Saudi Chicken Biriani

Chicken Biryani – a highly aromatic and well-seasoned one-pot dish originally from India and popular throughout the Arabian Gulf region that has a perfect balance of chicken meat, rice and veggies that’s going to excite and linger on your taste buds.

Ingredients:

1.2 kg whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces
8 cups or 2000ml water
2 dried limes
2 cubes MAGGI Chicken Stock
2 ½ cups or 500g basmati rice, washed and drained
2 tablespoons ghee
3 medium onions or 450g, sliced
1 cup or 250g fresh yogurt
¾ teaspoon of each spice: black pepper, cumin, coriander, turmeric, cardamom and cinnamon powder
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 teaspoon ground saffron, soaked in ¼ cup or 60ml hot water

Preparation:

Place chicken pieces and water in a large pot, bring to boil and remove froth as it appears. Add the dried limes and MAGGI Chicken Stock cubes. Cover and simmer over low heat for 30-40 minutes, or until chicken is tender.

Remove chicken pieces from the stock, add rice to the chicken stock (around 6 cups or 1500ml) and boil the rice for 10 minutes, or until almost cooked. Drain the rice and set aside.

Heat the ghee in a large pot, add and cook the onions, stirring for 5-7 minutes or until golden brown. Add the cooked chicken pieces to the onions and stir to combine.

Combine the yogurt with the spices and the garlic and pour over the chicken. Add half the quantity of the cooked rice to cover the chicken in the pot.

Sprinkle half the quantity of saffron water over the rice, cover with the rest of the rice and then sprinkle with the rest of the saffron water.

Sprinkle half the quantity of saffron water over the rice, cover with the rest of the rice and then sprinkle with the rest of the saffron water.

Cover and cook over low heat for 25-30 minutes or until the rice is cooked

Serve on a large serving dish and garnish with fried nuts.

Cooking Tip: serve yogurt salad with this dish.