INTRODUCTION

I have long wanted to blog chicken biryani recipe after my issuance of fish biryani recipe (Recipe: Fish Biryani (Nasi Biryani Ikan)) but I always forget ..Every time when I shared the fish biryani recipe, members of Facebook Group will ask me if i have chicken biryani recipe.. So I have decided to blog this for records. As for lamb or beef biryani, it will definitely be out because I do not take lamb or beef.

I am naive to think that the way to prepare chicken biryani is the same as fish biryani. After a thorough research, I discovered that it is totally different. I think I can understand the difference, chicken are more difficult to get cooked and there are lots of meat juices where as fish are fishier, dry and fast to cook. Therefore the method of preparation the meat portion is different. Fish need to be pre-cooked to get rid of the fishiness.

However, for the rice portion, it is basically similar. I am contemplating whether I should share the stove top recipe or other short cut recipe. After due consideration, I have opt to use pressure cooker for the recipe since I have already share the stove top version in the fish biryani recipe. Don’t worry if you do not have pressure cooker, you can still the same method for stove top except the timing is slightly longer for the chicken to get soft.  In fact rice cooker can also be used.

The whole internet is flooded with biryani recipe and it is hard for me to tell which is authentic and I believed that this biryani recipe fell  under the category of “Hyderabad Biryani” but I am unsure since there are many categories from Sindhi biryani to Malabar biryani and many many others. What I can tell you is this recipe yields a delicious plate of chicken biryani like those sold in the Indian Muslim store in Singapore and Malaysia.

To me, people thought cooking biryani is very difficult, after I have tried fish biryani and vegetable biryani, I found that it is not as difficult as what people perceived. Of course, smaller scale cooking may be more difficult than large scale cooking like those in the stores, but one thing good is you can adjust the spices that suits your family taste buds. I have to admit that while my kids like to eat my homemade biryani , I cannot guarantee they are able to take those sold outside as it can be too authentic for their liking.. The stores may use authentic spices in a different proportion that will give different flavour at different stores.

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: 4-6 Adult servings

Chicken marinating

• 4-6 Chicken tights (at least 1/2 kilo )
• 2 tablespoons of plain yoghurt
• 2 sprigs of coriander leaves
• 1 tablespoon of ginger garlic paste
• 2 tablespoons of ghee or cooking oil
• 2 teaspoons of garam masala
• 2 teaspoons of chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon of coriander powder
• 1 teaspoon of cumin powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 cup of milk

Rice cooking

• 4 cups of basmati rice
• 1 big cinnamon stick
• 3 green cardamom seeds
• 2 star anises
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons of milk
• A generous pinch of saffron 
• Salt to taste

STEPS OF PREPARATION

• Cut the chicken into big pieces. I cut my chicken thighs into two pieces only. Remember that the thighs will shrink after cooked.

• Put all the chicken marinating ingredients into a big bowl and use hand to massage the chicken for a minute or two to ensure that the chickens is well coated with all the marinating ingredients. Let it marinate for at least 1-2 hours. Overnight marinating is preferred.

• Put the pinches of saffron into the milk. Let it soak until the colour appeared. Saffron is optional as the colour of will be masked by the colour of garam masala.

• In a pot, put one tablespoon of ghee, sauté the star anises, bay leaves, cinnamon stick and green cardamom until fragrant.

• Add some water (about 1 litre but it depend on size of your pot and you can add subsequently), add the salt and bring to boil. Take a small teaspoon of the liquid and taste if it is salty enough. If it is not salty, adjust accordingly as this will make the rice salty and no subsequent salt will be added.

• Add the cleaned rice, and let it boil for about 5=10 minutes. Take some rice out and ensure that the rice is not transparent. You need not to fully cook the rice as it will be subsequently steamed in the chicken cooking process. As long as the rice can be broken by the finger, it is considered as done.  Drain the rice and all the spices .

• Put all the marinated chickens on the pressure cooker pot or normal pot . Level it. Ensure all the marinating liquids are also added as it will help to simmer the chicken later.

• Cover the chicken with the rice and spices (cinnamon stick, cardamom and star anises), level it. Pour on top the saffron milk .

• Pressure cook the rice for about 15 minutes. When done, fluff the rice and ensure all the chicken juices at the bottom of the pot are well mixed with the rice on top before serving. Flavour will further develop after a hour or two.  For stove top version, you will need to start cooking using high heat for 10 minutes, after that, reduce the heat to small or medium and let it simmer for additional 30 minutes.

• For servings, put some rice and chicken on the plate and garnish with cashew nuts, green chilli, slice red onion, chopped coriander, tomatoes and raisins if preferred.  Best served hot and a tablespoon of yoghurt or some lemon juices can be added to enhance the taste.

CONCLUSION

Remember that if you do not have pressure cooker, you can always try to use stove top method. I know it works well because I have prepare stove top version a few times. If you want to cut short the preparation, you can pre-cook the chicken before adding to the rice. I do not think your family will care for the process but a plate of delicious chicken biryani served to them at the dining table. Lastly, it cost me about S$5 to cook 8 big pieces of chicken biryani, imagine how much it will cost for these 8 pieces of chicken with some rice.. I believed it will cost at least S$40-50 for 8 packets of chicken biryani.

Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have nice day. Should there be any imperfections in my blog layout, bear with me and I am trying hard to rectify it. In the event that you are a follower of Guaishushu at http://kwgls.wordpress.com, please do follow this new blog Guaishushu1 at https://www.guaishushu1.com.

You can follow me at PINTEREST or visit the blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE to keep abreast of my future posts. Also follow me at INSTAGRAM or TSU, a new social network for some more personal sharing other than recipes.

You can also join the FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED FACEBOOK GROUP and FOOD PARADISE 美食天堂to see more recipes. I am posting my daily home cooked food in the above Facebook Group daily. I would be more than happy if you can  post in the Group for the recipes that you tried from my blog.

If you are a Pinterest user and you are interested to have more recipes, you can join or follow this Pinterest Board set up by me  where there are more than 2600 recipes worldwide and pinned by various bloggers: FOOD BLOGGERS AND FOODIES UNITED PINTEREST BOARD.