Chicken Biryani Made Easy

I stand by the belief that home made food is better than take outs or ready made meals. It not only makes economical sense but you know exactly what is going into your meals and there are no hidden fats, sodium or preservatives. It's highly unlikely the average home has bottles of calcium propionate, sodium nitrate ,or  methylchloroisothiazolinone sitting in their pantry.

 With that said, even Father Christmas has elves help him make the presents for Christmas and I have no problem buying pre-made ingredients to help produce a great meal without added fuss. They are also great for those of us that are learning new cuisines, like curry.

There are days when I will use fresh spices, dry fry them and grind them up to make my own spice mix, but there are some great ready made spice mixtures, which I have found that can create lovely meals, with minimum fuss.

One such product I have recently discovered is from a company in India, sold in most local supermarkets called Curry Tree. They have no preservatives, no hydrogenated vegetable fat, are 100% natural and are gluten free. They have easy to follow recipes on the box and need no exotic or expensive ingredients to create authentic dishes packed with flavour.

Yesterday I bought the Curry Tree Chicken Biryani. While the recipe provided was simple to follow, I have changed it slightly and I was very impressed with the result. Once again, I did the "all in one pot cooking" in the oven - less fuss and less washing up!

Chicken Biryani with Curry Tree Spices
Adapted from the recipe supplied by Curry Tree

1 Packet Curry Tree Chicken Biryani
8 Chicken Thighs
300ml Plain Yoghurt
300ml Water
300g Plain White Rice
2 Teaspoons Crushed dried Chilli (optional if you like it hotter)
1 Pinch Saffron (optional)
Chopped fresh Coriander (optional for garnish)

Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC
In a pot which can go on the stove and oven, brown the chicken until golden (don't add extra oil).
Mix the yoghurt,1 teaspoon of the chilli and the Curry Tree spice in a bowl.

Pour the yoghurt mix into the chicken and combine.
Pour over the rice and then the water and sprinkle the saffron and other teaspoon of chilli on top.
DO NOT STIR.
Allow the mix to come back to heat - slow bubble.
Place a layer of foil over the top of the pot and then place the lid on to make it completely sealed.
Place in the oven for 60-80 minutes.
Remove from the oven and serve sprinkled with some chopped fresh coriander.