Dan Bauk Chicken and Rice
November 29, 2017
The Burmese dish Dan Bauk is very similar to the Indian Biriyani. While the chicken curry and rice are normally prepared separately and baked afterwards, I wanted to try making it in the Instant Pot. It’s also normally prepared in giant buffet portions, but this is scaled down to serve 6-8 people.
I’ve taken a lot of timing advice from articles like this one from Ministry of Curry and this one from Hip Pressure Cooking.
Ingredients
- 3 pounds chicken thighs
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- 3 cups basmati rice, soaked in water
- cumin
- turmeric
- garam masala
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 small jalapeño pepper, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, smashed and roughly chopped
- 2 Tbsp. ginger, grated
- 2 oz. brandy
- 1 shallot, minced
- 1 Tbsp. tomato paste
- cloves
- bay leaf
- caradamom pods
Equipment
Instructions
- Marinate the chicken thighs with yogurt, cumin, turmeric, 2 Tablespoons of salt and 2 Tbsp. Garam Masala overnight.
- Turn the Instant Pot to Saute mode and heat 1 Tablespoon of butter and 1 Tablespoon of oil until it is hot. Add the chopped onions, shallots, jalapeno peppers, garlic cloves, and grated ginger and stir until the onions are just barely translucent.
- Add 1 tablespoon of brandy and stir the pot, scraping up any onions stuck to the bottom.
- Add the marinated chicken, tomato paste, cloves, and bay leaf and set the pressure cooker to manual mode, high temperature for 4 minutes.
- When it is done, quick release the pressure, and stir the chicken well, making sure to scrape anything stuck to the bottom of the pan. Drain the rice and add it to the pressure cooker. Add the chopped cilantro, 2 tablespoons of salt, and 2 cups of water. Set the pressure cooker back to high temperature pressure cooking mode for 6 minutes.
- When this round is done, stir to incorporate the rice and chicken. Remove the bay leaf and cloves if possible.
- Top with garnishes such as crushed cashew nuts.
Written by Will Chiong who lives and works in New York building useful things.