Chicken Biryani Recipe

• porciones: 8 servings
• tiempo activo: 30 minutes
• tiempo total: 1 hour 35 minutes

Ingredientes

1 kg chicken portions (I used a mix of drumsticks and thighs)

1 tsp salt

100 g thick natural yoghurt (Greek style is good)

2 Tbsp biryani masala

1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder (or any mild chilli powder)

1 Tbsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

½ tsp turmeric powder

1 large brown onion

4 medium cloves garlic

5 cm ginger

2 Tbsp ghee

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

2 medium tomatoes

5 dried plums

1 small handful fresh coriander leaves (cilantro)

125 ml water

2 mild green chillies (we'll be leaving these whole)

1 tsp salt

2 dried Indian bay leaves (or regular (even though they are not substitutes, read the post above)

1 cinnamon stick (about 7.5cm/3in long)

5 cloves

5 green cardamoms

1 black cardamom

2 star anise

1 large saucepan of water

2 Tbsp salt

3 pandan leaves (leave out if unavailable)

500 g basmati rice

1 pinch saffron (generous pinch - about 30 pistils)

60 ml evaporated milk (or fresh milk or even just water)

1 tsp ghee (for greasing)

1 tsp biryani masala

caramelised onions (see recipe below), replace this with shop bought crispy fried shallots, if you like)

1 lemon

10 stalks fresh coriander leaves (cilantro) (more or less is fine)

5 stalks fresh mint leaves

6 green chillies (optional)

2 large brown onions

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 Tbsp ghee (or just use all oil)

60 ml water

Instrucciones

Let's start with Marinating the Chicken (preferably overnight, or at least 2 hours)

place

Place all the chicken portions into a large bowl and follow with all the marinade ingredients.

marinate

Mix everything up and rub the marinade all over the chicken, getting under the skin. Cover with cling film and place in the fridge to marinate overnight or for at least 2 hours. If marinating for 2 hours, leave it on the counter. Remember to take the chicken out of the fridge 30 minutes before you start cooking the next day.

Biryani Prep Work (Next Day or at the end of Marinating Time)

remove

If your chicken is marinating in the fridge, now's the time to get it out to come to room temperature.

dice

We have a total of 3 large onions. Peel all three onions.Dice one (chop it, but not too finely, see image) for the chicken curry.Slice the other 2 in rings for caramelising.

chop

Finely chop the garlic and ginger, or place them in a chopper and blitz to a paste with a little water.

slice

Slice the lemon into thin rounds. You should aim for at least 6 slices.

chop

Chop the tomatoes into little pieces. And finely chop all the herbs and set aside separately.

Soak the Saffron

heat

Heat the milk up in a microwave for 30 seconds.

crumble

Crumble the saffron into the milk, and leave until needed.

Cook the Chicken Curry

heat

Heat the oil and ghee in a large saucepan and fry the whole spices over medium-low heat for 30 seconds.

fry

Add the onions, garlic and ginger and fry, stirring for 2 minutes.

stir

Tip the marinated chicken in, and stir well to coat the chicken with the aromatic fat.

add

Add the tomatoes and chopped coriander leaves (cilantro) and stir well.

simmer

Pour the water in, along the side of the saucepan. Add salt and drop the green chillies in. Stir to mix. Bring everything to a boil, then, cover, reduce the heat to its lowest setting and leave to simmer for 30-45 minutes, until the chicken is completely cooked.The time will depend on the size and what cut of chicken you have. On the bone will take longer, so you will need 45 minutes. If you have large chicken legs, you may even need 1 hour.While the curry is cooking, we'll be parboiling the rice and caramelising the onions.

stir

Stir the chicken curry halfway through. If your curry is getting too dry, add a splash of water. We want our curry to be dry-ish, with perhaps a few tablespoons of liquid. Roughly, a little more or less doesn't matter.When done, take it off the heat.

Parboil the Rice

boil

Bring a large saucepan of water to boil, with 2 Tbsp of salt. Tie the pandan leaves up and drop into the saucepan.

rinse

Rinse the rice 2-3 times until the water runs a little clear. This doesn't ever have to be totally clear. When the water is boiling, tip all the rice into it. Bring it back to a boil on high heat, then lower to medium and cook for 5 minutes.

drain

Drain and set aside until needed.

Let's Caramelise the Onions (feel free to skip and use shop bought fried onions)

heat

We'll be doing this while the chicken curry is cooking, after parboiling the rice. Heat the ghee and oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Twirl it around to mix the two fats.

coat

Add the onions and mix well, coating the onions in the fat. Once the onions have heated through, after about 2 minutes, turn the heat down to low.

cook

Cook the onions for 10 minutes, stirring frequently, at which time, the onions will be a light golden colour and very soft.

add

Add half the water and continue cooking for another 10 minutes, stirring frequently. At this time, you onions will be lightly caramelised, and are delicious,. You can stop here, or add the rest of the water and continue cooking for 10 more minutes, to give you onions that are darker and sweeter.When done, take it off the heat and set aside for layering.

Layering and Steaming the Biryani

grease

Get a large heavy based pot (read the post above about biryani pots) and lightly grease it with 1 tsp ghee.Now you decide how many layers you'd like to do: 3 or 5. This will depend on how much you are cooking and the width of your pot. If your pot is about 30cm (about 12in) across, today's recipe will allow you to layer 5 times. So that's rice, chicken, rice, chicken, rice, and all the other bits and pieces in between.We will be seasoning/flavouring all the rice layers.I'm using a 28 cm Le Creuset Dutch oven (affiliate link) and managed to just get 5 layers. I think a deep 22 - 26 cm pot will be perfect for the amount here.

spread

After greasing the pot, spread a third of the rice all over. Drizzle about a third of the saffron milk (about 1 Tbsp) all over.Sprinkle a little of the biryani masala (or garam masala). Follow this with about a third of the caramelised onions and the chopped up coriander leaves and mint. Finish with 2 lemon rounds and 2 green chillies.If you are doing 3 layers of rice, all these seasoning ingredients want to be roughly divided into 3. If you are doing 2 layers of rice, then just divide them by half.

layer

Follow this first rice layer with half the chicken curry. I forgot to take a picture of this step!

top

Top this first layer of chicken with another third of the rice, and season again. So that's another Tbsp of saffron milk, a generous pinch of masala, another third of caramelised onions, coriander and mint leaves, 2 lemon rounds and 2 green chillies.And we'll top this second layer of rice with the rest of the dry chicken curry. Apologies for the missing picture again.

finish

And now, the final layer of rice. We'll season this final layer as we've been doing: the rest of the saffron milk, the biryani masala, caramelised onions, chopped herbs, green chillies and lemon rounds.

cover

Cover your pot with a well fitting lid and place it over a medium flame. Let it heat up for 5 minutes to create steam within the pot. Now reduce the heat to its lowest setting and steam for 20 minutes.When done, take it off the heat and leave to rest for another 10 minutes. Do not take the lid off until these 10 minutes are up, as the steaming will continue.

serve

To dish up, lightly lift the rice up with a rice paddle like these ones (affiliate link) and place on a serving dish. This is to stop us mixing up the various parts of the biryani and squashing and breaking the rice. A saucer can also be used. Serve as mentioned above.ps: the rice paddles above are my favourite ones as they have little raised dots, so the rice just glides off them.

Nutrición

• Calorías: 511 kcal
• Grasa Total: 18 g
• Grasa Saturada: 7 g
• Grasa No Saturada: 10 g
• Grasa Trans: 1 g
• Colesterol: 77 mg
• Sodio: 780 mg
• Carbohidratos Totales: 63 g
• Fibra Dietética: 4 g
• Azúcares Totales: 6 g
• Proteína: 22 g