Malabar Chicken Biriyani

Ingredients:

1. Chicken – 1 whole
2. Basmati Rice – 4 cups
3. Sour curd/yogurt – 1 cup
4. Green chillies – 10
5. Garlic – 2 whole pods
6. Ginger – 3 1 inch pieces
7. Cashews – a hand full
8. Raisins – ¼’th cup
9. Corriander leaves/cilantro – 1 big bunch
10. Mint leaves – 2 stalks
11. Onion – 5 sliced very thin
12. Tomato – 2 sliced thin
13. Ghee – 5 tbsp
14. Whole spices a few each – cardamom, cloves,cinnamon, whole pepper,star anise.

Marinating and cooking the chicken (can be done a day in advance)

Crush few cloves of garlic , 1 inch piece of ginger and 5 or 6 green chillies .Mix this with the yogurt and add salt to taste .

Marinate the chicken in this overnight or for few hours.

Cook the marinated chicken without adding any excess water .If there is too much gravy keep it on a high flame and let the gravy reduce( the chicken should not be overcooked).

If you think that there is too much gravy and the chicken might get over cooked – you can collect some of the chicken gravy and use it instead of water to cook the rice in .Just reduce the amount of water accordingly.

Making the gravy:

Make a coarse paste with the remaining green chillies,garlic and ginger .Heat 3 tbsp of Ghee in a nonstick pan and add the ginger, garlic and green chilly paste and sauté until the raw smell goes.

Add in the sliced onions and fry until it is slightly brown.

Add in tomato pieces and sauté until oil separates.

Add the cooked chicken with gravy and bring to a simmer .Cover and cook for few minutes. Add in ¾’th of the chopped coriander and mint leaves into the cooked chicken and mix well.

Keep this chicken aside.

Preparing the Rice:

Wash and drain the rice.

Measure 2 cups of water for each cup of rice and keep the water to boil.

Heat the remaining Ghee in a nonstick pan and add in the whole spices and sauté for a minute.Add in the drained rice and fry until the rice is nutty – it should not change colour.

By the time the rice is fried the water would be boiling.

Add the fried rice and spices into the boiling water , add salt to taste and cover and cook until the rice is cooked.

Setting the Biriyani:

In a container that is oven proof (If you do not intend to use an over you can use any heavy bottomed pan) add a layer of cooked rice .Add a layer of chicken with gravy on top of the rice sprinkle some coriander mint leaves .Layer the dish alternating rice and chicken until it is all used up . Bake (350 degrees)or cook on low flame for 20 minutes.