Sometimes, I make things from scratch. But sometimes, I just want the flavor without a lot of fuss. This is where those instant seasonings come in. Recently, I discovered something from Shopee–an online shop selling Turkish products. One of them is a chicken biryani set of basmati rice and a seasoning mix. This is cooking chicken biryani the easy way and it tastes so good! Did this in two parts and here’s what I did.

Cooking Chicken Biryani with Lots of Vegetables

Needless to say, we love chicken biryani so much that hubby and I would order this dish in restaurants. One of our recent takeout orders during the pandemic from a supposed “authentic” Indian restaurant didn’t satisfy me one bit. Since it is biryani, it costs a lot but the flavor is just so-so. Basically, it was just chicken, basmati rice, and some onions.

I couldn’t find biryani rice locally but I was craving for this so I just made chicken biryani using regular rice. It tasted so good, however, it lacked the texture of the long-grained basmati rice.

So I went online and found the Pierre Loti Grand Bazaar shop that specializes in Turkish products. I got their biryani set which is made up of 750 grams of basmati rice and a pack of seasoning that is enough to cook the rice. Of course, this is just part of the many other things I ordered.

However, you know that I don’t settle, right? So, of course, I proceeded with cooking chicken biryani my way, incorporating the seasoning and lots of carrots and greens. My goodness! It is way more delicious than what we have had ever had outside! I didn’t scrimp on the ingredients, which made this dish more special. This was our main dish during our Sunday lunch with the family.

Cooking Chicken Biryani the Easy Way

When cooking chicken biryani at home, I usually do the flavoring in two steps–first during the marinade and second, during the cooking together with the basmati rice.

This is part 1-Marinating

Ingredients:

• 8-10 chicken slices (I used thighs because that’s our favorite part)
• 1 head of garlic, minced
• 2 pcs. thumb-sized ginger, grated
• 1/2 tsp each of cinnamon, clove, cayenne, paprika, black pepper, and turmeric
• 1 tsp. table salt (or 3/4 tsp. Himalayan pink salt)
• 2 tsps. chicken masala mix
• 1 cup Greek yogurt (I use Pascual Greek yogurt)

Procedure:

Mix all the ingredients together, making sure that the chicken is coated with the marinade. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Part 2: Cooking and Assembly

Take out the chicken from the refrigerator and mix. Then prepare the rest of the ingredients for cooking chicken biryani. In cooking, I used my Maifan stone-coated pan with a glass lid. It was so much easier for me because I can see the rice cooking inside. You can get it here: OShine Micropressure pan – https://shope.ee/3ARbahA0pA

Ingredients:

• Cooking oil
• 2 onions, sliced into slivers
• 1/4 tsp ground clove + salt
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 tomatoes, cubed
• 1 medium carrot, sliced into thin pennies
• 20 pcs. fresh curry leaves
• 1 pc. star anise
• Parsley, chopped
• 1 can green peas
• 3 1/2 cups basmati rice
• 1 pack Shan Bombay Biryani mix dissolved in 5 1/4 cups of water
• Boiled eggs for garnish

Procedure:

• In a pan with a lid, heat cooking oil and saute the onion slivers. Season with clove and a bit of salt. Caramelize and remove the onions from the pan.

• In the same pan, add a bit more oil and saute the garlic and tomatoes. Season with a bit of salt. Cover and allow the tomatoes to cook for a few minutes.

• Add the marinated chicken and top with the carrots, 10 pcs. curry leaves, and half of the caramelized onions. Cook for about 10-12 minutes then flip. After another 10 minutes, flip the chicken again. Add the peas and sprinkle some chopped parsley on top.

• After flipping the chicken for the second time, rinse the basmati rice in water. I rinsed three times and drained the excess water. Pour the Shan biryani mixture into the rice and mix.

• Pour the rice mixture along with the liquid over the chicken. Spread the rice so that it covers the chicken and is flat on top. Scatter the rest of the caramelized onions, curry leaves, and chopped parsley on top. Cover and cook until the liquid has been absorbed by the rice. Turn off the heat and allow the rice to settle for at least 15 minutes before serving.

• Serve with boiled eggs and nuts on top. Garnish with parsley.

The Two-Step Process

Cooking the chicken biryani is like layering. It ensures that the chicken is well-seasoned and cooked through and the rice is just as flavorful. If you do not have the Shan Biryani mix, you can still make this by using the same seasonings you used on the chicken mixed with water.

So far, the biryani rice to water ratio that cooked well was 1 : 1.5.

WATCH THIS VIDEO: Cooking Chicken Biryani the Easy Way

Use ShopeePay for Your Purchases

Prepare this dish at home. Get the Shan Biryani + 750g biryani rice set at the 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐞 𝟒.𝟒 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐏𝐚𝐲 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐞. Don’t forget to use ShopeePay to pay for your purchases at Shopee. You get free shipping vouchers and sometimes, extra discounts. Here are the other features to love.

Send money for free.

When shopping online, I use ShopeePay because I can load my wallet from my linked GCash account. And if my GCash gets short on funds, I can ask hubby to transfer some funds into my ShopeePay wallet directly.

All of these money transfers through the app can be done in real-time and it’s completely FREE. Yes, you can enjoy zero transfer fees when you send money to any bank, e-wallet, or Shopee user via ShopeePay.

#ShopeePayMoNaYan #SulitSaShopeePay