I actually made this meal about 3 weeks ago, but due to unforeseen circumstances and a little procrastination I am only blogging about it now. It could also be that it has taken me this long to recover from cooking the Breyani! My goodness, what a lot of effort and I even had a pre-packed box with all of the spices separated and measured for me.

Allifa’s Breyani Pack is originally from Durban. I purchased it at a place called Fargo’s in Salt River in Cape Town. Walking into this shop is a real treat for the senses and you can find the most incredible variety of things including some things that may quite surprise you.

This is the place from which I buy my dates, coconut and chocolate chips for my baking and I often just walk around the rest of the shop to see whether or not something will catch my eye…hence:

This pack is very nicely done and includes the lentils, rice, rose water and spices required. So this is supposedly the easiest way to make Breyani. A couple of things threw me a little with the recipe including the ingredients list asking for 1 cup of Yogurt whereas the recipe says add the sour milk??? But I fuddled through.

This meal began on Friday. The meat needs to marinade for about 2 hours so I decided it could sit in there for a day and one less thing for me to do on the Saturday. I used Chicken Thighs (deboned and skinless) as this provides the tenderest meat and I prefer chicken to red meat in these type of meals, but this can be made with any meat and also just with vegetables…but don’t ask me which ones.

First was frying two thirds of the two onions. The other third would onle be required the next day. This was added to the tomatoes, yogurt/sour milk, potatoes, spice packet 1, bottle marked 2 and into the fridge until ready for the rest.

The nice thing about Breyani is that it heats up well and the flavour increases with keeping. This one ended up being supper on Saturday, lunch on Sunday, Supper on Sunday and lunch on Monday and Tuesday.

On Saturday afternoon I cooked the rice and lentils in separate pots. Then we bring out the lovely Le Creuset pot. It needs to be able to go on the stove and in the oven so a cast iron pot is best for this. Everything gets layered in this pot, heated on the stove and into the oven for another couple of hours and voila:

Ok, so my food styling leaves a bit to be desired, but seriously yummy!

This undertaking is not for the weak! It took me two days and 4 pots/pans, but was it worth it? Let’s just say that my husband has requested that I do it again and I’m certain that I will. It’s always easier after the first time, because you know what to expect and how to stream line it a little. For instance, I will marinate my meat in a slightly bigger dish next time so that I don’t spend time having to clean out the fridge and I will also cut the thighs in half before cooking so that it is easier to eat.

Worth doing? With a glass of wine and a couple of dvds to watch, it’s not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon.