I’m obsessed with this meal, truly. As much as I love making biryani, sometimes it seems like a lot of effort. So here is a (lowkey) version of it. This isn’t the effortful biryani recipe, but this is a quick one pot chicken tikka and rice. The basmati rice cooks in this delicious chicken marinade, without the intense biryani spice. Keeping it flavorful and easy!

Can’t wait for you to try this flavorful recipe. But first, lets make sure we have what we need for the marinade

• 1 chicken breast
• Lemon squeeze
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 3 tbsp chicken tikka masala
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tbsp ginger

Prepping the marinade:

1. Dice your chicken into one inch cubes and throw it into a bowl.
2. Add lemon, yogurt, masala, garlic (minced) and ginger (minced)
3. Mix into bowl really well and add a splash of water
4. Keep this in the fridge for 30 mins (you can keep it up to 48 hours like me)

Now that we’re ready to prepare the meal, let’s talk about what we need to cook this:

• 2 cups soaked basmati rice
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds
• salt
• 4-5 tbsp chicken tikka masala
• 1 green chili
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1/2 diced tomato
• 1 tbsp veg oil
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup cilantro
• 1/4 cup green onions
• 1 tbsp heavy cream (optional)
• 1.5 cup water
• 1 garlic clove
• chicken marinade

Let’s start cooking!

1. To a deep pan or pot (I recommend a wide pot or deep pan), add oil, cumin seeds, garlic (diced, chili (diced), ginger and a teaspoon of salt (after the oil heats up of course)
2. Once that starts to turn brown, add your onions and green onions (only the white part, leave the green part for the garnishing later). Add more salt and chicken tikka masala.
3. Once that is cooked well, add your diced tomato and toss it around the pan for 5-10 mins on medium heat.
4. Now, go ahead and add all the chicken marinade into the pan. Make sure you’re on medium heat. Keep mixing it around so that chicken doesn’t burn.
5. Once the chicken looks like it is almost cooked (try a piece to check), add 1 cup of water and let it simmer on low-medium. Add in your butter (optional) and heavy cream (optional). Add salt to taste. Remember, adding more salt is ok because rice will be added into this dish. You can also add salt to taste later, depending on your preference.
6. In a separate pot of boiling water, add 2 cups of washed rice. Boil the rice in the water for 1-2 mins (take a couple pieces of rice and try to snap it in your hand, if it does, you’re ready to remove it from the water.)
7. Strain the rice from the boiling water and add it right on top of the chicken curry (it should look like the image above.
8. Place the lid on the pot and make sure that the flame is on low. Keep checking the pot to see if the rice is cooked yet. Usually you can see the rice fluffing up or ‘standing up’ that will indicate that it’s ready. Or you can just taste it too.
9. Add your green onions and coriander. Once you smell that delicious aroma, take a fork and fluff the rice around a bit. Take a bite and add salt or spice as needed. Yay, you’re now ready to serve!