It doesn’t matter where you go in the world, it won’t take much effort to find restaurants and shops selling delicious halal meat products. Although the vast majority of foods we eat every day are already halal, meat needs to be prepared in a respectful way to be considered halal. While halal cuisine is typically associated with Muslims and religious faith, these dietary standards can also be followed by those who want the animal products they consume to be treated with the utmost respect.
Having visited many countries where halal food is widespread, one of my favourite dishes is chicken biryani. With the origins of this hugely popular dish believed to have started in Persia hundreds of years ago, there’s a hint in the name with ‘biryani’ derived from the Persian words birian – meaning ‘fried before cooking’ – and birinj for ‘rice’. While numerous legends explain how the dish eventually made its way to India, all I know is that it tastes amazing.
If you want to produce a mouthwatering halal dish in the comfort of your home, this chicken biryani is bound to impress your guests.
Chicken Biryani Ingredients:
- 2 brown onions
- 6 garlic cloves
- 1 inch of ginger
- 1 whole chicken
- 2 chopped tomatoes
- 1/2 cup natural yogurt
- 1 packet biryani masala mix
- 4 cups basmati rice
- 2 potatoes
- 2 green chillies
- a few drops of red or yellow food colouring
- Salt, mint and coriander to taste
Recipe:
- Heat the pan to medium-high and fry onions until golden brown.
- Add ginger and garlic paste, then stir to combine.
- Add the chicken and fry until the outside is cooked.
- Add biryani masala mix until you’re happy with the taste. You can also add extra salt if needed.
- Keep frying until all the liquid has evaporated, then add tomatoes and yoghurt.
- Add potatoes and cook before covering with a lid.
- Once potatoes have softened, mix through coriander, mint and green chilli, then turn down to a simmer.
- Now it’s time to boil the rice in another saucepan.
- Once the rice has finished cooking, start layering the chicken and rice by adding coriander, chilli and mint. Repeat until fully combined.
- Add food colouring to the rice and cover.
- Let this cook on low heat for about 7-10 minutes. Finish mixing the ingredients and enjoy!
Expand Your Recipe Knowledge with Cedric Okiorina
With a little bit of preparation, preparing incredible home-cooked food that’s also halal is no more challenging than any other kind of cooking. Considering halal meat products are easily available in most parts of the world, give it a try and see what you think. If you’d like to try more of chef Cedric Okiorina’s delicious meals, browse through the rest of this blog for some undeniably tasty inspiration.
Photo by Shreyak Singh on Unsplash