, to catch the precious bright morning sunlight when the sun does come out. I make tea, hubby and I sit around and read, I’ll sit in the sunshine as long as possible and soak up the rays. Cocooned like this in our apartment, I have no desire to venture outside in the freezing cold for brunch. So I’ll think of something to make, from whatever we have at home. I always have eggs and basics in the apartment, so it’s easy to whip up an egg-based dish. I love all kinds of eggs – omelettes, fried, poached, scrambled, hard-boiled… One of my favorites is a dish from my childhood that’s simple to make, but very unusual. In fact, I haven’t come across a recipe for it anywhere yet. Traditionally, we had it as a brunch/lunch meal and it was comprised of two quick dishes (you can have it for dinner too of course). A unique utterly delicious sticky rice dish called Biron Polau, cooked with turmeric, ginger, bayleaves, onions and ghee. Accompanied by turmeric-coated hard-boiled eggs, cooked in onions that are slowly caramelized in ghee and as a result develop a wonderful sweetness that’s infused with the fragrance of cinnamon, bayleaves, cardamom.

It’s truly a lazy-day-at-home dish. The fragrance of the Biron Polau cooking, and the aroma of cinnamon, cardamom and onions caramelizing in ghee fill the kitchen – as I sit close by reading my book in the winter sun. It’s like aromatherapy! Cinnamon helps reduce headaches apparently according to some studies, and I can totally believe it as a sense of wellbeing usually takes over me with all these warm fragrances floating around. And just to warn you, sticky rice has a filling sleepy effect, so after eating this I usually feel happy and sleepy and want to lie around some more.

Biron Polau was cooked in our house on weekends once in a while thanks to my Dadu (my dad’s mother). Most Bangladeshis don’t eat sticky rice, so this type of rice wouldn’t be available in the stores back when I was growing up. It’s a specialty of Sylhet, the northeastern region of the country that my dad’s family was from. My dad would have the rice sent from Sylhet, and when it arrived one of the first things my Dadu would make was Biron Polau. She had taught our cook how to make it, but I remember she would specially go to the kitchen on these weekends and lovingly prepare it herself for us. She would be literally beaming with happiness when we all sat down at the table to eat. And it felt all the more special because it was my Dadu’s gift to us.

She was an amazing person. Strong and independent, she was quite unusual for a lady of her time. Physically she was petite and had a quiet gentle manner, but she could also be funny and sarcastic and liked to joke. She had visitors coming by almost every day of the year to see her, and she would host them in her part of the house, while my parents had their stream of visitors in the drawing room. She did mini “staycations” for days at a time at her best friend’s house (her cousin’s wife) who lived fairly close by with her family and we loved them too – we would miss Dadu so much at these times that we would go over after a few days and pester her to come back home. She would go away for vacations by herself to Sylhet a couple of times a year. We would be so upset when she would suddenly announce these vacations; we’d plead and beg her not to go. She would gently explain that she needed to see relatives, friends, her Sylhet, and take care of her business (her landholdings), and that she would be back soon enough in a month or so. She was always so sweet in her manners, that I accepted her strong independence as natural. What I miss the most is her love and affection, her long tight hugs and nose kisses.

My Dadu passed away many years ago. I’m thankful now that I can still conjure up vivid memories of her through some of the recipes she handed down, that were from her beloved Sylhet. My mom (who wasn’t Sylheti) learned to cook Biron Polau from her, and I had learned it from her before she too passed away.

Biron Polau is really very simple to cook. From prep to finish, the polau and the eggs take about 45 minutes. While traditionally I’m used to eating it as weekend “brunch”/lunch, you can eat it for dinner too obviously. You can make a more elaborate meal around it; fried fish like Rui/carp go well with it, as does slow-cooked dry beef curry. 

The sticky rice (also known as sweet glutinous rice) is readily available in Asian and Japanese stores. It doesn’t spoil, so I buy a big bag; this way I have some ready to cook when inspiration strikes. Ghee (clarified butter) is also widely available now. I have a jar around always, it doesn’t need to be refrigerated and lasts a fairly long time too. So I can easily cook up Biron Polau without planning ahead, since I usually have eggs, potatoes and onions in the fridge.  I really do crave it a lot actually! Biron Polau is simply delicious.