"Biryani " is a mixed rice dish with spices, rice, meat or vegetables. Though biryani is originated in Persia, it is more popular in malabar areas in Kerala.Here am sharing a special chicken fried Dum biryani. For this you can either deep fry or shallow fry the chicken, then mixed with the gravy / masala and finally the dum process which makes the biryani heavenly taste.
INGREDIENTS
Marinade
1000 grams Chicken
1 tablespoon turmeric
2 tablespoon Chicken masala
1/2 tablespoon red chilli powder
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 tablespoon Paprika Powder or Kashmiri Red Chilli
1/2 tablespoon pepper powder
3 tablespoon Yoghurt / Lime Juice
Salt to taste
8 tablespoon Oil
Gravy
2 bulbs(approx 80 grams) garlic
100 grams Ginger
4 (approx 580 rams) ripe tomatoes
3 (approx 400 grams) red onion
3 tablepoon Oil
Salt to taste
Garnish
2 (approx 250 grams) onion
1 bunch coriander leaves
25 numbers Cashew nuts
3 tablespoon ghee
2 tablespoon Oil
salt to taste
Rice
5 cups Water
3 cups(approx 600 grams1) Tilda Basmati Rice
1 inch Dried Ginger
5 numbers Pepper Corns
5 numbers green cardamoms
1 Star Anise
3 inch cinnamon stick
2 numbers Cloves
1 Bay Leaf
1/2 tablespoon ghee
salt to taste
15×15 inch Cheese Cloth
5 inch Cotton String
Dough
1 cup plain flour
Water as required
Instructions
- Chicken – I choose drumsticks and thighs, (thigh has the best meat of chicken). Skin removed, and shave off most fat.
- Mix all ingredients (except oil) under ‘marinade’ and rub into the chicken, marinate overnight for best results, if not atleast for 4 hours in a fridge, covered.
- Chop ginger / garlic / tomatoes / onion finely and store separately.
- Clean and cut the coriander leaves.
- Wash rice once and soak in cold water for 30 minutes. Drain, keep aside till required.
- Step 1 – Frying Chicken
- In a non-stick pan, heat half the oil under ‘marinade‘ section, fry half at a time, the chicken pieces, about 6 minutes on each side. Maximum for about 15 minutes, as we want only about 70% done chicken.
- Using a slotted spoon, spoon the fried pieces onto a plate spread with kitchen towel, to absorb excess oil.
- Step 2 – Preparing the Garnish
- While the chicken is getting fried, heat oil under the ‘Garnish‘ section, sauté the cashew nuts for about 2 minutes on low flame, till lightly golden brown on all sides equally.
- In the same oil, fry the onions till they are crispy. Add salt while doing this, this helps the onion sweat fast and get crispy.
- Keep aside till needed.
- Step 3 – Preparing the Gravy
- Heat the oil under the ‘Gravy Section‘, sauté the onions along with salt, on medium flame till soft and caramelised (about 15 minutes), while stirring occasionally.
- Add ginger and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes and sauté till soft and melted, about 15 minutes on medium flame.
- Step 4 – Rice
- In the cheese cloth, gather all spices under the ‘Rice‘ section and tie it up, this is known as `Potli` in Northern India.
- Bring to boil the water along with salt, ghee and polti, lower the flame. Remove the potli.
- Tip over the rice, bring it to boil, lower flame and simmer for 10 minutes till about 50% done.
- Leave it open, or better still spread on a large serving tray and allow the steam to escape and the rice to cool down, this prevents the rice from further cooking.
- Step – 5 Layering and Baking
- Make a dough of the flour and water under the ‘dough‘ section, roll into a long strip and apply on the edges of the deep bottomed pan.
- Apply 1 tbsp ghee on all sides of the vessel, (use the ghee mentioned in the ‘Garnish‘ section).
- Spread a layer of gravy and some chicken pieces. Top it with a layer of rice and spread little ghee, cashew nuts and coriander leaves.
- Repeat the above step till you have a last layer of rice, decorate with the remaining, coriander leaves, cashew nuts, fried onions and ghee, evenly across the top.
- Secure the lid on the dough. In a pre-heated oven, cook for 30 mins on medium.
- Serve hot with a cooling cucumber raita, lime pickle, masala poppadum and sweetened Indian butter milk (aka Lassi).
- You could also hard-boil eggs, quarter them and decorate on the rice.
