Easy Chicken Briyani

Starting early this month, I always prepare a menu list for the week for my family.  Simply because I currently don't have a helper and have to prepare the meals early in the morning before I go to work.  My 2 older kids go home straight from school and I have to make sure that they have food for lunch :)   Weekday mornings are crazy for me so I usually whip something easy and one of them is this.  Initially the idea was to throw everything in into the rice cooker but plan changed when I found that I have a bottle of Roganjosh curry paste in the cabinet. 

What I did was to cook the rice (no not plain rice) in the rice cooker.  While the rice is cooking, I do the chicken roganjosh.  Once the rice is 90% cooked, I pour the chicken roganjosh on top of the cooked rice and let it cook further.  This is what I got.  It is missing chopped coriander and toasted cashews .. my bad because I totally forgotten all about it.



Here is the easy recipe.  The curry paste is tangy and totally not spicy at all.  A requirement for the kids who have pretty low spice threshold especially my youngest :) 

You can use the briyani rice recipe from HERE which has slightly more ingredients and you may want to adjust the amount accordingly.

Rice

What you need:

2 1/2 C basmati rice, washed and drained

3 cloves

1 cinnamon bark (about 2 inchs long)

5 cardamons

1 star anise

5 large clove garlic

1/2 inch thick ginger

1 1/2 C evaporated milk

2 1/2 C water

1 T ghee/butter

1 T oil

salt to taste

What you do:

1. Blend the garlic and ginger into paste

2. Mix evaporated milk and water together and put aside

3. Turn the rice cooker on and press the button down to heat the pot

4. Add the ghee/butter and oil and let the ghee/butter melts and add the garlic/ginger paste, salt and the spices

5. Stir till fragrant, then add the rice stirring it gently but making sure they are coated with oil

6. Then add the liquid, cover the rice cooker and let it cook

Chicken Roganjosh

What you need:

250-300g chicken breast, sliced into chunks

1 large potato, diced into 1/2 inch pieces

1 carrot, diced into 1/2 inch pieces

2T Roganjosh curry paste

3T evaporated milk (this is optional, I added to reduce the tanginess of the gravy)

2C water

2tsp ghee/butter

2tsp oil

What you do:

1. Heat wok or pan and add ghee/butter and oil

2. Once ghee/butter melts, add chicken pieces and stir till they turned white

3. Add curry paste and water, stir till they are well blend

4. Throw in the potatoes and carrot and let it simmer till the potatoes and carrot are half cooked

5. Add evaporated milk and let it simmer for another 15 mins, stirring in between cooking

6. Once you see oil starts to float, take wok/pan off the fire and pour into the rice cooker, gently stir and sprinkle with chopped coriander and toasted nuts, close the rice pot and let it cook further

7. Serve with pickled cucumber or other side dishes to your liking