Another Chicken Biriyani

 

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!