Here comes my favorite recipe for chicken biriyani. Yet again Malabar is very famous for different types of Biriyanis. In Kerala, Biriyani is made with a very nice aromatic small rice known as Jeera Rice(jeerakashala rice) also known as biriyani rice. I could not find it in any Indian store here in US, so I have been using Basmathi rice which also gives great aroma and taste. This recipe I am adding here was made for a friends get-together, so the quantity may be high. Please reduce the amount of ingredients according to your requirement.
Ingredients:-
Chicken – 2lbs
Basmati Rice – 4 cups (wash and soak rice for about 15 mins)
Onion thinly sliced- 4(fry few onions and set aside)
Tomato- 2
Green Chillies- 6 slit into halves
Ginger, Garlic crushed - 2 tbsp
Curry leaves few
Coriander leaves few(chopped)Curry leaves few
Mint leaves-few(chopped)
Turmeric powder- 1tsp
Chilly powder – 2tsp
Coriander powder- 1 tsp
Black Pepper powder- 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala powder- 2 tsp
Yogurt- 1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Water - 7 1/2 cup
Whole spices (Cinnamon sticks, Cardamom, cloves, Bay leaves, pepper corns)
Vegetable oilGhee -3tsp
Cashews and raisins(fry in some ghee and set aside).
Preparation Method:-
Cooking the Rice:
1) Heat up a vessel , add some ghee, cinnamon sticks, cloves, cardamom, bay leaves, pepper corns and fry for a minute.
2) Add water and salt to taste, when water comes to boil add rice, stir it with a spoon till the bottom of the vessel and close it with a tight lid.
3) Simmer the heat to med until rice is cooked(soft). Switch off the flame and let it stand for 30 mins(this will help rice not to break when you try to take it out when it is very hot)
4) Spread the rice to two or three platters to cool down. Set aside.
Chicken Masala:-
- Wash and clean the chicken and Marinate it with Turmeric powder, chilly powder, pepper powder and salt. Set this aside for at-least 30 mins.
- Heat a wide frying pan or non-stick vessel, pour some oil, add sliced onion, green chilly, ginger-garlic, curry leaves, salt and fry until onions are light brown in color.
- Add tomato and saute until soft. Add coriander leaves, mint leaves and stir till everything get mixed well.
- Add coriander powder and garam masala powder and sauté well.
- Add yogurt and stir until it mix well with masala. Add the chicken pieces and stir well so that chicken gets coated with all the masala. Close this with a lid and let it cook in medium heat for 15-20 mins.
- Open and check for the thickness of the chicken masala, if you feel to lessen the gravy cook it lid open for some more time so that water is evaporated faster and the gravy thicken.
- Check for the taste and adjust the spices and salt as required. Add few more coriander leaves on top and remove from the flame.
Layering the biriyani:-
1) Pre-heat the oven to 350 degree F. Grease a baking tray with butter/ghee and set aside.
2) Start layering the biriyani with rice and chicken, start with half the rice, followed by chicken masala, fried onions, cashews and raisins.
2) Repeat layering by the rest of the rice and chicken masala topped by rice again until done.
3) Garnish on top by adding few fried onions, cashews, raisins and chopped coriander leaves.
4) Bake it covered for 20-30 mins. Delicious chicken biriyani is ready to be served with raita, papad and lemon or mango pickle…
Note:- you can use the stove top method instead of a baking to get the dum effect. Add some ghee in a thick bottom vessel and do the same process as mentioned in layering. Cover the vessel with a proper air tight lid and top a heavy vessel(filled with water or something). Keep the flame on low-med and dum it for 15 - 20 mins..
