Sultan biryani
Chicken and basmati are cooked in ghee with yogurt, turmeric, almonds and biryani spice.
Sultan biryani is a festive dish of chicken and basmati rice cooked in ghee with yogurt, spices and fried onion, topped with nuts. This recipe makes a large batch.
Ingredients
4-5 kilos chicken, chopped with the bones
9 ounces ghee
50 almonds, kanamadhu nuts or cashew nuts
9 onions
6 garlic cloves
3 inches ginger
20 cloves
6 pieces cinnamon
12 cardamom pods
1 cup yogurt
1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric
6 teaspoons salt
10 1/2 cups water mixed with 10 chicken stock cubes
2 1/2 kilos basmati rice
2 githeyo chillies (optional)
Method
Chop and wash the chicken, and wash the rice too. Spread them out and set aside.
Chop the onions, and crush the garlic and ginger.
Heat the ghee in a pan or pot and fry the almonds first, for two or three minutes.
Then fry half of the onion until it turns red.
Lift it out and keep it on kitchen paper, separate from the almonds.
Add the remaining onion to the ghee, then add the yogurt, biryani spice and turmeric.
When everything is well browned, add the rice over the top in two or three lots and mix.
If you like, mix in all the githeyo chillies and about six pieces of pandan leaf, then add the water and salt.
Cook for 15 minutes, then lower the heat.
After two or three minutes, turn off the heat but keep the pot covered.
Let it rest gently in the steam until the water is fully absorbed.
Tips
Serve on a nice oval, egg-shaped platter, topped with the fried onion and nuts.
Slice hard-boiled eggs and arrange them around the rice, then chop a red bell pepper and place it between the eggs. It looks very attractive this way.
Served like this, children will want to eat it too.
