Biriyani
Have so
many biryani recipes that I have tried and succeeded and each time I swear that
this would be the one. But yet again I land up on another. This time I
collected tips from several and landed up with another tasty recipe. This one
seemed suited for those with a lack of time to marinate the chicken. Yesterday I
did not have time to do so after reaching home but it did not affect the taste.
Ingredients
1. Chicken – 1 kg
2. Finely sliced
onions – 3 big or 5 small ones
3. Ginger – garlic
paste – 2 tablespoon
4. Green chilly paste
– 3 number
5. Biryani masala
powder – 2 plus ½ teaspoon
6. Chilly powder –
1 teaspoon
7. Turmeric powder
– 1/2 teaspoon
8. Mint and coriander
leaves – a bunch
9. Fried raisins
and cashew nuts
10. Whole spices – 8
each cardamom and cloves, 2 piece thakkola, 4 piece – cinnamon sticks
11. Rice – 2 cup (soaked
for a minimum 15 minutes)
12. Water 2 ½ cup
13. Curd – ½ cup
14. Tomato - 1
Biryani
masala powder
Take a teaspoon each of cinnamon,
cardamom, cloves, 5 piece thakkolam, 4 big cardamom, 1 piece nutmeg, 2 ½ tablespoon
of whole coriander seeds, 1 tablespoon fennel, shah jeera and 1 teaspoon cumin
seeds and finally 2 bay leaves. Dry fry these ingredients and when it has cooled
down grind and then add 2 teaspoon of
chilly powder, ½ teaspoon of turmeric powder
Method
For
the chicken
Take a
heavy bottomed pan and add 3 tablespoon of oil and 1 tablespoon of ghee. Add 3 cardamom,
4 cloves, I thakkolam and 2 pieces of cinnamon. Add the sliced onion and fry
till golden brown. Fry the onion in medium flame to get evenly fried onion. Now
add the ginger-garlic paste plus green chilly paste. After sautéing for a
while, add I teaspoon of chilly powder and pepper powder, ½ teaspoon of cumin powder
and turmeric powder. After a few seconds add the chicken, plus one tomato and ½
cup curd plus 2 teaspoon of biryani masala powder and the chopped leaves. Add enough
salt and after frying this for a while close the pan and cook the chicken in
slow fire for 15 minutes. There should only be a little gravy.
For
the rice
Take a vessel
and add a tablespoon of ghee and add 3 number each of cardamom, cloves,
cinnamon and a bay leaf. Using the oil that was used to fry the onion will enhance the taste, also add a few fried onions too. Add 1 ½ cup of water and let it boil. You can also add a little ginger-garlic paste plus green chilly paste to the water. Drain the rice
and add it to the water. Once the water boils reduce the flame, cover the
vessel and let it cook until the water dries up.
You can also boil the rice with lots of water and the spices and drain once the rice is cooked 3/4th.
For
the dum
Add the
rice to the cooked chicken. Do not press the rice down. On top of the rice sprinkle some
fried onions, a few chopped leaves and ½ teaspoon of biryani masala. Add the fried cashew and raisins. You can
also add turmeric or kumkum dissolved in a teaspoon of milk. Cover it with a
foil and close the lid. Keep the vessel on an old pan or tava on low flame for
10 minutes. Switch of the flame and let it rest for a minimum 30 minutes.
Enjoy!