Rave about Chicken Biriyani

Since I do not have a family recipe to follow for this wonderful dish, I have always asked friends for recipes and guess what? Just like I give recipes, they tell me throw in a bit of this or a bit of that and it never tasted we wanted it to until Revathi shared with me her family recipe.

We IM a lot and when I told her about being on TV, she suggested this recipe and you will not believe how many times I have tried this recipe and it is definitely a fool proof recipe.

Thanks Revathi and a bigger thanks to your mom. This is her tried and tested recipe of 35 years, so how can it go wrong?

Recipe
Basmati Rice – 1.5 cups
Chicken breast/thigh – 1 lb (cleaned and cubed)
Onion – 1 thinly sliced.
Mint – 1 bunch
Salt – 1 tsp
Oil – 2 tbsp

Make a paste of
Tomato – 1 (roughly chopped)
Cilantro – ½ cup (chopped)
Garlic - two pods
Ginger – 1 tsp grated

To Powder (use mortar pestle/coffee grinder)
Fennel seeds - 3 tsp
Cloves - 3
Green Cardamom - 4
Cinnamon -1 inch (do not use powder)
Black pepper -10
Dried red chillies (add more if you like spicy) – 4

• Rinse the basmati rice in water and set it aside.
• Clean and cube a pound of chicken
• Vertically slice one large onion
• Heat oil in heavy bottomed cook pot.
• Add onions and sauté for 5 minutes until they turn brown, but take care not to burn it.
• Add the ingredients that was powdered and sauté for a minute.
• Add the paste and continue to sauté for another 5 minutes. At this point there should be no liquid in the pan.
• Add the chicken a give it a quick stir, the rice and stir in 2.5 cupsof water.
• When it comes to a rolling boil, close the pot with a tight lid and cook for 10-12 minutes.

I have done the stove top version and pressure cooker and both of them turn out fantastic. While making it on the stove top, please ensure that you have a tight fitting lid and you dont want the steam to come out.

Serve this with raitha.