Sindhi Biryani
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Sindhi Biryani is a special biryani originating from the Sindh province of Pakistan. It is one of the most consumed dish of Pakistan cuisine. It is often made with goat or lamb, but when I found this recipe, I wanted to have it immediately, and so I prepared with chicken which was available by that time at home.
This biryani was delicious, still keeps me drooling. Soon have to try with goat, because there is a special taste for goat meat compared to chicken. The spiciness along with the tanginess of dried black raisins was awesome. But actually in this recipe, they use dried plums/prunes, since I don’t have prunes at home I substituted it with Black Raisins and soon I will come up with authentic version of sindhi biryani. Let us move on to the recipe…
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Ingredients
- Chicken – 500 gm
- Basmathi / Long grain rice – 2 ½ cups
- Saffron threads – few strands
- Milk – 1 cup
- Cinnamon sticks 1†inch – 2 nos
- Cardamom – 4 nos
- cloves – 6 nos
- Bay leaf – 2 nos
- Star Anise – 3 nos
- Shajeera – ½ tsp
- Big onions – 3 nos
- Tomatoes – 2 nos
- Green chili – 1 no
- Black Raisins – 75 gm
- Mint + Coriander leaves – 1 cup
- Yogurt / Curd – ½ cup
- Red chili powder – 1 ½ tsp
- Coriander powder – 3 tsp
- Cumin powder – 2 tsp
- Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
- Garam masala – 1 tsp
- Ginger-garlic paste – 2 tbsp
- Salt
- Clarified butter/Ghee – 2 tbsp
- Oil – 2 tbsp
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Instructions
- Peel and thinly slice the onions (lengthwise). Slit the green chilies into two equal halves. Finely chop the coriander and mint leaves.
- Clean and chop the chicken to medium pieces. Wash and drain the water from the rice, keep it aside.Boil the milk and soak the saffron strands to the milk.
- Mix chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, and cumin powder and garam masala to a fine paste by adding little water.
- In a heavy bottomed kadhai, pour in 3 litres of water, add in 2 nos of star anise, a bay leaf, a cinnamon stick, 4 nos of cloves, 3 nos of cardamom pods, few strand of mint leaves and bring it to boil.
- Add in the rice and cook until itââ¬â¢s 75% done. Drain the rice and keep it aside.
- In another heavy bottomed vessel, add in the ghee/clarified butter and cook the thinly sliced onions, wait until they turn dark brown in color.
- Drain the ghee/clarified butter and remove ¾ portion of the fried onions to a plate.
- Pour in the oil and add in the black raisins, leftover cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaf, star anise along with the fried onions and cook for 2 mins.
- Add in the green chilies, ginger-garlic paste along with the leftover mint and coriander leaves and cook until they turn dark green in color.
- Add in tomatoes and cook until they turn mushy.
- Pour in the mixed spice paste and cook for few mins, until the gravy turns dark red in color or until the oil separates.
- Add in the chicken pieces along with little salt and cook for 5 mins.
- Pour in the yogurt/curd and cook for few mins.
- Pour in 1 ½ cups of water, cover and cook until the chicken is cooked.
- Now spread the steamed rice over the gravy and spread the reserved fried onions over the rice.
- Pour in the milk soaked with saffron thread to the top of the rice and cover the vessel with airtight lid or cover it with a plate and place a weight over the plate, so that the aroma never escapes.
- Keep in medium flame for 15 mins. Gently remove the lid and give a stir.
Notes
Serve hot with any raita, egg and chicken kebab. I have served it with raita and egg.
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