FESTIVE BIRIANI CHICKEN"A one-dish banquet with layers of savory chicken or lamb. The unique, exotic flavor of this rice pilau owes much to the inclusion of powdered aromatic ginger."
FOR THE CHICKEN SAVOURY:1 (3 lb.) roasting chicken (2 x 1.5 kg)
3/4 cup ghee or mixture of ghee and oil (185 ml or 6 fl oz)
4 tablespoons blanched almonds
4 tablespoons sultanas (golden raisins)
8 small new potatoes, peeled and halved
2 large onions finely chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
2 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger
1 to 2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 tablespoon ground cumin
3 teaspoons salt
2 cups peeled and chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup plain yoghurt (125 ml or 4 fl oz)
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint (30 g or 1 oz)
2 teaspoons ground cardamom
2 small cinnamon sticks
FOR THE SPICED RICE:5 cups uncooked basmati or Dehra Dun rice (1 kg or 2 lb)
4 tablespoons ghee
2 large onions, finely sliced
10 green cardamom pods, bruised
5 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
2 teaspoons powdered aromatic ginger (or ground ginger)
1/2 teaspoons saffron strands
3 tablespoons rose water or 10 drops rose essence
3 teaspoons salt
8 cups chicken stock (2 litres or 4 pints)
FOR GARNISHES: 6 hard-boiled eggs
1 cup blanched pistachios or cooked green peas
TO PREPARE THE CHICKEN SAVOURY: Cut chickens into serving pieces. Use backs, necks and wing tips to make stock for cooking the rice.
Heat half the ghee (or ghee and oil) in a small frying pan and fry the almonds over medium heat until they are golden. Drain on slotted spoon and set aside.
Fry sultanas for a few seconds, drain and put aside with the almonds. (These are for garnishing the dish later on.)
Fry peeled and halved new potatoes until well browned on all sides. Drain.
Pour ghee remaining in frying pan into a large, heavy saucepan, add remaining ghee or oil and heat. Fry the chopped onion, garlic an ginger until onion is soft and golden.
Add chili powder, pepper, turmeric and cumin to the saucepan and fry, stirring, for 2 minutes.
Add salt, tomato, yoghurt, mint, cardamom and cinnamon sticks. Cover and cook over a low heat, stirring occasionally, until tomato is pulpy, adding a little water if mixture becomes too dry and starts to stick to pan.
When mixture is thick, add chicken pieces and stir well to coat them with spice mixture. Cover pan and cook over very low heat until chicken is tender, about 35 minutes. There should be only a small amount of thick gravy when chicken is cooked. If necessary, remove chicken and cook gravy uncovered for a few minutes until thick enough to mound in the spoon. Return chicken to pan and set aside.
TO PREPARE THE SPICED RICE: Wash rice well and drain in colander for at least 30 minutes.
Heat ghee and fry onion until soft and golden.
Add cardamom pods, cloves, cinnamon stick, aromatic ginger and rice. Fry, stirring, for about 3 minutes or until rice is coated with the ghee.
Toast saffron strands in a dry pan for 1 minutes, shaking pan or stirring so they do not burn. Turn onto a saucer and with the back of a spoon, crush to powder. Pour 2 tablespoons hot water or stock onto saffron powder and stir to dissolve.
Stir the dissolved saffron into the measured stock, together with rose water and salt, and pour over the rice, stirring well. Add chicken savoury and fried potatoes to the rice and mix gently. Cover saucepan tightly, turn heat very low and steam for 20 minutes without lifting lid or stirring. Turn off heat and leave for 10 minutes.
TO SERVE: With a large metal spoon transfer biriani onto a large warm dish, garnish with almonds and sultanas, halved eggs and cooked peas and serve at once. Accompaniments are Cucumber Raita and hot pickles.
Makes 12 servings
Source:
Charmaine Solomon's Encyclopedia of Asian Food by Charmaine Solomon and Nina Solomon