Make tasty chicken biriyani at home

Biriyani is a popular south Asian dish that is made with Indian spices. It goes well with rice, meat, eggs, or even vegetables such as potatoes.

Most biryani is mixed with a rice dish.

Ingredients

For the chicken marinade

• 1200g Skinless chicken pieces
• ½ cup of natural yogurt
• 1 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
• 1 green chilli, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• ½ lemon, juiced
• 2 tsp garam masala
• 5 cardamom pods, seeds crushed
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• Vegetable oil

For the rice

• 3 tbsp ghee
• 2 large onions, finely sliced
• 400g basmati rice
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 6 cloves
• 4 cardamom pods
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tbsp finely grated ginger
• 1 green chilli, chopped
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 4 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 2 tbsp fresh coriander, roughly chopped
• Raisins

Preparation

Step 1

Place the chicken in a large bowl with the yogurt, ginger, chili, cloves, lemon juice, garam masala, cardamom seeds, turmeric, and cumin. Leave for at least 1 hour, or preferably overnight to marinate.

Step 2

Rinse the rice well and leave to soak in a large bowl of water for 30 minutes.

Step 3

Meanwhile, using the vegetable oil of choice, cook the onions until they are very soft and golden brown

Remove from the pan and set aside.

Step 4

Bring a large sufuria of water to a boil. Then season the water generously by adding 1 cinnamon stick, 2 cloves, 2 cardamom pods, and 1 bay leaf, then set aside to infuse for 30 minutes.

Bring the water back to a boil, add the rice, and cook for 2 minutes, so that it is par-cooked. Drain and set aside, removing the whole spices.

Step 5

Remove the chicken from the fridge. Do not discard the remaining yogurt marinade left at the bottom of the bowl.

Heat oil in a sufuria then place the marinated chicken to brown.

Add the remaining garlic, ginger, chili, garam masala, ground cumin and ground coriander and cook for 3 minutes, or until aromatic.

Step 6

Add the tomatoes and remaining yogurt marinade with a splash of water to loosen it. Season and stir well.

Step 7

Add rice to the mixture and lower the heat. Cover with the lid and cook for for 45 minutes.

Step 8

Leave the biryani to stand for 5 minutes, then sprinkle over the raisins for extra flavour and coriander before serving.