Category: Recipes to Feed a Crowd

Chicken Pilau Biryani

Leave a comment

Everyone has a dish that is their knock out dish, and Pilau Biryani is mine.  I’ve made it for graduations, parties and most recently for a wedding.  (5 catering trays worth!)  It’s a fairly simple dish, but so ridiculously tasty.  I use a spice mix called Shan Pilau Biryani mix, which is available online or in Indian grocery stores.

This makes a really nice big batch, but leftovers never last at our house.  I do make the recipe a little differently than on the box, but it’s still pretty close.  If you decide to make a half box/batch, try to make sure you get roughly half of the big spices as well. It is also traditional to leave big spices like cardamom, cloves, black peppers , pieces of cinnamon etc. in the dish that you simply pick out while you are eating.

There are basically three layers in this dish:  a chicken and gravy layer, a rice layer and an onion layer that all get gently tossed togther just before serving.  I often start the onion layer first, since it takes quite a while to get the rich, brown color and sweetness.

Ingredients

1 box Shan Pilau Biryani Mix
3 lbs. of boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces  (two portions from Costco)
1 1/2 Tbsp crushed Garlic
1 1/2  Tbsp crushed fresh Ginger (you can also grate the ginger on a ceramic grater, or a microplane)
1 cup water (may need more)
1/2 cup plain yogurt, stirred well plus more for serving
3 1/2 cups basmati rice, rinsed and drained
5 1/2 cups of water
1 Tbsp kosher salt
3-4 large onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup olive oil

To make the chicken base:  In  large pot, mix the chicken, spice mix, garlic, ginger and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat, cover and simmer until chicken is cooked and soft.  (Probably about an hour.) The chicken will release some liquid, and you want to end up with about 2 cups of  gravy (in addition to the chicken of course).  So if you end up with too much more, cook it uncovered a little longer.  If you have less, add a little more water.

Remove from heat and pour the yogurt over it evenly.

To make the rice layer: In a separate pot, bring 5 1/2 cups water to a boil and add the rice and 1 Tbsp salt.  Stir, cover and reduce heat.  Cook until just about done,  roughly 15 minutes.  Layer it evenly over the chicken and gravy. The rice will finish cooking and absorbing moisture in the oven.

If you get a red powder packet in the biryani mix, sprinkle it on top of the rice for nice bits of yellow color. Sometimes it’s not in the box – which is a bummer, but not a fatal flaw.

To make the fried onions: Fry the thinly sliced onions in olive oil, stirring frequently until they are dark golden brown and caramelized. This does take quite a while. Keep the onions and the oil they were fried in.

Alternatively, you can bake the onions. Mix the oil and onions on a large baking sheet and bake them at  350 degrees for an hour or so. The onions will turn pinkish first, for some weird reason, but just give them a stir from time to time and let them continue cooking until they are a warm golden brown color.  For my nephew’s wedding, I baked two big bags of onions from Costco.  I think you could smell onions frying from two blocks away! 

Ladle the fried onions and the oil on top of the rice, and cover with foil.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Remove from the oven and gently mix up the chicken and rice portion with a big spoon or saucer, and serve on a big platter. Serve with plain yogurt or a simple raita (spiced yogurt and vegetables.)

For a vegan version, substitute 3 cans of rinsed garbanzo beans, one cup of shelled pistachios, and 1 cup of frozen peas for the meat, adding the peas on top at the end and recovering the dish with foil a few minutes before you mix the biryani.

To make ahead and freeze:  Make the chicken and gravy mixture and pour into a freezer-safe baking dish.  Make onions and freeze them and the oil you fried them in  in a ziploc bag, flattened as much as possible.  When you want to serve it,  take the chicken and gravy and the onions out and let them thaw.  Make the rice and layer the rice on top of the chicken, then the onions and oil.  Bake as usual. Works like a charm.

Chicken Fried Rice for a Crowd

Leave a comment

Maya and the gals were all at our house a year or so ago, and so were Sammy and Taylor when I suddenly realized it was supper time! Maya’s friend Madeline loves stir-fried rice and often makes it, so I thought I’d give it a go.

Once you understand the mechanics of it: use cold rice, cook meat, then veggies, then sauce, then add everything back together again, you can use whatever you have on hand. I like it with lots of veggies and meat so I add a lot. It’s pretty easy and it’s delicious – anyway, the gals and our family demolished it!

3 cups rice
5 7/8 cup water
2 tsp salt

Make rice and spread out on a tray or any dish that will fit in your freezer. The rice needs to be cooled down.

olive oil
3 eggs

2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces (thighs and/or breast)
6 Tbsp soy sauce, divided
1/4 tsp Black Pepper
1 1/2 cup chicken broth
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp Sambal Oelek (a great hot sauce – or you could use Sriracha, or Tabasco)
8 cloves of garlic, crushed, or 1 tsp garlic powder

1 cup diced carrots
1 1/2 cup peas
1 1/2 cup diced onion
1 cup bell pepper

Heat a Tbsp of oil in a wok or large, wide skillet. Scramble eggs with a few drops of soy sauce. Remove and cut into chunks.

Mix chicken with 1 Tbsp of the soy sauce, and 1/4 tsp black pepper. Fry the meat, stirring frequently until it looks cooked. Remove from the heat.

Add another Tbsp oil to the pan. Dump in carrots and onions and saute for a few minutes. Add peas and bell peppers and saute for a minute more. Push veggies to the outer edges.

Mix garlic, soy sauce, brown sugar, chicken broth and Sambal Oelek in a bowl and pour into the middle of the veggies. Cook for a few minutes.

Add eggs and chicken back in. Stir veggies, sauce and meat together until everything is nice and saucy.

Add rice back in and cook,stirring to toss the rice with the meat and veggies. Check seasonings, and add red pepper and soy sauce as needed.

Louisa’s Wassail

Leave a comment

I have to give thanks to my friend Louisa, who always has a pot of this amazing hot drink simmering on her stove on holidays, especially the Winter Solstice. She shared her recipe and I’ve made this for family get-togethers, Halloween parties, a very chilly block party one year, and of course for Christmas. (Our block party was on such a cold day one year that my neighbor Rachel saved the day by bringing out hot homemade chicken noodle soup in cups on a tray!)

2 bottles dry red wine (Trader Joe’s Three Buck Chuck is fine.)
10 cups fresh apple cider
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp whole cloves
2 tsp whole allspice
2 cinnamon sticks, broken up
2 oranges, sliced thickly and studded around the edge with whole cloves

Add wine, cider and sugar to a large pot or crockpot. Tie the spices in a sachet of cheesecloth, or a coffee filter loosely tied with a rubber band. Add to the pot along with the orange slices.

Bring to a low boil in the pot. Let simmer for 20 minutes and turn heat down. You can remove the spice bundle if you like, but I often just leave it in. Ladle into mugs.

Cowboy Coffee

Leave a comment

blue coffee potIf there’s one thing I really appreciate,  it’s big old coffee pots – the kind you use on a campfire.

I’ve got a couple of my grandparents old coffee pots, and one of my mother’s and they’re a very quick and easy way to make good coffee for a crowd!

My note on the recipe says:  Full TTT group  – use big pot.  We drink a lot of coffee!

1 gallon water
1 1/2 cups fresh ground coffee
1 egg shell
1/2 cup ice water

Bring water to the boil in the coffee pot. Add coffee and eggshell, and bring back to full boil. Take off heat, cover and let sit for 2-3 minutes.  Stir coffee gently once to get the thickest grounds off the sides. Add 1/2 cup ice water and serve. (The eggshells help take away any bitterness, and the cold water pulls the grounds to the bottom of the pot.)

Kir (Rice pudding)

Leave a comment

There are so many different ways of making Kir.  It can be very soupy, or quite thick.  It can be plain, or garnished with almonds, pistachios and raisins. I learned this recipe form my mother-in-law Shamim in Karachi, and it’s a great dish for large groups, because it makes a lot.  It is also called Phirni.

We took it most recently to an international dinner at my daughter Maya’s high school.  That was an amazing dinner –  her school is really diverse and the food was so good.   I also took some to a Unitarian Eid lunch one year. One of my friends who is Indian said it tasted just like her Grandmother’s recipe.

1 1/3 cup basmati rice, rinsed, dried and ground
8 green cardamoms, ground
2 Tbsp ground pistachios
Rose Essence (optional, but it gives a lovely floral scent) (1/2 tsp or to taste)
7 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup sugar

Grind dry rice and cardamoms in a food processor or mortar and pestle. I use a coffee grinder we keep for spices that gets it really finely ground.

Add ground rice and cardamoms to a large pot and add 6 3/4 cup of the milk. Stir well, and cook over a medium/low heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the rest of the milk, pistachios, sugar and rosewater and cook 2 more minutes.

The kir should thicken up as it chills, but will still be quite soupy when warm. Pour into small bowls, (little unglazed clay bowls are traditional) and chill well. Before serving, garnish with more chopped pistachios, and if you want to give it the full monty; rose petals.

Note: Watch the heat carefully when you are cooking the milk. Don’t let it scorch!

Hot Buttered Something , possibly Rum

Leave a comment

Served at our 2006 office holiday party. It makes a nice large batch that keeps well in the freezer. Thanks to Cathy R for sharing her family’s recipe!

1 lb. butter
1 lb. brown sugar
1 lb. powdered sugar
1 qt vanilla ice cream
1 tsp instant coffee
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
Rum

Heat all together in a big pot until dissolved. Let cool a little, then pour into a freezer container.

For serving, add two big spoonfuls to a mug and fill with boiling water. It’s delicious this way, and if you’d like, just add a shot of rum.