Nasi Biryani

A very long time ago, I made an attempt to cook Nasi Biryani to JW's pot luck dinner and back then, I did not follow any recipe from the internet or book. It was a pure guessing game for me. I cooked it exactly the way I would cook claypot chicken rice, except instead of frying the ginger, chinese mushroom with the seasonings before adding in the rice, for the Nasi Biryani, I fried all the spices, cashew nuts and raisins before adding in the rice. That method is simple and I reckon quite yummy.

However, this time, when JW invited us to another of her pot luck dinner, I decided to be smart. Surfed the net and found a recipe for Indian Chicken Nasi Biryani. It took quite a lot more work than what I would have like. I think my mistake is that the recipe would really work if you were making Chicken or Lamb Nasi Biryani. But I only wanted to cook the rice without the meat. Hence, the result was a soggier version of how I would have preferred my rice to be. And at the dinner, someone commented that the rice was not salty enough. Sigh.. another one that takes me back to the drawing board.


The recipe which I used was from Recipes Indian and I have reproduced both the ingredients and the methods below.


Ingredients :

For Chicken
3 1/2 lb./ 1 1/2kg Chicken
1/8 tsp Ground turmeric
1/2 cup Sour cream
1 cup Crispy fried onions
2 tbsp Garam masala
1 3" cinnamon sticks
1 tbsp Brown mustard seeds
3 Star anise
3 Cloves
2 tbsp Cumin seeds
5 Small green chilies
5 cloves Garlic
2 tsp Paprika
Salt to taste

For the Rice cooking
4 cups Rice, washed
3 Clove
3 Cinnamon sticks
6 Bay leaves
8 Cardamom pods
1 tsp Brown mustard seeds
3 Pandan leaves
10 cups Water
1 cup Milk
1 tsp Whole saffron
1 cup Frozen green peas
1/2 cup Dark raisins
2 tbsp Vegetable oil
100g Butter or Gee
Some mint leaves
Salt to taste

Method:

For Chicken

1. Mix the chicken pieces with sour cream, ground turmeric and salt & let it sit for about 2 hours.
2. Mix crispy onions with garam masala and set aside.
3. Roast the cinnamon stick, brown mustard seeds, star anise, cloves, cumin seeds in a dry skillet. Pound them together in a mixer. Set aside.
4. Pound the garlic and green chilies together.
5. Mix marinated chicken with crispy onions mix, ground spices, paprika, garlic and green chilies. Set aside.

For the rice

1. Soak saffron in the warm milk and set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a skillet and add butter,add 1 cinnamon stick and 3 bay leaves and fry until nice aroma comes out. Set aside.
3. Boil the water in a large pan and stir in cloves, 2 cinnamon sticks, 3 bay leaves, cardamoms & brown mustard seeds.
4. Add rice, pandan leaves and cook until 2/3 done. (do not cover the pan while rice is cooking)
5. Drain the rice and discard the pandan leaves. Mix the rice with salt for taste.
6. Place all the marinated chicken in a pan. Add a layer of rice on the chicken and sprinkle with some colored milk, fragrant butter, green peas, dark raisins & mint leaves. Repeat the layers with the same order and bake in 325 deg F oven for 30 to 40 minutes until the chicken is done. (must have at least 2 layers).
7. Ready to Serves.

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