THALASSERY CHICKEN BIRIYANI :

HOW TO MAKE THALASSERY CHICKEN

BIRIYANI RECIPE :

INGREDIENTS : 

For chicken masala :

 1.2 kg chicken full chicken cut to medium pieces

8 medium onions

20 green chillies moderately hot

15 cloves garlic

2 inch ginger

7 medium tomatoes ripe

1 cup mint leaves chopped

1 1/2 cup cilantro coriander leaves

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

2 teaspoon fennel seeds

3 cardamom

4 inch cinnamon pieces

1/4 nutmeg one small piece

4 tablespoon yogurt

salt to taste .

For Rice :

800 gram basmati rice 4 cups

3 bay leaves

2 cardamom

2 inch cinnamon piece

1 star anise

1 mace

10 black peppercorn

1 lime small

salt to taste .

For garnish :

2 onions thinly sliced

1 cup sultana raisins

1 cup Cashew nuts

salt to taste .

Instructions :

  STEP 1 : Add one teaspoon turmeric powder, one tablespoon Kashmiri chili powder, two tablespoons yogurt, and salt to the chicken.

  STEP 2 : Mix well until the chicken pieces are coated well with this marinade. Keep it aside.

Chicken kept to marinate .

STEP 3 :Wash and soak 4 cups of rice in water. The rice should be soaked for at least 1 hour.

CHICKEN MASALA :

 STEP 1 :Let's prep the ingredients for biriyani masala. Thinly slice the onions.

STEP 2 :Heat a cup of oil in a large pan. Once the oil is hot, lower the flame, and add the sliced onions to fry. Stir occasionally.

STEP 3 :Give the green chilies, ginger, and garlic a quick blitz to make a coarse paste.

 STEP 4 :Slow-cook the onions till they turn brown, and add the ginger-garlic-chili paste.

STEP 5 :Combine well, and cook for a few minutes. Now add the chopped tomatoes, and continue cooking.

STEP 6 :Cook the tomatoes until they disappear into the mix.

STEP 7 :Now add chopped coriander leaves and mint leaves. Mix well, and cook for 2-3 minutes.

STEP 8 :Now add the marinated chicken pieces, two tablespoons yogurt, and salt to the pan. Mix gently to get chicken pieces evenly coated with the onion masala in the pan.

STEP 9 :Close with a lid, and cook covered till the chicken is cooked to soft.

STEP 10 :Powder cinnamon, cardamom, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, and nutmeg to a coarse powder. This is our garam masala powder.

STEP 11 :Open the lid, add the garam masala to the cooked chicken, mix well, and cook for another 3 minutes.

STEP 12 :Switch off the flame. That completes the first part of our biriyani - the chicken masala. Make sure that the chicken masala is moist enough so that biriyani won't go dry when we add rice later.

Cooking rice :

STEP 1 :In another pan heat 3 tablespoons oil and 3 tablespoons ghee on a medium flame. Fry 2 sliced onions, raisins, and cashew nuts until the onions turn brown.

STEP 2 :Lower the flame. Scoop them out, and leave them on a paper towel to soak up the extra oil.

STEP 3 :Add the whole spices to the same pan and give them a quick fry.

STEP 4 :Drain off the water from the rice, and add it to the pan. Stir gently, and fry to get the rice to a crispy texture.

STEP 5 :Add boiling water to the pan to cook the rice your are using. Squeeze one lime, add salt, and mix well.

STEP 6 :Switch off the flame once the rice is cooked just enough.

Layering the biriyani :

STEP 1 :Now we'll bring together all these elements to complete our biriyani.

STEP 2 :From the pan, transfer half of the cooked rice to a bowl.

STEP 3 :Evenly spread the cooked chicken masala on top of the remaining rice in the pan.

STEP 4 :Now spread the remaining rice on the chicken masala. Now we a layer of rice, a layer of chicken masala, and another layer of rice.

STEP 5 :Garnish with the fried onions, sultanas, and cashew nuts that we had kept aside.

STEP 6 :Close the lid. Cover tightly along the edges with aluminium foil. You can place something heavy on the lid to make it airtight.

STEP 7 :On a low flame, cook again for 10 minutes.

STEP 8 :Switch off the flame, open the lid, and serve the biriyani hot. accompanied with raita, papad, and green chilly chutney.

      Serve it hot :