Chicken biryani

It’s not an easy dinner fix, but it is really worth the effort. Comfort food, lovely and aromatic. Not my picture yet, so borrowed with thanks.

500 g chicken cut up in 2inch pieces. I use thighs with no bones and no skin.

Mixed spices for the marinade as follows:

1 dried bay leaf, 2 small dried red chiles, 2 inch cinnamon stick, 5 cloves, 5 cardamon pods, 1 star anise, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1/2 black peppercorns, 1/4 tsp fennel, 1/4 tsp carom seeds (if using)

Marinade:

80 g of full fat yoghurt

1 tbsp sesame oil

1/2 tbsp oil

1/2 tsp lemon juice

Ingredients

Whole spices:

2 medium bay leaves,4 cloves, 4 cardamon pods, 4 star anise, 3 inch cinnamon stick, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 6 black peppercorns

oil as needed

2 tbsp Ghee or butter

250 g chopped yellow onion

2 garlic cloves crushed

1 small (50g) tomato chopped

2 green chili peppers if using

4 dried plums if using

Instructions

Step 1

prepare the spices for the marinade. Use a spice grinder until you have a mostly smooth mix. Mix with yoghurt and salt to taste. Add chicken and leave overnight in Fridge.

Step 2

Make sure to leave the meat an hour in the kitchen before cooking.

Wash the rice well, leave to soak for 30 minutes at least.

Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onion first and saute until golden. Then add ginger, garlic and whole spices and saute 2-3 minutes more until aromatic. Add 2 tbsp of water to deglace the pan. Once water dries up, you are ready for next step

Step 3

Add the chicken with the marinade and cook for 2-3 minutes until it changes color. Then add the tomatoes, chili and plums. add 1/2 cup of water and leave to gently simmer for 30 minutes.

Step 4

Turn off the heat on the pot when chicken is cooked- water should have evaporated by now. Otherwise you can cheat and quickly cook it away or pour any excess water out. Cook the rice: Bring water to boil in a separate pot, add salt, oil and lemon, stir once water boils again add the drained rice. Stir and bring back to boil. Cook for 5 minutes. No more. You do not want mushy rice. Turn off the heat. remove any excess water. stir in rose water,if you like and a 1 tbsp of lemon juice.

Step 5

Oil the bottom of as Dutch oven or pot. Layer 1/2 the rice. Sprinkle with a tsp of garam masala on top. then add the chicken and top with the remaining rice. Sprinkle the remaining garam masala. Drizzle with a bit of red food coloring or saffran water. Add coriander leaves and mint leaves and lemon slices. Cover the top with aluminium foil and the tightly closed lid. Turn the heat to medium and let the steam develop for 4-5 minutes. You can hear it. Turn down to lowest heat and allow to steam 20 minutes. Leave to stand for 10 minutes and serve. Serve directly from pot with raita.

Tips

See I told you it was a lot of work, but well worth it. 2 main tips is make sure you do not have excess water with the chicken. It should not be in a sauce, but should mingle perfectly to a ‘dry dish’. the other tip is that you can buy the biryani spices mixed already in the Indian super markets. I have my own, but I appreciate it is a lot of different spices for one dish. However if you are often using my recipes, you will have most. You can use the cinnmon ground as well as ground cardamon- makes it easier.

*I just tried this version the other day: leave out the meat part. put the ricotta mix at the bottom and the NON-fried asparagus and spring onions on top. this saves you the frying step and is still giving a very fresh taste to your pie.

You can add another 100 g of mixed grated cheese to the top of the tart for even more cheesy goodness. You can then leave off the goat cheese slices instead.