Chicken Biryani

Today's lunch was chicken biryani with home made naan and mango raita. Not bad eh!! Here's how I did it.

For the biryani

Sliced onion
Chilli
Garlic
Chicken ( I use diced leg and thigh, better flavour and breast can be dry )
Chicken stock
Salt and black pepper
Water
Curry powder
Dry rice

In a pan fry your onion chilli and garlic, get them nice and brown chuck in your chicken, when its nearly cooked give it a good whack of curry powder ( I know its cheating and I do use proper spices but its Monday and I've got £4 a day! ) its really important at this point to cook your spice for a good 5-10 mins this is called cooking out, basically it won't taste powdery. Now lob your rice in and if your using stock powder now's the time for that too. Stir it until its all coated then add your water/stock like your making risotto, a little at a time until the rice is cooked and you get the consistency you want. Done, I roasted some peppers and threw them on top last minute for a bit of decoration.

Naan bread my way

So I used my bread recipe and added some caraway seeds.

500g flour
7g yeast
300ml warm water
100ml oil ( sounds a lot but really helps the naan )
Pinch salt
Pinch sugar
25g caraway seeds

Mix the dry ingredients and slowly add the water and oil knead until  its a nice firm dough, leave to prove until double the size. Squash it back then shape into small balls, flatten them with a rolling pin into a naan shape. Lightly oil a frying pan ( I use a pastry brush ) and throw in your dough, brown on both sides brush with butter and eat with your amazing biryani!! Enjoy!

Cheeky bread recipe

Easy lunch today bacon and cheese Panini's with fries and cinnamon buns for afters, I'll be posting the full recipe for the buns later but its done by using my own simple base dough.

The basic white bread mix is

500g plain flour, a lot of recipes call for strong bread flour but its not needed.
300-350ml warm water, depending on if you want a crusty roll or a more bap like roll, 300ml will give a crusty roll.
7g fast action yeast
Pinch salt
Pinch sugar
30ml oil

 In a mixer mix the dry ingredients using a dough hook first then add the oil and water, mix for 10 minutes this gives the flour time to absorb the water. Prove in a warm place until double the size. Knock back the dough to the size it was when you started, shape into 12 rolls, chuck them on a baking tray lined with grease proof paper and prove again until double the size. The roll should still feel firm, if the outer skin feels loose then the bread has over proved.
Bake on 150c for 15 mins or until the bread sounds hollow when tapped. Leave to cool for a while and enjoy!!! Easy and better than shop bought.