Jamie Oliver inspired chicken and spinach oven baked biryani

I normally make biryani often but when I saw Jamie Oliver’s incredible lamb biryani using left over lamb, it inspired me to do a biryani with spinach. I guess it is very healthy as it has spinach and it tasted yummy too.

Serves : 6

Ingredients

• 400g cooked basmati rice
• 300 gm chicken breast fillet, sliced
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 x thumb-sized pieces of fresh ginger, peeled and crushed
• 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped
• 4 tablespoon biryani masala (use curry powder if not available)
• 200ml chicken stock
• 2 tablespoon red chilli powder
• Olive oil
• Salt to taste
• 450g frozen spinach

Method

• Cook the rice and rinse under cold water and drain.
• Add the olive oil to a large frying pan and gently cook the garlic, ginger, onions and chilli until soft and divide between two large pans.

• In one, add frozen spinach. Two tablespoons of salt, 1 table spoon of chilli powder and splash of water and cook for 10 minutes stirring regularly until it is dark. Add extra water if it starts to dry.

• In another pan, add the biryani masala, remaining chili powder and stir through for 1 min.

• Add chicken and cook until the meat is cooked. Increase the heat and gradually add the chicken stock. Bring to a boil and cook for 20 mins, until the sauce has reduced slightly.

• Greased a deep baking dish, add half of the cooked rice and make a layer of it, followed by all the spinach and the chicken stew. Add the rest of the rice as the final layer on top. Cover the dish with foil.

• Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4 and cook the biryani for 30 mins until piping hot.

• Plate up the biryani and serve with raita.

Take care ,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO