Recipe adapted from Chicken Biryani recipe from “The East Indian Cookery Book”
Serves 4-5
What you need:
- 1 1/4 cups Basmati rice, washed 3 times and soaked for 20 mins
- 500 g Chicken thigh, cut into 1.5 inch cubes
- 1 Tbsp Oil
- 2 Onions, finely chopped
- 1 cup Frozen mixed vegetables (I used a mixture of peas, carrots, corn, capsicum)
- 10 Peppercorns
- 4 cloves Garlic
- 1-3 Green chillies (depending on how spicy your chillies are and your heat preference)
- 1/2 inch Ginger
- 1/2 Tbsp Cumin seeds
- 1 tsp Chilli powder
- 1 Tbsp Coriander powder
- 2 1/2 tsp Kosher salt (or 1 1/2 table salt)
- 4 Cloves
- 2 Green cardamoms
- 2 Black cardamoms
- 3 Bay leaves
- 1 Cinnamon stick
- Juice of half a lime
- Fried shallots (optional)
How to put this together:
- Pound together peppercorns + garlic + green chillies + ginger + cumin seeds
- Heat oil, add onions, fry until soft & translucent
- Add the pounded mixture, fry until fragrant
- Add chicken pieces. Fry for a few minutes until slightly brown.
- Add chilli powder + coriander powder + salt. Fry until fragrant
- Add cloves + green caradmoms + black cardamoms + bay leaves + cinnamon stick. Fry until fragrant.
- Add 1 cup water + frozen vegetables. Cook for a few minutes until chicken is cooked and little curry sauce is left
- Add lime juice. Taste, add more salt and lime juice if required.
- Add 2 cups water + drained rice. Mix well and cook on high heat
- When it’s boiling, put the lid on and turn the heat down to very low. Keep for 10 mins.
- Turn off heat. Leave the lid closed for 5 mins.
- Serve hot, with fried shallots on top (opional)
