The Mughal Empire empire, which ruled India for years, brought Biryani to that nation. There are many types of biryanis and the old Mughal King used to eat many different types of biryani, at least one type per week and there must have been at least 52 different types of biryani.
I bought a 1.3 kg young spring chicken from Waitrose and I had removed all the back bones, wings, parson's nose, skin and cut the chicken into 8 large pieces and the weight of the skinless chicken pieces [without the backbones, skin, parson's nose, wings etc] came to 1 kg, which should be enough to feed four people.
I then marinated these pieces of chicken with the following spices which were mixed with 150 gram of Onken natural set full fat yogurt.
25 grams peeled and minced ginger
25 grams peeled and minced garlic
half tsp ground cumin
half tsp ground turmeric
half tsp ground garam masala
2 bay leaves
1 tsp good quality sea salt [I used Maldon sea salt flakes]
1 little pot of Knorr chicken stock pots
Preparation of Onion and Whole Spices
2 medium size onions peeled and diced
2 pieces cinnamon sticks
5 pcs green cardamoms
5 pcs whole cloves
2 star anise
2 whole mace
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
1 tbsp [30 ml] vegetable oil - I use rapeseed oil
Traditionally these spices would have been fried in ghee. However, I think vegetable oil is much more healthier than ghee.
Sauté the diced onions in vegetable oil and then add the whole spices and allow these to be sautéd until the onions have turned slightly brown and the spices fragrant. Allow the spices and onions to cool and then add these to the marinated chicken and allow the chicken pieces to marinate overnight in a fridge. Do remember to cover the chicken pieces or else the fridge would smell.
Soak 3 cups of sella rice [420 grams] in salted water for at least 24 hours.
In addition soak a few pinches of saffron in two tablespoons of water for a few hours. Saffron is the most expensive spice and it is very good for people who do not want to get cancer. You can add as much or as little saffron as you like. I pay £12 for two grams of Iranian saffron, which I buy from an Iranian shop at West Ealing.
Bring to boil 2 liters of water and then add the bones of the chicken into the water - boil for an hour until all the flavour from the bones is released into the stock.
Fish out the bones and set the stock aside - You will need this stock for parboiling the soaked rice.
It is better to make the stock a day before and allow the stock to chill in a fridge overnight. This allows one to remove any fat which will float to the top of the stock easily.
Add two Kallo organic stock cubes and 1 tsp of Himalayan salt to this stock and allow the stock to boil gently to make sure the stock cubes have dissolved into the liquid stock.
Prepare three rice bowls full of coriander leaves and chop the stems finely.
Julienne 1 onion and saute this and set aside.
Julienne 3 peeled large shallots and sauté the shallots in oil and set aside for garnish.
Sauté a couple of handfuls of cashew nuts until light brown, drain and set aside for garnish.
Sauté a handful of raisins and set them aside for garnish.
Squeeze the juice of one lemon and set this aside.
Drain the sella rice and add the sella rice into the prepared boiling chicken stock.
Meanwhile, place a large pot with a heavy bottom containing the marinated chicken and mix in two bowls of coriander leaves and finely chopped coriander stems. The marinated pieces of chicken should be arranged on the large pot with a heavy bottom in a single layer. Scatter one rice bowl of coriander leaves and fried onion on top of the chicken pieces.
Turn on the heat to medium high [number 6] and start cooking the chicken pieces and when the chicken pieces start bubbling, reduce the heat to medium [number 5].
Parboil the sella rice for 8 minutes. [If you were to use basmati rice, then boil the soaked and drained basmati rice for 6 minutes. You only need to soak basmati rice for about 20 minutes, unlike sella rice which should be soaked for a longer period.]
Drain the parboiled rice completely.
Pile the parboiled rice on top of the chicken, coriander and onions like a little hill and make a hole using the handle of a wooden spoon on the rice to allow the steam from the chicken to escape.
Pour the soaked saffron water around the rice.
Cover with a lid and cook in low heat for 50 minutes - first 15 minutes at number 4 and then reducing to number 3 for the rest of the cooking time.
Switch off the heat after the 50 minutes and allow the biryani to stand for 15 minutes before serving and do not open the lid of the pot.
Spread some biryani cooked rice on a very large serving dish, and then place pieces of the cooked chicken on top of the rice and add more cooked rice on top of the meat. Remove any whole spices which one can see.
Then garnish the top of the biryani with the sautéd cashew nuts, sautéd shallots, sautéd raisins and some coriander leaves.
Place hard boiled eggs, which have been halved on top of the biryani - allowing an egg per person.
Drizzle the juice of one lemon on top of the biryani.
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| Chicken Biryani |
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| Raita |
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| The Chicken Biryani with Daniel on Sunday 7 August 2016 |
Questions and Answers
What is sella rice? Sella rice is a Pakistani parboiled rice and it is usually yellow in colour, which is a sign that it has been aged for several years. I do not use Indian basmati rice because I find the grains break easily and basmati rice cannot take the amount of cooking I need for making good pilaf or pulao and especially biryani. Please read the link given for parboiled rice above and you can better understand why I use sella rice.
Why do I use raw chicken and not pre-cook the chicken curry? I like my chicken pieces to be juicy and succulent. If one were to precook the chicken as a curry and then make biryani from this cooked chicken curry, then the chicken pieces become dry and loses much of its taste and texture.
8 minutes for parboiling the soaked sella rice - how do you count the 8 minutes? The duration of eight minutes is counted from the moment the stock and rice starts bubbling and one has to continue to boil the rice at high heat. My induction stove has a 10 dial setting - P [for power] or 10 to 0 which is off. I start boiling the stock at 10 or P and when the stock starts to come to the boil, I add the soaked drained rice into the boiling stock. I continue to boil the stock and rice at maximum heat until the stock starts to bubble. I turn the heat down to 8 and set the timer to 8 minutes. After boiling for 8 minutes, I drain the par-boiled completely and then place this half cooked rice on top of the chicken pieces which have been cooking for some 15 minutes in a pot with a heavy bottom and tight fitting lid.
Why don't you add chillies with the spices you have used for marinating the chicken pieces? Many people are unable to eat chilli hot food. People can have stomach ulcer after eating chillies for a long time. Some people suffer from diarrhoea after eating chillies in their food. Some people, who have had cancer, cannot eat chillies. Children cannot eat chillies. These are some of the reasons why I do not add chillies into my biryani. However, people who like chilli hot food, can add chilli oil onto their biryani on the table before they eat. However, there is nothing stopping you from adding chillies into your biryani.
There are many good ingredients in biryani - and these are turmeric and saffron which stops people from getting cancer. Pomegranate seeds also stops people from going senile.
Everybody uses different combinations of spices in making their biryanis. I use these spices because I like their taste and fragrance. You can use whatever spices you wish and like and there is no set rule. However, you must use turmeric and saffron in your biryani.
Size of chicken - Why do you use such small chicken(s)? If I were to have six people, I would need 560 grams of sella rice but two small chickens. I would not buy a 2 kg chicken. Why? Small chicken meat has a better texture - it is softer and is more succulent. The maximum size chicken I would buy would be a 1.5 kg. So, if I know I have people who are real carnivores, I would get two 1.5 kg chickens instead of two 1.3 kg chickens. However, there will be too many pieces of chicken to place on my biggest pot and I therefore have to cook the chicken pieces in two pots - one with rice and one without rice. It is a good idea to place all of the 560 grams of sella rice into one pot.
I do not have an induction hob and I only have a gas stove. Will this make a difference? Yes, it would. You would need a tava [an Indian cast iron flat pan] to distribute the heat from the gas evenly and to not allow for hotspots. So, you need to place your pan, which has a thick heavy bottom, on the tava and then cook the chicken on medium high initially, turning it down to medium heat and then to low and then very low, in order not to burn the chicken pieces on the bottom of the pan.
Some people add butter on top of the half cooked rice. Why don't you use butter? I do not use butter for health reasons. I want to reduce my saturated fat intake.
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