Teach me how to make Chicken Biryani

regulus · 7 Jan 2010 at 17:46

Before the google jokes start, I spent the past hour looking at recipes for Biryani, the 80+ I found is all different, with lists of ingredients as long as my arm, with half the stuff I've never heard of. I'm looking for an easy recipe with ingredients you can find in Tesco (where I will be heading in an hour to get the stuff). I did have it before at a friend's house where his wife made it, but it tasted nothing like the Curry House's biryani. Naturally they use time tested Indian recipes, but I'd like to get as close as possible to the taste and not keep dropping a fortune on buying it all the time.

many thanks.

Megahurtz400 · 7 Jan 2010 at 17:48

Chicken + Biryani = BAM!

Clum · 7 Jan 2010 at 17:50

Biryanis are weird to make because they are originally intended to be made from left over curry. I've always used somethign similar to this recipe from mamtaskitchen.com and find it pretty nice. Not really one of my fav types of curry though.

Ingredients
• 2 cups basmati or any other long grain rice
• A can of chick peas or a large cup of boiled chick peas (amount is personal choice)
• 3/1/2 cups water
• 2 onions, peeled and sliced
• 1 tomato. chopped
• 2 tbs. oil
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 2 bay leaves*
• 2-3 cloves*
• 2 large black cardamoms*
• 6-7 black peppers*
• 1 inch piece of cinnamon*
• *If you do not have these whole spices, which make garam masala, you can use 1 tsp. of ground garam masala instead
• 8-10 strands of saffron
• Salt to taste
• For garnish:
• 10 ready salted cashew nuts or you can roast your own. (optional)
• 2 onions, sliced

Instructions
1. Measure all ingredients and keep aside.
2. Heat oil, add onions and fry until golden brown. Add cumin seeds and all the whole spices* and wait until cumin seeds splutter.
3. Add tomatoes and boiled chickpeas, stir fry for 5 minute.
4. Add rice, stir well to coat the rice with the mix.
5. Add 3 1/2 cup of water, bring to boil.
6. Turn the heat down and cook covered until all water is absorbed and rice is cooked. This takes about 10 minutes.
7. Do not keep opening the lid to have a peep! Glass lid pans are better for this reason.
8. Serve hot, garnished with deep fried onions and cashew nuts. Also serve roasted/grilled papads (papodoms), fresh natural yoghurt and pickles of choice. My favourite with this dish is sweet mango pickle and natural yoghurt.

Mr. Anderson · 7 Jan 2010 at 17:52

http://recipes.kaboose.com/chicken-biryani.html

i got that by googling 'easy chicken biryani recipe'

most of the ingrediants you will already have and there is only 5 steps.

Mr Jack · 7 Jan 2010 at 17:55

regulus said:
Before the google jokes start, I spent the past hour looking at recipes for Biryani, the 80+ I found is all different, with lists of ingredients as long as my arm, with half the stuff I've never heard of. I'm looking for an easy recipe with ingredients you can find in Tesco (where I will be heading in an hour to get the stuff). I did have it before at a friend's house where his wife made it, but it tasted nothing like the Curry House's biryani. Naturally they use time tested Indian recipes, but I'd like to get as close as possible to the taste and not keep dropping a fortune on buying it all the time.

Curry house Biryani tastes very different from traditional indian biryani.

Raikiri · 7 Jan 2010 at 18:00

regulus said:
Before the google jokes start, I spent the past hour looking at recipes for Biryani, the 80+ I found is all different, with lists of ingredients as long as my arm, with half the stuff I've never heard of.

Stuff like:

Ginger
Garam masala
Turmeric
Cinnamon
Bay leaf
Cumin
Nutmeg
Cardamom

etc. should all be easily available from most supermarkets...

regulus · 7 Jan 2010 at 18:02

Raikiri said:
Stuff like:

Ginger
Garam masala
Turmeric
Cinnamon
Bay leaf
Cumin
Nutmeg
Cardamom

etc. should all be easily available from most supermarkets...

Yup, those were the stuff. I'm afraid I'm not really adventures in the kitchen and keep buying basic things.

Mr. Anderson · 7 Jan 2010 at 18:04

regulus said:
Yup, those were the stuff. I'm afraid I'm not really adventures in the kitchen and keep buying basic things.

Then don't expect to make anything more indian than butter chicken.

G-MAN2004 · 7 Jan 2010 at 18:18

Megahurtz400 said:
Chicken + Biryani = BAM!

Morgoth · 7 Jan 2010 at 18:26

Biryani takes bloody hours to make. Delicious though.

regulus · 7 Jan 2010 at 18:32

Yea. Found a good Youtube video I'm going to follow step by step. Seems like the ingredients is going to cost a small fortune.

goldilocks · 7 Jan 2010 at 18:56

Not as good as home made, but I was feeling lazy, we tried a jar of Sharwoods Biryani tonight - was really good considering it cost £1 and only took 1/2 and hour!

Mr. Anderson · 7 Jan 2010 at 18:56

regulus said:
Yea. Found a good Youtube video I'm going to follow step by step. Seems like the ingredients is going to cost a small fortune.

Unless you are catering for a small army you will have plenty of left over ingredients that can be used in other cooking.

Mr. Anderson · 7 Jan 2010 at 18:57

goldilocks said:
Not as good as home made, but I was feeling lazy, we tried a jar of Sharwoods Biryani tonight - was really good considering it cost £1 and only took 1/2 and hour!

I have never made my own curry from scratch. Pointless when you can buy ready done sauces that ARE just as nice and take a lot less time. Are you one of these people that still haven't got a microwave?

goldilocks · 7 Jan 2010 at 21:32

Mr. Anderson said:
I have never made my own curry from scratch. Pointless when you can buy ready done sauces that ARE just as nice and take a lot less time. Are you one of these people that still haven't got a microwave?

No, no microwave here!
I do buy sauces in jars but in no way are they as good as home made, or (decent) takeaway!

I wish I could get naans right.
Anyone here do a decent naan?

Skidder · 7 Jan 2010 at 21:35

Mr. Anderson said:
Then don't expect to make anything more indian than butter chicken.

To be a total cooking pedant making murgh makhani (butter chicken) takes a hell of a lot more ingredients than that to do it properly. see my pheasant makhani thread on here!

Skidder · 7 Jan 2010 at 21:37

Mr. Anderson said:
I have never made my own curry from scratch. Pointless when you can buy ready done sauces that ARE just as nice and take a lot less time. Are you one of these people that still haven't got a microwave?

You can't cook and don't like food very much. You may not know that, but the rest of us do.

Haircut · 7 Jan 2010 at 21:50

goldilocks said:
No, no microwave here!
I do buy sauces in jars but in no way are they as good as home made, or (decent) takeaway!

I wish I could get naans right.
Anyone here do a decent naan?

This is about as close as I've found to a proper naan cooked in a tandoor, pity it's a bit of a hassle to make (same as pretty much all of Heston's recipes!)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/tv_and_radio/perfection/recipe_popup_one.shtml

Waitrose naans are about the best I've found as far as bought ones go, but still not the same as a proper one.

jellybeard999 · 7 Jan 2010 at 21:52

Spend a bit of money on the spices and they'll last you ages.

J1234 · 7 Jan 2010 at 21:55

Mr. Anderson said:
I have never made my own curry from scratch. Pointless when you can buy ready done sauces that ARE just as nice and take a lot less time. Are you one of these people that still haven't got a microwave?

How do you know the jar sauces are as nice as a home made curry if you've never made one?

Home made > processed every time.