One Pot Chicken Biryani

• Meat

  • 600 g Chicken

• Produce

  • 2 Bay leaves
  • 2 Chillies, green
  • 1 1/2 powder tbsp Coriander
  • 7 medium cloves Garlic
  • 1 1/2 inches Ginger piece
  • 1/2 powder tsp Kashmiri chilli
  • 1 Mint/ coriander- half bunch
  • 3 Onion, medium
  • 10 Pepper corns
  • 4 Tomatoes, medium

• Condiments

  • 2 tbsp Lime juice

• Baking & Spices

  • 1 1/2 tsp Biryani masala powder
  • 7 Cardamom
  • 1 Cardamom, black
  • 1 Cinnamon stick
  • 12 Cloves
  • 1 pinch Fennel seeds
  • 1/2 powder tsp Garam masala
  • 1 Saffron - few strands
  • 1 Salt
  • 1 Star anise
  • 1/2 powder tsp Turmeric

• Nuts & Seeds

  • 1/4 powder tsp Cumin

• Dairy

  • 4 tbsp Yoghurt
  • Oil/ghee

• Frozen

  • 3 cups Biryani basmati

• Liquids

  • 5 1/4 cups Water, HOT

Found on spiceandsugarbliss.cucumbertown.com

Description

Ingredients

• Chicken- 600gm
• Biryani Basmati- 3  cups
• Onion medium-   3
• Tomatoes medium- 4
• Ginger-piece1 1/2 inchs
• Garlic- medium  7 cloves
• Green chillies- 2
• Fennel seeds-apinch
• Pepper corns- 10
• Cloves- 12
• Cardamom- 7
• Cinnamon-stick
• Black cardamom- 1
• Star anise- 1
• Bay leaves- 2
• Turmeric powder- 1/2tsp
• Coriander powder- 1 1/2tbsps
• Kashmiri Chilli powder- 1/2tsp
• Biryani masala powder- 1 1/2tsps
• Garam masala powder- 1/2tsp
• Cumin powder- 1/4tsp
• Mint/ coriander- half bunch
• Yoghurt- 4tbsps
• Salt- to taste
• Lime juice- 2tbsps
• Saffron-fewstrands
• / OilGhee
• Hot water - 5 1/4Cups

Directions

• Soak basmati rice in water for at least half an hour. Rinse clear and strain. Set aside.
• Wash pat dry chicken and set aside or marinate in some salt, yoghurt, turmeric, coriander, chilli powders, lime juice and set aside. Marination is optional here but I do it out of habit.
• Grind together, the piece of ginger, garlic cloves and 1green chilli coarsely. Set aside
• Soak saffron in some hot water.
• Heat a handi or a wide deep vessel (I used a large urli, easy to stir around)enough to hold the quantity of cooked meal. Add about 1/4cup of oil and let it heat up. Add the whole spices, bay leaves, fennel seeds, peppercorns and wait for couple of seconds for the fragrances and flavours to infuse the oil. Quickly add the sliced onions and remaining green chilli with a pinch of salt and stir. Saute until golden.
• Add the ground ginger garlic chilli paste and and stir for couple of minutes. Add sliced tomatoes and stir. Tip in turmeric powder, stir, add coriander and chillipowders, stir, add garam masala, biryani masala and cumin powders and keep stirring gently. Cover and cook till oil starts to separate while stirring occasionally. Half way through cooking the onion tomato masala, add the yoghurt, chopped mint and coriander. Reserve some of the herbs for garnishing.
• Add the chicken pieces and gently stir them about in the masala. Cover and cook until almost done. (it took almost 15- 20minutes). Add the hot water and let it all boil. Season with salt, squeeze some lemon juice, Add a tbsp of ghee(optional) and 2-3 drops of biryani essence(completely optional but I do add occasionally) Add the presoaked and strained rice to the boiling pot. Let the contents come to a boil. Sprinkle the saffron water and gently lift and stir the contents. Smoothen with ladle. Cover with tight lid or pack and seal the sides with dough and cook on low heat for about 10-15minutes. Switch off heat. Patiently wait it out for sometimes for flavours to lock.
• After about 15minutes, I usually fork up fluff up the rice gently, place a cheese cloth over the rice and again close with lid and a heavy skillet over the lid to keep it as tightly shut as possible. I let it rest for almost an hour or so. When you open the pot, the top layers of rice should stand up ramrod straight almost like saying hello!
• Serve hot or warm with kachumber, raita or brinjal pachadi. Garnish if you must with ghee fried onions, nuts and raisins. Enjoy with great company.
• You can also let the contents boil for sometime and then transfer the whole biryani pot tightly closed to a heavy hot griddle on flame and leave on dum for sometime till cooked through.
• Add or reduce spices as per tolerance levels. This makes a medium spicy biryani.