Chicken Biryani with Cucumber Raita

by Health article written by Dr Harold Gunatillake

In this preparation- biryani consists of curried meat, poultry, fish or vegetables combined with basmati rice to make a complete meal. Here chicken curry is layered with the rice and baked, then served with a fresh cucumber raita. Source: Cook Smart for a Healthy Heart, Reader’s Digest Canada

Biryani rice becomes resistant to digestion and absorption the way it is cooked as in this recipe. Chose unprocessed brown Basmati in place of the white processed variety.

Now what are the health benefits of converting starch in rice into “resistant starch?”

When you eat refined carbs like white rice and white bread our bodies digest and absorb them quickly

The glucose level in your blood spikes and the hormone insulin ushers them into the fat cells and liver. People with diabetes don’t have much insulin secretion or may have to over secrete in the pancreas to make it work. In other words the insulin becomes over stressed and glucose tends to remain in the blood longer periods.

When the rice in biryani is consumed the starch in the cooked rice bypasses the small intestine where most foods is normally digested and absorbed. The unabsorbed starch heads to the large intestine to be metabolised by the microbes in the large bowel. The food is fermented and turned into short-chain fatty acids by the resident bugs and that’s burnt into energy. Resistant starch entering the large bowel becomes prebiotics – food for the microbes.

You will notice that in this recipe only one table spoon of sunflower oil is used. This is unsaturated oil, quite heart friendly and does not raise the blood cholesterol level. Furthermore, the calories from a tablespoon of oil are insignificant.

When rice is boiled and mixed with oil in the process, the starch in the biryani rice tends to become resistant. Further when this rice is cooled and consumed the starch becomes more resistant. Further, if the cooked biryani is kept in the fridge overnight the starch gets further resistant and that would be the best stage to be consumed by the diabetics. The resistant starch remains when the biryani is re-warmed up for eating’

So diabetics don’t have to worry eating Biryani because the starch is modified into resistant carb.

Resistant starch is also found in a range of delicious foods, such as legumes (dhal), beans, whole grains, unripe bananas, and some seeds- naturally.

This Biryani recipe is a very popular among Pakistanis’.

Servings : 4SERVINGS
Prep Time : 20MINUTES
Cook Time : 1HOUR 20 MINUTES

Course: Dinner, Lunch
Cuisine: Grains, Poultry, Vegetables

Ingredients
1 tbsp. sunflower oil
1 large onion chopped
450 g chicken thighs diced
10 g fresh ginger finely chopped
1 small red or green chili seeded and finely chopped
seeds from 10 cardamom pods lightly crushed
1 tbsp. ground cumin
1 tbsp. ground coriander
6 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp crushed black peppercorns
1 540ml can chopped tomatoes
1 1/4 cups reduced-salt chicken stock
1/3 cup sultanas
1 cup basmati rice rinsed
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/3 cup toasted flaked almonds to garnish

Cucumber Raita

200 g plain low-fat yogurt
1/2 large cucumber coarsely grated and squeezed dry
2 tbsp fresh mint chopped
pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan; add the onion and cook gently for 5 minutes or until softened. Add the chicken and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes until browned all over.
2. Stir in the ginger, chili, cardamom, cumin, coriander, cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaves and peppercorns. Cook for 1 minute, stirring all the time to ensure the spices do not burn.
3. Add the tomatoes, the stock and sultanas. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and cook for 45 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 325ºF (160ºC). Place the rice in a saucepan, add 2 1/3 cups water and the turmeric, and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer very gently for about 7 minutes or until the rice is almost tender. Drain off any excess water.
5. Layer the chicken curry and rice in a casserole dish. Cover and cook in the oven for 25 minutes, checking after 20 minutes and adding a little more stock if needed (there should be enough liquid for the rice to complete cooking).
6. Meanwhile, make the cucumber raita. Stir together the yogurt, cucumber and mint. Season with pepper.
7. When the chicken biryani is ready, stir it well, then scatter the toasted almonds on top. Serve with the cucumber raita.

Recipe Notes
Per serving: 611 calories, 36 g protein, 24 g total fat, 4 g saturated fat, 128 mg cholesterol, 63 g total carbohydrate, 20 g sugars, 5 g fibre, 368 mg sodium
Eaten without the skin, chicken is low in fat and the fat it does contain is mostly unsaturated.