simple biryani with spiced fried chicken

We love Indian food, but it seems quite impossible to make it from scratch. But no worries for those who are craving for Indian food! This simple biryani recipe is another quick and easy recipe from the book, The Feed Zone. The spiced fried chicken turned out pretty good, too (it's my own recipe, so I didn't know how it will turn out. But made it to the blog = taste good!) 

Ingredients:

[Biryani]
Rice - 3 cups (Not 3 rice, use measuring cup. Also, see TIPS)

Zucchini - 1
Carrots - 1
Onion - 1/2
Raisins - 1/2 cup (or more if you want)
Cashew nuts - 1/2 cup (or more if you want)

Curry powder - 1 and half TBS
Salt & Pepper

[Chicken wings]
Chicken wings - 12 wings (about a pound and a half)

Curry powder - 2 tsp
Cumin - 1 tsp
White pepper - 2 tsp
Garlic salt - 1 tsp (regular salt is fine, too)
Paprika - 1 tsp (or more if you like it more spicy)
Soy sauce - 2 tsp

Corn starch - 1/2 cup
Water - 1/2 cup

 Prep:

 [Biryani]

1. Slice, chop or cube zucchini, carrots and onion into small pieces (however you want your veggies to look like)
2. Cook the rice or take out the previous day's rice.

[Chicken wings]

1. Make few slits on the wings (see pic). 
2. In a bowl, combine wings with all the spices (don't add cornstarch and water). Marinade for about an hour or more.

Cook:

[Biryani]

1. Heat up wok/frying pan, add 1 TBS oil. Fry onion until transparent, add carrots and fry for another minute or two. Add zucchini and fry for additional 2 minutes. 
2. Add raisins with the veggies. Fry until the raisins are somewhat plump. 
3. Add curry powder. Mix well. 
4. Add rice and fry. The rice should be yellow. Add cashew nuts at the end. Taste it and add salt and pepper if you need to.

[Chicken Wings]

1. Heat a pot with oil. 
2. Mix water and cornstarch.
3. Dip the wings, one at a time, in the cornstarch mixture and deep fry the wings until golden brown. Take it out on a paper towel-ed plate. 

 Serve:

1. Serve biryani with chicken wings and simple garlic green beans or picked vegetables. 
2. The recipe book also suggested to eat with yogurt.

TIPS

• Use long-grain rice (such as Jasmine rice).
• If you are cooking the rice the day of making this recipe. Add a bit less water and cook the rice. When it's done, turn the rice cooker off, open the lid and let it cool before using.
• You can add other vegetables (such as yellow squash, broccoli, etc) to biryani.