Chicken Biryani with Parmesan Spinach Cakes
The chicken is basically a curried chicken only in this recipe I made my own curry powder! I added red cabbage and apples to the top of this and this gave a very delectable crunch and addition to the chicken.
The spinach cakes were more delicious when heated up the next day with a slice of cheese on top of them.
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 65 minutes
Serves: 2 - 3
Ingredients
For the chicken
About 1/3 cup of rice
2 cloves garlic
½ cinnamon stick
1 small bay leaf
1 small shallot, chopped
½ tsp ginger, ground
1½ tsp lemon juice
¼ cumin
¼ tsp coriander, ground
¼ tsp turmeric
Dash of cinnamon
Dash of cloves
Cash of cardamom
Dash of black pepper
½ cup natural yogurt
1½ cups cooked chicken
1 cup red cabbage, shredded
1 very small green apple, cored and cubed
For the spinach cakes
About 340 g fresh spinach (I used home grown)
½ cup ricotta (or you could use cottage cheese)
½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
2 eggs, beaten
1 garlic clove
Bit of salt
¼ tsp pepper
Method
For the chicken
Preheat the oven to 180°/160° fan forced.
Cook the rice in boiling water, adding one of the garlic cloves, cinnamon stick and bay leaf.
When the rice is cooked, throw out the bay leaf and cinnamon stick.
Meanwhile put the onion, ginger, lemon juice, cumin, coriander, turmeric, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and pepper in a food processor and process to a paste.
Add the remaining garlic, and blend for about 10 minutes.
Blend in the yogurt.
Add the chicken and mix it well to coat it all.
Put the rice in an ungreased shallow 1.5 litre casserole and put the chicken mixture on top.
Cover and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
When this is almost finished, steam the red cabbage for about 6 minutes until it is tender but still a bit crisp.
Put the red cabbage on top.
Add the chopped apple in the middle of the chicken, and serve.
For the spinach cakes
Preheat the oven to 200°/180 fan forced.
Pulse the spinach in three batches in a food processor, until it is finely cut.
Add the ricotta, Parmesan, eggs, garlic, salt and pepper, and stir to mix it.
Using a muffin pan, either spray it, or use cup cakes (I prefer this as it does not stick to the pan).
Divide the spinach mixture into 8 quite full cup cakes.
Bake this until it is set and this should be about 20 - 25 minutes.
Let them stand in the pan for a few minutes, before taking out.
Serve, sprinkled with more Parmesan (optional), and the chicken.
Great heated up in the microwave with a slice of cheese on top, and would also work for lunchboxes at room temperature.
Categories
#dinner
#lunch
#kids
#family
#lunch_boxes
#vegetables
#spinach
#curry
#chicken
%recipeyum
228968 - 2023-07-17 10:47:30