Cooking
Naz Deravian’s reader-favorite chicken biryani is a beautiful weekend dish, its preparation a satisfying process with delicious results.
- Share full article
Good morning. The sea otters were hammering clams open at the New York Aquarium the other afternoon, al fresco dining under a high sun that hinted at warmer days ahead. They looked stoked. We’d fed ourselves roast beef sandwiches from Roll-N-Roaster in Sheepshead Bay beforehand, and were in a similar mood. It was one of those perfect weekend days, a reminder that when it comes to time spent away from work, away from routine, it’s a good idea to put food at the center of the leisure — to eat for pleasure, with intent.
It needn’t be roast beef, though roast beef is awesome. (It needn’t be clams, either.) This weekend, as Ramadan comes to an end, it might be chicken biryani (above) showered in pomegranate seeds, to eat with raita and naan. I love Naz Deravian’s recipe for its vibrant depth of flavor, and for the way the chicken almost melts into the rice.
Featured Recipe
Chicken Biryani
View Recipe →
It’s a process recipe, which means it has a lot of steps. But that’s fine on a weekend; more than fine. You can escape into the cooking and feel the pressures of the week that was fade away, replaced by the satisfaction of craft. The results are delicious. (Make sheer korma for dessert.)
Onward! You could set yourself up for warm bowls of overnight oats for breakfast, a meal my father would sometimes augment with crumbled bacon and cream, before pouring a splash of Scotch over the whole. You could build a pimento cheese pie for lunch, make chicharrones or bake and assemble a blackout cake.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.