Chicken Biryani

Biryani whether chicken, mutton, fish or even vegetable biryani is popular throughout Pakistan, India.The basic spices are more or less the same, but I think every biryani involves a little different methodSome biryanis involve marinating the meat ahead time. In some forms, onions are fried and then added separately.

 Another type of biryani is kache gosht ki biryani literally meaning raw meat biryani but don't worry you won't eat it raw, in fact, raw meat is layered with half cooked rice. The later is cooked on very low until meat is tender and rice is fully cooked.

This chicken biryani is very easy to make, the only hard work is preparing a long list of spices. After eating this biryani you will agree that this delicious chicken and rice dish is worth every effort.

Ingredients	Quantiy
chicken	600g
banaspati rice half cooked	700g
oil	1 1/2 cup
yogurt	4 tbsp
onions	2 large
tomatoes medium (sliced)	2 sauteed in some oil
cloves	6
cinamon	1 piece
peppercorns	10
turmeric powder	1 tsp +1/2 tsp for the rice
ginger /garlic paste	1 tbsp each
yogurt	1 cup
whole potatoes fried	6-7
milk	1/2 cup
chopped ginger and garlic	1 tsp each
dried prunes	20-25
green cardamoms	10
black cardamom	2
cinnamon sticks	2-3
cloves	8
nutmeg and mace	1 tsp each
turmeric powder	1/2 tsp
cumin	1 tsp
bay leaves	4-5
saffron	few strands
kewra essence	8 drops
black peppercorns	1 1/2 tsp
sprigs of mint	2
red chilli powder	2 tsp
salt	to taste

                                                             

Method:


Take oil in a heavy based pan and fry till golden brown reserve half for garnishing.

To the other half batch of onions add the chicken. Cook until chicken changes colour add garlic, ginger, chili powder cumin and turmeric.

Grind all the remaining spices cardamoms both black and green, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, mace, and black pepper.

Add all the spices to the chicken mixture. Cook until chicken is tender and water evaporates.

Now start layering. First spread a little oil on the base of a heavy based pot, spread a layer of rice followed by fried onions fried tomatoes fried potatoes, mint prunes and some of the prepared chicken gravy.

Keep repeating this process until all the rice and gravy is finished.
Take half a cup of milk with a pinch of saffron and kewra leave for a few minutes before adding to the biryani.

Pour milk saffron mixture over the biryani. Cover the pot with a lid it is better to seal with flour dough to lock the steam inside, alternately you could place a clean napkin between the lid and pot.
Leave to cook for another 20 minutes.

The biryani is cooked when the rice is tender and all the flavours are mingled together. It is recommended that you bring the lower layer of rice to the top in between cooking.Serve biryani with raita or Dried Plum Chutney. Hope you like this recipe and thank you for your visit.