During Christmas holidays we visited our cousins in Boston. My cousin’s place, we had delicious and comfort vegetarian food, something I was craving a lot. At V’s cousin’s place, we had all non vegetarian meals. I was in a foodie’s heaven, amazing food at both places and we had a very relaxing time.
Make a big batch of it, as it is just out of this world and it disappears in no time.
This dish was prepared for us by V’s cousin’s wife Poornima Vaini. She made all-chicken dinner and lunch for us. Since I am a big Biryani lover, I really enjoyed this Biryani with coconut milk in it. She shared her recipe with me. I might have missed one or more steps, but this came out really well when I came back and made this. It is extremely easy one to make (I don’t know why it is called Biryani, because rice is not cooked separately here. Everything is mixed and cooked at once, but I will still stick to the name).
Ingredients:
1/2 kg (17oz approx) chicken
1/2 cup potato(optional)
2 cups basmati rice
2 cups(1 can) light coconut milk
3/4 cup onion slices
1/2 cup tomato
4-5 strands coriander leaves
1 tea spn biryani powder
1-2 tea spns chilli powder
A pinch turmeric
A tbl spn yogurt/curds
1 tea spn ginger paste1 tea spn garlic paste
Ghee/Oil
Salt
Whole Spices :
4-5 cloves
2″ cinnamon
4 green cardamom
2 bay leaves
Method:
Add ginger paste, garlic paste, turmeric, chilli powder, yogurt, biryani masala and salt to chicken pieces. Mix well and keep aside for about 30mins.
Heat ghee/oil (I add both ghee and oil) and add all whole spices. Now add onion, salt and fry till they are brownish.
Add tomatoes and fry for few mins.
Add chicken along with all marinade and fry for 3-4 minutes. Add potatoes(optional).
Add rice and fry for few more minutes.
Now pour in the coconut milk and about 1 and 1/2 cups water, salt, mix well. Cover the lid and cook on a medium heat till done. Garnish with coriander leaves. Switch off heat and leave it as it is for about 15-20mins. Serve hot.
Serve with cold raita.
Serves : 4-5
Preparation time : 45mins
The biryani looks delicious..Will definitely be on my to do list 🙂
This looks divine. And I love the fact that its all done in one pot. Thank you so much! 🙂
Gujaratis call this ‘akhni’, and not biryani.
Looks delicious…have never cooked rice with coconut milk before…will definitely try this!
yeah…we especially cook this in a pressure cooker and call it chicken pulav…tastes better with all the flavors intact !!
Hi…..Shilpa
Such a lovely looking biryani
Nice recipe and lovely click……
I love biryanis so looking at the click is making me really hungry :))
And adding coconut milk to chicken biryani is a great idea
M.O.U.T.H.W.A.T.E.R.I.N.G
I am definitely going to try this out ASAP !!
looks so mouthwatering!! so want to have it right now.. i have one question though, if u cook the rice and chicken together, wont the rice get overcooked?
No, it wont. You have to cook on medium low flame.
today iam going to do the biriyani. its looks moothwatering. my daughters favarest food. thank you.
Hi Mrs.Shilpa,
I have gone through most of your recipes, its really wonderful job you have done, you know……. I took almost 4 files of print of our recipes :-). Anyway I want to try one by one 🙂
Thanks
Vasantha
Hi Shilpa,
My friends sugegsted this website and I have been hooked ever since. I have tried few of your recipies and have come out really well.
I have one question regarding the cocunut milk in this recipie.Do you add the canned cocunut milk used in the Thai foods here or the homemade coconut milk?
I have noticed that the Thai coconut milk tastes different from the ones which we get in India. I had used it in a payasam recipie once and it tasted very different.
Thanks,
shilpa
As I mentioned in the recipe, I used canned coconut milk. You can use home made if you don’t like the taste of canned one.
Hi Shilpa!
I think it’s time I write to you, finally, after being silent for almost a year! Im a young french Canadian, living in Quebec city who LOVE your blog. Since a looooonng time, I follow it every single day! Im a huge fan of indian cuisine, from every region, and I try to stay as traditional as I can in this field, so your blog, with so many recipes help a lot!
MERCI beaucoup!! Can’t wait to try this biryani recipe!
Laurence
Wow! Looks incredibly delicious!
Dear Shilpa,
I have an award to share with you……Do collect it from my blog…… Heartiest Congratulations dear and Happy Blogging……..
for that x factor just add i star aniseed to the rice while cooking, and dum it sealed tight with a 50 ml milk flavored with saffron(few strands), i bet you get a divine dish to enthrall ur guest.
Hi Shilpa! I am new to cooking and this will be my first try at a biryani. I have a silly question: when you add the rice to the chicken, are you adding cooked rice or raw rice? Thanks! Please keep the good recipes coming.
Raw
biryani looks divine and simple. no grinding involved!! will try this sometime.
Hi Silpa,
Can you please post bisibeli rice recipe? I had in one of my karnataki friends house,;I
took recipes also at that time,but forgot to write it down,now,I totally lost it from mind.
sana.
It is already on the site under rice items.
Hi Shilpa,
I am new to this site, most of your receipes very delicious, anyway I have one question…….
who is aayi…..?
Priya
Aayi means mother in Konkani.
I tried this recipe last night, with slight variations, and it was delicious. I have blogged about it here:
http://cosmiccook.blogspot.com/2010/02/delicious-akhni.html
Thank you so much Aayi.
I am vegetarian…but my children are not. I tried the receipe today and my children simply loved it.
thank you Shilpa.
all ur recipes are amazing and comes out well.hope all r tried and tested…………good work continue it
Tried this biryani today. My friends loved it a lot!!!
Thanks for sharing this easy biryani recipe.
heyy i tried it came really good .. thanks a lot.. i hav tried many recipes from yo site.. thanks..
Tried this Biryani today. It was very very delicious. The coconut milk just gives it such an amazing flavour and aroma. So many Thanks to you and your Poornima vaini!!
hi shilpa
i am great fan of ur recipes.Today i prepared this chicken briyani. It came out really well. its rich in taste and aroma. Hats off to u for sharing it with us
Hi…All your recipes look great…very simple and the ingrediants are easily available..Gonna try “Dates Cake” first and then this Biryani..I am sure it will be great…Thanks Shilpa..a
Hi Shilpa,
I really want to try your recipe, but I have one question, after frying the spices and chicken, can we add it to the rice with the coconut milk in a rice cooker?
Thanks. It sure looks delicious though
I have never cooked chicken in rice cooker because I thought it may get overcooked. Try a small amount and see how it goes
Sounds delish….I wanna try it out soon but before that have a quick question – did you pressure cook the whole thing or just let it cook in a kadai. I usually pressure cook my pulao’s but see many videos that even make it in pans just covered well.
No, I don’t use pressure cooker for biryani/pulav. I make it in a pan or in rice cooker
This is a great recipe, everyone loved it at home!
Looks yummy! How can we make coconut milk at home?
Add a little warm water to grated coconut and grind for few mins. Then squeeze all the juice using a muslin cloth.