Chicken Biryani with Cucumber Raita
A biryani consists of curried meat, poultry, fish or vegetables combined with basmati rice to make a complete meal. Here chicken curry is layered with the rice and baked, then served with a fresh cucumber raita.
Source: Cook Smart for a Healthy Heart, Reader’s Digest Canada
| Servings | Prep Time | Cook Time |
| 4servings | 20minutes | 1hour 20 minutes |
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 4servings | 20minutes |
| Cook Time |
| 1hour 20 minutes |
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 large onion chopped
- 450 g chicken thighs diced
- 10 g fresh ginger finely chopped
- 1 small red or green chili seeded and finely chopped
- seeds from 10 cardamom pods lightly crushed
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp ground coriander
- 6 cloves
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 tsp crushed black peppercorns
- 1 540ml can chopped tomatoes
- 1 1/4 cups reduced-salt chicken stock
- 1/3 cup sultanas
- 1 cup basmati rice rinsed
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/3 cup toasted flaked almonds to garnish
- Cucumber Raita
- 200 g plain low-fat yogurt
- 1/2 large cucumber coarsely grated and squeezed dry
- 2 tbsp fresh mint chopped
- pepper to taste
Servings: servings
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Ingredients
Servings: servings
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Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the onion and cook gently for 5 minutes or until softened. Add the chicken and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes until browned all over.
- Stir in the ginger, chili, cardamom, cumin, coriander, cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaves and peppercorns. Cook for 1 minute, stirring all the time to ensure the spices do not burn.
- Add the tomatoes, the stock and sultanas. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and cook for 45 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 325ºF (160ºC). Place the rice in a saucepan, add 2 1/3 cups water and the turmeric, and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer very gently for about 7 minutes or until the rice is almost tender. Drain off any excess water.
- Layer the chicken curry and rice in a casserole dish. Cover and cook in the oven for 25 minutes, checking after 20 minutes and adding a little more stock if needed (there should be enough liquid for the rice to complete cooking).
- Meanwhile, make the cucumber raita. Stir together the yogurt, cucumber and mint. Season with pepper.
- When the chicken biryani is ready, stir it well, then scatter the toasted almonds on top. Serve with the cucumber raita.
Recipe Notes
Per serving: 611 calories, 36 g protein, 24 g total fat, 4 g saturated fat, 128 mg cholesterol, 63 g total carbohydrate, 20 g sugars, 5 g fibre, 368 mg sodium
Eaten without the skin, chicken is low in fat and the fat it does contain is mostly unsaturated.
