Biriyani

Biriyani, for me, is dry, spicy, oily rice with dry, roasted, orange-y chicken and a boiled egg. While I love this, I also like the slightly moist biriyani made at home. I’ve tried a few recipes from this site and have loved them, so the vegetable biriyani was a must.

The only things I didn’t include (because I didn’t have them at home) are the mint and coriander leaves and the garnish (I plopped a few raisins here and there). For the yoghurt, I used a small cup of Highland yoghurt. And as for the water, I didn’t used the entire amount given for the pressure cooker option. I left out around 2 or 3 tablespoons because I didn’t drain the rice properly, adding to the liquid in the pan.

For the vegetables, I used a cup of potato and carrot but I will be adding green peas next time.

I also didn’t layer it because it really didn’t make any sense to, but I found the biriyani recipe easy to follow and easy to make. The pressure cooker makes things super simple and your rice is cooked in a very short time. I used slightly less than 1 measuring cup for three people and we had a bit leftover for the next day.

The only change I may make is to add a bit more masala/curry powder. It’s not that the rice wasn’t full of flavour but I think a bit more spice would improve it.

For the chicken, I mixed ketchup, soy sauce, lemon mustard sauce, spring roll sauce, chili powder, salt and pepper to make a thick sauce and applied it all over a whole chicken, adding coatings while it baked. I also stuffed the chicken with onion, lemon, green chili, and garlic.

With the chicken and egg, you really don’t need anything else for this dish, although Amma did suggest a minchi sambol.

Edit: Adding a note to this to say that I made this exact recipe in the rice cooker and it came out well. I didn’t have yoghurt once and used coconut milk instead. Came out well.