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CHICKEN BIRIYANI Recipe

Ingredients

How to make it

  • TO PREPARE THE SPICE MIX:
  • Heat half the ghee in a small frying pan, fry almonds, sultans, onions, garlic, red sweet pepper and giner until golde
  • Add chili, turmeric, cumin, cardamom and cinnamon
  • Add a little chicken fat/olive oil or margarine and fry the spices turning it constantly for 5 minutes
  • Add 1 cup tomato paste and 2 chopped and seeded whole tomatoes, mind and cinnomon stick
  • Cover and simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally until tomato is cooked to a pulp (It may be necessary to add a little hot chicken stock if mixture becomes too dry and starts to stick to the pan). This stage is IMPORTANT
  • I usually simmer if for at lest an hour to blend all the spices
  • Turn regularly, add stock if necessary and season with salt, pepper and brown sugar until the taste is to your liking (The left over spice mix can be frozen and can be used for a chicken curry, making a curry sauce, etc)
  • TO PREPARE THE CHICKEN:
  • Half fry the chicken pieces in a thick bottom pot
  • Add tomato paste and w whole tomatoes
  • Add the spice mix in spoonfuls and stir well after every addition
  • Taste every time until you start to taste the chili
  • Add the yoghurt, cardmom seeds, cumin seeds ad cinnamon sticks
  • Cover and simmer for not longer than 20 minutes to tine tune the seasoning (salt, sugar, the spice mix, or whatever you think is needed)
  • Add the potatoes
  • The mix must be fairly watery.
  • TO PREPARE THE RICE:
  • Wash rice well and let it soak in water for at least half an hour
  • Make the rosewater by adding only the petals of abunch of roses to 3 lt hot water
  • Immerse them and let the stand on avery low heat for an hour until the water tates of roses.
  • Do not simmer for too long or the water might become bitter
  • Drain the leave and discard
  • Add saffron strands and salt to the water andboiltill reduced to 2 litres and a distinct yellow colour
  • Add the new poratoes and cook for half an hour
  • Add the soaked rice and cook for exactly 7 minutes or till tender and drain in a colander over a bowl to cath the rice/roses/saffron water which can be used as the basis of a wonderful stock for a soup
  • Take the potatoes out and add them to the chicken mix
  • Let the rice stand in the colander for at least an hour before you use it
  • It must be COMPLETELY DRY
  • THE FINAL PAIRING:
  • Layer the chicken and rice starting with the rice and ending with it
  • Put a lid on and cook for 2 hours on 100C (Although this is not done traditionally, I pour 1 tin of cocnut cream and 1 100ml of pure cream over teh dish an hour before serving if I see that it is a bit dry. It seeps through and make the dish into an experience that you will not forget)
  • Chop the mint and danja roughly into large pieces and put it in the freezer for an hour before serving (They will become stiff and dry and makes it easer to sprinkle the easer)
  • Dish the biriyani into a plate, put a blob of yorghur on top and sprinkle with the mint and danja leaves.
  • Fantastic dish for those mild to cold days - ENJOY!!!!

Reviews & Comments 3

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    " It was excellent "
    capedread ate it and said...
    fantastic! love a good Biriyani is fabulous if done right and this recipe is a work of art can't wait to try it......................... yum!
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  • auntybea 15 years ago
    I like the recipe although I don't think I would go to the extent of making my own tomato extract. My recipe would have to work with crushed tomatoes! Thanks for the post. I have it book-marked.
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  • joker 15 years ago
    I have a dear friend and fellow chef who is from Delhi and he makes a fabulous chicken biriyani. He marinates the chicken in the spices and yogurt for about an hour. Meanwhile he soaks the rice and then cooks it about half way. The chicken is then put in a single layer on the bottom of a heavy pot and the rice is spooned on top. Some saffron water is spooned over the rice and a tight fitting lid is put on the pot. He cooks this on med-high for 5 minutes, med for 10 minutes and then med-low for 15 minutes, with the goal of having the chicken and the rice done at the same time, which he claims is the "secret" to a great biriyani. I've done this dish a few times and it is a bit tricky to get the chicken and rice done at the same time and to have the correct texture for the rice. He is quick to note, however, that every household has their own version of biriyani and that even mothers and daughters may do it different.
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tinadc Cape Town, ZA

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