Prep Time 15 minutes - Total Time 2 hours - Serves 6
Chicken biryani is one of my go-to curries when we get a takeaway. The kids will get chicken korma and me and AnneMarie normally share a biryani. Now I’m not sure if this is just a thing around my way but a biryani is always topped with an omelette and I’ve grown really fond of it, it just seems to work really well. If you’ve never had a biryani or one with an omelette give this recipe a go.
Chicken Marinade Ingredients
1 kg of boneless and skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces.
1 tbsp of tandoori masala powder.
1 tbsp of ground turmeric.
1 tbsp of minced ginger garlic paste.
1 tsp of chilli powered or to taste.
500 ml of yoghurt.
1 lemon, juices.
Biryani Ingredients
2 onions, cut in half and finely sliced.
1 heaped tablespoon of garam masala.
1 heaped tablespoon of ground coriander.
1 heaped tablespoon of ground turmeric.
1 tsp of chilli powered or to taste.
2 cardamom pods, lightly crushed.
1 tbsp of minced ginger garlic paste.
1 tbsp of tomato purée.
4 salad tomatoes, roughly chopped up.
3 x 250g microwave bags of basmati rice.
400 ml coconut milk.
Green birds eye chillies, roughly chopped (optional).
A small pinch of saffron.
A handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped.
4 eggs, whisked.
Method
Take all the chicken marinade ingredients along with a good pinch of salt, give it a good mix and cover. You want to leave the chicken to marinate for as long as possible and overnight would be even better.
In a large frying pan add a good drizzle of oil and fry the onions with the cardamom pods and a pinch of salt over low-medium heat. Cook for 20 minutes or till the onions are soft and taken on a nice bit of colour, giving them a stir every so often.
While the onions are slowly cooking away take another frying pan and place over a very high heat. Now fry the marinated chicken on each side for a couple of minutes. You are not looking at completely cooking the chicken at this point you just want to get a nice colour on it and get it a bit chard. You will more than likely have to do this in batches otherwise you will end up stewing the chicken, instead of getting a hard fry on it. When the chicken has a good colour, should take a couple of minutes on each side place to one side.
Once the onions are done add the minced ginger garlic paste and cookout for a couple of minutes. Add the garam masala, ground coriander, ground turmeric, chilli powered and give that a minute. Follow with the tomato purée, chopped tomatoes, chillies if you are using them, mix and give it a minute.
Now add the coconut milk along with the saffron, a pinch of salt and stir through so everything is nicely coated. At this point, if your pan is not ovenproof transfer to an ovenproof dish/roasting tray. Take the microwave rice packs and evenly distribute over the top of your chicken and sauce. Cover with a lid or tightly with tinfoil and pop into a preheated oven set at 200℃ for 30 minutes. When the biryani is done take out of the oven and allow to rest while you make an omelette that will garnish the biryani.
Take the eggs and fry over a high heat in a large nonstick frying pan, cook for a minute or so on each side. To finish the dish take the lid off the biryani, sprinkle with the coriander, mix it all together and check for seasoning. You can either chop the omelette up and mix into the rice or just sit it on top. Served with some flatbreads and some natural yoghurt.