Healthier Choice

Normally on Fridays I will cook extra special. You can say it’s a kind of tradition in my family. You see my mother will show off her culinary skills on Friday. Maybe because we kids used to be back earlier from school, or because as Muslims we consider Fridays as a special day. If you go to any of my three sister’s house on Fridays, wherever we maybe, our menu might be the same. There’s always Nasi Minyak, Dacha Ayam, Fried Chicken, Brinjal Pajedi and Tomato Pajedi.

But due to health concerns and more awareness, I have opted to cook white rice or sometimes nasi ayam on Fridays. This week though I decided to cook Nasi Bryani Ayam with Chicken Masak Merah and Mixed Vegetable fry. My eldest daughter will be going to college next week in Kuala Lumpur, so I thought cooking her favaorite dish would be nice. This bryani recipe is quite mild and is not the usual type which is more rich and greasy. So if you are health conscious and occasionally crave for bryani, this recipe could be ideal for you. For those who do not want to hold back, then replace oil with Ghee/butter, evaporated milk with coconut milk and add some cashew paste for the extra richness.

Chicken Bryani

Ingredients;
( A )
Six red onions chopped
Cinnamon 4cm,
Cloves and cardomons
2-3 pandan leaves
Some chopped mint and coriander leaves
3tbsp ghee/butter or 3tbsp canola oil

(B) Marinate
3 tbsp ginger & garlic paste
5 pieces of chicken
3 tbsp Faiza Bryani Masala
3 tbsp yogurt ( lowfat )
juice of 1 lime

(C)
2cups of homemade chicken stock
½ cup of evaporated milk mix with
31/2 cups of hot water
4 cups of Gred A Basmathi Rice

(D)
Fried/roasted raisins,cashews and almonds


Method

Fry the ingredients (A) in oil till fragrant. Put ingredients one at a time to get best aroma. Then add the marinated chicken (B) and fry till the oil separates from the spices. Now add all the liquid from (C) and put some salt to taste. Bring this to a boil then slow down the fire and add the cleaned rice. Stir using a fork so as to not break the rice grains. Transfer this to rice cooker and cook till its done. Now open the rice cooker and stir once more to dry up any remaining liquid. Turn off the the cooker otherwise the rice will become too soft. Transfer to a bowl and garnish with roasted cashews, almonds and raisins. You can serve this rice with Chicken Dalcha or Ayam Masak Merah.



Note:
I usually make my chicken stock and keep it in a few Tupperwares and freeze it. Then whenever I need to use chicken stock its readily available. Here’s a recipe for chicken stock.

Chicken Stock

In a pot , put the bones of 1 whole chicken. To this add bruised ginger pieces and 6 cloves of garlic. Also put in one whole onion, 2cm of cinnamon and some salt. Add about 2litres of water. Boil the stock for at least 2 hours on slow fire. Add more water if necessary . Then turn of the fire and let it stand for at least 1 hour before straining the stock. Discard everything else. Now pour the clear stock in several containers. Coolthem completely before freezing them. You can use this stock to make chicken rice, base for chicken soup, noodles in soup etc.