Chicken Biryani

Sometime ago in 2009, I visited Hyderabad and there I ate at an old museum-like, 3 storeyed restaurant known as the Bawarchi. There was one dish common on every table in that restaurant – The Biryani Rice. Imagine a crowded 3 floors restaurant and everyone eating the same dish…. has to be something special right? Well it really was, and after that day, mixed rice was never the same to me ever again.

Biryani or ‘biriyaani’ is an aromatic and refreshing long grain rice dish mixed with vegetables or meat slow cooked to perfection. It may be served simply with yoghurt or with all manner of curries.

This dish is fairly easy to make even though the list of ingredients is long. There is no need for continuous stirring or standing over the stove. You marinate your ingredients and then you leave it to cook on its own, checking it only time-to-time.

In this post I am going to follow the authentic recipe with no short cuts. Like I said, you cannot take Biryani lightly…if you’re going to do it, you’ve got to do it flawlessly.

The choice of meat I am going to use is Chicken, however Lamb (mutton) and Prawns (Jhinga) if added to Biryani certainly endows a touch of class to the dish.
Ingredients: (serves 5-6)
• 12 pcs chicken wings
• ½ cup cooking oil
• 5 red onions thinly sliced
• 4 cups basmati rice (Long-grain rice)
• 1-2 tbsp yellow food colouring
• ¼ cup milk
• 2 tbsp melted ghee (unclarified butter)

(Ingredients for marinating)

2 tbsp chopped green chillies (skip if cooking for small children)
½ cup chopped coriander
½ cup mint leaves
3 tbsp plain yoghurt
2 tbsp raw papaya paste
1 whole lime juice
1 ½ tbsp ginger paste
1 ½ tbsp garlic paste
3 tsp red chilli powder (skip if cooking for small children)
1 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
2 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp salt
3 tsp ready-made biryani masala*

*Biryani Masala is essential to this dish and can be found easily in ready packs in any Asian supermarkets.

* Raw papaya paste – grind an unripe papaya to get the paste or buy ready made ones from the supermarket. This is used to tenderise meat.

p.s. Even though the ‘level of hot’ in this dish is fairly moderate, if cooking for kids below 4 years, pls omit any use of chillies.

Method:

1. Wash rice thoroughly and then leave rice in a bowl of water for about 20minutes. Cover lid. Set aside.

2. Set rice to cook in a rice cooker. (Follow instructions on package)

3. In a wide pan, add in ½ cup of cooking oil. Once the oil is hot, fry the onions on medium high until its crisp, brown and caramelized.

4. In a large mixing bowl add the chicken wings.

5. To that add in about 4tbsp of the fried onion & 6 tbsp oil. (Note use the oil used for frying the onions). Save the rest of the onions for garnishing later on.

6. Add all the mentioned marinade ingredients into the bowl. Mix the ingredients well with the chicken (using your hands) and leave to rest for about 45minutes – 1hour.

7. On the stove, place a flat pan directly over the heat and then place a pressure cooker over the flat pan to avoid direct heat that causes food to stick to the bottom.

8. Pour the marinade chicken wings into the bottom of the cooker.

9. Top it with 3-4 large bowls of cooked rice.

10. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of ghee.

11. In a small bowl, mix milk and food colouring together. Add as much as you like to the rice (this is only for the colour of the food and will not affect its flavouring).

12. Top the rice with some left over fried onions and coriander leaves.
13. Close lid and cook on medium high for another 45minutes.
14. Serve hot as it is or with plain yoghurt on the side.

Enjoy!!!!