Hi everyone and welcome back to Tasting my Heritage! This week we’re going to Pakistan. I’m going to be showing you how to make Biriyani. This dish has a bunch of different spices and it consists of rice and chicken mixed together. It is traditionally known to be a spicier dish but this is something that I like to change when I make it for myself because often times I’m sharing it with my friends who aren’t too used to spices. As a kid, this was my favorite dish that my parents would make for me. It was always made on special occasions and holidays.
I’ll be using a mix of pots on the stove as well as using my rice cooker. You can make the rice on your stovetop but if you use the rice cooker, it’ll save you a lot of time. This is because the rice cooker will only take thirty minutes to cook your rice.
When you measure these ingredients, please adjust it to your taste, as this is made to be somewhat spicy.
It’s always recommended to start small and add more if needed. Remember, you can always add more but you can’t take away 🙂
Please note: This is used to make a large pan of Biriyani, built to serve about 7 people. My portions are large but you can adjust this accordingly.
Ingredients:
- Basmati rice
- Salt
- A large onion
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed (You can also do it with bones, as that is the traditional way, but I think it’s easier to make the skinless chicken breasts)
- The “Shan” brand Biriyani mix (this is a mix with all the spices you’ll need for the chicken)
- Plain whole milk yogurt
- Chopped cilantro
Step one: Wash your basmati rice. Once it’s washed, add it to your rice cooker with an extra cup of water per cup of rice. (For example: Three cups of rice and four cup of water). Salt your rice to taste and turn your rice cooker on. My rice cooker takes about half an hour to cook. I use the aroma rice cooker. You want to get this step done first. Once your rice is ready, set it aside until we’re ready to add it to our pot.
Step two: Chop your onion into medium sized pieces. Keep in mind that it doesn’t need to be perfect and you can chop it in whatever way is convenient for you. After this, you want to oil your pan and let your oil heat up. Once it’s hot, add your onions in and let the onions cook until they are golden brown.
Step three: Wash and dry your chicken and cut the chicken into cubes. Once your onions are brown, add your chicken to a separate pot and cook on both sides altogether for about 8 minutes until the chicken becomes brown.
Step four: Once your chicken has been browned, add the shan biriyani mix. The mix includes Himalayan Pink Salt, Garlic, Ginger, Cumin, Bay Leaf, Brown Cardamom, Cinnamon, Carom, Green Cardamom, Clove, Red Chili, Cane Sugar, Coriander, Turmeric. Don’t add the entirety of this shan biriyani mix unless you want it to be super spicy. I personally added about half of the biriyani mix.
Step five: Add your brown and chopped onions to your pot of chicken and cook until the onions dissolve into a sauce.
Step six: Taste the sauce and add more biriyani mix if its necessary. During this step you should also add salt to taste.
Step seven: Add about half a cup of plain whole yogurt to the sauce. This is going to thicken the sauce and the yogurt can also ease the spiciness of the food. Keep it cooking until the oil comes out on top. That’s how you know you’re ready for the next step.
Step eight: Get a handful of cilantro and chop it up. Add it to the pot and keep cooking everything for another five minutes. If you don’t like cilantro, you could skip this step, but I believe it’s necessary to add to and enhance the flavor.
Step nine: Make sure your rice is cooked before or during the making of the sauce and cooking of the chicken. Once the sauce is ready and everything is cooked down, we’re going to add in our rice.
Step ten: Now, we’re going to take a separate large pot and start adding our cooked basmati rice to it. We’re only going to add a layer of it. DON’T PUT ALL OF IT IN YET. Then add a layer of the chicken and sauce on top of the rice. Then add another layer of rice. Keep alternating between this until all the chicken and rice is gone from each pot.
Step eleven: Turn the flame to low, cover your pot, and allow the rice and meat (sauce) to steam for about 10 minutes or a little more. Use two large spoons or forks to mix the rice and chicken together. (This is how the biriyani gets its color).
Step twelve: Transfer into an aluminum pan like I did and serve and enjoy!