WOOD FIRED CHICKEN BIRYANI

 

 

INGREDIENTS

 

This is a dish that you cook the rice and curry separately then cook together for the fabulous flavours to mingle.  I like to make my own biryani curry powder, it only takes a few minutes and rewards the dish with a much deeper sense of spices and flavours.

 

FOR THE CURRY BASE

5 cardamom pods bashed and seeds out

5 large onions fine sliced

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 bay leaf

4 chicken breast or thigh meat chopped

2 red chillies fine diced seeds discarded

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon powder

1 inch grated fresh ginger

2 garlic cloves grated

4 King Edward potatoes diced

2 cups of peas

 1/2 lemon juiced

salt and pepper

500ml chicken stock

FOR FINISHING TOUCHES

1 handful of toasted almond slices

small bunch of fresh coriander chopped

2 boiled eggs cut into quarters

 

Heat the oil in a large casserole pan and add the cardamom pods, seeds, bay leaf and cumin seeds, fry for 2 minutes, add one of the sliced onions and cook slowly for about 15 minutes until caramelised golden and soft.  Coat the chicken in the garlic, ginger, chilli and ground spice powders, add to the pan and fry until sealed, add the potatoes, peas and chicken stock, and if needed to almost cover the meat and vegetables then bring to a gentle simmer and cover the dish, cook for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are fork tender.  Taste and season with salt and pepper and a squeeze of  fresh lemon juice.  Leave on a really low heat while the rice cooks.

 

FOR THE BIRYANI RICE

1 cup of rice per 2 people

2 cups of water per 1 cup of rice

large pinch of saffron strands

large pinch of sea salt

1 jelly chicken stock cube

 

Rinse the rice well and place in a pan with the saffron and chicken stock, do not stir, pop the lid on and simmer for 5 minutes, do not take the lid off at any point, take off the heat and leave to finish cooking for another ten minutes this will give you perfect rice.

 

Spoon the rice in  a thick layer over the curry in the casserole dish, turn up the heat until the curry is bubbling again and then place on a layer of tin foil and then the lid and pop in the wood fired oven or pre heated oven for approx 20 minutes, remove and leave un-touched for a further 10 minutes before serving.

 

While the biryani is baking and then resting, take the rest of the onions and a dash of ooil and fry over a medium heat until caramelised, sticky and golden brown, season with salt and pepper and scatter over the top of the biryani with the toasted almonds and fresh chopped coriander.

 

Traditionally this dish would be garnished with a couple of boiled eggs in quarters.