Malabar Chicken Biryani

I've always been fond of thalassery biryani and ever since I wanted to give a try. Finally I've got a chance last week to cook  cos I finally landed on one youtube demo , learned from one of the video. The steps were so simple and as always, when made the taste was mild, fragrant and delish.It's such an easy dish ,u can whip it off in half an hour. And it's already an another add on in my menu list now.

Ingredients :

For Chicken masala :
Chicken -- 3/4 kg
Ginger garlic paste -- 2tsp
Green chillies,minced -- 2 tsp (acc to taste)
Mint leaves -- 1/2 cup
Coriander leaves -- 1/2 cup
Garam masala -- 3/4 tsp
Salt -- to taste
Onions -- ghee fried , around a cup
Tomatoes -- 2 nos. medium
Basmati Rice -- 2 cups
Lemon juice -- half a lemon
Mint leaves -- half a cup ,washed n cleaned
Coriander leaves -- half a cup ,washed n cleaned

For rice :

Ghee -- 1 tbsp
Cloves,cardamom,cinnamon,bay leaves,cumin seeds -- each 2 nos.
Cashews ,raisins -- each 2 tbsp ,roasted in ghee 
Rose water -- 2 tsp

For garnishing :
Onions -- 5 nos ,julienne 
Ghee -- 3 tbsp
Saffron -- few strands
Milk -- 2 tbsp

Method :

• Heat a biryani pan with 3 tbsp ghee and fry the sliced onions till they golden brown. Remove from the ghee and spread it on a plate lined in a kitchen tissue. Fry the cashews n raisins in the remaining ghee and keep it separately.
• In the same ghee ,add the chopped tomatoes along with lil bit of salt and cook till they break down and get cooked. Add the ginger garlic paste and saute for 2 minutes in medium flame.Throw in the minced green chillies and mix well for a minute.

• Add the chicken pieces once the green chillies started changing colour and cook in the masala for few seconds. Add a cup of water to the chicken masala and combine well. Sprinkle the mint leaves on top ,cover with a lid  and cook for 7 to 8 minutes.
• Open the pan , add a cup of ghee fried onions to the chicken ,clsoe the pan with th lid and gain cook for 2 minutes.Later, switch off the flame and add the garam masala powder ,coriander leaves and lemon juice and combine thoroughly .

 

Now making rice :

•  Soak the basmati rice for 30 minutes.

• Boil 8 cups of water with a tbsp of ghee/oil added along with cinnamon,cumin,cardamom,bay leaves and add the soaked rice. Cook the rice to almost 80 % ,now at this stage add in the rose water to the rice and mix well. Again cook the rice till it's 90% done..            

Layering the rice :

• Keep the chicken masala mixture over medium low flame as we are going to make 2 process simultaneously. 
• Now drain the rice completely and layer the chicken masala with the cooked rice,spreading evenly.
• Top it with the remaining fried onions, cashews and raisins.
• Finally sprinkle the saffron milk ( dissolve few strands of saffron in warm milk ,rest for 10 minutes earlier) across and close the pan with a lid . Keep some heavy weight on top of the lid and cook over low flame (dum) for 10 minutes /until it's done. 
• Carefully mix the rice and serve with chicken ghee roast.

Happy eating guys,
Shanavi