Chicken Biryani

Last weekend, I got together with some friends for a cozy fall potluck. I decided about a week in advance that I wanted to make Chicken Biryani, because I have a slow cooker recipe for Vegetable Biryani and I thought it would be a quick and easy adaptation. Well, I did a bit of recipe reconnaissance online and discovered that a true Chicken Biryani is nothing if not time and labour intensive! And in the end, even a slow cooker version was going to take more time than I had, which was about 3 hours. (Nothing like leaving things until the last minute.)

So, I abandoned the slow cooker idea and decided to go with a modified oven and stovetop version. I went looking online for recipes, but they varied widely depending on region. I had no idea which one to use or whose version I would like. In the end, I decided to work from a recipe for Muglai Chicken Biryani from Northern India.

Surprise, surprise, I didn't follow the recipe as written, but mostly because it was poorly written and the directions didn't make sense.  In fact, I had to use some kitchen know-how to sort through it, but between it and a couple of secondary recipes, I did get a general idea of ingredients and approximate proportions. Because I was on a deadline, I admit, I took a few shortcuts. (e.g. The 3-4 hours of marinating became 45 minutes...and the 3-4 hours in the oven became 1 hour and a half...I used chopped garlic instead of garlic paste, etc...) Maybe not the most authentic Chicken Biryani (apologies to the purists...) but it was really tasty and didn't take all day.

Chicken Biryani "turbo version"
(Serves 6-8)
(Note: These are potluck proportions...I needed two casserole dishes for this amount.)

INGREDIENTS

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast (cut into small pieces) or boneless skinless thighs (I used both)
3 cups basmati rice
3 large onions - 1 thinly sliced, 2 chopped

a bunch of mint (chopped)  - about 1/2 cup
a bunch of coriander leaves (aka cilantro) (chopped) - about 1/2 cup
2 tsp. chopped fresh ginger
2 tsp. chopped garlic (about 6 cloves)

1/2 cups plain yogurt, diluted with 1/2 cup water

3 tsp. ground coriander

1 tsp. ground turmeric

1 tsp. ground cumin 

1 tbsp ground garam masala

1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

10 whole cloves
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cardamom

2 bay leaves

1 small lemon
salt (to taste)

2 tablespoons of vegetable oil + 2 tablespoons of butter for cooking

for garnishing:

10 cashew nuts, chopped coarsely
20 golden raisins

PREPARATION

1. Place the 2 chopped onions, garlic, ginger, diluted yogurt, about 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice, turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, garam masala powder, red pepper flakes, and 1 tsp. of salt in a bowl. Mix it together and add the chicken to marinate for about 3/4 of an hour in the refrigerator.

2. Meanwhile, in a large frying pan or cast iron skillet, take the remaining slices onion, and fry in oil and butter until crisp. (But heat gently, or butter will burn.) Set aside.

3. Fry cashews and raisins in the same oil, drain and set aside. Reserve the oil for cooking the chicken.

4. Wash and chop the mint and coriander leaves and set aside.

5. Rinse the rice several times in cold water, and drain. In a large pot, partially cook the rice (for about 5-7 minutes with an open pot) with bay leaves, cinnamon, cardamom and a little squeeze of lemon juice. Don't cook the rice ahead of time, or it will get too cold too absorb the flavours of the chicken and spices. The ratio of rice to water should be 1:2, drain excess water if you find that its overcooking the rice. The grains of rice should still have a little bit of firmness on the outside, but be soft inside.

6. In the same oil in which you fried everything, add the whole cloves and fry them for 2 minutes. Add the marinated chicken and all of the marinade, and cook until the chicken is no longer pink in the center. If the mixture looks too runny, cook it until it reduces a bit.

ASSEMBLY

1. In a deep baking dish or casserole dish, layer the semi cooked rice, then add a layer of the chicken mix.

2.For the next layer sprinkle chopped mint, coriander, and fried onions.

3. Repeat step 1 and 2 again.

4. Add a final layer of rice and sprinkle with cashews and raisins. 

5. Cover with aluminum foil and keep it in a 300 degree oven for about an hour and a half....until rice is cooked through and fluffy.

6. Serve with Cucumber Mint Raita (recipe below) and Mango Chutney (store-bought)

Cucumber Mint Raita

To whatever amount of Greek yogurt you want, add chopped mint and grated cucumber (peeled and seeded) a few shakes of cumin and a pinch of salt. (Use Greek yogurt, or it will be too runny, because the cucumbers contain a lot of water...)

Sorry, no photo for this one...as I explained in a recent post, I broke my camera. But I trust your imagination to do my recipe justice...

Summer's End

Oh hello...are you still there?...thanks for hanging in there. I've been cooking up a storm in the past few weeks, but sadly I have had no pictures because I dropped and broke my camera at the end of the summer (taking pictures for the blog).

Luckily, I snapped some good ones of my little deck garden as it was just getting to harvest time, so I have some photographic proof that my efforts bore fruit.

The tomatoes were really lovely - all nearly perfect with such bright flavour.



And this all happened despite a little friend who tried, throughout the year, to stop me.

Yes, those are mini green peppers in there, too.

For some colour on the deck, I planted some dwarf phlox...they were so cheerful and they continue to bloom. 

Even now, as the days are getting shorter and the evenings crisp, I am still heading outside to grab some chives or parsley or basil. Tonight I noticed some new yellow flowers on the tomatoes. Hopefully the mild fall days will last. I feel sad thinking that some of them might not make it. Gardening...we had some good times this summer. See you next year!

Pictures or not, I'll be posting some recent recipes soon. And then when the camera is back in business...I'm planning a posting on my favorite kitchen items. I received a gift card to a large, luxurious kitchen store from a generous friend and I can't wait to get some new gadgets!

...Stay tuned.

Kiwi Strawberry Rocket Pops

Record breaking temperatures here this summer.
Drastic action needed.
Rocket pops to the rescue.

I bought the most adorable ice pop molds this year. They're in the shape of rocketships.

How could I resist? And making a delicious frozen treat takes only minutes of preparation.


Kiwi Strawberry Rocket Pops
Makes 6 - 50 ml ice pops

4 ripe kiwis
2 tablespoons of strawberry jam (homemade if you've got it...)
water

Scoop the kiwi flesh out of the skins and into a blender.

Add the strawberry jam. Blend, adding water until the mixture totals 300 ml.
Pour into ice pop molds and freeze until firm. Try to stay cool while you wait...

Blast off!

And when you're done, you get a nifty surprise visit from a space man :)

Kitchen improv:

To make your own rocket pops, throw together anything that tastes good and will freeze.

Here are a couple of other variations I've already made this year:

Café Latte Ice Pops
Dissolve instant coffee and sugar into milk.

Orange Yogurt Ice Pops
Blend together orange juice, yogurt, honey and vanilla.

Fizzy Grapefruit Ice Pops
Pour grapefruit flavoured carbonated sparkling water into molds.

Make up your own combo and let me know how it goes!

Garden Improv

I ventured into new territory this year, starting some of my garden from seed. I learned a lot and things seemed to be going well. But in the middle of July, in the heat of the summer, I was set to go away on holidays for more than a week. I watched the long term forecast for weeks in advance, worried that my little plants, left on their own, would shrivel in the hot sun and die of neglect. I hoped for a prediction of rain, but summer was in full force...7 days of sun and 30 degree temperatures were expected.

Our neighbours were away; family and friends lived too far away for me to reasonably ask someone to do daily watering duties. So, I started asking around and researching self-watering systems online. I didn't like any of them and didn't want to spend the money on something I could probably make myself. The Internet was full of good do-it-yourself ideas, but many involved initially planting in self-watering pots and I didn't have the time or resources to re-pot.

One family member had a good suggestion - to put trays of water under the plants, so they could draw the water up through the drainage holes in the pots. So, I bought some extra large aluminum roasting pans ($1.99 each at the dollar store) and tested this method one night. But the water only lasted a day in the heat.

My deck is very sunny and I think the reflection off the aluminum just made the water evaporate even faster. So, my next step was to shade the pans with some old rags, essentially creating a skirt around the pan from the edge of the plant pot. This would shade the water and the aluminum pan, hopefully stopping some of the evaporation.

It was a good start, but I knew it would only extend the water supply by maybe one day. Since tomatoes need daily watering I had to do more.

I had seen watering globes at the dollar store - but they were small and only held a few cups of water. They were also made of glass - possibly a bad idea on a windy and high outdoor deck. But, I wanted to do something using the same idea.  So, I purchased several 4 litre plastic jugs of spring water ($1.29 a bottle). I poked a hole in each lid using a small nail so that just a tiny drop of water could come out when the bottles were inverted. Then, I poked another tiny hole in the bottom of the jug to let air into the bottle. (I'm not sure if this step was necessary, but I imagined the bottle collapsing in on itself, eventually preventing the water from dripping out.) Then I screwed the upside-down bottles into the soil of the plant pots, until they stood up on their own.

Finally, I wanted to create a bit of shade for the plants, without blocking any rain that might come unexpectedly. The deck is small and the plants share the space with a bistro table and two chairs. I simply tied a plastic table cloth to the backs of each of the chairs and stretched it over the table creating a little banner of shade that sat beside the row of plants. If it rained, they'd still get wet, but for a couple of hours a day, when the sun was at the right angle, they'd be sheltered from the hot sun.

Then I crossed my fingers, told the plants to "hang in there" and left for 8 days.

**********

We came back from our lovely vacation late one evening. It didn't rain once in the time we were gone. We unpacked the car before I went out to check on the plants. I was relaxed and happy after my vacation and I didn't want to rush out to see them in case my experiment had failed.

I opened the door and peered around the corner to see a beautiful sight.

Not only were the bottles either empty or nearly empty, but the soil was moist and the plants had nearly doubled in size over the week.

(pictures were taken the next day, when it was light out and once I'd cleaned the deck up so I could move around)


The tomatoes had flowered....
 

 
More than 100 grape tomatoes are on the way....
 

 
The peppers are coming along...
 

 
The basil's booming...
 

 
The dill is divine...
 

 
The rosemary is still the underdog, but it's still hanging in there...
 

 
Stay tuned for some fresh tomato recipes...send me your favorites!

White Bean and Salmon Salad

Do you ever arrive home from work so hungry that your brain can't even begin to plan dinner? I do. In cases like this, I need food fast! And I need something with lots of protein, but that's not too heavy. Last night, this salad did the trick. Using just a couple of ingredients I found in the pantry, and some fresh herbs from the garden, dinner was delicious and on the plate in mere minutes.

White Bean and Salmon Salad
Serves 2

1 (540 ml) can of white kidney beans
1 (170 g) can of wild salmon
2 cups of baby spinach
1 tablespoon of chopped fresh tarragon
1 tablespoon of chopped fresh chives
1 1/2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil
sea salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Drain and rinse beans and place them in a large bowl. If using regular salmon, drain the water, then remove the skin and bones and flake into the bowl with the beans. (I used tuna style flaked salmon, which was ready to use.) Add the spinach. In a small bowl or glass jar, add the herbs, the oil and vinegar and salt and pepper. Mix well and then pour over the bean mixture and toss well. Serve with a slice of dark rye bread.

Kitchen Improv:

This is one of those recipes that you could easily adapt based on what you have available. Try a different kind of beans, or use tuna instead of salmon, or swap out the vinegar or herbs for your favorites! Let me know if you come up with a winning combination.

Here's another really delicious example of this type of salad using lentils and tuna. I've made this recipe several times.

Cream of Cauliflower Soup with Saffron

What to do with a whole cauliflower? I like it steamed, baked, or grilled - it's so mild and adaptable. But it's an awful lot of one vegetable for two people. So, into a soup it goes...reduced to a couple of spoonfuls by the time I'm done. Hmm...where did it all go?

I searched online for an interesting flavour to compliment cauliflower in a soup. Cheese and curry seemed to be the most popular choices. But I wanted something a little different. I found this recipe at Epicurious and modified it for a low fat version. I doubled the saffron, but it was still lovely and subtle - a great appetizer or first course.

Cream of Cauliflower Soup with Saffron

Serves 2

2 cups water
2 cups chicken broth
1 whole cauliflower, cut into small pieces
1/4 teaspoon coarsely crumbled saffron threads
3 tablespoons butter
2 cups chopped onions
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 cup skim milk
salt and pepper
fresh chives

Combine 2 cups water and 2 cups chicken broth in medium saucepan. Bring mixture to a simmer. Add cauliflower then cover and cook until almost soft. Remove from heat. Add saffron threads. Cover and steep 20 minutes.

Melt 3 tablespoons butter in heavy medium pot over medium-low heat. Add chopped onions and sauteé until very tender but not brown, about 10 minutes. Add flour and stir to coat onions. Cook one more minute. Add milk and stir constantly on medium-low heat until mixture is thickened. Add saffron broth and incorporate well. Use an immersion blender, or transfer to a blender and blend until smooth. Bring to simmer over high heat. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir well and serve with fresh chives. 

(Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Yes - that little purple bud in the soup is a chive flower! Good eye!

What do you do to make cauliflower more interesting?

My Herb Garden

My summer herb garden is underway - I'm hoping these little beauties will make an appearance in some late summer recipes.  I'm limited to what I can grow in containers on the deck, but I've expanded my tiny garden since last year. I have a wider variety of plants, and I even started some from seeds for the first time.

Despite a spring full of cloudy days, what I have so far was looking good...until this morning when I discovered that my dill had been dug up by our resident squirrel.  And I do mean resident. We've had a family of squirrels living in the roof for the past year. Now they're living rent free AND they've got a free buffet. What a life! I think I'll have to buy some chicken wire this weekend.

Look at the difference between the left and right sides...

On the left, the dill was dug up and is almost completely gone, except for a few tiny sprigs that survived Mr. Squirrel's tiny paws of destruction. (I'm hoping I can re-plant...it's supposed to be fairly easy to grow.)

Interestingly, he didn't touch the cilantro. (Hey Mr. Squirrel, I didn't like it much at first either. Lucky for me, I like it now and you don't.)

And, he didn't get to anything else I've got outside...including chives, oregano, tarragon and some parsley and lavender waiting to be planted.

I love the chive flowers...if he touches those, "It's ON!"

Safe and sound indoors, I started a few different plants in a little dome...as you can see the results have been so-so. Some didn't come up at all. There are some sad looking peppers and some wispy thyme. 

And, there's one lonely shoot of rosemary. I read that it's notoriously hard to start from seed.

But, there are a couple hearty sprigs of basil...

And, the tomatoes look promising.

I'm hoping for a salad or two by the end of the summer...Mr. Squirrel permitting.



Barley with Chicken and Rapini

Barley deserves a more prominent place at my table. Chewy and slightly nutty, it works in casseroles, salads, stews, or anywhere else you need a grain with some texture. This recipe was easy and turned out perfectly. If you use regular, instead of low-sodium stock, it won't need any extra salt. And the bitter rapini will balance the flavours.

Barley with Chicken and Rapini
Serves 2

4 tablespoons of olive oil
1 rib of celery, diced
1/2 medium white onion, chopped
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced
1 cup pot barley, rinsed
3 cups water + one chicken bouillon cube
or
1 cup of water + 2 cups of chicken stock
2 cups chopped rapini

In a large saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add onion and celery and sautee until soft. Add diced chicken and cook until browned slightly. Add barley and the water + stock or bouillon cube and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook for 25-30 minutes, until the barley is tender, but still slightly chewy. (You may have to add a bit more water...check part way through cooking.) In the meantime, sautee the rapini in a separate pan. When the barley is cooked and all the water absorbed, add the rapini and stir. Season with fresh ground black pepper to taste. (optional: serve with plain yogurt on the side.)

Blackberry Walnut Muffins

Springtime at last and blackberries are appearing by the truckload at local grocery stores. I can't just leave them there...all plump and juicy and on sale! I must take them home...by the bucketload...I'll figure out how to eat them all later. I could gorge myself until I have a stomach ache and permanently stained blue lips. Or, perhpaps I'll make some muffins...

Blackberry Walnut Muffins

Makes 12 small muffins

2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
3 tablespoons of flax seeds, ground*
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, slightly beaten
6 tablespoons of grapeseed oil (or another neutral flavoured oil)
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 cup of low-fat plain yogurt
1 1/2 cups (1-6 oz container) of fresh blackberries, each berry cut into threes
1/2 cup of walnuts, chopped

*Flax seeds can be ground in a blender.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Stir in flax seeds. In another bowl combine oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla and yogurt. Add wet ingredients to dry, stirring until combined. Gently fold in blackberries and walnuts. Spoon the batter into muffin tin and bake for 25-30 minutes, until muffins start to brown. Let them cool in the pan for a few minutes, and then turn onto wire rack.