Authentic Indian Chicken Biryani

If you have never had an authentic Indian chicken biryani before, let me say that once you try it, you will want to go home and make it so it will be on your permanent menu.

I absolutely love Indian food but it has never been my friend when I have tried to make it at home. Bec is the queen of Indian food in our house. A few weeks ago we went to dinner at our favourite Indian restaurant (where we actually had our first date there all those years ago) and Maggie ordered their biryani. I had never had biryani before so I tried a little bit and it was just divine. It had some good heat to it too. I think Maggie is slowly taking after me in the spice department.

I came home from dinner that night and said to Bec that I’m going to make my own. With a bit of research I’ve come up with this version. Now it’s not traditional, but I am super proud of how it’s turned out.

There’s a few things to take note of that I learned and I would say that the best thing you can do is to make the masala paste yourself. Yes you can buy the jared paste, but trust me it will give your biryani that next level homemade authentic flavour. The smells that will come out in your kitchen will be heavenly. When you are making your masala, please resist the temptation to put oil in it to help it turn to a paste. Just add a little water and it will give you a fine paste in no time at all.

As we are using a lot of spices and if you don’t like a lot of heat, depending how much spice you can take, I would say to maybe put just a teaspoon of the peppercorns in. You can also take one of the chillies out of the paste ingredients if needed.

With your chicken, You can use whatever part of the chicken you like. Whether that is the breast, thigh or even the leg, it is completely up to you. On this occasion I have used a plant based chicken.

It may look like a lot but this is such an enjoyable dish to make and it tastes sensational. If it’s your first time making biryani, I would suggest doing it on the weekend so you can take your time prepping and enjoy the cook. A couple of vinos in the process won’t hurt either.

I’m sure you are going to love this dish and hopefully become a permanent part of your home menu. Cheers!

Chicken Biryani

5 from 3 votes

Recipe by Dad’s Home Kitchen with Jase Pashley Course: DinnerCuisine: Indian

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

35

minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups 2 basmati rice

• 1/2 kg 1/2 chicken/plant based alternative

• 4 cups 4 water

• 1 Tbsp 1 olive oil

• 3 Tbsp 3 ghee

• 2 2 cinnamon sticks

• 2 2 star anise

• 5 5 cloves

• 1 1 bay leaf

• 2 2 shallot onions sliced

• 1 1 green chilli

• 2 2 tomatoes chopped

• 1 tsp 1 turmeric

• 2 tsp 2 chilli powder

• 1 tsp 1 salt

• Ingredients for the Masala Paste

• 1 cup 1 coriander leaves

• 1 cup 1 mint leaves

• 1 Tbsp 1 minced ginger

• 5 5 cloves of garlic peeled

• 3 3 green chillies

• 1 Tbsp 1 peppercorns

• 2 2 cloves

Directions

• Wash & rinse the rice then let it soak for approx 20 minutes before you start your cook.
• In a food processor, add masala paste ingredients & wiz until you have a fine paste. You can add a little water if you need to.
• In a large pot, add 2 Tbsp of ghee and the olive oil on a medium to high heat. 
• Add the cinnamon, cloves, star anise & bay leaf. Let them sizzle for about 10 seconds.
• Add your onions, green chilli & salt & cook for approx 2-3 minutes.
• Drop in your masala paste, stir through & cook for about 5 minutes until that raw flavour is gone.
• Add the tomatoes & stir through for about 2 minutes then add the turmeric & chilli powder & cook for a further 2 minutes.
• Add the chicken pieces & cook for 5 minutes making sure all the chicken is coated.
• Mix through the rice.
• Transfer everything into your rice cooker adding enough water to just cover everything.
• Sprinkle some mint leaves & the last tablespoon of ghee on top then cover.
• Cook in the rice cooker for 20 minutes.
• Serve & Enjoy!

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