Chicken Biryani

Chicken Biryani

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 large chicken about 600 grams cut into pieces

1 ½ cups Basmati rice, (I prefer Tilda Basmati rice)

1” cinnamon stick

2 bay leaves

5-6 cloves

1 tsp cumin seeds

3-4 green cardamoms

2 onions sliced

3 green chillies slit lengthwise

¼ tsp turmeric powder

2 medium sized tomatoes chopped

Salt to taste

2 tbsp ginger garlic paste

½ tsp red chilli powder

1 cup thick yogurt

3 medium onions sliced and fried brown

½ tsp garam masala powder (I prefer Mother’s Recipe garam masala)

1” ginger julienned

2 potatoes cut in thick circles

A few fresh mint leaves chopped

some fresh coriander leaves chopped

some saffron soaked in some warm milk

red food coloring

Ghee and oil

4 hard-boiled eggs for garnishing

Directions

Marinate chicken with 1/2 cup beaten yogurt and 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste for a few hours (preferably overnight in the fridge). In a pan add some generous amount of oil and fry 3 sliced onions till golden brown and crisp. Remove and drain on a paper towel.

To the same oil, add potatoes and fry. Remove and keep aside. Add some more oil to the pot and add cinnamon, bay leaves, cloves, cumin seeds, green cardamoms and sauté for half a minute. Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, garam masala powder and sauté for a few minutes. Add remaining ginger garlic paste, slit green chillies and tomatoes and sauté. Then add the chicken pieces and continue to sauté. Cook for a few minutes. Add the remaining yogurt and cook till the chicken is done. Add the fried potatoes. Mix gently and keep aside. In a deep pot boil some water and add salt. Wash rice and add to the water. Stir and cook rice till it is ¾ done and drain. Add some red food coloring and saffron mixture to the rice and mix gently so that the rice does not break.

In another deep pot arrange some chicken pieces with some of the gravy. Add some portion of the rice and spread. Sprinkle some fried onions, mint leaves, coriander, julienned ginger and dot with some ghee (clarified butter). Continue to form layers, the last layer ending in rice. Top with fried onion, mint, coriander leaves and ginger juliennes. Dot again with ghee. Cover the dish well and keep on a very slow fire for 10 mins. Open the dish and gently mix and transfer into a serving dish. Garnish with hard boiled eggs halved.