Chicken Biryani
I have tried various styles of Biryani, but this is one of my favorite, Even though it's a lengthy process, I like the outcome, as people say the more effort you put, the better outcome you get. Ok let's jump on to the procedure.
Ingredients Needed : 3 medium to large onions thinly sliced, 3 medium tomatoes finely chopped, green chillies, ginger and garlic paste about 50gm, turmeric, cilantro, mint and whole spices of course.
I have used about 3 pounds of whole chicken and 3 cups of basmati rice ( not the U.S measuring cup, I measured using the Indian Rice cooker measuring cup, if you are not sure what am talking about, the cup is of the same size as the tide detergent measuring cup.
Heat some oil or ghee in heavy bottom pan, coz the g&g(ginger and garlic)paste tends to stick on the bottom, so if you use a heavy bottomed pan it won't burn. Add the whole spices.
Add the g&g paste once the spices start to splutter, saute it for about 2 to 3 mins make sure it doesn't burn, mine looks little bit burned coz I went to do dishes in the mean time, so please don't go away while cooking it, coz if you burn it, that will ruin the whole dish.
Add the onions and green chillies and saute it for about 10 mins in medium heat, the moisture should be completely gone and it should be nice and brown.
Once the onions become dry add the tomatoes and cook it for about 7 to 8 mins till the oil gets separated out from the mixture.
Then add the washed chicken, turmeric and the chopped, save some cilantro and mint for the rice and add the remaining and mix it well adding the required amount of salt for the chicken gravy alone, coz we are gonna cook the rice with salt so don't worry about it.
Cook the chicken covered or uncovered depending on your wish, but don't add water in either way, I pressure cooked for about 1 whistle coz I have used the whole chicken, if you are using boneless you don't have to pressure cook it, If the chicken oozes out too much of water, then let it boil till extra water evaporates until the gravy becomes thick or the consistency of pav bhaji, or a thick porridge, sorry guys nothing comes to my mind to compare the consistency of it, but make sure its not watery or a runny gravy.
In the mean time boil the water required for the rice, add salt to the water, till the you could taste the salt in the water, at the same time the water should not be too salty or under salted, when you taste the boiled water, you should be able to taste the salt, add some cumin seeds and cloves. Once the water comes to boil add the rice and please note it " I have soaked the rice over night ".
This is the most important step please don't go away from the stove coz it tends to get cooked within 3 to 5 mins since its been soaking for over night.
Now place a wide bottomed pan or a pot which has tight lid to close. Add about 2 laddles of chicken gravy and layer rice on top of it.
Alternate with layers of rice and gravy.
Add the final layer of rice and add the herbs and few strands of saffron( not necessary ). Since I don't know what to do with it I went ahead and added it, Now close the lid and let it sit in a low heat for about 45 mins to 1 hour, yes I know it's a lot of cooking time, but as I said before it's a lengthy process, but you can't go wrong, beginners could try it, when I can do it anybody can do it.
This is how it will look after cooking it for an hour, I messed up with the lightings, so it looks dark and yellowish.
You Can enjoy it with cucumber raita.
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