Saturday, September 21, 2013

West Indian Chicken Biryani

Oh yes, we are quite diverse with our cuisine in the Caribbean. A lot of people do not know about the melting pot that we have going on in the west indies. There are a lot Indians, Latinos, Middle Easterners and Chinese in our neck of the woods. So, here's to our rich culture of delicious foods, a yummy Chicken Biryani!


Ingredients
2lbs of Bone in Chicken Thighs
1 Tbsp Tastefully Simple Seasoning Salt, Garlic Garlic, Onion Onion
1 Tbsp Paprika
1 Tbsp Powered Ginger
1/2 Cup Olive Oil
1  Cup Chopped Onion
1 Chopped Green Bell Pepper
2 Chopped Plum Tomatoes
1 Tbsp Crushed Red Pepper
1lb Uncle Ben Parboiled Rice (this is traditionally made with basmati rice but I LOVED it with the parboiled rice so much that I am willing to break the rule, in public)
1/2 Cup Of Wild Rice
National Brand Chicken Biryani Seasoning Mix
6 oz Unsweetened Vanilla Greek Yogurt
Chicken Stock ( I used water and chicken bouillon)
Fresh Mint

Method

Chicken and Sauce
Season chicken with Tastefully Simple seasonings, paprika, and ginger and let marinate for at least for an hour. Heat olive oil, cook chicken thoroughly and set aside. In the same pan, sautee peppers, onion and tomatoes until they are tender. Add the yogurt, crushed red peppers, chicken biryani seasoning (cumin, cardamon, tumeric, coriander, saffron, caraway seeds etc.) to the veggies and stir. Add chicken to this deliciousness and let simmer for 10 minutes.

Rice
Cook rice according to the instruction on the bag. Add the wild rice, which will need an additional 2 cups of water. Season with salt after you've tasted the stock. Remove from heat 5 minutes before the rice is cooked.

Complete dish
In a deep pan, add rice and then chicken, another layer of rice and top with more of the chicken and sauce. Add five drops of red food color, stir thoroughly to ensure that the rice and meat are evenly mixed in. Cover and finish the cooking process, should be 5-10 minutes. With the amount of olive oil in this recipe, no need to worry about burning, but don't go too far, remember everything was already cooked. So....yeah, about that dish, DONE! Serve rice with one piece of chicken and garnish with fresh mint.

I need comments for this one, people! I literally ate this meal for an entire week, so delicious. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks

BNW~