Chicken Biryani ala Paella

I decided to cook something different today as both my son and husband were going to be home for lunch. It's very rare that they are both at home for lunch on a weekday. As we had not had rice over the last few days I thought it would be a nice change. We had also been eating mainly non spicy dishes as thats the usual fare for us on a weekday. 

So today, I wanted to make something that was a little spicy, and that was also fast and easy to cook. With a choice of meat, poultry or seafoood, I usually tend to put in two, if not more vegetables (as long as I can get away with it) into any dish I make so that it is a nutritious meal for us. My choice today was chicken and the vegetables I had in my fridge. What I came up with in the end, is a little creation that I think is a cross between a Indian chicken biryani and a Spanish paella.

I won't pretent to be a chef and tell you what to do or what you can substitute ingredients that I have used with. Cause I am not. I will just share with you what I did:

1/2 a chicken - cut into small pieces (like I would use in a chicken curry)
2 cups of basmati rice
4 cups of water
2 medium carrots - cut into circles and then quartered
1 whole flower of broccoli - cut into smaller bouquets
1 tsp each of tumeric powder and mix spice powder
2 tsp chilli powder
3 tsp meat curry powder
1/2 tsp each of cumin, coriander and fennel powder
5 cloves garlic - left whole
a thumb size knob of garlic - sliced
1/2 medium sized red onion - cut finely
8 pcs cardamom
1 pc cinnamon stick
3 pcs star anis
2 tbs butter and a dash of olive oil

In a deep non stick pan, I put in the butter in a little olive oil (so it does not burn). I added the cardamom, cinnamon stick and star anis and roasted it until fragrant. Then I added the garlic, ginger and red onion and cooked it until the onion was soft and translucent. Next I added the chicken and cooked it slowly over a medium fire. When the chicken was three quarters cooked, I add the tumeric, chilli, curry, mix spice, cumin, coriander and fennel powders. This I cooked for five more minutes over a medium fire until the chicken was well coated and the spices had time to cook a bit in the fire.

I then added the rice, four cups of water, carrots and salt and mixed everthing well. I let it simmer gently for about 10 minutes until the rice swelled and the water reduced in half. I added the brocolli and gave it another good stir. After this it was a  watch, test and taste game. As the water reduced and the rice cooked, I had to add in another three quarters cup more water to let the rice really soften and cook through. Once I got the rice in the right texture, I added more salt to taste and kept gently mixing the whole thing until all the water evaporated and the rice loosened a little. I liked the little brown crust the rice got as I kept cooking it over a small fire to let the dish dry up a little, only because my husband does not like his rice too wet.

In the end, I ended up with a Indian Biryani dish that looked a lot like a Spanish paella!

I was really nervous if my son would like the dish as I was afraid he would find it a bit too spicy. He is just learning to appreciate spicy food and I did not want to scare him off. Verdict: He loved it! Yeah for mum!

Then, I was wondering if the dish was dry enough for my husband, because like I mentioned, he does not like his rice wet. Lets just say I am the one who orders paella in La Bodega and he shuns it religiously. So that was a big worry for me. Verdict: He had two servings! Yeah for wifey!

So all in all, I think this recipe is a keeper. I think I will try it with seafood one day soon.