Ingredients

1. Chicken pieces (boned and boneless mix - skinless) – 1/2 kg

2. Basmati Rice – 2 and half a cup.

3. Onion - 1 big

4. Cooking Oil - 2/3 cup

5. Garlic Paste - 1 tablespoon

6. Ginger Paste – 1 tablespoon

7. Shaan Sindhi Biryani Mix – 1 packet

8. Yogurt – 1/3 cup

9. Coriander leaves – 1 cup chopped

10. Mint leaves – 1 cup chopped

11. Tomatoes – 2 medium size sliced

Cooking Instructions

Biryani Sauce

1. Cut onion in equal and thin slices.

2. Put oil in a pot and fry the onion on medium high heat until golden brown.

(Technique: Keep mixing the onion while frying. This will help them fry evenly and thoroughly)

3. Once they turned golden brown. Turn the heat down to medium and put garlic paste in.

(Technique: This will make the garlic crackle. Beware)

4. Fry garlic for around 3 minutes. This will reduce the smell of garlic and will mix evenly with the base of Biryani.

5. Put chicken pieces horizontally (don’t stack them). The oil should be touching the chicken pieces on one side.

6. Pan fry chicken pieces for 3 minutes on high heat.

7. Flip the chicken pieces and let the other side fry for 3 more minutes.

(Technique: Make sure that the chicken pieces have light brown color on both side. If 6 minutes are not enough for that, let the chicken fry a little more).

8. Put the ginger in and fry for 1 more minute.

9. Reduce the heat to medium. Put yogurt and Shaan Sindhi Biryani Mix.

10. Mix well. Cover the pot with the lid and let it cook for 15 to 20 minutes.

(Technique: Make sure that base doesn’t stick with the base of the pan. Try not to unnecessarily open the lid of the pot).

11. Remove the lid and check if the chicken is thoroughly cooked. Use knife to feel the flesh of the chicken. It should be soft and tender.

12. Reduce the heat to very low.

13. Spread the tomatoes on the base sauce. Sprinkle coriander leaves and mint on the sauce.

(Technique: make sure that the tomatoes and the leaves are equally distributed on the surface of the sauce. Once it is done, do not touch or mix the sauce).

14. Let it simmer for 15 minutes.

Boil Rice

15. In a separate pot, rinse the rice in the cold water. Throw the water away.

16. Repeat Step 15 unless all the starch is removed and the water is transparent again. (Normally takes 3 repetitions)

17. Remove all the water from the rice.

18. Take 3 cups of warm water and put in the rice.

19. Put the rice pot in the medium heat and cover it.

20. Let it cook for 10 – 15 minutes.

21. Rice will absorb all the water and will be cooked thoroughly.

(Technique: You can open the pot and check if the water is absorbed properly. Do not keep the lid open for long. If the water is absorbed and the rice are not cooked properly, then put some more warm water and close the lid. The goal is to have the rice perfectly cooked through absorption of water)

22. Once the rice is perfectly cook, remove the lid and close the stove. Rice are now ready to be layered on the sauce.

Layering Rice and Sauce

23. Remove the lid of the sauce pot. Chicken should be cooked thoroughly and should be soft at this point.

24. Spread the rice over the sauce evenly. This is the layering process.

(Technique: You can also layer the rice in two stages. In the pot, layer the rice first, then sauce, then rice, then sauce, then rice. The layering helps to induce sauce flavour in rice).

25. Once spread, close the lid and let it cook layered rice over sauce on very low heat for 5 minutes.

26. Remove the lid, and mix well.

(Technique: At this stage you want the sauce to be equally mixed with the rice. If the sauce is too watery, the rice will not retain their perfectly long shape. We want every rice grain to be perfectly coated with sauce without being sticky)

27. Once mixed, Biryani is ready to be served.