Easy Egg Biryani

I get weird looks when I say egg biryani even amongst Arabs. I guess it’s technically not traditional, but it has all the traditional elements. In Bahrain, we do like putting boiled eggs into our biryanis, especially into our meat biryanis. Not many people, however, would make one with just eggs.

I like it because it’s wonderful when you don’t have fresh or defrosted meat or chicken, and it’s wonderful in terms of time, too. I’d say with all the chopping, this takes just half an hour. For a really decent lunch or dinner, I don’t think that’s bad at all.

It’s also wonderful because it’s a good one to use up leftovers for. If you’ve got some roasted potatoes on hand from last night’s dinner, and some extra rice, you can use them up here.

Easy Egg Biryani

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

25 mins

Author: Sand Kitchen

Recipe type: Vegetarian, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free

Cuisine: Middle Eastern

Serves: 2

Ingredients

1 cup cooked rice
3-4 eggs
One red onion
A handful of baby potatoes (or one regular potato)
Two tomatoes
Coriander
Two cloves of garlic
1 tsp cumin
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp chili powder

Instructions

First, prep everything. If you don't have leftover rice, make a cup of rice, then boil your potatoes and eggs.*
Once everything is ready, fry off your onions in a little olive oil and, once they start picking up colour, add your spices and garlic. Once everything is incorporated and fragrant, add your chopped tomatoes and coriander.
Once it’s cooked down a little, remove half the mixture and set aside. Flatten the sauce down on the base of the pan and add some water to ensure that it doesn’t burn (a little charring is a good thing). Then add half the sliced potatoes, then half the amount of rice on top. Pack it down.**
Add the rest of the tomato and onion mixture and flatten on top of the rice. Then add your eggs and the rest of your potatoes. Finally, add the rest of the rice and flatten it down. Cover and put on a low heat for 10 minutes.
I’d suggest serving this by turning it upside down onto a plate — it’s a great one for the centre of the table. This is enough for two, but if you’d like more, double the recipe.

Notes

* When I was taking photographing the recipe for this post, I made the yolks a little too runny, but honestly, that just seeps into the rice and makes it moist and delicious. Try to have it be just-set, that’s ideal. It’ll cook further when layered with everything else.
** If you don't pack the layers down tightly, it will break apart when flipped over

As mentioned in the notes above, please ensure you pack the layers down tightly, otherwise it will be messy when flipped over. It won’t affect flavour, of course, but if you want it to look like this — make sure you do it!

I’d suggest serving this by turning it upside down onto a plate — it’s a great one for the centre of the table. This is enough for two, but if you’d like more, double the recipe.

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