Little Bite Of…

Delicately Spiced Home-made Biryani

Whilst travelling up and down to London for the day job this week I was reading (again) Persiana by Sabrina Ghayour which since its publish has been one of my most read cook books offering a lot of inspiration to me. The recipe that jumped out at me this week was a lamb biryani recipe and got me thinking about a low carb version with my favorite cauliflower rice (slight apologies for posting another cauli-rice dish so soon after the last one but this is quite different and really is yum).

Once I had the idea I spent a little while on pinterest having a look at other biryani recipes to see the different mixes of spices and how the biryani changes as it travels around the world. Sabrina states in Persiana that biryani originates from Persia and an authentic biryani would not hold any chilli whatsoever whereas when you look at Indian version a chilli or two will certainly feature as part of the recipe and as you move down to Malaysia, their versions of biryani feature small amounts of chilli and can have a lot of sweetness added from dried fruit along with the balance of spicy aromatics.

Having tried to make home-made curries at home before and never being that successful I went into this one with a little apprehension but I made a conscious decision at the start that I would not be afraid of the addition of different spice.

I think where I always go wrong in homemade curries is by not adding enough spice and then they miss the balance of flavours and the aromatics. Whilst I was reading recipes on-line I noticed that the majority of the recipes add spices in tablespoon measures, not teaspoons like my normal measures (please note that there will still be some tsp measures below, but I have been much bolder than normal and I am really happy with how it turned out).

This is another one of the dishes that I need to make two versions of; a normal rice version for Dave and a cauli-rice version for me. As rice grains are a little more robust than cauli-rice I used slightly different methods for each of them but ultimately finished cooking them together in the same pot as a 50:50 dish.

The recipe that I have ended up developing looks like a bit of a monster and it wasn’t the quickest dish I have ever made but I think the finished article is well worth the work and results in the most balanced home-made curry I have ever made and Dave said he would prefer to eat it again over a biryani from our local takeaway so pretty chuffed with that.

To make it a little more manageable I have split it down into sections below and you could really do the marinaded chicken a day ahead and leave to infuse the flavours overnight to help split the time out a little. From start to finish the dish took me about 2 and a half hours so it is probably one for the weekend to replace a Saturday or Sunday night takeaway rather than a week night dinner.

 

Home-made Biryani with Either Cauli-rice or Infused Rice

Total Recipe Below Serves 4 (2 with cauli-rice & 2 with Infused Rice)

 

Marinaded Chicken

– 700g Chicken Thighs, Skin on and Bone in (It would be easier to buy skin off & de-boned, therefore around 400g weight)
– 2 tbsp Plain Yogurt
– 1 tbsp Ground Cumin (It is worthwhile replacing your spices regularly if buying ground as they lose their aromatics over time)
– 1 tbsp Ground Coriander
– Bunch of Coriander (Finely chopped)
– 2 Garlic Cloves (Grated / Finely Chopped / Minced)
– Thumb Size Piece of Ginger (Grated / Finely Chopped / Minced)
– Salt & Pepper

1. If using skin on and bone in chicken thighs like I was then you want to start with removing the skin (keep this to the side if you fancy trying crispy chicken thighs with it drop me a message and I will send it over) and de-boning the chicken thigh. I then added a couple of slashes over the chicken to increase the surface area for the marinade to be in contact with.

2. I use a micro-plane grater for my garlic and ginger but you can chop it finely or use a garlic press if you have one (or you can use garlic & ginger purée). At this stage you also want to finely chop your coriander

3. Once all the components are ready mix all of them together, season well with salt and pepper and cover with cling film before popping into the fridge for at least one hour but you can leave marinading for up to 24 hours as long as your chicken life allows.

4. When you are ready to make the dish you need to brown off your chicken, this adds another layer of flavour to the whole dish and is really worthwhile doing.

5. Heat some coconut oil (or another frying oil of your choice) in a heavy base pan or frying pan and add the chicken in a single layer, you may need to do this in batches. It is important to keep the chicken pieces separate in the pan or they could sweat instead of really colour.

6. Once you have placed the chicken in the pan just leave it still for a good 4-5 minutes to allow for a good caramelised colour before you flip it over. Caramelise both sides and then remove from the heat and keep to the side until ready to add to the biryani veg mix.

 

Infused Rice

If, like me, you need to make a carb-loaded version and a low carb version then this is the rice stage. If you are only making a cauli-rice version then jump down to the biryani spice mix and biryani veg mix stage.

– 1/2 Cup of Basmati Rice
– 1/4 Onion (Diced)
– 1 Cinnamon Stick (Snapped in half)
– 3 Cardamom Pods
– 8-10 Coriander Seeds
– 4 Whole Cloves
– Pinch of Saffron
– Salt
– 1 tbsp Coconut Oil

1. Heat the coconut oil (medium to high heat) in a pan that you have a lid for and add all of the ingredients except for the rice. Stir the ingredients continuously as they fry, once you can smell the onions and they are starting to take on a colour around the edges you can now add the rice.

2. Stir the rice to coat in all of the flavours before adding a cup of water, cover with the lid and lower the heat down to low.

3. Cook for 5-7 minutes until slightly softened around the edges but the middle of the rice should still be hard and white when split in half.

4. Drain off any remaining water and leave to the side. Remove the cloves & pods and discard. Keep the cinnamon stick for the biryani spice mix

 

Biryani Spice Mix

This can easily be made ahead and left to the side until required

– 1.5 tbsp Ground Cumin
– 1 tbsp Ground Coriander
– 1.5 tsp Ground Turmeric
– 1 tsp Ground Chilli Powder
– 1/s tsp Asafetida (this is a very potent spice that adds a savoury roast onion flavour)
– 2 Cinnamon Sticks (1 reserved from the rice above if you have made the rice version)
– 8 Cloves
– 8 Cardamom Pods

1. Mix all together in a ramekin and keep to the side until required for the cooking of the biryani veg mix

 

Biryani Veg Mix

– 2 Tomatoes (Diced)
– Handful of Green Bean (Sliced)
– 3-4 Florets of Broccoli (Cut into Quarters)
– 3/4 Onion (Diced)
– 1 Large Green Chilli (I used a mild variety, removed the seeds and cut into rounds)
– 2 Garlic Cloves (Grated / Finely Chopped / Minced)
– Thumb Size Piece of Ginger (Grated / Finely Chopped / Minced)
– 2 Florets of Califlower (Cut into Quarters)
– 1 Carrot (Diced, I used a heritage purple haze carrot but a standard orange carrot will be just fine)
– Cup of Peas (Frozen)
– 1/2 Chicken Stock Cube and 100ml Boiling Water
– Biryani Spice Mix
– 2 tbsp Coconut Oil

1. Heat a large frying pan over a medium to high heat and add the coconut oil. Once melted add the garlic, ginger and onions and fry until colour starting around the onions.

2. Add the biryani spice mix and cook out for 2-3 minutes. If it seems to be catching on the base of the pan you can add a splash of water to stop this. You should start to smell all the lovely aromatics coming from all of the spices.

3. Add the carrots, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower and chilli next and cook for a couple of minutes stirring occasionally. Again, if you find it is catching on your frying pan you can add a splash of water to stop this.

4. Add the tomatoes and stir through, cook until the tomatoes are starting to release their juice and break down and then add in your chicken stock and stir through. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

5. Add your caramelised marinaded chicken into the veg mix and stir through.

 

Biryani Assembly

The end is within sight now

1. Add the Biryani veg mix with the chicken to a oven proof dish and top half of it with your infused rice and half with cauli-rice (I blitzed a small head of cauliflower in a food processor).

2. At this stage you can sprinkle with an optional saffron infused water (pour boiling water over a pinch of saffron strands and leave to infuse for 10-15 minutes)

3. Put the lid on and wrap in tinfoil to keep the steam in.

4. Pop in the oven for 45 minutes at 180C fan (or you can cook over a low heat on the hob).

5. Once removed from the oven leave to cool for 5-10 minutes. Whilst waiting you can dry fry some cashew nuts to serve along with a wedge of lime and some fresh coriander.

 

Hope you enjoy it if you give it a go and I please leave a message if you do