Shanti is our maid and she comes to the house a few times a week. The other day, she saw all the spices in the cupboard and I guess must have seen my propensity to buy, prepare and eat food so she suggested she make us a byriani.
She is from Sri Lanka and has spent years in Dubai as a housemaid with various families from all origins so I figured it would be a nice idea. She came by this morning and once in action in the kitchen, slicing onions faster than a blender and smashing garlic cloves , ginger and spices more efficiently than I could ever dream of, I knew she could teach me a thing or two….
I have slightly adjusted the recipe by deboning the chicken because I dislike having chicken bones in my plate and it is more pleasant when you are having people over. As well, Shanti fries the chicken once it has been cooked. I have completely skipped that step because it can slightly dry out the chicken. Of course, you can substitue lamb or fish for this recipe. When I served this, I put some thick yogurt on the table for those of us who wanted to cool down the spicy taste.
What you will need :
– 3 onions
– 5 garlic cloves
– 4 tomatoes, diced
– a bunch of fresh coriander and mint
– fresh ginger – 5 cm piece
– vegetable oil
– ghee or butter
– 1 chicken, skinned and cut up
– curry powder
– turmeric
– cumin powder
– cardamom pods
– chilli powder
– salt, pepper
– 1 cinnamon stick
– cumin seeds
– anis seeds
– basmati rice (around 3 cups)
Preparing the chicken, tomatoe and spice mixture:
Add oil to a pot and saute the chicken on medium-high heat for 2 minutes.
Add 2 onions, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 chopped tomatoes, 2 tbsp of powdered cumin, 2 tbsp of turmeric and 2 tsp of curry powder and 2 or 3 tbsp water, cover and let it cook on medium hear for 20 minutes, adding extra water to prevent the chicken from sticking to the pan sticking. The chicken should be properly cooked through once you are finished with this step and you should have a few tbsps of cooking liquid. Let the chicken cool down, debone it and return the chicken pieces to the pot with its cooking liquid. Set aside.
Meanwhile, using a mortar and pestle, chop and and make a paste out of the remaining garlic, the chiles, ginger and around 2 tbsp of cumin.
Grind all the remaining dry spices into a powder. You can leave a few cumin seeds and bay leaves whole.
Fry the remaining onions and garlic with some oil in a pan on medium heat until it becomes golden. Then add the remaining chopped tomatoes, the dry spice mixture, whole bay leaves and cumin seeds and let simmer until it becomes a thick sauce, about 10 minutes. Once this is finished, you add this mixture to the chicken, add the chopped herbs and set aside. It should look like the pic below.
Directions for making the rice :
Put the rice in a big bowl full of lukewarm water and rinse it thoroughly. Repeat 2 or 3 times or until water is clear.
Cook rice in lots salted boiling water for about 5-7 minutes. The rice should be slightly undercooked. Strain it.
Separately, take your saffron strands and reduce to a powder in a mortar. Add this powder to a cup of hot slightly salted water.
Assembling your byriani :
Take a big pot and put 2 tablespoons of butter or ghee. Add a layer of rice, 1/3 cup of saffron water, the chicken mixture, and repeat until there is no more rice.
Cover and put it on low heat for about 30 minutes or until the rice is tender.
To serve, I mix it up a little, add some ghee or butter to it and then pour on a large platter. Use coriander and mint for decoration and if desired some toasted cashew nuts.
Sploutch 
