Cooking with Pushpa: Lesson 4

Today's lesson . . . Chicken and Vegetable Biryani. To be honest, I really do not enjoy biryani. It is typically rice with a lot of oil and a few peas, and I find it a very boring food experience. However, Ann-Sofie who also employs Pushpa says her biryani is wonderful, so Paul and I decided to try the dish. I have encouraged Pushpa to also add more vegetables which allows this meal to be well-balanced, tasty, health, and easy to prepare.

Chicken and Vegetable Biryani (To serve 10-12 people)

Ingredients:

• 3 potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 small head cauliflower, roughly chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
• 100 g. green beans, chopped
• 12 oz. white mushrooms, stems removed
• 1 zucchini, roughly chopped
• 1 kg. (2.2 lbs.) chicken breast, cleaned and cubed
• 1/3 cup garlic and ginger paste
• 2 400-500 g. containers of plain yogurt
• 2 packets of biryani masala
• 1 tbsp. turmeric
• 1/4 c. coriander powder
• 2 tbsp. chili powder
• 1 bunch of fresh mint and coriander leaves, chopped
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• Rice (We like to use Basmati.)
• Oil

Directions:

1. Add a few tablespoons of oil to a heated medium sized pan and saute all vegetables, except for the mushrooms and broccoli, for about 5 minutes.
2. Place chicken in a large mixing bowl, add mushrooms and zucchini, and then add the cooked vegetables.
3. Next, add the yogurt to the bowl and mix everything together.
4. To the yogurt mixture, add the garlic and ginger paste, biryani masala, turmeric powder, coriander powder, chili powder and 3/4 of the freshly chopped mint and coriander leaves. Mix the spices into the yogurt mixture and let marinade for 5-10 minutes.
5. Add 4 cups of rice to a pot and cook following the recipe for the rice you have selected to prepare.
6. Bring the saute pan with oil, back up to high heat and saute the sliced onions until crispy. These onions will be used to garnish the top of the biryani.
7. Add the two chopped tomatoes to the yogurt mixture.
8. In a large Dutch oven or stock pot, over medium-high heat, add 2 tablespoons of oil and the chopped onions and saute for 10 minutes.
9. Add the yogurt, chicken, and spice mixture to the sauteed onions and gently saute for 30 minutes.
10. After 30 minutes, get out a large serving bowl. In the bowl, first layer the rice, then the chicken, and finally the vegetables and sauce. Garnish with the remaining fried sliced onions and chopped cilantro and mint leaves.
11. Serve and enjoy

Later that evening, after our bellies were full, Paul found someone napping from her exciting day of hunting for stray cats in the alley . . .