Chicken Biriyani

Easy Chicken Biriyani Kerala Style

Special occassions are made more spicy with Biriyanis. Though Hyderabad is the hub of Biriyanis, (popularly known as Hyderabadi Biriyanis), Kerala too has its own likings towards this popular Indian favorite.

Biriyani can be made with Chicken, Mutton, Vegetables, Prawns or even with fish. Everything depends upon your taste and your mood. Check out my recipe for Chicken Biriyani and take a dip into the lip smacking delight you would love to have for every special occassion.

Ingredients

·        Chicken- 1 1/2  kg

·        Basmathi rice- 1 kg

·        Onions- 5 large (4 for chicken curry and 1 for frying (this has to be sliced thin))

·        Green chillies- 2 or 3

·        Tomatoes- 3

·        Rambha leaves- 2

·        Corriander leaves- a small bunch

·        Mint leaves - a small bunch

·        Pepper Powder/ Red chilly power- 2 tsp

·        khus khus-  3 tbsp

·        Cashew nuts-  250 gms ( take 100 gms for frying and 150 gms for grinding)

·        Raisins- 20 gms (Optional)

·        water-    1/2 cup

·        Ghee or veg oil-      3-4 tbsp

Method

Step 1

Soak 1 kg Basmathi rice in a vessel for half an hour. The more you soak it, the more firm it will become.

Step 2

Boil water in a pressure cooker or a large vessel. Take about the right amount of water needed for boiling 1 Kg rice. Add some salt, a small piece of cinnamon, one cardamom and 3 cloves to the boiling water. Then add the soaked rice to it. Make sure the rice is cooked perfect. Drain the water off as soon as you find the rice seems perfect for you.

Step 3

Garnishing

Take a large vessel. Pour some Ghee into it. You can even prefer oil instead of Ghee. When the oil has started to heat, add thinly sliced onions into it. This one is for Garnishing. So make sure you do not burn it off. Fry the onions till they turn out golden brown. You may keep them aside for garnishing purpose.

You may use the same oil for frying the raisins as well as the cashews. These are also for garnishing. So take care not to fry it for long. Keep them aside so that you can use them after you prepare the biriyani.

*Care should also be taken to fry each of the garnishing items one by one. Never mix them and fry. You may mess up the whole procedure.

Step 4

In a mixy, you may grind khus khus, cashew, ginger and garlic and pepper powder/corns to a very fine paste

Step 5

Biriyani gravy

The next thing you need to do soon as you finish frying your garnishings is the making of the gravy of the Biriyani.

Make use of the oil/Ghee you have used for frying the garnishings. You may add more ghee if you think you need some more.

·        Add the diced onions (4 nos), and chillies into the hot ghee. Saute till golden brown.

·        Add the herbs that are cut and kept aside, to the onions. You can now add chopped coriander leaves, Pudina/Mint leaves and Rambha leaves to it. Saute for 2 mnts.

·        Add Tomatoes that are diced.

·        Now you may add the cut chicken to the vessel add some Salt close the lid for the chicken to get cooked.

·        After 15 mnts, you will find your chicken all set.

·        Now you may add the fine paste of khus khus, cashew, ginger, garlic and pepper to the cooked chicken.If necessary, add half a cup water too. Make sure you do not add much water.

·        Cook for 10-15 more minutes or till you find the gravy cooked well.

·        Close the lid and switch off.

Step 6

This is the final stage

For a group of 6 to 7 people

Take a Glass bowl you use in the oven.

When it is time to serve, Take the glass bowl and brush some ghee it.

Now add some rice, then add some chicken gravy with chicken pieces to it, add some rice and then add the garnishings (fried onions, cashews and raisins) and microwave for 5 mnts.

You can mix the rice and curry  and microwave as you are about to serve.

You can even mix the whole rice and curry and serve too.

For a group of 10-12 people

For bulk servings, you need to mix the rice and curry evenly and make sure you do not add more amount of gravy to the rice or the biriyani might look too wet and sticky.

Add them in the right proportion in a large vessel if you need to serve to a large number of people.

Place a Tava on the gas stove and place the vessel on top of it.

Close the lid and give a bake to the biriyani.

You can open it after another 10 to 15 minutes time.

Your Kerala Style Biriyani is ready to serve. Serve hot with chicken fry and vegetable raita.