Turkey Biryani

A biryani made with Canadian Turkey with a rice spice base that is finger licking good!

Servings

Author Sarah Mir

Ingredients

Turkey Marinade

1 pound turkey breast cubed into 1 ½ - 2 inch pieces
½ tsp crushed ginger
½ tsp crushed garlic
¾ cup yogurt
3 diced green chillies
¾ tsp salt
½ tsp red chilli powder cayenne

Rice

3 ½ cup Basmati Rice
Salt
Bay Leaf
1 tsp vinegar

Masala

2 large or 3 medium onions sliced
Whole spices – 5-6 black peppercorns 4-5 cloves, 2-3 black cardamom, 2 inch stick of cinnamon, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1 nutmeg broken into pieces
1 tablespoon crushed ginger
1 tablespoon crushed garlic
1.5 teaspoons red chilli powder
2 teaspoons coriander powder
½ tsp crushed chilli flakes
⅓ teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoons salt
6-7 dried plums see notes!
1 to mato diced optional
2 potatoes peeled & sliced into 1 cm rounds
Oil for cooking

For layering

½ cup mint leaves
¼ cup chopped cilantro
Yellow food coloring powder
Kewra rosewater essence

Instructions

Mix the ingredients for the marinade in a medium sized bowl, add the turkey pieces and stir to coat well. Marinating overnight is best but do what you can. Before cooking put your marinated turkey out to bring to room temperature
Soak the rice and set aside
Heat a generous amount of oil in a heavy bottomed pot and add the whole spices.
When they start to splutter and give of a heady aroma then add the onions
Caramelize the onions on medium heat, watching carefully to make sure they don’t burn
Turn the heat down a little and add the ginger and garlic, sauté for a minute
Now put in all the spices (chilli powder, chilli flakes, coriander powder, turmeric, salt) and cook for another minute or so
Sauté the tomato with the spice base until softened
In goes your turkey. Turn the heat up and cook stirring frequently until you can no longer see any raw patches
Add the dried plums + a cup of hot water and simmer for about 25-30 minutes.
While the turkey is cooking bring a pot of water to boil with the bay leaf and vinegar. Season generously with salt
When the water boils add the rice & cook until it is al dente. Drain and set aside.
After 25-30 minutes the turkey should be cooked through, but not quite tender.
Now in go your sliced potatoes, give the masala a good stir, add more water if needed and cook for another 20 minutes
Once the potatoes are tender then crank up the heat and make sure you cook the masala so that the oil rises above the spice base. Excess water makes for a soggy biryani!
You can tip the dish a little to drain extra oil at this point (I always do).
Layer half the cooked rice on the bottom of a large wide pot, followed by the turkey masala, the mint and cilantro leaves and the remaining rice.
Scatter the yellow powder on top along with a few drops of kewra water and leave on low for 20 minutes.
Take a wide spoon or a small plate and fold the rice and masala over each other.
Serve with raita!

Notes

Notes: Aaloo Bukharay or Dried Plums give biryanis their trademark tang. However, if you don’t have any handy simply squeeze the juice of a lemon over the turkey masala when its done!