Sri Lankan Chicken & Egg Biryani

Ingredients

1 kg chicken, goat, mutton or lamb with bone washed & chopped in to 2 inch size pieces (I prefer Chicken)
2 cups coconut milk
1inch ginger chopped
5-6 garlic cloves
1tbs coriander seeds
5 tbs coconut oil
3 cups basmati or samba rice
1 inch cinnamon stick
5-6 cardamom
5-6 cloves
1 tbs peppercorns
3 tsp chili powder
1/2 tbs coriander powder
1tsp chili flakes
1 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp salt to taste
6 tsp dark curry powder
2tbs curd or plain yogurt
1 onions
10 chopped curry leaves
coriander leaves/cilantro leaves
3-4 pieces pandan leaves
2 tbs ghee or butter
1 cup fried cashews
1/2 cup fried raisins
1 cup fried onions
5 eggs boiled and cleaned

Step 1

Crush all the relevant hard ingredients together.

{Coriander seeds, Peppercorn, Cinnamon, Cloves & Cardamom}

*If you can use mortar and pestle, it is better to take flavors out.

Step 2

Put the meat in to a large bowl & add crushed ingredients to meat along with 3 tsp chili powder,
coriander powder, 2tsp dark curry powder, salt & 2 tbsp coconut oil. Then mix them all together.

*Coconut oil helps you to rub ingredients easily.

Step 3

Leave it at least for 1/2 an hour – 1 hour to marinate the meat pieces well. Longer is better. Let all the flavors go through the meat.

Step 4

Wash the rice and Set it aside.

*It’s better, If you can cook 1 cup rice separately. So you can use it later in case.

(When you cook rice separately, don’t forget to add some butter or ghee and salt.)

Step 5

Heat 3 tbs oil in a large pan. When it gets heated add chopped onions and let it fry for a minute or two. Then add ginger, garlic, pandan leaves & curry leaves then stir and fry little more.

Step 6

Add 4tsp dark curry powder & 1 tsp chili flakes in to the pan and stir it. Then add meat in to the pan and mix all together. Turn the meat & fry both sides well till meat pieces get firm.

Step 7

Add water to cover the meat. Let it cook for few minutes. After it’s started boiling, put the lid on and cook for more 20-30 minutes.

Step 8

Add coconut milk and stir well.

*If you want, before you go to the next step, you can let the meat cook for another 10 minutes with coconut milk and after taste the saltiness then remove some curry out of it to another bowl, so you can have it later with the rice as a side dish or you can use it to mix with biryani if it gets too dry in the end.

Step 9

Add 2 tbs plain yogurt or curd to the curry and stir well. Then add turmeric powder to the pan and stir it again. It helps to get the color and as well as the flavor. And the lid goes on again. Let it boil for another 10-15 minutes.

Step 10

Add rice in to the pot. Stir and mix it with the curry. add green chillies, coriander leaves/cilantro and some cashews and raisins then mix all together. Add water or meat stock to cover the meat and rice. Add 2 tbs ghee or butter.

Step 11

Put the lid on and let it cook for another 15-20 minutes, till the rice get cooked.

*After 15-20 minutes, if you notice that the rice needs more water to cook, add some hot water. Check it often till it get cooked.

Step 12

In a large bowl Mix biryani rice, boiled eggs, cashews, raisins and fried onions all together very carefully. (Keep aside some cashews, raisins & fried onions for garnish) Try not to break eggs while you are mixing it. Add salt to taste.

*If biryani rice looks watery you can add some cooked rice which I mentioned to keep aside. Or if it’s too dry add some curry you removed before and mix. At this point, in this bowl, you can make your biryani well balanced and tasty.

Step 13

Then serve in a dish, garnished with some fried onions raisins, cashews and finally lots of coriander leaves/cilantro. You can serve this with the meat curry you removed and green chili coconut sambol.