Chicken Biryani
Chicken biryani is a traditional Indian dish where heavily spiced marinated chicken is layered with partially cooked rice and fried onions. It is then cooked over low heat, so everything steams together in an aromatic one-pot wonderland. It's rich, fragrant, and moreish, and you'll impress yourself once you've made it!
This is definitely not a fully traditional recipe—it's our take on a really clever way of cooking chicken and rice. We've used a curry powder mix that has a base of turmeric, coriander, fenugreek, black pepper, and chilli powder, and added garam masala, so you only have to open two spice jars.
To make things really easy, in the last 5 minutes of cooking, we put green beans on top of the rice to steam. Serve this with mint yogurt and give yourself a round of applause! 👏👏👏
Ingredients 17
For The Chicken
1⁄3 cup yoghurt
3 tbsp garam masala
2 tbsp curry powder
1⁄2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1⁄2 tsp salt
1 1⁄2 tsp black pepper
6 chicken thighs, bone-in, skin-on
For The Rice
2 cups basmati rice
4 bay leaves
1 stick cinnamon
1⁄2 tsp curry powder
2 tsp salt
For The Onion Mix
2 onion, brown, thinly sliced
6 cloves garlic, minced
50 g ginger, finely grated
2 tbsp sunflower oil
To Serve
400 g green beans, trimmed
1 bunch mint, leaves picked, thinly sliced
1 cup Greek yoghurt, plain
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Method 11
Start by marinating the . In a large bowl combine the , , , , and . Add the chicken to the marinade and mix to coat well using your hands or tongs. Set aside to marinate.
Next, parboil the . Bring a medium pot with 1.5 litres of water to the boil. Add the rice, , , , and , stir then cook for only 5 minutes. Drain, discard the cinnamon stick bay leaf, and set aside.
Meanwhile prepare the onion mix ingredients and green beans. Thinly slice the , finely grate the and mince the . Remove the tops from the and set aside,
In a large casserole pot with a lid, heat the over medium heat. Add the sliced and saute for 10 minutes until soft and just starting to caramelise. Add the and and cook, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes. Remove the onion mix, leaving any excess oil in the pot, and set aside in a small bowl.
Add the to the pot, skin side-up. Cook for about 5 minutes until well browned.
Flip the over so that it's skin-side down. Arrange the chicken thighs evenly across the bottom of the pot in one layer. They should fit snugly with almost no gaps between them. Spread the onion mix on top of the chicken in an even layer, then add the drained parboiled on top. Use the back of a spoon to spread the rice into an even layer. The chicken should be completely buried under the rice,
Add 1/2 cup of water and cover with the lid. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 20 minutes, until all the water has been absorbed and the rice is almost cooked through.
Remove the lid from the pot, add the on top of the rice, and sprinkle with a generous pinch of salt. Cover with the lid again and let the green beans steam for another 5 minutes until tender and bright green. The rice will finish cooking completely in this time.
While the biryani is cooking make the mint yoghurt. Pick the from the stems and thinly slice. Add to a small bowl and mix through the with a pinch of salt and pepper.
Using tongs, remove the from the pot and set aside on a plate. Place a large serving plate upside down over the pot, and quickly but carefully flip the biryani pot onto the plate. The pot might need a little jiggle and a few taps with a wooden spoon to help release the . Don't worry if the chicken gets a little stuck to the bottom of the pot, just take the chicken pieces out with tongs and place on top of the . Make sure you scrap off any nice brown bits that stick on the bottom too - they will be delicious!
Serve with the steamed and the mint yoghurt.
Clove Kitchen's tips
Cook the biryani low and slow to avoid the chicken and spices from getting burned and stuck on the bottom of the pot. Towards the end of the cooking time, take the lid off and have a little look and listen - if it is crackling loudly, your pot might be too hot. Don't leave the lid off for too long as you need the steam to finish cooking the rice and beans.
