Chicken biryani recipe

Chicken biryani is an Indian-inspired rice dish, packed full of spices, tender chicken, and sweet onions. 

This one pan dish is the perfect fail-safe recipe for a tasty dinner, when you want to order a takeaway but you know you really shouldn't. It's ready to eat in three quarters of an hour - so not much longer than ordering for delivery anyway. It's topped with homemade crispy onions to give it a really authentic restaurant feel. You don't need a deep fat fryer to make them either - just fry in a pan.

Ingredients

• 500g basmati rice
• 2 onions, finely chopped, plus 2 extra, sliced into rings
• 50g butter
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 4 cardamom pods, lightly broken
• pinch saffron
• 1 tsp ground turmeric powder
• 600g chicken thigh fillets, cut into 2cm chunks
• 4 tbsp Madras curry paste (or a curry paste of your choice)
• 1.2ltr chicken stock
• Vegetable oil, for frying
• 3 tbsp plain flour
• Bunch coriander, chopped

Method

1. Rinse the basmati rice in a sieve until the water runs clear. Fry the finely chopped onions in the butter until softened. Add the bay leaf, garlic, cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, saffron, turmeric and chicken, then stir through the curry paste and cook for 5 mins.
2. Add the drained rice and stock; bring to the boil. Stir to combine, then cover the pot and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for 5 mins. Turn off heat and leave the pan for 10 mins until the rice is cooked through.
3. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a pan until sizzling. Coat the onion slices in flour, then carefully fry in batches until crisp and golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen roll. Top the biryani with the onions and scatter over the chopped coriander.

Top tip for chicken biryani

You can also make this with turkey, pork or lamb pieces.

You might also like...

• Onion bhaji recipe
• Naan bread recipe
• Indian recipes