South African Biryani

 Before I continue with the recipe, I would first like to thank everyone who has been visiting my blog and sending me their lovely compliments (all of which have been via email).  I really do appreciate all your kind thought and gestures. I really hope that I have been able to inspire you to try making something from the list of recipes I put up, and even if you don't, I hope you have been able to enjoy the photos of all that I make.

Anyway, moving on to the recipe..here is the recipe as requested by a number of friends which I put up on my Eid Day Menu. It is a very traditional South African Biryani, consisting of bright and exciting layers of fragrant white rice, brown lentils (whole red lentils, also called masoor dhal), marinated chicken, large pieces of fried potatoes, peas, then decorated with crispy fried onions. Sound good?

Again this is yet another dish that can be prepared the day before (which is what I prefer to do before a special day like Eid). All the separate components can be prepared and left separately in the fridge to be assembled the next day, or if you have the fridge space, you can have it all assembled in the pot it is to be cooked in to be put straight into the oven and cooked nice and early the next day. There is nothing like having a dish as grand as this, already prepared. It saves heaps of time, allowing you to remain composed, and enjoy your day calmly.

SERVES 8 (at the least)

Ingredients:

Marinate the Chicken as below:
(Mix the chicken pieces with everything in this list below. Cover & leave in the fridge before preparing the rest of the ingredients)
3 1/4 lb chicken portions (medium sized chicken), skinned and cleaned
3-4 medium onions, sliced: 1/4 cup oil**, till browned and crispy (reserve 1tbls of the fried onions) (**reserve the oil used)
1 tbls ginger, crushed/grated
6 cloves garlic, crushed/grated
2 tsp Chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbls cumin seeds
1 tbls coriander seeds, ground, (or coriander powder)
1 tsp saffron threads 
1 stick cinnamon
8 whole cloves
6 cardamon pods (split slightly)
1 tbls salt
4 tsp lemon juice
1 tbls oil
1 pot or 350 ml natural yoghurt, whisked

Ingredients continued..
~ 4 cups rice
~ 1 1/2 cups Masoor dhal (brown lentils)
~ 4-5 medium potatoes, peeled, halved or quartered
~ 2 cups frozen peas, (parboiled for 2mins)
~ 4 tbls oil (from fried potatoes)
~ 2 tbls butter

Prepare remaining Ingredients:
Prepare the remaining ingredient like so:
1. Par-boil the rice in salted boiling water with a few cardamon pods & whole cloves and a cinnamon stick, for 5-10 minutes till rice has turned white but still the grains are firm. Drain and set aside.
2.  Boil Masoor dhal in salted water till tender (it should be soft enough to mash between the fingers, but not mushy) Drain and set aside.
3.  Sprinkle 1/4 tsp turmeric & 1/4 tsp salt over potatoes, then deep fry till golden and tender
4. Boil peas for 2 minutes


Arrange all layers:

How to layer the Biryani

1. In a large deep casserole pot, and pour the oil used for the onions spreading it around.
2. Lay one third of the masoor over the bottom of the pot.
3. Next layer one third peas
4. Next arrange the marinated chicken evenly, reserving any excess yoghurt marinade for later.
5. Layer the remaining masoor over the chicken
6. Layers remaining peas
7. Tuck potatoes in
8. Layer all of the rice apart from a little, which you can now mix with the remaining yoghurt marinade. Now add this last bit of rice to the top.
9. with the reserved fried onions, sprinkle these over the top.
10. Sprinkle the rice with 1/4 cup of water.

Cook 
Cover the pot with foil and fix the lid on firmly. Place the pot into the oven, set at Gas Mark 4 (180 'C/350 F)  and leave for 1 to 1 1 1/2 hours. Once cooked, the Biryani will stay hot if left in the oven which has been turned off, for 1 hour.

** ENJOY **

(p.s. Please excuse the funny pic of my pot or Biryani!)