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This is a delicious South Asian (Indian/Bangladeshi/Pakistani) rice dish which is often reserved for very special occasions such as weddings, parties, or holidays. Biryani was brought to South Asia by travelers and merchants and local variants of this dish are not only popular in subcontinent but also in Arab States in the Gulf, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka.
Ingredients
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 small potatoes, peeled and halved
2 large onions, finely chopped
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
5/6 teaspoon green chili
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1 medium chopped tomatoes
3 tablespoons plain yogurt
6/7 cardamoms
1 (2 inch) piece cinnamon stick
3 pounds skinless chicken pieces cut into chunks
1 large diced onion
1 pinch powdered saffron
5 pods cardamom
3 whole cloves
1 (1 inch) piece cinnamon stick
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 pound basmati rice
4 cups chicken stock
1/2 teaspoons salt
How To Cook
In a large skillet, in 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (or ghee) fry potatoes until brown, drain and reserve the potatoes. Add remaining 2 tablespoons oil to the skillet and fry onion, garlic and ginger until onion is soft and golden. Add chili, pepper, turmeric, cumin, salt and the tomatoes. Fry, stirring constantly for 5 minutes. Add yogurt, mint, cardamom and cinnamon stick. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally until the tomatoes are cooked to a pulp. It may be necessary to add a little hot water if the mixture becomes too dry and starts to stick to the pan.
When the mixture is thick and smooth, add the chicken pieces and stir well to coat them with the spice mixture. Cover and cook over very low heat until the chicken is tender, approximately 35 to 45 minutes. There should only be a little very thick gravy left when chicken is finished cooking. If necessary cook uncovered for a few minutes to reduce the gravy.
In a large skillet, heat vegetable oil (butter) and fry the onions until they are golden. Add saffron, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon stick, ginger and rice. Stir continuously until the rice is coated with the spices.In a medium-size pot, heat the chicken stock and salt. When the mixture is hot. Add the green chili and cover the saucepan tightly, turn heat to very low and steam for 20 minutes. However, this part of cooking you can do on rice cooker/slowcooker, in that case you have to put less water and middle of cooking have to mix the the rice and meat. Keep it on heat for extra 30 minutes... Do not lift lid or stir while cooking. Spoon biryani onto a warm serving dish.
Enjoy the food as you are expected as beautiful it is. You can add some side dish as like fish fry, boil egg, grill meat/fish, beef curry, plain vegetable salad (mix of tomato, cucambar, onion, and carots), sutible drinks bevarage and red wine, traditionaly borhani (spicy yougot) is very popular.
