The 1 Hour, 1 Pot Chicken & Veg Breyani Recipe
Today, I set out with one goal in mind, which was to make a chicken breyani in 1 hour and to only use 1 pot while doing so.
The last chicken breyani which I made, took me almost 5 hours and my kitchen looked like an actual bomb site, probably worse.
So ja, I only used an All-in-One Chicken Masala and not any specific Breyani Spices, so some may say that it is not an actual Breyani – to be honest, I really do not know as I am still learning.
I will try and explain the method and timings as best as I can, any questions please feel free to ask in the comments below.
Oh, and I did not add lentils, because I did not have any.
Please note, when I mention Pot it is the pot of the Electric Pressure Cooker (EPC)
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 40
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 5 1x
- Category: Breyani
- Method: Moderate
- Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients
Scale
- 5 Chicken Thighs (skinned & cut in half)
- 6 Onions (thinly sliced)
- 3 Jam Tomatoes (chopped)
- 100g Durban Curry Lovers, All-in-One Chicken Masala
- 3 Carrots (chopped into cubes)
- Handful of Green Beans (tips chopped off)
- 6 Potatoes (halved)
- 3 Red Chillies
- Egg Yellow (few drops)
- Salt to Taste
- 2–3 Cups Basmati Rice (or to preference)
- 2–3 tablespoons of plain yoghurt, maas, buttermilk, curds or whatever you choose
- 1 Tablespoon of Ginger & Garlic (or to your preference)
- Fresh Mint & Coriander
Instructions
- Boil Kettle, whilst mixing 3/4 of the masala, yoghurt, mint, coriander, ginger and garlic with the chicken
- Put 2 Cups Basmati Rice into EPC, fill 3/4 with boiling water. Add salt (water must taste like seawater) Put on the lid and cook for 3 minutes on rice setting.
- While the rice is cooking, chop the carrots and tip the beans.
- Pour Rice out into a colander & drain (should be 3/4 cooked)
- Pour boiling water and a few drops of egg yellow, food colouring, into the pot and add your potatoes to par cook with a closed lid (3 mins)
- Quick clean up and arrange all your ingredients in order, while the potatoes are par cooking.
- Drain potatoes into colander, and roast in oven for 10-15 mins
- Meanwhile rinse the pot and add your oil, heat on fry on the max temperature
- Add your onions and fry until golden brown
- Remove 3/4 of the onions and set aside for later (pour any oil that drains back into the pot)
- Add Tomato and fry until soft
- Add the remaining masala (approx 25g) into the onion and tomato, stir well for 1-2 minutes
- Add a splash of water in to the mix, stir well, add carrots & add your marinated chicken & beans (this was a mistake, next time I add beans after step 11)
- Put the lid on the EPC and cook for 10 mins on stew function.
- Whilst the chicken is cooking, mix the remaining onions, mint & dhania into your rice
- Release steam, open lid, give a good mix and then layer your potatoes and top with the rice mix
- Put the lid on and steam for 15 mins (on low to medium heat, I used fish function on the EPC)
- Allow steam to release naturally and it should be ready to serve
- Garnish with dhania & mint & whatever makes your heart happy (I forgot, I was too hungry)
I poured the pot out into a serving dish, but you can always serve directly out of the pot.
Notes
Whilst this was an experiment and I was chasing the clock, it came out very well. It was absolutely delicious.
Here are my thoughts on this.
- Add the beans after the chicken has cooked (perhaps blanche when you are par boiling the potatoes)
- I added about 1/3 of a cup of water before I closed the lid to cook the chicken, so there was a little too much gravy. The meats for breyani must be moist, but quite dry in terms of the amount of gravy. I scooped it out into a small bowl, it was really not much, but I used this to drizzle on the breyani after I served it and it was fabulous.
- I forgot to garnish with fresh dhania & mint, but there was plenty added during the cooking process. I probably should have spent more time on presentation, but I was just too hungry and too tired after a very busy day at work and on the road.
- This has to rate as one of the dishes that I have enjoyed eating most, for a very long time. I really enjoyed it and will most definitely be cooking it again soon. I reckon this time I can do it in under an hour.
- My Electric Pressure Cooker is a Midea InstaChef and I love it like a child. It is the best appliance which I have ever bought.
Keywords: breyani, biriyani, biryani, chicken, all in one masala
Durban Curry Lovers, All-in-One Chicken Masala 
Add 3/4 of the Masala to the chicken and stir 
Add yoghurt, mint, dhania, fresh chilli, ginger & garlic and stir 
Leave to marinate 
Fried Onions 
Par cooked potatoes 
Onion, Tomato, Carrots & Masala. I added a splash of water after this photo. 
Add chicken to the gravy & stir 
Add beans (rather not now), cover and cook for 12 minutes on stew setting. 
Potatoes out the oven 
I removed this ramekin of gravy after the chicken was cooked. 
Add to cooked chicken 
Stir in onions, mint, dhania into the rice 
Pour the rice into the pot, add a few drops of egg yellow and drizzle a tint bit of the gravy. 
This is what it looked like after steaming. 
This is what it looked like dished. No garnish or anything on.