Chicken Biryani ! healthy or not?

tasman11

Hey does anyone know if chicken biryani is healthy or not? Is it deep fried food?

ohskinnyme

A biryani is an oven baked curried rice and vegetable dish and is AMAZING. It shouldn't be too unhealthy so long as it is made from fresh!

russelljclarke

You don't have to deep fry it, which will help. Also, use brown rice rather than white/basmati. Not much of a difference calories wise, but it's better for you. Note that you can pour boiling water over the rice before stirring in to the rest of the ingredients - it takes away masses of the starch and makes it lighter and fluffier. HTH

Paddy31

It's not deep fried.

You have a pile of spiced rice with chicken and hopefully a lovely vegetable curry to go on top. The cooking uses a lot of ghee (clarified butter) so it is quite energy dense.

The one I cook is about 600 cals per portion without the curry.

If you want a recipe, this one is lush:

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4686/chicken-biryani

Justkeepswimmin

Depends on how it's made I'm sure.

I have a family recipe that's amazlingly healthy (the original way it was cooked) of course you do have the basmati rice (which is white/starch) but the chicken isn't fried, there's pine nuts, veggies, spices (lots and lots of spices mmm mmm saffron), golden raisins (I guess these have some sugar)

I can't gurantee a restaurant doesn't americanize and fry something ...

PS I'm going with a middle eastern not indian variety here - there isn't butter in this version at .... all.... but you can do a version with an encasing that is philloh dough brushed with olive oil....that would add a little unhealthiness to it.

Derv

No it's not deep fried. Though the base mix of spiced chicken might contain a lot of oil in the form of ghee.
Obviously not good if you want to keep low carb either as there's so much rice.
Would be good to try it at home with less oil & brown rice maybe.

I love it, esp lamb byriani.

tasman11

You don't have to deep fry it, which will help. Also, use brown rice rather than white/basmati. Not much of a difference calories wise, but it's better for you. Note that you can pour boiling water over the rice before stirring in to the rest of the ingredients - it takes away masses of the starch and makes it lighter and fluffier. HTH

I am not making it myself but getting it from a takeaway so dont know how they make it.

russelljclarke

Badly, I guarantee it! Always better to make stuff yourself...

Paddy31

You don't have to deep fry it, which will help. Also, use brown rice rather than white/basmati. Not much of a difference calories wise, but it's better for you. Note that you can pour boiling water over the rice before stirring in to the rest of the ingredients - it takes away masses of the starch and makes it lighter and fluffier. HTH

But don't you think it tastes better with basmati?

russelljclarke

Yes, it does, but tasting good is often to the detriment of good health/losing weight

Derv

You don't have to deep fry it, which will help. Also, use brown rice rather than white/basmati. Not much of a difference calories wise, but it's better for you. Note that you can pour boiling water over the rice before stirring in to the rest of the ingredients - it takes away masses of the starch and makes it lighter and fluffier. HTH

But don't you think it tastes better with basmati?

You can also get wholegrain basmati, which is lovely.
I know when I have got it from the takeaway you could see the oil in the tray after dishing up - not a good sign!
This veggie recipe looks good
http://www.healthy-weight-loss-made-easy.com/biryani-recipe.html

slimdownspicey

if you're getting it takeout i would almost guarantee they put a lot of ghee (or butter if they are cheap) on the rice to make it taste better. then again it's def a better option than tikka masala. if you want to really go for the gold health wise, get tandoori chicken or just chicken tikka, both are as healthy as you will get. personally, i would do naan as a side instead of the rice - just watch the mango chutney (abt 60 cals a tbsp)

also check out
http://www.hungry-girl.com/askhg/show/2083

LovelySophiya

ooooo i love chicken biryani please some give me the recipe to make it

skinnyhopes

When my mom makes it, it's very oily.
Not exactly healthy, but not super bad either.

sinclare

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sinclare

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