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Chicken Biryani

Fluffy aromatic brown basmati rice layered with a rich chicken, tomato and onion sauce which packs a huge flavour punch. Serves 4 - 6

Course Dinner, light supper, Lunch
Cuisine Indian
Keyword Biryani, butter chicken, curry, Indian food
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Author Susan

Ingredients

For the Chicken, Tomato and Onion Curry Sauce: ideally make this the day before you plan to eat it.

Spice Mix:

  • 5 green cardamom pods, slightly split
  • 2 brown cardamom pods, slightly split
  • 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
  • 2 teaspoons coriander powder
  • 1 teaspoon garam masala
  • 5 cloves
  • ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ¼ teaspoon cinnamon powder
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 cinnamon sticks

For the curry sauce:

  • 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 375g – 400g/3 onions, finely chopped
  • ¼ cup/4 tablespoons natural plain yoghurt
  • 30g peeled fresh ginger, finely chopped
  • 16g/4 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
  • ¼ – ¾ teaspoon chilli flakes (I use ½ teaspoon)
  • 4 skinless breasts of chicken, around 900g
  • 500g passata, plus some water
  • 1¼ – 1½ teaspoons fine salt
  • 1 – 1½ teaspoons sugar

For the aromatic rice:

  • 300g brown basmati rice (or use white rice if you prefer)
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 stick cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon cardamom OR 3 green and 2 black cardamom pods
  • ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves OR 5 whole cloves
  • ½ teaspoon fine salt
  • ¼ good grinding black pepper OR 1 teaspoon black peppercorns

Topping ingredients:

  • 6 tablespoons milk
  • 2 pinches saffron threads
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • the cooked onions you set aside
  • 40g unsalted butter
  • the cooked rice
  • the prepared sauce

To serve:

  • chopped fresh coriander
  • plain, natural yoghurt
  • green vegetables or a salad made from tomatoes, cucumber and lemon juice

Instructions

  1. Collect together your equipment (see Recipe Notes below) and ingredients.

  2. How to make the chicken and tomato sauce: measure all the spices and lightly crush the cardamom pods. Dry fry all the spices in a pan over a moderately high heat, stirring, for around 30 seconds or until aromatic. Tip out of the pan onto a plate or bowl.

  3. Heat ½ of the oil in the pan and add the chopped the onions. Cook over a moderately high heat, stirring regularly until they are a deep, dark brown. This will take 20 – 30 minutes.

  4. Whilst the onions are cooking, peel and roughly chop the garlic and ginger. Blitz in a mini food processor until finely chopped. Alternatively crush the garlic and grate the ginger or finely chop by hand.

  5. Add the ginger, garlic, yoghurt and chilli flakes to the mixing bowl and and stir to mix.

  6. When the onions are cooked, remove around ⅕ and set aside in a separate bowl.

  7. Mix the remaining onions with the yoghurt mix.

  8. Chop the chicken breasts into cubes.

  9. Heat the remaining oil in the pan and add the chicken cubes. Brown on all sides. You may need to do this in batches

  10. When the chicken has browned – this should take around 5 minutes – stir in the yoghurt and onion mix.

  11. Pour in the passata and add all the fried spices.

  12. Pour around 100 -125ml water into the passata box/bottle and swish around to clean out the remaining passata – pour into the pan.

  13. Stir to mix well and cook, covered, over a low heat for 30 minutes, stirring from time to time.

  14. When cooked, taste and adjust seasoning. I normally add a little sugar – around 1 – 1½ teaspoons. Your sauce is now ready.

  15. Cook the rice: wash the rice and cook with the spices according to packet instructions. Cook until al dente. (See Recipe Notes)

  16. Prepare Toppings and Assemble your Biryani: 30 minutes before you assemble the Biryani, mix the saffron with the milk and set aside.

  17. Pre-heat the oven to Fan Oven 160°C /180°C/350°F/Gas 4

  18. Assemble the Biryani:

    - spread ½ of the chicken and tomato curry sauce on the base of the baking dish

    - add ½ of the rice on top

    - top with the remaining ½ of the curry sauce

    - finish with the remaining ½ of the rice

    - pour the lemon juice evenly over the top of the dish

    - also pour the milk and saffron evenly over the top of the dish

    -scatter the reserved fried onion evenly over the top of the dish

    - cut the butter into small pieces and dot out evenly

  19. Cook, covered, in a preheated oven for 45 – 60 minutes or until piping hot throughout. If your lid is not close fitting, also cover with a double layer of foil.

  20. To serve – sprinkle with plenty of chopped, fresh coriander. We like it served with some simply steamed green vegetables or a salad of tomatoes and cucumber with lemon juice and some natural, plain yoghurt on the side and some lemon wedges.

Recipe Notes

Equipment:

  • kitchen scales and measuring spoons
  • chopping board and knife
  • mixing bowl
  • cast iron pan
  • large saucepan
  • lemon reamer
  • small food processor
  • small jug

Make the curry sauce the day before you plan to eat it.

The Biryani is best made the day before you eat it. You can either make the whole dish or just make the sauce the day before. The flavours will develop, deepen and infuse overnight.

Basmati Rice:

The rice will further cook with the sauce in the oven, so it is preferable for the rice to be very slightly under-cooked. Brown rice normally takes around 20 – 22 minutes. If so, cook for 20 rather than 22 minutes.

Slightly adapted from Vicky Bhogal’s fabulous book, A Year of Cooking Like Mummyji. 

I made a few changes – see below. Feel free to use my recipe or go with the original, which is arguably slightly more authentic.

The changes I made include:

  • replacing the green chillies with chilli flakes – using chilli flakes helps me control and guarantee the consistent heat levels each time
  • I reduce the oil from ½ cup to ⅓ cup
  • Vicky uses ¼ cup canned tomatoes and I replaced this with 500g passata – I just love loads of sauce.
  • Because of the extra tomatoes, I find the sauce needs a little sugar to balance the acidity.
  • I replaced the 1 teaspoon black peppercorns with ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (I do not like too many whole spices in my food!)
  • I use brown rather than white basmati rice. I find it keeps it texture better given you will be pre-cooking the rice and then cooking again in the oven.
  • I do not like too many whole spices in my finished food. In the rice, I only use a stick of cinnamon which can be removed. The remainder of the spices, I use in powder form but I have given whole spice options in the recipe, if you prefer.