(easygoing music)
(record scratching)
- So my poor sister must have been cooking blind last night.
Oh dear.
(upbeat music)
- Hello, my name is Safia and I'm excited
to try a few bariis iskukaris
that different sisters have done
and rate it.
And I will enjoy it,
I'm sure, 'cause I love rice.
- Bariis iskukaris is, it's rice, basically.
- It is a traditional Somali meal.
- We put a lot of flavors into it.
- You're gonna put tomatoes.
You're gonna put onions, you're gonna put peppers.
You're gonna put coriander, garlic.
- Cumin powder,
paprika, xawaash, which is like cumin
mixed with some peppercorn.
- Can have chicken in there.
It could have your lamb in there.
It's closer to a biryani rice for those who
want something that they might be familiar with.
- Just essentially, rice mixed in with lots
of herbs and sauce.
- But everyone cooks it different.
Some people have more of the sauce at the bottom,
and they have the rice that's already flavored at the top,
so you get your meat and stuff at bottom.
Some people do it all
and then they add water when they've done the sauce
and then they put the rice.
It all cooks together.
I'm not a Somali,
if I don't mention this, you need your banana on it.
So you have to have your banana with your rice.
And if you don't have that,
then it's not a special occasion.
- Really, really looking forward to this
because I feel like I'm just gonna breathe this one.
- Bismillah.
(upbeat music)
- What makes my dish really,
really good is there's not much oil in there,
vegetables in there,
and I have all the special spices
that my mother taught me.
And also a place that I volunteer,
which is called Hoya East.
My auntie that cooks there, wallahi mash'allah.
You get a bit of skills here and a bit
of experience there as long, as you get your spices right
and you have your meat in there as well
and you have your banana, you're okay.
- Oh, let me see what my competition is.
(plate setting down)
Oh, this looks very nice.
Smells Lovely.
- It's very red.
So I'm assuming she put in either food coloring
or maybe perhaps paprika, but also tomatoes as well.
- It's got the, the meat there.
- And I like the fact that she has crispy onions.
Looks like a Somali bariis iskukaris.
- If we look at the rice element,
yes, definitely traditional,
but if we look at the rest of bowls,
we never put in (indistinct) in our Somali rice.
That's the truth.
- Mm, that's, that's nice.
I, oh God,
I'm not even hating.
This is delicious.
It's still chewy.
It's nice.
It's not soft.
This is really still fluffy.
It's crunchy.
This is, oh my God.
This is nice.
- It's very tasty, but it tastes more like tomato-y.
And I think that's because her base was heavily tomato.
- Gotta try the meat, right?
Let me just get in there.
- The meat is really nice.
- The meat, it's just a bit bland.
It has no flavor.
- I guess I wouldn't consider this
to be your typical Somali rice,
but just because of the vegetables.
So I would this overall a seven out of 10.
- Oh God.
Because of the meat,
I think I'd go for seven,
but honestly, very good.
(upbeat music)
I make mine with lamb chops,
onions, put chopped tomato, in there,
all of my seasoning, chili, everything.
And then I cook this, the rice separately,
and then I put it on top afterwards,
mix it a little bit at the top
and then I put it
in the oven and that's my version of bariis iskukaris.
I'm famous for this bariis.
But like this bariis iskukaris
of mine is known.
Like it's well known.
(hands drumming)
- Wow, that does look good.
I can see the pieces.
She used basmati rice, which is ideal.
It's also got the meat in the,
oh, she's ticked my boxes here.
- It looks very much like biryani almost.
In biryani you have the patches of whiteness
and the patches of color that's coming in.
So yeah.
Reminds you of that.
- You know what I like about this, it's really fluffy.
She's got the bit with the extra sauce,
but she's still got the fluffy,
and she definitely didn't overcook it.
Soon as you walked in, actually, towards me,
I could smell the herbs and spices.
She's used some good spices here.
(silverware scraping)
That's nice.
That is will wallahi.
Very, very nice.
Not too much salt.
Lovely spices.
Just the banana, we're missing, but it's okay.
Next time Buzzfeed will bring bananas for us.
- I think the flavors is,
I'm definitely feeling like biryani type of vibe.
It's very spicy and warm
and it's very tasty, so yeah.
Good job.
- I'm gonna try the meat now,
'cause you know like Somalis and their meat, you know.
(swishing)
Even the meat, (speaking in foreign language).
It's not hard.
It's nice and soft.
It's not too dry.
My mother would say (speaking foreign language), good girl.
Very good girl.
Whoever did this is very good.
Mash'allah.
- This'll be eight.
Yes, eight out 10, 100%.
Just it's less tomato-y
and it's more cumin.
It's a little more like your traditional Somali.
- I would say this is probably better than mine.
I'm not gonna lie to you.
You know what?
As a woman, sometimes you have to say it how it is.
I would say definitely this one's like a nine.
- [Woman] Oo!
- Honestly, if I could give it ten,
but I'm one of those people
that you, there's always something better
but (speaking foreign language),
this is very nice.
You just gimme a moment.
I'm just gonna.
Any leftovers,
I'm happy to take this one home.
(upbeat music)
- I guess, perhaps, my one would be a little bit more rich.
I took the chicken stock flavor that was coming out
from a roast that I was making like four days ago,
I left it in the fridge and I used that to kind of merge it
into my rice and then I added cumin powder,
so it's very tasty and I'm very proud of it as well.
(plate setting)
- Ah!
- Oh, okay.
(speaking foreign language)
- There's no meat in there.
I'm looking for the meat, I'm like.
(fork clanging)
She might have cooked it in there,
'cause a lot of people cook it in there
and they just take the meat out.
Cause you still got the flavor.
It's more yellow.
- Someone went overboard with the turmeric
- The rice,
I'll be honest with you,
it's not too soft.
You could see each rice as it falls.
So that's really good.
(record scratching)
- No, this is.
- [Woman] Would you like a tissue?
- Yes, please.
Oh my God.
What is that?
- It's different.
There's a flavor to it that I can't put my hands on it.
- Is there vinegar in there?
- It's definitely got a little bit more oil
than the other one.
Can you see when I move it like that,
you can see all the oil.
- So my poor sister must have been cooking blind
last night where she was cooking in the dark.
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.
I mean.
(plate sliding)
- It's not bad at all.
This is really good.
Maybe not the level of the other one,
I would say.
I would easily rate this as six.
- What do you think I'm gonna rate that?
Overboard turmeric, no meat.
That's a solid one.
Have you got water, guys?
Seriously? - Yeah, yeah.
Am I being harsh?
(sad trombone)
(victory music)
I mean, what were we expecting?
I knew I was gonna win.
I just would like to say thank you to my mom,
that's always helped me cook,
my grandmother, my family, my friends.
I just knew I had it in me.
I am a chef.
I don't like to brag, but yeah, it was gonna happen.
It was going to happen.
Cheers, thank you.
- I'm very disappointed,
but I guess something for me to learn and yeah.
- Listen, I am known
for some few dishes and maybe my rice could improve.
I definitely know what a really good rice could be.
I need to go back to Hoya East
and my auntie and get her to teach me more dishes.
(upbeat music)