Biryani dishes originated in Persia (now Iran) and the name comes from the Persian word bery which means ‘fried’ or ‘roasted’. There are a large number of Biryani dishes – Wikipedia lists 19 so I’m not going to list them all here!
The recipe below is one of my favourite baryani dishes and it’s really simple – it can be made in around 40 minutes!
Serves 4, prep time: 30 minutes, cooking time: 10 minutes.
Ingredients
Four chicken breasts, three cardamom pods, one onion, one bay leaf, one cinnamon stick, turmeric, coriander, curry paste, chicken stock, butter, six cups of basmati rice and roasted almonds (optional)
Method
1. Start with getting the ingredients ready. Chopp the chicken breast meat into 1″ cubes (or 2″ if you have a large mouth!), washing the rice with cold water, peel and finely chop the onion.
2. Over a medium to high heat place a medium sized saucepan and add a tablespoon of butter. Throw in the onion and spices (cardamom and cinnamon) and cook over the heat for a 6-10 minutes. Make sure the onions don’t burn.
3. Add a tablespoon’s worth of turmeric to the mixture, the curry paste and finally the all important chicken. Stir around in the saucepan and cook the chicken until you are happy it’s been cooked through.
4. While the first pan is on the heat see if you can multi-task by pouring the washed rice into another and making almost a litre’s worth of chicken stock. Then pour the chicken stock over the rice.
5. Put the saucepan with the rice and stock over a high heat and bring the lot to the boil. Then turn the heat low, put a lid on the saucepan and allow it to simmer away for around 5 minutes. After 5 minutes turn the heat off totally and let the rice settle for around 8-10 minutes.
6. Once the rice is settled give it a good stir and if you like add the almonds and coriander (you may add raisons too if you like, although my wife can’t stand them!). Serve immediately on four heated plates with the curry from the other saucepan.
If you liked this recipe then you’ll like the rest of my chicken breast recipes. Click the link to check them out!