Ingredients
Ingredients for marinating the chicken
Directions
1 kg (2.2 lb) of Chicken on the bone cut into 8-10
parts
1 tbsp (15 ml) of ginger garlic paste
1 tsp (5 ml) of coriander powder
1 cup (236 ml) of curd or milk with one lemon juice
1 tbsp (15 ml) garlic paste
1 tsp biryani masala (2 cardamom,1 in (2.5 cm)
cinnamon, 1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) fenugreek, 3 clove. take all these, fry them without
oil, make them powder.)
A pinch of salt
Mix all of the above ingredients and let the chicken
marinate for 6-12 hours in refrigerator, the more the better.
·
Herbs, spices and condiments used are as follows
· 8
cloves
· 1
Cinnamon stick
· 6
green Cardamoms
· 2
Bay leaves
· 1/2
tsp (2.5 ml) shahi jeera (caraway seeds)
· A
few pinches grated nutmeg and mace each
· 1
tsp (5 ml) Coriander powder
· 1 tsp red Chili powder (to taste)
· 1
tbsp Gram Masala Powder
· 5-6
tbsp of chopped fresh mint
· 2-3
chopped green Chilies
· 4-5
chopped Tomatoes
· A
whole bunch of fresh coriander leaves
· 1
inch (2.5 cm) piece of ginger root, grated
· 1
kg basmati rice
· 1
cup milk, cream, or yoghurt
· For
fried onions
·
About 8-9 medium size onions
·
Other Ingredients
Oil for deep
frying and (45-60 ml) for cooking
1 tbsp (15 ml) of ginger garlic paste
1/2 cup
(236 ml) of milk
A few strands
of Saffron (kesar)
Desi ghee
(clarified butter) about 6-7 tbsp
Cashew nuts
( a few or as many as you want)
almonds as u
want
Salt to
taste
1 tbsp sugar
Deep fry the onions for 20 mins: While the chicken
is marinating, slice the onions very thin. You can use a food processor for
this or a slicer. Now heat oil and fry these sliced onions in batches. The heat
should be medium. Definitely not high, otherwise the onions will get burned.
Stir the onions continuously for uniform browning. When they become light
brown, drain them on kitchen paper. Keep them aside. They will get nice crispy
as they cool down.
Cook the Chicken: Take a deep, wide mouth vessel and
heat 3-4 tablespoons (45-60 ml) of oil in it. In this add the bay leaves,
cloves, cinnamon, cardamoms, little bit of shahi jeera and allow to crackle.
Now add a tablespoon of ginger garlic paste and stir a little. Now tip out all
the marinated chicken and the marinade. Cook on a high flame so that the water
gets evaporated quickly. Add the chopped tomatoes, mint, green chilies, all dry
powders(coriander, chili), and salt. Cook till the chicken is cooked and the gravy
(masala) is not watery. Add one third of the fried onions. Mix well. Keep
aside.
Boil the rice: Boiling rice is one of the most
important part of cooking a biryani. The rice needs to be parboiled. Meaning,
it should be three fourth cooked. The rest of it gets cooked on dum (when we
layer the chicken and rice, seal it and put on a very slow fire). Take a big
deep wide mouth vessel, add lots of water (at least 10 times more than rice).
Add ample salt (this is very important because the rice needs to be salty when
cooked). Also add a cinnamon stick, a couple of green cardamoms, a few cloves
and the rest of caraway seeds (shahi jeera), for flavoring the rice. Now boil
all this for a few minutes on a high flame (7 minutes or so). This is how to
check if the rice is done. Without burning your fingers, take a few grains of
rice (use a clean spoon to take some out of the boiling water), break a grain,
if it breaks into 3 parts easily, your rice is done. Strain the rice and spread
it on a clean surface (a tray or something), so that it cools faster. If you
want to pick out the whole spices which you added, you can do that now. Or else
just let them be.
Keep all these ready: Now that the rice and chicken
are cooked. Fried onions are ready. You just need to get a few more things
organized, so that the layering can be done.
· Chop
the coriander leaves
· Boil
the milk and add crushed saffron in it. Give it a stir.
· In
desi ghee, fry the cashew nuts till golden brown. Also the almonds and raisins,
if using. Keep aside.
· Keep
some melted desi ghee aside.
