Leftover chicken curry biryani

This is actually a pretty funny story! My husband loves a good Mutton rogan josh. It consists of mutton chunks cooked with a gravy made of browned onions, yogurt, garlic, ginger and aromatic spices. Now, as we do not get goat’s meat here in Ireland, I decided to try my hand at making Chicken rogan josh. It was a disaster! The yogurt and tomatoes collectively made the gravy too sour and hubby refused to eat it and ordered a pizza. We all have one of these days sometimes, right? I was not ready to throw away a whole chicken along with so much of gravy. It would be extremely wasteful! Thus, I decided to make chicken biryani for lunch the next day, using this curry. The rice will surely balance out the sourness.

I looked up some youtube videos and compiled those ideas with my recipe for a vegetable biryani and made a version of my own the next day. We were in for a huge shock when we lifted the seal of our large handi at the lunch table. It smelled divine! We tasted the biryani and it tasted exactly like a restaurant style biryani. I realized that yogurt is one of the prime ingredients in a good biryani and where it ruined my curry the previous evening with its sourness, it had proved to be a magic ingredient in today’s biryani. Now, this dish has become a staple one in our home.

Even if your curry hasn’t used yogurt in it, the results will still be very good (I have tried it multiple times). Give it a try and enjoy!

*Note- The trick here is to have a thick gravy. The watery, thin gravy will overcook your rice and turn your biryani soggy. Watch a few youtube videos to have an idea of how thick the gravy should be and in what quantity, in accordance with your rice quantity*

Ingredients:

-Leftover chicken curry

-Basmati rice parboiled (upto 50% done) with a bay leaf and cumin and salt.

-Fried onions

-Chopped coriander and mint leaves

-Ghee (clarified butter)

-Garam masala

-Hard boiled eggs, slightly roasted with salt, turmeric and red chilly powder (optional)

 

Method:

-In a large heavy bottomed pot greased lightly with ghee, evenly spread a layer of half the basmati rice.

-Next, pour half of the chicken curry on top and spread evenly too. Do not mix!

-Top with half of the fried onions, coriander and mint leaves, a tsp on ghee and a sprinkling of garam masala.

–REPEAT ALL THE STEPS AGAIN.

-Poke holes into the biryani and gently place eggs.

-Garnish the top with rings of tomatoes and a slice of lemon.

-Pack the top of the pan with a foil and put on the lid tightly to seal the pan completely.

-Put the pan on a tawa/frying pan to avoid burning of the bottom layer.

-Cook on: High heat for 5 mins and then, low heat for around 20-30 mins.

-Switch off the gas and let the biryani sit with the sealed top for 15 mins.

-Serve hot with cucumber and tomato raita & onion rings.

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